Top 3 Landscape Business Marketing Strategies In 2023

By Tony Ricketts
From the February 2023 Issue

In a world filled with self-proclaimed experts and consultants all recommending different marketing strategies, how do you know what will actually work for your lawn or landscape business? There are short-term strategies, long-term strategies, self-implemented strategies, and others that require a full team of experts to plan and execute. There are marketing strategies that work well for certain types of businesses, but not so much for others. Some marketing strategies are free and require you to put in the legwork, while others are expensive and risky. With all of these mind-numbing choices, what do you do?

The answer to filling your pipeline with leads depends on many factors, such as your desired growth rate, your budget, the amount of effort you’re willing to invest, and how quickly you need to see a return on your investment (ROI).

In 2023, the top three marketing strategies lawn and landscape businesses should focus on include Google Local Service Ads (LSA), Google Business Profile Optimization, and SMS marketing. Let’s dive into these marketing strategies that have been proven to move the needle.

#1. Google Local Service Ads

Google Local Service Ads, or LSAs, have been around since 2015, but have only become nationally available to lawn care and landscaping companies in the last couple of years. This is a short-term marketing strategy that can generate results immediately. LSAs are different from traditional Google Ads, which has been around for decades. One of the biggest differences between LSAs and traditional Google Ads is that you only pay for phone calls with LSAs, whereas you pay for clicks on traditional Google Ads. The key benefits of LSAs are:

• You only pay for phone calls.
• Lower cost per lead compared to Google Ads.
• Irrelevant and junk calls are refunded.
• Only licensed and insured professionals can participate.
• Highest placement on Google’s search results.
• Provides buyer confidence as Google guarantees your services.

To get started using Google Local Services Ads, you can visit here to enroll. The enrollment process will include a background check of the business owner, as well as a verification of your license and insurance. It’s important to note that this process can take a few weeks for Google to review your information, so it’s advised to start enrollment sooner rather than later if interested in LSAs.

Once you’re enrolled in the LSA program, there are things you can do to improve
your visibility and rankings. Some of the needle-movers for LSAs include having a fully-populated profile, 80%+ response rate, disputing any invalid calls, and building consistent reviews.

Additionally, the LSA program is some- thing that you, as a business owner, can do yourself. Most digital marketing agencies can set up and manage the program for you as well.

#2. Google Business Profile Optimization

Google Business Profile, or GBP, was formerly known as Google My Business. This is your official business listing on the Google search engine. GBPs are a critical part of your digital marketing strategy because these listings rank your business in the map results when a consumer is looking for a local service on Google. These map listings have been given more real estate on the page over the last year and are the first organic placements, directly below the paid ads.

Key benefits of a GBP include:

• Ranks your business in the local map results.
• Receives more clicks than any other placement on Google.
• It’s the most important platform for online reviews.
• Used by consumers to vet your business.
• Completely free to create your listing.

To create your free Google Business Profile, you can visit here. The setup process is rather simple and a verification will be required. The verification is typically done via postcard to your address or a video verification.

Although this profile is completely free to create, it doesn’t mean you’ll automatically be ranked when someone is searching for your services. This is where the increased costs and decreased DIY ability comes into play. Hiring a reputable marketing agency that focuses on local SEO for lawn and landscape companies can help rank your listing higher and faster. This is a long-term strategy that will yield the highest volume of leads at the lowest cost-per-lead.

The first step to ranking your GBP listing higher is ensuring it’s properly configured, which includes categories, service areas, services, products, and more. Ongoing steps to optimization include consistent 4 to 5 star reviews, responding to all reviews, posting new photos and videos monthly, publishing new content weekly, and driving engagement (questions/answers, GPS navigation, etc). There are also other factors to rank higher, which include your proximity to the searcher and your offline prominence. For these reasons, it can take time to see the results and you should pay a professional to handle it.

#3. SMS (Text) Message Marketing & Automations

SMS paired with automation is the hottest type of marketing in 2023. This is where you send text messages to your customers and prospects with various purposes. Although this type of marketing is not used to generate new leads, it is used to upsell your current customers and communicate with new leads faster. Several key benefits of SMS Marketing include:

• 100% open rate – everyone reads their text messages!
• Maximize the lifetime value (LTV) of your customers with an instant ROI.
• Cost is based on usage, making it cheaper for smaller companies.
• Numerous strategies and ways to use SMS.
• Ties into most systems for automation.

Like other marketing strategies outlined earlier, you can implement this yourself, or hire a marketing agency to do it for you. For a simple DIY option, there are many platforms that enable you to send text messages such as SimpleTexting. If you want to take your SMS game to the next level, you can hire a marketing agency to handle it for you.

For example, at my company, Lawnline Marketing, we have specialized tools and software that enable us to connect multiple systems such as CRMs, create work- flows/automations, pair email with your SMS, buy messaging credits in bulk, and then track the ROI.

Some of the most popular uses for SMS include:

• Upselling services to your existing customer base. For example, sell fertilization/weed control to your mowing customers.
• Reactivation campaigns for leads you never closed.
• Automated qualification for landscape project inquiries.
• Instant response automations to website form submissions.

The possibilities of SMS and automations continue to grow as companies become more innovative. This year, we will be implementing website form submissions to automated phone calls where your team is connected with the person that submitted the website form within just one minute of the submission. Though this uses a phone call, the technology is similar to that of the SMS technology and is an exciting emerging trend for 2023.

The marketing strategy you employ should be well thought out, budgeted, executed, and the results tracked. The last part – tracking your results – is critical for success. It’s the data analysis that tells you where to redirect your efforts and marketing dollars. ■

Ricketts is the founder and CEO of Lawnline Marketing, which offers all-inclusive digital marketing services for multi-million dollar lawn care and landscaping companies in the U.S. and Canada. Strategies include website design, SEO optimization, advertising, social media marketing, brand design, and more. For more information, call 813-944-3400 or visit the website.