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Gone are the days when starting a lawn care business was as simple as printing flyers and knocking on neighborhood doors. Today's landscaping companies execute comprehensive digital marketing strategies and creative tactics to stand out, attract ideal clients, and continually grow their customer base.
With some strategic planning and consistent effort, lawn care professionals can benefit from multiple marketing approaches. We’re going to arm you with 14 of the most lucrative landscape marketing ideas who want to dramatically increase new sales and retain happy clients for the long term.
From honing your brand identity and maximizing your online visibility to forging local partnerships and offering clever promotions, implementing even some of the following strategies will help your lawn business thrive.
1. Identify Your Ideal Client
The foundation of any successful marketing plan is having a crystal clear understanding of who your ideal customers are. Avoid the urge to try to be everything to everybody.
Drill down on the characteristics of your target clients: what are their demographics, values, interests, needs, and pain points? This is the process of creating an Ideal Customer Profile when done in a broader context, and a ‘buyer persona’ when done at a granular level.
Over the years, several case studies have shown the benefits of focusing on creating buyer personas. In one benchmark study, the customer intelligence platform Cintell found, “companies that exceeded lead and revenue goals were 7.4X as likely to have updated their personas in the last 6 months than those who have missed these targets”.
Another case study from the cloud service provider Skytap, similarly found that a targeted persona strategy lifted sales leads by 124%.
Once you intimately understand the specific homeowner profiles most likely to require and appreciate your services, you can tailor your messaging, visuals, and channels to resonate with that niche and convert them into lifelong clients.
2. Develop Your Landscaping Brand
These days, a stand-out brand is much more than just a logo and color palette, even though these are very important elements. A successful brand encompasses a company's entire look, personality, voice, values, and reputation among customers.
Invest time upfront to get clarity on how to make your landscaping business unique. What experience do you provide customers they can't get elsewhere? What values do you operate under?
Convey these differentiators consistently across your website, ads, vehicle signage, uniforms, invoices, and other touchpoints. The importance of brand consistency cannot be overstated. Marq’s 2021 Brand Consistency Report found that most respondents credited brand consistency with increasing revenue growth from 10% to more than 20%.
A compelling brand builds trust, boosts recognition, and sparks customer loyalty. It sets you apart from competing lawn services and makes you memorable.
3. Create (and Optimize) Your Google Business Profile
According to a study by BrightLocal, 87% of consumers use Google to evaluate local businesses in 2022, up from 81% in 2021. The key takeaway from these figures is that having an optimized Google Business Profile (GBP) is now an absolute must for any local business.
GBP is a free tool that lets you showcase important information about your landscaping business on Google Search and Google Maps. You can add photos, services, and testimonials and enable bookings. The more complete and accurate your GBP is, the higher you will rank for local SEO.
Make sure to ask satisfied customers to leave you 5-star reviews on your GBP. Positive reviews build credibility and social proof.
4. Build Trust With Your Website Visitors
Building a company website is a prime opportunity to establish credibility and win the trust of prospective clients. Apart from ensuring your website is easy to use and branded consistently, check off the following:
- Share photos and videos of your team in action providing high-quality services.
- Feature client testimonials prominently.
- Blog about industry topics like seasonal lawn care tips.
- Display any certifications, awards, or special training that set your landscapers apart as experts.
The more visitors see you have the skills and track record for superior service, the more confidence they will have to hire you. Optimizing your website has been proven to increase trust and is strongly associated with brand loyalty.
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5. Generate and Share Online Reviews
Actively encourage all your customers to evaluate their experience and leave detailed reviews on Google and other feedback forums. This is especially important for service businesses and tradespeople, segments where customers see business reviews as a key factor in their decision-making.
Proactively ask clients to post reviews right after a job, when their experience is still fresh. Encourage them to write detailed reviews highlighting specific aspects of your service instead of just star ratings. 47% of consumers said that reviews with only stars and hardly any words make them suspicious.
Besides Google, other local directory platforms where you can ask customers to leave reviews include Yelp, Facebook, and industry-specific platforms like Houzz for landscaping design services.
Once you’ve collected a decent amount of quality reviews, make sure to share them on your website and other marketing materials. The social proof of happy customers goes a long way in persuading others.
You can also incentivize reviews by offering discounts on future services, or leverage reputation marketing services to become a highly sought-after business in your area.
6. Use Social Media for Marketing
While having a website is essential, don't underestimate the marketing power of social media. Platforms like Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and others allow you to reach local customers where they spend time online. 32% of consumers use Instagram and 20% consult TikTok to make up their minds about which local business to use.
Valuable social media practices include:
- Post photos of stunning lawn transformations and landscaping projects to showcase your skills.
- Share valuable, engaging content, such as seasonal maintenance tips or inspirational garden ideas.
- Promote sales and special offers but don’t overdo promotional material.
- Respond promptly to comments and inquiries. A 2023 report from Sprout Social found that the most memorable brands are those that respond to customers.
Social media provides a direct line for customers to engage with your brand and build familiarity. Be sure to link to your site and contact info so interested prospects can easily learn more and get in touch.
7. Leverage Location-Based Mobile Ads
Geo-targeted mobile ads allow you to promote your services to potential customers in your service area. Platforms like Google Local Service Ads let you target by location, demographics, interests, and other criteria ideal for your niche.
Mobile ads also work on a pay-per-click model, so you only pay when someone taps on your ad. Well-crafted mobile ads displayed to the right users can drive calls and conversions.
