Most professional players want to be in their club’s first-team squad, but some don’t make the cut. We could say the same about businesses – every firm wants to be at the top, but only the best ones make it. If you want your landscaping or lawn care business to be among the cream of the crop, you need a solid marketing strategy. To this end, you may resort to hiring a pro offering results-proven online marketing for landscapers.
But remember, although you can use various approaches to market your landscaping business, not all of them can generate the results you have in mind. That said, here are seven advertising strategies you can implement before the busy season begins to get more clients and increase revenue:
1) Set Up a Business Website
When you think about businesses doing well nowadays, you’ll notice they have a strong online presence. In short, they have a website in place. But, it’s not enough to just have a website – you need a high-quality website that’s easy to use if you want to attract customers.
And what better way to showcase your work than with a landscaping website? By investing in a landscaping website, you’re showing potential customers that you’re serious about your business. Plus, it creates a platform for your business, allowing them to find more information about your company easily.
In a world where we get the most information about nearly everything online, a landscaping website is an essential investment for any business. So, what’re the elements you need to incorporate into your website? Here’re a few pointers:
- A modern, responsive design.
- Photos and videos of your work.
- An easy-to-use contact form.
- Testimonials from satisfied clients.
2) Stay Connected with Your Clients
Keep in touch with your prospective and existing customers. You can go about this in several ways, depending on where you live and the resources at your disposal. This may include:
- Being active on social media – can help you raise awareness or promote your business.
- Email marketing by targeting homeowners or businesses in your locality.
- Networking via good old face-to-face interactions.
- Using local web directories to market your business.
- Sending out postcards or flyers.
The key is to be consistent in your marketing efforts. If you only market your business when you need clients, they’ll only think of you when they need your services. However, if you keep in touch with them all year round, they’ll consider you first when ready to hire a landscaper. In short, staying connected with your clients can build relationships, promote your services, and help you linger in your customers’ minds.
That said, there’s no one right way to connect with your customers (potential and existing ones). So, experiment and find what works best for your business. Your clients will appreciate the effort, and you could reap the benefits in the form of repeat business and referrals.
3) Focus on SEO
If you want your website and social media platforms to rank high on search engines, focus on SEO (search engine optimization). This ensures potential clients in your area can easily find you when they search for landscaping businesses online. As far as SEO goes, you can do the following to improve the ranking and visibility of your website:
- Use relevant keywords in your content.
- Optimize your website for mobile devices.
- Improve your website’s loading speed.
- Publish high-quality content regularly.
- Promote your content through social media and email marketing.
By improving your SEO, you can increase traffic to your website and generate more leads. In other words, to have potential clients calling your number, ensure your website is SEO friendly.
Essentially, SEO is a long-term strategy focusing on improving your website’s ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). This can take months to achieve, but once you rank high in the SERPs, you can get consistent organic traffic. And a rise in traffic can lead to new customers and increase your sales.
Did you also know that most people don’t go past the first page of search results? Well, when did you last look at the second page when researching an issue or looking for information? See, it’s that simple – have your content appear on page one, and the world is your oyster!
Similarly, SEO can help you build trust and credibility with potential customers. When your site appears in the top results for relevant keywords, it tells people you’re a trusted authority in your industry.
And by appearing in the search results, you can reach more people actively looking for what you have to offer. So if you’re not using SEO, you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity to grow your business. In short, SEO helps you generate leads and grow your business over time.
4) Generate Leads with PPC Advertising
PPC (pay-per-click) advertising allows you to pay only when someone clicks on your ad. For instance, Google Ads is one of the most popular PPC platforms, allowing you to run ads on both Google Search and Google Maps.
Similarly, it puts your company in front of potential customers actively searching for landscaping businesses in their area. It’s also a cost-effective marketing strategy as you only pay for leads that have the potential to turn into paying customers.
Most businesses are constantly exploring potential strategies to help them gain some traction in their market. PPC is a short-term strategy that involves paying for ads that appear in the SERPs. And although these ads are more expensive than organic listings, they can help you generate leads quickly.
If you want to have a powerful impact on prospective customers, then PPC is a better option. Here’re the potential rationales for PPC:
- You want to jump-start your lawn care business’ lead generation efforts quickly.
- Your marketing budget is limited.
- You have a specific target location in mind.
- You operate in a highly competitive industry.
PPC can help you hit the ground running, if we may. As such, it can complement SEO efforts by facilitating the achievement of your lead generation goals.
That said, your business can ill-afford to ignore SEO. While it takes longer to generate results, it is a much cheaper way to get traffic in the long run. As such, you should see it as an investment that pays off down the line.
When executed correctly, SEO and PPC can be a powerful one-two punch that helps you generate leads and grow your business. It might also help to talk to a digital marketing agency to see how these two strategies can work in tandem to help you achieve your lawn care business goals.
5) Get Reviews and Testimonials
In today’s digital world, reviews and testimonials play a significant role in the decision-making process for many consumers. In fact, studies show that nearly 9 in 10 consumers say that positive online reviews influence their purchasing decisions.
So, if you want your landscaping business to succeed, encourage your customers to offer feedback regarding your services. Here’s a quick guide to ensure such an approach works for your landscaping business:
- Ask customers to leave a review on your Google Business page (prospective customers tend to trust reviews on independent platforms).
- Respond to both positive and negative reviews.
- Add testimonials to your website.
- Mention customer testimonials in your email marketing campaigns.
By getting reviews and testimonials, you can build trust with potential clients. Plus, such reviews can offer you insights into ways to improve your business. And when would-be customers see your authentic approach to resolving issues, they might be more eager to do business with you.
6) Get Involved in Your Community
To get your business noticed, get involved in your community. Case in point, you can sponsor a local event. You may also support local charities or community projects. By doing so, you can help raise awareness of your business.
Plus, it creates a sense of goodwill and loyalty among community members, even as you promote your brand. In turn, this may encourage potential customers to perceive you as trustworthy. As you advance, consider incorporating community involvement into your lawn care business’ marketing mix.
7) Leverage Social Media
Social media provides a cost-effective way to reach out to potential and existing customers. And since most people have some form of social media account, it makes sense to leverage platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote your landscaping business. To this end, the following tips can help you along:
- Use hashtags to reach a wider audience.
- Share photos and videos of your work on social media platforms.
- Use paid advertising on social media platforms.
- Host giveaways and competitions on social media.
Promoting your businesses on social media means reaching a larger client base. And such a pool of potential clients can quickly turn into paying customers.
All factors considered, business success only happens when preparation meets opportunity. So, start preparing and implementing these marketing strategies for your landscaping business to take off in 2022. And once you’re off to the races, your win might be right around the corner.