Online Marketing
If you’re a landscaping business looking for the best ways to market yourself, you’ve come to the right place. This guide will expose you to paid and accessible marketing avenues worth investing your time and money into.
A Website
Your website should contain clear and consistent messaging across all its pages, describing your products and services effectively. Additionally, it should be intelligently designed with relevant CTAs. If you don’t yet have a website, consider getting one professionally designed.
Accurate & Consistent Business Listings
Ensure that your information appears accurately and consistently across the internet by securing listings on major sites such as Google, Yellowpages, Yelp, Whitepages, Hotfrog, etc. Also, choose relevant niche directories (specific to your business domain or area) and general guides to increase further exposure. You can either manually list each directory or use a local marketing software that automatically updates your listings across multiple sites in one go while providing additional benefits like changing details anytime or tracking search rankings.
Social Media Handles & Pages
Social media accounts are essential, allowing businesses like yours to share information, events, and promotions with their followers. This can significantly expand your customer base, but there’s more! Sites such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest can reach different population segments, often relating to age and gender.
Rise of the Reviews
Your business reviews are one of the most critical factors regarding credibility and quality assurance. In today’s society, online reviews from strangers are seen as trustworthy almost as much as recommendations from friends and family by word-of-mouth, meaning obtaining reviews for your business is vital. The most effective places for these reviews are Google and Yelp, Yellowpages, Foursquare, etc. A great way of getting more reviews is simply by politely asking customers who have done business with you; making them aware that they have powerful reviewing capabilities can also be beneficial. Additionally, posters/stickers advertising relevant review sites (or review handouts) in areas where customers frequent can help prompt further reviews.
Responding to Reviews
Responding to customer reviews is a crucial component of maintaining the professional image of a business. No matter the type of review, whether positive or negative, companies should ensure they are appropriately engaging with their customers. To help do this efficiently and effectively, many companies use review response templates that can be easily modified and used for free.
Blog Posts
Utilizing content marketing is an excellent way to get your business noticed. By creating attractive articles that capture potential customers’ attention, it’s possible to gain more attention from Google searches. When building content related to a landscaping business, take some time to research popular keywords such as “garden cleaning” and “lawn mowing” – you can then create detailed articles around them accordingly.
Before vs. After Photos
For landscaping businesses or any other visual field looking for effective online marketing tactics, so-called before-and-after photos may be helpful when considering what kind of content could be created. Placing side-by-side images taken before and after work has been done shows potential clients how much potential impact you can have on any given project. As well as sharing these photos on your blog via text snippets describing the process between the two images, social media sites offer another excellent platform for capturing people’s attention – such popular sites as Facebook and Instagram are particularly suited towards visual mediums like photographs and videos.
Timelapse of Landscaping Work
Landscaping is a form of art that – sadly – often goes unrecognized. Make the beauty and skill of your work known by creating a timelapse video that shows the entire process from start to finish. Keep it concise and punchy, as viewers on social media tend to have low attention spans; this will ensure they leave with an impression of the final product. It’s also worth experimenting with music in your videos for additional flair.
Link Building
Creating content is only half the battle; you need people to link back to said content. For one of the best guides in link building, take a look at Ahrefs.
Pinterest Boards
Pinterest should be part of your content marketing strategy for those whose target audience lies in domestic markets. Create boards around your primary service offerings and populate them with relevant photos containing links to associated product pages. Doing so allows you to pin your interests, offering an engaging visual experience for potential clients! E.g., someone looking at images of fern planting should land on a page about fern planting services, not weeding services.
Forum
If you want to establish your business as an authoritative online presence, joining online forums related to your niche is a great way to start. Some popular ones include:
- Lawnsite
- ContractorTalk
- Garden.org
- LawnServiceForum
The goal here is not necessarily to hustle and find odd jobs but to build brand value for yourself and your business. To do this, it’s essential to answer people’s queries, provide fair price indications and help those from areas beyond your service area decide the best options for them. Make sure you use a unique handle and profile image across all websites so that people can recognize your brand! With dedication and consistency–responding quickly and often responding–your reputation will grow over the period, resulting in more job offers from various sources.
