Create Goodwill With Neighborhood Involvement
Offer your landscaping services to local civic organizations that focus on community beautification and local revitalization efforts.
You can even give gift certificates for your landscaping services to charity raffles and auctions.
When you give back to the community your prospects and customers not only see your business even more, but they like to see youre helping others.
So remember to take pictures of those community organizations finished landscaping jobs and show off your goodwill on your website AND social media.
Speaking of pictures
You can sponsor a sports team or local event and get your landscaping businesss logo shown in the events brochures and other promotions.
Get pictures of the sports team or event you sponsor and again:
Show them on your website or even in your next email newsletter!
If an HOA or community center sends out a newsletter, get your business a spot in the community news!
Attending those HOA meetings wouldnt hurt either
Thats where you can pitch your lawn services to the board and get your business hired for a whole or part of the associations property!
Speaking of collaborating with HOAs
Establish Your Pricing Structure
Most lawn care companies base prices on the size of a lawn.
To come up with a competitive rate, calculate the total square footage of your lawn. Then, get estimates from a bunch of companies in your area. Have family and friends do this too so you can set your prices that arent too high or low.
Make sure you factor in the cost of materials, labor, equipment, and business overhead.
Nail Your Google Listing To Generate Free Leads From Google
Register for a FREE . Its how youll update your Google listing for your landscaping business, meaning
This:
When someone googles for landscaping services like yours , one of the first things Google shows from its search is your Google business listing .
Your Google listing can show pictures of your landscaping work plus all information googlers want to see right off the bat. This information gets pulled from data you enter in your Google My Business account.
So you need to make sure you have this data entered correctly, specifically:
- Your businesss actual name
- Address
- Phone number
- Hours of operation
- Category of your business.
Youll also manage and respond to any Google reviews from your Google My Business account more on why thats important in #9.
Again, make sure you keep ALL your contact information updated in your Google My Business account since inaccurate information about you will actually prevent Google from bringing up your business in searches. Meaning, your business may end up showing up LESS in Google searches
Which is NOT what we want considering Google is the #1-used search engine in the U.S!
So if your address OR hours change make sure to update it in Google My Business.
Another benefit to keeping your businesss information totally up-to-date is youll be found easier on Google Maps!
So make sure your businesss contact information is correct on these websites too:
- Yelp
Plus, Google Maps results show up even BEFORE organic results
See:
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Market Before The Busy Season
Peak season for landscaping business typically starts in spring and continues till fall, depending on a locality. But do not wait for the season to start. If you do, then you will lag behind other companies that have already launched their marketing well ahead of the season. They will win the landscaping contracts, not you.
However, your advertisements and all other visual means should be impressive. So, hire online graphic design services of some experienced professionals who will create visuals that stand out. You can build a good impression on the people this way.
Looking For a Landscaping Logo Design?
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Train Your Lawn Care Crew To Be Amazing Salespeople
Your lawn care crew can be your best advocates! Which is why you should train them to be salespeople.
Since they work directly with your clients, they already know what your ideal clients want, what they hate, and what they wish they had
And if they dont already know this, then they can easily find out by talking to them.
Now, your lawn care crew has all of the necessary information they need to win you more ideal clients.
All thats left? Teach them how to sell to people.
Personally, I recommend having your crew read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Its a sales marketing classic, and all of the concepts work without making you feel like a pushy car salesman.
Everything in this book boils down into three main categories:
When you and your crew know your clients, youll not only be able to sell more to them, but you can also do a better job too because you know what they expect of you.
This makes it SUPER easy to sell to them in-person to get new clients and upsells from your current ones.
Plus, don’t forget to upsell your lawn care services!
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Help New Customers Find You With Seo
Your website design could be award-winning, but if none of your potential customers can find it, then its useless.Thats where SEO comes in.
Search engine optimization is a fancy way to describe the process of making it easier for people to find you online. In theory, the sooner they find you, the sooner you win the business over your competitor.
Search online for your lawn care business name and see how long it takes you to find your business page in the search results. The further away it is from the first page of results, the less likely it is people will choose you. Here are some ways to get it closer to showing up on the first page:
- Set up and maintain social media accounts using your business name
- Write regular blog posts that use commonly searched keywords, such as lawn care maintenance, best lawn mowing service, or lawn care services
- Set your service area and service offerings on Yelp
- Build on local SEO by including links and partnerships to local businesses and events in your content
Most SEO activities can be done yourself if you have the time. Otherwise, consider using some of your budget to hire professional marketing support.
