You might have the trucks, the equipment, the staff and the expertise – but if you don’t have the customers, your lawn care business will be DOA. How can you attract customers and create success? Without proper marketing in place, it’s almost impossible to get leads and add new customers for your lawn care services. The good news is, there are some tried-and-true strategies that you can use to build up your customer base. Read on for the steps you can take to create a successful and sustainable lawn care business.
Advertise Through Your Personal and Professional Networks
Start with who you know. When you’re working to drum up business for your lawn care company, talk to anyone and everyone you know about it. Word-of-mouth advertising can be very powerful – people trust their friends and family when it comes to recommendations. Does your community have a chamber of commerce or local professional organization? Those can be great sources of referrals or leads as well. Attending lawn industry trade shows or conferences can also be good ways to meet new contacts.
Implement a Referral Program with Incentives
Referral programs are an excellent way for businesses to incentivize existing customers and attract potential leads. By rewarding customers with promotional offers or discounts, you’ll make them feel appreciated for their loyalty while encouraging them to share their positive experiences with your business. Customer reviews and testimonials are also important ways to spread the good word about your lawn care business. Most potential customers will look for reviews online before purchasing, and those reviews will affect their decision. Satisfied customers can be your most powerful advertising – they’re more likely to recommend your business to others, and potential customers will take their word seriously.
Have a Strong Social Media Presence
Having a strong social media presence is another important way to promote your business and connect with potential customers. It’s a great way to increase brand awareness, show off your good work and build yourself up as a trusted authority on lawn care. For example, Facebook and Instagram are both great platforms you can use. Create a page for your business on Facebook, which will allow you to promote your business and interact with customers directly on the platform. Be sure to post regularly, include branded images and use relevant Facebook groups to gain more followers. Instagram can be a good way to showcase your lawn company’s work as well, with beauty shots of lush lawns and gardens. Use relevant hashtags and keywords so people can find you easily.
Optimize Your Website for Organic Search (SEO)
Having a slick, professional-looking website is a great way to capture leads and generate interest in your business, but if nobody can find it, it won’t do you any good. That’s where search engine optimization (SEO) comes in. Optimizing your website content for SEO should be a priority for you because it will help make your website more visible online. SEO makes it easier for search engines like Google to find and index your site – the better your optimization, the more likely it is that your site will show up on relevant search results when people are looking for lawn care businesses like yours. Here are a few simple steps to get started with SEO:
- Use relevant keywords in your page titles, headings and content
- Create new content on a regular basis to make sure your website is fresh and updated
- Ensure that all pages on your site are linked correctly
- Send your site’s URL to search engines like Google and Bing to ensure it’s indexed correctly by them
- Take advantage of your social media platforms to promote your website and drive traffic there
With a bit of dedication and attention to detail, you can ensure your website is optimized and generates traffic and leads for your business!
Advertise Using Paid Media (PPC)
Digital advertising is also an important way to reach potential customers, but it can be difficult to know where to start. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is one way – it allows you to advertise on search engines as well as on social media platforms. The key to successful PPC campaigns is to ensure that your ads are targeted correctly. Target ads based on location, demographics, interests and other criteria related to the customers you want to reach. (For example: Homeowners aged 30-50 near Denver, Colorado.) Additionally, you should make sure that the keywords or phrases used in your ads are relevant to what potential customers would search for. You should also track the performance of your PPC campaigns to see what works and what doesn’t. Keep track of click-through rates, conversion rates and other metrics to identify weaknesses in your campaigns and make adjustments accordingly. The right strategies and careful optimizations will help you reach more potential customers via PPC campaigns.
Advertise with Print Marketing & Direct Mail
Print is another component of a solid marketing strategy. While you can spend time and money on targeted ads in local newspapers, newsletters or magazines, the best way to focus your print marketing efforts is on branded pieces like brochures/flyers or door hangers, direct mail postcard or letter campaigns, and lawn signs. Done right, print marketing is an effective – and cost-effective – way to promote your lawn care company and attract new customers.
Direct Mail
There’s a reason lawn care companies still use direct mail marketing to promote their businesses: It works. Unlike digital marketing, printed pieces stick around, and because they’re actual, tangible items, they create a level of connection that digital ads cannot. Sending postcards to the neighbors of your existing customers is one way to connect with valuable leads – neighbors of happy customers are five times more likely to use you for their lawn care.
Lawn Care Flyers
Creating a flyer or brochure that highlights your company is another great way to advertise your business. Flyers are cost-effective and can easily be distributed to reach potential customers. Your flyer can include important company information, showcase previous work you’ve done or even offer incentives or discounts. You can distribute flyers in neighborhoods where you’d like to expand, mail them to targeted households or post them in local businesses. Flyers can also be easily customized – if you offer different types of lawn care packages or provide services in multiple locations, you can create separate flyers aimed at specific demographics.
Door Hangers
Door hangers are a great marketing tool when you’re targeting specific neighborhoods. It’s hard for people to ignore something that’s hanging on their doorknob! Make sure to include a bold image, straightforward content that makes it easy to understand who you are and what you do, and a strong call to action.
Lawn Signs
Lawn signs enable your company to take advantage of vehicle and foot traffic passing by your customers’ locations. Most people will walk or drive by the sign in just a few seconds, so it’s important to keep it simple: An eye-catching design with bold colors, your company name and logo. The idea is to capture their attention so they look you up later. Make sure your sign is located in the right spot as well, at the edge of the lawn facing traffic so that they’re easily seen.
Provide Excellent Customer Service
Ultimately, the best thing you can do to help promote your business and get more leads is to provide excellent customer service. Not only will that encourage customer loyalty and repeat business, but your satisfied customers can provide some of your most powerful advertising. Word-of-mouth and positive reviews will help cement your reputation as a trustworthy business that does great work.
Learn How RealGreen’s Lawn Care Marketing Software Can Automate Your Marketing Strategy
Marketing your lawn care business can almost be a full time job in and of itself! Utilzing the right software can help automate those marketing tasks, enabling you to focus on providing a great customer experience. Schedule a demo today to see how RealGreen’s software solutions will help your business grow!
Getting leads is the first step in creating and maintaining a successful lawn care business. New leads allow you to reach potential customers that you may never have been able to connect with before. With a solid lead generation strategy in place, your business will be well on its way to growth! So make sure to invest time and resources into creating a lead-generating system that works best for you and your business. You won’t regret it.
Looking for the best lawn care software that shows up to work 24/7? RealGreen has the tools you need to succeed. Schedule a free demo today to find out how we can help you turn those leads into sustainable, scalable growth!