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8. Launch a YouTube Channel
Don't just post sporadic, advertising videos –– launch a full YouTube channel focused on landscaping tips, ideas, tutorials, and other interesting content. Outside of standard review platforms, YouTube stands as the most used resource for finding information about local businesses.
Regular weekly video content will slowly help build up your subscriber base. Marry the topics you cover with your ideal client profiles and buyer personas. Remember to link to your services and cross-promote your videos across other marketing channels.
9. Create Useful Content for Prospective Clients
One of the most effective yet underutilized local marketing tactics is consistently creating and distributing relevant, valuable content tailored to your ideal lawn care customers.
For example:
- A weekly or monthly email newsletter filled with actionable tips on topics like spring planting preparation and fall lawn repair.
- YouTube video tutorials on DIY garden care. These can pique customer interest and lead them to hire your company instead of actually doing it themselves.
- Write blog posts on topics like water conservation and hardscaping ideas.
- Offer free downloadables like landscape design templates or maintenance checklists.
This content serves as a kind of helpful pre-selling that builds your expertise and audience. When readers need professional services later on, they will be more inclined to contact your company.
10. Distribute Landscaping Flyers and Door Hangers
While digital marketing opens up new possibilities, there’s still scope for some tried-and-true direct mail promotion. Print glossy, full-color flyers and door hangers showcasing your services, project photos, special offers, and contact information.
Door hangers, in particular, have been found to have a high ROI. The Data and Marketing Association found that the average response rate of this method is around 4%, which is pretty high considering that the method is quite inexpensive. The Association also found that one of the top sectors where door hangers were most effective is home improvement.
Build a plan to target neighborhoods and homeowners associations with demographics and home profiles matching your ideal client. You can consider hiring neighborhood kids looking to earn extra money to distribute your material door-to-door for greater cost-effectiveness and reach.
11. Leverage Email Marketing
Email marketing remains one of the most cost-effective yet powerful promotional avenues. Collect email addresses from your website visitors and build a subscriber list of local prospective customers interested in lawn care services.
Your email strategy must be well-defined and purposeful. Have a healthy mix of regular email newsletters to build familiarity and share helpful tips, company updates, promotions for seasonal service packages and landscape project specials, and follow-up emails after sales calls or estimates.
For example, you may have one list of people who specifically signed up at a local in-person event, a second list of people who sign up for promotions on your website, and a third list of folks who are existing customers.
Each email list deserves a separate type of email:
- You could personalize an email to list one and reiterate your appreciation that they took the time to chat at that one local event.
- For the second email list, you know that these people love a good deal so only email them sparingly (e.g., once a month, quarter, or year depending on your services).
- The last list could be a special one that receives an email leading up to the summer season where landscaping’s a great priority. You could consider sharing an early bird deal if they claim a monthly service for the spring and summer.
Those are just a few ideas! But whatever you decide, the key is providing value and building relationships over time, not just blasting sales pitches. Personalized and well-timed emails convert. Just avoid overdoing it or spamming people. Platforms like MailChimp help track metrics like open and click-through rates to continually optimize your efforts for maximum ROI.
12. Don’t Be Afraid to Offer Promotions
Occasional promotions are a proven way to acquire new customers, especially in the competitive landscape industry.
Apart from seasonal or product-specific discounts, think about running referral programs. They reward existing clients for sharing your company with friends and neighbors needing landscape services. Ideally, referrals should be designed as a two-way benefits program––where the referrer and the client referred both get a benefit.
Promotions create excitement, urgency, and word-of-mouth buzz. On top of that, in promotions like referrals, the only expenses you incur are for customers who have converted, making them a safer investment.
(We previously covered exactly how to ask for customer referrals and the exact steps you need to take.)
13. Keep Marketing Your Lawn Care Business in the Off-Season
Just because winter hits doesn’t mean your marketing efforts go into hibernation. Use the slower months as a prime opportunity to plan and prepare for the season ahead. It’s the ideal time to adapt your strategies.
Here are a few things you can consider:
- Cater to off-season needs on your website and align social media strategy with it.
- Create content and blog posts that will resonate during this time.
- Develop special offers and promotions that you wouldn’t have during the regular season.
- Send newsletters providing winter lawn care tips and other non-promotional, value-adding material.
- Run holiday sales on gift certificates.
Staying top-of-mind with customers year-round keeps you poised for growth when the peak season returns.
14. Build Partnerships with Other Home Services or Local Businesses in Your Community
Consider strategic partnerships with complementary businesses in your area like irrigation specialists, swimming pool companies, outdoor living retailers, and local nurseries.
Offering cross-promotions where you both recommend each others’ services, co-host local workshops and events, or deploy referral partnerships with realtors and home stagers. Such activities help deepen relationships with other local businesses and grow the entire community.
Partnering expands your reach exponentially and positions you as a well-connected local company actively involved in the community. This inevitably builds lucrative word-of-mouth buzz.
How to Effectively Execute Landscape Marketing Ideas
You don’t need to implement all 14 of these landscape marketing ideas. That said, if you have the resources in your toolbox, go for it!
Thankfully, implementing even a few of the marketing strategies above can pay major dividends growing your lawn care clientele and revenue.
Identify where your strengths are, what your budget is, how much time you can invest, and double-down on a few things that work. You’ll be sure
It’s tempting to want to do it all, but you’ll see steady results soon if you set aside time each week to nurture your marketing efforts across different platforms and channels.
If you lack the time or just aren’t up to doing it by yourself, put it in the trustworthy hands of an expert like NiceJob! Built for busy and budget-conscious businesses, NiceJob takes care of everything from reviews and referrals to social media content and website building. They also cater specifically to home services like landscaping.
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