If you are a landscape architect or own a landscaping company, we’ve put together a few helpful strategies around marketing for landscapers. Each business and industry is unique, so some marketing tips may work for one company but not another. Here are six strategies you can use to generate new customers for your landscaping business.
1. Provide free, educational content to your audience
Building trust with your target audience is the first step to converting them into loyal customers. How do you build trust with your potential customers? Content. Creating free, educational content for your readership is the best way to build trust and establish yourself as the authority on landscaping in your area. Take the first step towards a strong local marketing strategy by creating a company blog.
In a previous blog post, Hyport Digital discussed the benefits of blogging as part of local marketing for small businesses. Blogging is not only helpful for Google rankings, it creates a following of readers who enjoy your content and want to learn more from you. This makes it much easier to urge them to schedule a landscaping consultation with your company.
If the prospect of monthly blog posts is a bit overwhelming, we get it. Small business owners are incredibly busy. That’s why Hyport Digital offers blog writing services to our clients.
2. Create a word-of-mouth referral program.
Landscaping business marketing is very unique. While most industries are moving entirely to digital advertising, landscaping architects and business owners still find great success through print advertising and word-of-mouth referrals. If a homeowner loves your landscaping design and upkeep, they are very likely to tell their friends and neighbors about your services.
A great local marketing strategy for landscapers is creating a word-of-mouth referral and rewards program. Happy, loyal customers are your best salespeople. Offer discounts or free services to customers who refer additional clients to you. Perhaps a client who refers five friends to your company receives three months of free yard maintenance. Get creative, but don’t miss out on the opportunity to reward your loyal customers for their work in bringing you new business.
Landscape Leadership states that successful landscapers “can give detailed reporting on proposals generated and business closed on referral opportunities.” Track your success and prioritize what works best for you.
3. Make connections with home builders and realtors in your area.
Don’t underestimate the power of small business networking in your city. Home builders want to build relationships with high quality landscaping businesses to design and customize the foliage and flower beds for new builds. Not only do home builders tend to use the same subcontractors over and over, they offer a continuous stream of work for landscapers year-round.
Another potential partner for a landscaping business is your local realtor. When a house is on the market for a long period of time, a realtor wants to make sure the yard is clean and tidy for showings. If you offer lawn care services, this is a great opportunity to connect with realtors about being their first choice for lawn care. Small business networking could look like walking into their local office and dropping off a business card or sending a casual introductory email with pictures of your work.
4. Advertise on Facebook and target specific neighborhoods.
If you don’t have social media pages, now is the time to create them. Social media is not going away. If you are looking for strategies on marketing for landscapers, most marketing professionals will recommend creating a presence on Facebook and Instagram. If your target audience includes homeowners in your city, create a Facebook Ad that targets homeowners in a certain zip code.
Don’t overwhelm the reader with flashing colors and huge, all-caps headlines. The reader is the protagonist in their own story. You are offering a solution to fix a problem they may not realize they have. Ask questions like “Thinking about redesigning your landscaping?” or “Are you tired of mowing in the heat?”
5. Connect with an HOA.
Homeowners associations (HOAs) offer direct connections to your target audience. If you can make lasting relationships with the members of an HOA, you can immediately increase your customer base. HOA leadership often hire landscapers to redesign their gated entries and to upkeep the common areas in a neighborhood. Make an effort to meet the leaders of the HOAs in person with a professional business card. When new families move into a neighborhood, they may ask the HOA for recommendations on landscaping businesses, and you want to be top of mind.
6. Hire professional brand designers for a logo, business card design and worker uniforms.
Our last landscaping business marketing strategy involves hiring a professional to design a company logo and business card. Don’t just take it from us.
Turf Magazine writes that “a professional business card can be the deciding factor on whether or not you get that commercial account callback.” You are the expert in your field, and you want your company branding to reflect your professionalism, knowledge and experience. If you’ve never hired a designer to look at your brand, check out Hyport Digital’s branding services. Another tip is to create a standard uniform for your staff when they are on a job site. Use your branding to create T-shirts that speak to your professionalism.
Conclusion
We hope these tips on local marketing for small businesses have helped you brainstorm ideas for generating new customers. Don’t forget that generated leads tend to take potential customers to your website. Gain some inspiration for home services designs by checking out our portfolio of websites that we created for home services professionals.
If you have questions about our digital marketing services for small business owners, please contact us for a free consultation!