Social Media
Social media provides countless opportunities for promoting your business in creative ways. Examples include:
- Contests – Use contests as an opportunity to engage with customers while also giving something of value (e.g., a garden makeover)
- Content Sharing – Share any content created by you on social media platforms with eye-catching headers designed to draw attention
- Updates – Keep customers updated by sharing videos or images of current projects to generate excitement and encourage clients to share their own experiences with their networks
- Overall, the possibilities are bound only by the limits of imagination–but here are some additional ideas if needed!
Email Marketing
Email marketing has long been proven effective for businesses seeking out potential customers; however, creating an email list is a necessary first step. There are two main options available when doing this: 1) Buying from sellers who specialize in such services (targeting list towards areas where services would be provided) or 2) Organizing one’s list through website subscriptions & previous customers. Ideally, both should be carried out simultaneously but take note that organically bought lists typically have lower returns than others. After obtaining an email list, tools such as Mailchimp & Aweber can be used for newsletter purposes–conversion rates of 3% can be considered successful in this realm!
PPC – Pay Per Click Advertising
Content marketing is a great way to get organic, long-term leads. But if you’re looking for immediate, -scalable- returns, Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is the way to go. For most local businesses, the cost of running an effective PPC campaign isn’t insignificant. Depending on the competition in your local market, you may need to budget a good amount for each new customer. Google and Facebook offer a variety of PPC opportunities. On Google Ads, you’ll have to identify specific keywords related to your business – these will determine when your ad gets shown. On Facebook Ads, however, you can target people based on geography, interests, and other criteria – thus ensuring that only those who are likely to be interested will see your ads in their feed. It’s important to remember that while PPC campaigns can deliver fantastic results quickly — they require careful execution and management so as not to waste money. To get started right away or deepen your existing knowledge of PPC strategies, consider consulting guides like:
Yard Signs
If you haven’t done this already, don’t forget to place yard signs in locations where you’ve done your landscaping work. Most people will be happy to let you leave a sign with your contact information to show their appreciation for the services you provide. Additionally, mentioning the possibility of a discount may further incentivize individuals to allow the use of their property for advertising purposes.
Van Detailing
Ensure your employee vans are professionally detailed and decorated with your company logo, contact information, and any other memorable message that will help hook potential customers. Since these vehicles traverse around town, representing your brand, emphasize quality and professionalism by giving them an eye-catching makeover.
Find Your Competition
To remain competitive, businesses must be keenly aware of what their rivals are doing in the marketplace. Please familiarize yourself with whom they are targeting and selling to and their marketing strategies to respond adequately. Additionally, keep an eye out for any emerging trends or products that may be successful for them so you can quickly jump on board if necessary.
Use Eco-Friendly Products
Using environmentally-friendly products offers several advantages for your business. Not only does this demonstrate social responsibility, it also allows you to market your company as conscious and attuned to nature; this badge of honor is often highly sought after by customers who prioritize environmental awareness in their purchases.
Promote your tools
When talking about project details with prospective clients—whether online or offline—be sure to emphasize all of your specific tools that enable projects to complete at a higher quality level than competitors’ offerings. By highlighting the technical complexities involved with each device and showing how they greatly benefit those using them, clients will be inclined to invest greater trust (and money) in you since they know that at least you understand these intricate details better than others.
Cross-Domain Marketing
Building partnerships and making connections are essential components of business success. If you haven’t done so, it’s time to join a local network of entrepreneurs and other business people. By meeting others in the field, you can acquire customers and drum up support from evangelists. Additionally, the clients of your new associates will likely benefit from your services as well due to their relevant needs. However, this plan works best when providing mutual clientele resources and creating opportunities to help other group members.
Complimentary Businesses
Some industries have services that complement landscaping, such as snow clearing, gardening, carpentry, and masonry. You can create beneficial partnerships with these businesses by referring customers to each other on an ongoing basis. These types of relationships can be advantageous for all parties involved.
Local Events
Local events such as school functions, sports games, or trade shows provide excellent marketing opportunities for your landscaping business. Sponsorship or volunteering assistance is an ideal way to get more exposure and make potential customers aware of your company’s offer.
Newspaper Ads & TV Ads & Flyer Distribution
These marketing strategies are straightforward yet effective ways to promote your landscaping business if done correctly. Get attention on weekends by running ads in newspapers or broadcasting commercials on local television spots at prices that still generate a reasonable return on investment. Flyers remain a reliable (and inexpensive) choice for getting the word out about your landscaping services too!