What To Do When You Have Emails
First off, email is critical for selling to people who are on the fence, so always be sure to keep email address acquisitions a top priority for all leads and clients.
Plan out a series of welcome emails – and then automate your campaign.
The email campaign youre sending to leads should have a healthy mix of:
- Valuable content
- Hard sells
- SPEARs
By continuously practicing healthy email marketing, you can stay in front of your market at all times.
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The Easiest Way To Be A Pro At Seo
Even better than creating an amazing website is creating a website that appears at the top of search results.
SEO is the combination of healthy web practices and keyword usage that puts your website at the top of search results.
Since websites with good SEO get seen first, businesses that invest in SEO are getting over 50% of web traffic.
Good SEO can be several times more profitable than great flyers!
Read our full SEO guide for lawn care to find out more.
Tip : Stay Organised From The Start Before You Get Busy
When you own a lawn care service, your most important job, of course, would be the actual lawn care. However, even if you only have a couple of customers when you first start your lawn care business, it is important that you record details so that you can create a good habit in the beginning. These days, you should really be somewhat familiar with excel, google sheets, or even specialised software.
Here’s a pretty entertaining video from Curtis from New Orleans on running his lawn care business, he really breaks things down.
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Lawn Care Marketing Ideas For Better Leads
Successful online marketing relies on two key areas: one is a high-quality, mobile-friendly website and the other is the strategy that helps your ideal customers find that website. With so much information on the internet competing for attention, below are three essentials that can help set you apart and attract new clients to your lawn care business.
The Search Engines Change Constantly
Google.com is always changing, and at the moment the fastest and easiest way to get on the 1st page is by using YouTube.com. Of course, you will want to rank your actual landscaping website as well.
Landscaper marketing used to be a phone number on a truck magnetic sign and lawn flyers. When you got more lawn customers, and could afford the high cost, you would buy an ad in the Yellow Pages.
Sorry people. That is so 2008! It just doesnt work anymore. And the yellow pages are WAY too expensive! $1000 + a month for a full page ad? Here in Orlando its $2500. Per month, per book. We got three. $7500 per month. Chances are, if you were getting a positive ROI on $80,000 + per year on advertising costs, you would not be researching lawn care marketing right now on your computer or phone. Ya with me ?
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Optimize Your Social Media Pages
Have you been neglecting your social media pages this season? Its easy to do when youre out in the field and running your business. Finding the time for proper marketing, branding, and maintaining a professional, online appearance is difficult.
Whether most of your customers come from social media or not, people are looking for your brand not only through search engines like Google or Bing, but also through social media. Theyre looking at your community presence, your brand personality, the quality of your work, and most importantly your reviews on multiple platforms.
Residential customers are looking at your Facebook profile while commercial clients are taking a look at your professional appearance on LinkedIn.
Take the time this winter to give your social media pages a professional makeover. If youre not sure where to start, take a look at this guide on how to .
Invest In Online And Offline Advertising
Today, the most effective marketing techniques include relying on more than one type of lawn care advertising, like direct mail. Customers get their information from multiple sources, enabling you to regularly remind them about your services.
Thus, youll want to create marketing campaigns that reach your target customers through multiple channels. One of the most effective ways to do this is through digital marketing. Some of your best options include:
- Social media marketing campaigns: Social media lets you advertise your lawn care business through popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. These platforms let you reach thousands of potential customers and showcase your lawn care skills through photos and videos of your best work, effectively communicating the value of your service.
- Email marketing campaigns: Email marketing is very cost-effective and offers a return on investment of $42 for every $1 spent. You can automate your email campaign to send targeted emails at key points before the busy season. With careful timing, these reminders of your lawn care service will make you more likely to convert potential clients.
- Google Ads: More people are turning to online searches to find the services they need. By investing in Google Ads, your lawn care business will appear at the top of Google search results when your potential customers start looking up lawn care services online.
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Registering Your Lawn Care Business
The first step you will need to take is how you want to structure your business which is considered the registration step.
