Marketing your landscaping business can be a tough job.
In many locations, landscaping is a cyclical business. This means that during the warmer spring and summer months business could be booming while in the colder months it is stagnate. To capitalize on this you need to make sure that you are investing in marketing your landscaping business year round.
The following are some effective marketing ideas that can help your landscaping business grow immensely…
Develop a professional website.
Your website is the front door to your business on the web. Does it look inviting? Does it represent the work you do? If it isn’t up to par, potential customers will leave in the blink of an eye.
You should invest in a website that is easily navigable, explains your services, and shares images of previous projects/testimonials. Making your site fun and simple to view help pull in new customers by gaining their trust right from the their initial impression of your business.
Focus on branding yourself.
Creating a brand is important for all types of business – big or small. A brand is what differentiates you from your competition and if you don’t have one, there’s nothing keeping potential customers from choosing you over another landscaping business. You want your brand to be inviting and warm. How do you do this? Here are a few tips…
- Make sure that you have a consistent brand (logo, color scheme, font, etc) across all marketing channels. These patterns make it easier for potential customers to distinguish the difference between your business and your competitors.
- Have a professional logo created that visually incorporates the mission of your business.
- Have a designer create a color scheme that represents your business. For a landscaping business, you may want to go with “earth” tones such as green and brown.
Invest in local SEO.
Search Engine Optimization, also called “SEO”, is the process of boosting your website in the search results so that it can be easily found by potential customers. By having your website on the first page of search engines for keywords that your target audience is searching for in order to find your business, you increase the likelihood of them going with your business.
Just look at the amount of people that are searching monthly for the keyword “landscaping nj”…
Don’t forget about social media.
Social media is a great way tool for listening and finding potential customers. Just head over to Twitter.com/search-advanced, type in a keyword related to your business, and refine the results by your target city.
Take a look at the example tweet I found below.
All you need to do once you find people talking about landscaping is to reach out to them and start a conversation with them. This is a great way to organically gain new customers.
Start early.
As mentioned before, landscaping is a cyclical business in many areas. To take advantage of the down time, be sure not to let your marketing initiatives slip. While you may not feel the repercussions now, once the warmer months come, you may be wondering where all the new customers are.
Focus on building relationships.
The cost of acquiring a new customer is 6 to 7 times more than keeping an old one (source). It makes sense, you don’t need to spend any money marketing to keep an old customer, you only need to prove your services by doing a great job to keep them coming back. Focus on making sure your current clients know they are appreciated by offering discounts for repeat services, giving out t-shirts with your logo on it, and even sending them a card around the holidays.
Understand your competitors.
One of the best ways to learn new marketing ideas is to “borrow” them from your competition. Take a look around at your industry and notice who is doing the best. What are they doing right? Do they have a professional website that lets customers schedule services right from their computer/phone? Are they investing in SEO or PPC? Doing simple research on your competition can help you determine which direction you should take your marketing strategy.
