Planning to do some advertising in the near future? Here are the 10 best ways to advertise your landscaping company. It may seem to be an arduous task but the fact is if you don't take care of your sales and marketing efforts, your company could go the way of the Dodo bird. Let's take a look at the various means for marketing and advertising landscaping services to ensure your landscape business isn't missing out.
The Basics Have Changed
Once upon a time, way back in the dark ages, the best means for advertising a landscaping company's services was to put a really expensive ad in the Yellow Pages. You could send out flyers in the mail or stick things on car windshields, but the majority of the work came in through the Yellow Pages' door.
Then the internet came along and the whole universe changed. Now, instead of having limited choices, there are dozens of choices available to businesses and deciding which marketing channel, what type of website content, and how much cost to bear for it all became the order of the day. The intricacies, complexities, and data measurement indices are beyond most landscaper's skill set and now, rather than relying on the Yellow Pages rep's input, you've got all kinds of web "experts" to work with.
In any case, landscaping companies must ensure their message is getting out loud and clear through as many marketing channels as they can.
Tried and True Sales Techniques Can Still Work
A few of the carryover marketing techniques from the 20th Century can still get results. Despite the changes in the ways consumers identify and contact businesses, these marketing methods get customers to make contact, even if it isn't exactly the most high-tech way of marketing.
The big difference today compared to times past is the consumer can easily find resources and conduct in-depth research on the company, beyond what the sales brochure may contain. Here are a few surviving marketing methods that produce results:
Direct Mail -
Sending out postcards using mailing lists puts information in consumer hands that have an impact. The use of pre-selected zip codes increased results and placing ads in newspapers delivered to selected areas for better market penetration. The cost of direct mail compared to the revenue generated by sales from direct mail pieces is the guiding factor for determining the effectiveness of a direct mail marketing campaign.
Flyers/Door Hangers -
Walking through a neighborhood and placing advertising pieces on doorknobs has been around since there have been doorknobs. Targeted marketing is a good way to concentrate advertising dollars to get better results. By going to the potential customer's home and leaving an ad piece assures at least a few moment's attention to the sales pitch and the company.
Cold Calls -
The old "knock-knock" method of marketing still has a place in the world of sales. Going to a company's offices and introducing the marketing piece in person has an effect on people that's hard to duplicate in any other way. A smile and handshake make a more distinct impression on potential customers than those customers scanning a bunch of web addresses and web ads.
Sponsorships -
Probably the oldest of the marketing techniques still available today is advertising through sponsorship. Little league baseball teams and professional sports venues can be excellent places to prospect for new clients. Adding your company's name to a well-recognized person, event, venue, or program generates better acceptance of the company's product or service. Local and regional marketing can be highly effective through this "social networking" avenue.
Networking Groups -
The internet brought with it the opportunity to associate with all kinds of folks, programs, and businesses via networking. By communicating, meeting, and gaining information from a networking group, many landscaping companies not only acquire new clients, but they also gain a better awareness of competitors and their marketing efforts. Landscaping companies can join industry networking groups as well as groups for building contractors, building managers, and homeowner associations.
Home Show Booth -
The last couple of decades have witnessed the emergence of the ubiquitous Home Show. Consumers attend the shows to find products, get ideas, and make personal contact with potential contractors. Landscaping companies find home shows quite valuable as it is a unique opportunity to meet with a potential customer who has an interest in your services by stopping by the booth to communicate. There's no better sales opportunity than one-on-one and a home show allows landscapers the opportunity to do that hundreds of times over a few days.
Go Online or Go Extinct
The fact is undeniable: if your landscaping business isn't online, it isn't going to be around for long. In the old days, a business card was considered a qualifier for a business, but today, if you don't have a website people can look at, you're not really in business.
Despite the fact many businesses can exist without maintaining a website online, in the landscaping business, if you can't show your work, have reviews from prior clients, and an easy way for customers to make contact, you're not going to be around long.
Even if you do continue to exist, the scramble for business and clients will take a much greater amount of time and effort. Listed below are some areas of online marketing that all landscaping companies should include in their basic marketing efforts.
SEO -
Everyone who works with the internet understands what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) does for a website. When potential customers go online to look for a product or service, they enter some words to help refine their search. Those search words may include titles, names, addresses, services, or any one of a thousand words relative to a product or service.
The goal is to identify what search words potential customers are using and make sure your website has those words so the consumer can connect with your company.
By optimizing search engine words on an online website, more eyeballs will see the company's marketing effort online. SEO means every word, where the words are placed, what graphic images should be displayed, and a variety of considerations must be undertaken. for a website to be considered truly successful. It's all about getting clicks on the website's images that bring customers to a purchase decision quickly and easily.
Google Pay-per-Click -
Advertising on the internet can be accomplished in about a thousand different ways. Some marketing processes can be done for free using the right processes and protocols. Other marketing efforts cost money, just like in the old days.
When a company chooses to advertise on internet search result web pages or through an internet affiliate marketing scenario, there are going to be costs involved. It's called "Pay-per-click" and advertisers pay a marketing company every time an internet user clicks on an advertisement or marketing piece that takes the user to your website.
Some clicks can cost a few cents while others can cost several dollars. Great care should be exercised before engaging in a pay-per-click advertising and marketing campaign.
Facebook Ads -
One of the most popular websites online is the FacebookTM website. Because of its popularity, many advertisers find it is an excellent place for marketing and advertising. Facebook ads can be placed with the web company itself or it can be accessed via paid affiliate marketing and advertising companies with contracts to place ads on Facebook and in sidebars appearing on Facebook pages.
In addition to institutional marketing, Facebook also provides the user with an instantaneous way to communicate with past customers. Facebook pages for landscaping companies are an excellent way to keep customers updated and in the loop for new sales and marketing efforts year-round.
LinkedIn Networking -
The website for professionals in business online is the well-known LinkedIn website. Like Facebook, the LinkedIn site offers the opportunity for business professionals to associate and network with others. What better way to find new customers among businesses and business professionals than using a website they probably look at regularly if not every day?
The LinkedIn website provides landscaping companies with customer reviews, photos of completed projects, and a location to talk about the company and its services. A free website, LinkedIn also offers its advertising power to customers in the form of paid ads on the website.
Old and New Work Together
Potential customers respond to many different types of marketing and sales efforts. There's no one, single means of advertising or marketing that's going to work for everyone, everywhere, all the time. Because of that reality, the internet becomes the best means to adapt and adopt marketing methods and techniques because it allows the message to be changed quickly to better identify and bring in customers.
The internet is a living, breathing animal that must be fed and cared for daily. Landscaping companies that don't take advantage of all the benefits a quality website with excellent SEO contents and a strong message are going to be left behind, eating their competitor's dust. Whether it is just a posting ad on a local bulletin board online or a full-blown eight-page interactive web experience that brings in clients from across the country, being online is one of the basic requirements for being in the landscaping business in the 21st Century.