The main options to choose from are:
- Sole Proprietorship,
- LLC, and
- Corporation.
Generally, most lawn care businesses only need to be registered under your business name under your local government, but if you are looking for protection of your personal assets , you might choose an LLC.
A local attorney can help you set this up and tell you how to start a lawn care business legally. Or you can go with LegalZoom, which will probably be a little cheaper.
Most new lawn care businesses that are a one-man show start out as a Sole Proprietorship, which keeps taxes and book-keeping simple, and you are not required to pay much up-front to get up and running legally.
But as you get more clients and do more work, you really ought to transition to an LLC to protect your personal assets in the event of a legal dispute.
Build A Local Network
Connecting with local businesses is a winning lawn care marketing strategy that creates mutually beneficial relationships and generates referrals.
Leave a few business cards in high-traffic shops and on coffee shop community boards. You can return the favor by picking up a few coffees for the crew or customers at your next job in the area.
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Get Too Many Lawn Care Referrals
New clients dont trust you.
Heres why: You sell an invasive service, and youre a stranger working on their property.
And while this is true, can you guess who they DO trust?
Their friends and family.
Word of mouth referrals are a powerful tool you can use to sell your invasive services – like lawn care and landscaping.
Your clients NEED to trust you, and great referrals skip over that trust barrier.
Even better?
Over time, referrals snowball into more referrals. In other words, one good client can win you two more then four, and so on And before you know it, clients will start finding you.
Just follow these magical steps to win amazing lawn care referrals:
- Ask for referrals at the right time
- Focus on the clients who LOVE you
- Equip you and your team with business cards at ALL times
- Use better referral incentives and offers
Great referrals cost $0, and theyll boost your lawn care business revenue and reputation.
Create An Effective Brand Identity
People who invest their money in lawn care professionals are looking for more than competent landscapers. Theyre interested in hiring a business with a unique brand identity.
This goes beyond just creating an effective logo for your company . It also means employing business practices that make you stand out from other landscapers.
For instance, you can promote yourself as a professional who only uses eco-friendly products in lawn maintenance, attracting customers concerned about the environment. Or you can ease pandemic concerns by ensuring your customers that all of your employees wear masks and maintain proper social distancing while working. Advertising these practices reassures your clientele and makes them identify your business with practices they may want in a landscaper.
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Step : Create Your Business Website
After defining your brand and creating your logo the next step is to create a website for your business.
While creating a website is an essential step, some may fear that its out of their reach because they dont have any website-building experience. While this may have been a reasonable fear back in 2015, web technology has seen huge advancements in the past few years that makes the lives of small business owners much simpler.
Here are the main reasons why you shouldnt delay building your website:
- All legitimate businesses have websites – full stop. The size or industry of your business does not matter when it comes to getting your business online.
- Social media accounts like Facebook pages or LinkedIn business profiles are not a replacement for a business website that you own.
- Website builder tools like the GoDaddy Website Builder have made creating a basic website extremely simple. You dont need to hire a web developer or designer to create a website that you can be proud of.
Using our website building guides, the process will be simple and painless and shouldnt take you any longer than 2-3 hours to complete.
Recommended: Get started today using our recommended website builder or check out our review of the Best Website Builders.
Send Professional And Thorough Lawn Care Quotes
Appearance really does matter when it comes to lawn care services and bids. That means you should be sending your customers formalized and professional quotes.
Quoting isnt just a means to an end with your jobsthink of the quoting process as a communication touchpoint. It helps you set professionalism and customer service expectations high.
Its easy to underestimate the importance of the quoting process. You send off a quote, carry on with other work on your to-do list, and wait for a response from your potential customer.
But your relationship doesnt begin once youve won the jobyour relationship starts the moment you speak with your client. You can improve the chances of winning their business by improving your process and communication.
How can you do that? Give more context to your quotes.
Dont be an estimator or an order taker, Stanley Dirt Monkey Genadek tells us.
Be an educator. Be a partner. Take the time to answer questions, explain what it all means, what needs to happen, and exactly what the outcomes are that can be expected, says Stanley.
You dont just go out and hand them a quote and walk away. You become their partner on their project.
This thorough approach to quoting builds trust and loyalty with your clients. Not only are your quotes professional looking, but you also show youre willing to go the extra mile to help.
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