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Jessica Schwartz
Are You Making These Three Common Marketing Mistakes?
Optimize the advertising plan for your landscape business. As the owner of a Wakefield, RI-based landscaping company for 20 years—and with a passion for marketing and technology—I’ve spent a great deal of my time and energy exploring and experimenting with different types of marketing for my business. In the past three years, I’ve also been providing other landscape businesses with marketing and automation services through my consulting company, Ready Business Systems. Through personal experience with my company and indirect experience through my consulting work, I’ve noticed certain things lawn care and landscape business owners are doing wrong. In this article, I will be sharing the areas where landscaping companies can improve their marketing — as well as what can be done NOW to improve your landscaping company for the 2022 season. Mistake #1: No Strong Online Presence I emphasize this point because EVERYTHING is online—a situation that has only been enhanced by Covid. For all practical purposes, “finding your business online” means “finding your business on Google,” since Google is responsible for around 92% of all online searches. No matter where your customers see your name, ultimately they are going through Google to get your information. If they search on Google and don’t find your business, they are going to call your competition. In fact, many businesses’ marketing campaigns include targeting YOUR business name so they can steal your would-be customers. At a bare minimum, business owners need to have a Google My Business page, with a completed profile; ...
Are You Making These Three Common Marketing Mistakes?
Optimize the advertising plan for your landscape business. As the owner of a Wakefield, RI-based landscaping company for 20 years—and with a passion for marketing and technology—I’ve spent a great deal of my time and energy exploring and experimenting with different types of marketing for my business. In the past three years, I’ve also been providing other landscape businesses with marketing and automation services through my consulting company, Ready Business Systems. Through personal experience with my company and indirect experience through my consulting work, I’ve noticed certain things lawn care and landscape business owners are doing wrong. In this article, I will be sharing the areas where landscaping companies can improve their marketing — as well as what can be done NOW to improve your landscaping company for the 2022 season. Mistake #1: No Strong Online Presence I emphasize this point because EVERYTHING is online—a situation that has only been enhanced by Covid. For all practical purposes, “finding your business online” means “finding your business on Google,” since Google is responsible for around 92% of all online searches. No matter where your customers see your name, ultimately they are going through Google to get your information. If they search on Google and don’t find your business, they are going to call your competition. In fact, many businesses’ marketing campaigns include targeting YOUR business name so they can steal your would-be customers. At a bare minimum, business owners need to have a Google My Business page, with a completed profile; ...
Maximizing Customer Referrals
Most landscape maintenance and lawn care company owners will tell you that the best marketing campaign is word-of-mouth advertising. It’s free and easy to obtain if you’re giving your clients what they want and need for their properties. Just Ask (Or Don’t Ask) There are many ways to ask for referrals, but three popular methods include: Incentivize your clients; Incentivize your field crews; and Giving excellent service, so you don’t have to ask for referrals—they just come naturally. But before you can ask for positive reviews, you need to provide excellent work. Jeff Scott, President of New Orleans, LA-based Jeffrey Scott Consulting, Inc. says that if you give five-star service, then you shouldn’t have to ask for any referrals. Your customers will be naturally motivated to send you new clients to grow your business. “The best referrals are when the customer is bragging about you. They can’t wait to talk to you,” says Scott. Maria Pallotta of Canopy Lawn Care in Cary, NC, says it’s easier for the company to ask for referrals because management encourages field crews to create the finest property on the street. And as Scott said, the referrals spontaneously come in. “We coach our field teams to make customers’ properties the best-looking ones on the street. It helps referrals come in more naturally,” says Pallotta. “Otherwise, you won’t see results from any marketing campaign if you’re not meeting your customers’ expectations.” Dennis Evans of Quiet Village Landscaping in St. Louis, MO, agrees with Pallotta and Scott ...
