In today’s dynamic business environment, efficient landscape marketing is incredibly important. This is especially true for business owners in the landscaping and lawn care sector, as they have witnessed a major shift from traditional advertising to digital channels. While all marketing efforts help attract more customers, it can be beneficial to have a qualified marketing partner by your side to create a plan that aligns with your business goals. Implementing effective business marketing strategies can greatly benefit your landscaping business. However, with so many marketing ideas available, it is common for owners to feel overwhelmed and unsure of how to begin marketing their business. In this article, we will explore the most effective tactics for marketing your landscape services, offer tips on acquiring landscaping clients, and help your business stand out in today’s competitive marketing landscape.
Understanding the Landscape Market
For a landscaping business owner, it’s important to understand that the landscape business involves more than just cutting grass or creating beautiful gardens. It’s essential to understand the needs of potential customers and effectively market your landscaping service. Local business owners, particularly those in the landscaping industry, face numerous challenges, from day-to-day operations to managing staff, which can be tiring. To be successful in the short and long term, a business cannot neglect its marketing efforts. With a large number of competitors in the industry, it’s more crucial than ever to stand out. To effectively market your landscape business, you must make every effort to understand the needs of both residential and commercial customers. While residential customers may require a lawncare service for their homes, commercial clients may need comprehensive landscaping services for their business premises. By catering to both types of clients, you expand your reach and increase your business’s potential.
Growing Your Business Online
Landscape and lawn care businesses can benefit immensely from SEO (Search Engine Optimization). When a homeowner types “landscape business near me” or “landscaping services” on a search engine, you’d want your business to appear at the top. Regularly updating your Google Business Profile and leveraging Google local services ads can make a significant difference in your online visibility.
Further, utilize social media marketing to showcase your work and engage with both new and existing clients. Platforms like Facebook allow you to set up a business page, where you can share images of your recent projects, post business hours, and even set up Facebook Advertising targeting your local area.
Consider offline strategies like direct mail campaigns, distributing business cards with eye-catching designs, and fostering a referral program to encourage customers to spread the word about your impeccable landscaping services.
Paid Advertising – Search Engines, Social Media & Video
When it comes to generating leads on the Internet, Google is the dominant platform. However, there are other sources such as Facebook and YouTube that can also provide a satisfactory flow of leads. Fortunately, you have the option to pay for advertising on these platforms.
Using paid ads is comparable to igniting a fire with gasoline. When implemented correctly, you will achieve immediate outcomes. However, once the funds for these advertisements are depleted, you must allocate additional resources to sustain the fire. This approach may not foster a sustainable fire, but it can certainly generate leads while you await the natural burning of wood. Now, let’s examine the various types of paid advertisements that prove most productive for lawn and landscape businesses.
Search Engine Advertising
n search engine results by paying for ads.
When customers in your local area are searching to hire your services, search engines are the main platforms that control advertisements.
Google Local Service Ads (LSA) is a Google advertising platform that allows you to pay for phone calls rather than clicks. Prior to running ads, it is necessary to undergo a background, license, and insurance check.
Google Ads are pay-per-click (PPC) ads that require bidding on keywords related to searches within a specific location. If a user clicks on your ad and visits your website, you will be charged by Google.
Microsoft Ads are identical to Google Ads in every aspect, with the exception that they are displayed on all search engines excluding Google.
In the lawn and landscape industry, these types of leads tend to have a closing rate of approximately 50%. The cost-per-lead (CPL) for search ads can vary significantly depending on your services and competition. For lawn care, we have observed lead costs as low as $15-$20, whereas for landscape construction, they can surpass $200 per lead. On average, lead costs usually fall within the range of $30-$60.
Social Media Advertising
Social media ads and search engine ads share similarities in terms of paying platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn for exposure to potential customers. However, there is a key distinction in the way audiences interact with these platforms. Customers inform Google about their intent to purchase your services, whereas they do not explicitly inform companies like Facebook and LinkedIn. Additionally, the costs associated with these ads vary significantly. While a single click on Google can be quite expensive, social media allows you to reach hundreds of individuals for a similar cost.
Properly targeting your audience and crafting an effective message are key factors for success in social media advertising. The primary form of campaign often employed is reaching out to a new audience, aiming to connect with individuals who are not yet acquainted with your business.
To ensure a successful campaign when running new audience outreach programs, it is important to focus on individuals whose interests and purchasing behaviors closely resemble those of your ideal client. By identifying where your customers shop for groceries, their preferred vacation destinations, their professions, hobbies, and group affiliations, you can effectively tailor your campaign. Integrating geographical and demographic targeting, along with the appropriate messaging and creativity, will likely yield positive outcomes.
Once a successful campaign is in progress, the cost of generating social media leads on Facebook is relatively low. Typically, leads from social campaigns can be obtained for about $10-$20. However, the issue lies in the quality of these leads. In comparison to leads from search engines, social media leads tend to have lower contact and closing rates.
YouTube Advertising
As video consumption continues to rise in popularity, YouTube ads offer the opportunity to reach viewers during their video watching experience. While YouTube ads are managed through the Google Ads platform, they come with a billing model that allows you to effectively target a wide audience at minimal expenses. The crucial factor for achieving success with YouTube ads lies in the hook, which consists of the initial seconds of a video and serves the purpose of captivating the viewer’s attention.
YouTube ads require a significant amount of effort from your team to create video content, although they can be highly effective. Targeting audiences can be done in several ways, including through interests, demographics, topics, and keywords, similar to search ads. It is important to note that YouTube, as the second most-used search engine, is owned by Google.
Although there are additional challenges associated with YouTube, the video content created for advertising campaigns can offer significant value for your search engine optimization, also known as SEO.
By effectively monitoring data, the utilization of multiple paid advertising platforms will generate prompt leads and ensure a swift return on your marketing investment. This aspect of the plan acts as an accelerant and serves to supplement your SEO efforts until they become effective.
SEO – Website, Content, Google Business, Reviews & More
SEO, also known as Search Engine Optimization, entails enhancing the ranking of your website and business on search engines without the use of paid ads. It is often likened to discovering a valuable reward at the end of a challenging journey. This analogy stems from the fact that a majority of customers overlook sponsored advertisements and instead opt for organic search results, generating significantly more potential leads without incurring any cost. Our primary objective is for SEO efforts to contribute to approximately 80% to 90% of our customers’ overall lead generation.
While SEO generates the best return on investment, it can be compared to wood in a fire. Similar to how wood sustains a fire, SEO ensures a sustainable approach to maintaining a full sales pipeline. However, both wood and SEO require time to yield results. To achieve success with SEO, one must consistently make efforts to enhance their authority and content.
Leave a Reply