Starting a landscaping business is not easy. Getting all your tools sorted out, honing your skills, dealing with the weather, and even estimating the jobs correctly can all be challenging aspects of the business. But after all that, sometimes the real challenge lies in promoting and growing your landscaping company.
While it might seem overwhelming at first, there are many effective ways to promote and grow your business. Whether you’re just starting out or have been in business for several years, it’s important to stay on top of your marketing and advertising efforts to bring in new customers and keep or retain the ones you have!
We’re going to go over some of the best ways to promote your landscaping services here but something to keep in mind when working in any services industry. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel here, sometimes the old tried and true methods work best. Technology is fantastic and plays a vital role in any modern service business, but we can still call on some of the basics like word of mouth, knocking on doors, and lawn signs to name a few.
If you are looking to start a Landscaping Business you can check out our How To Start A Landscaping Business page to learn all the steps needed.
For now, though, let’s dig deeper and really get into promoting your landscaping business.
Promoting Your Landscaping Company
word of mouth
This is the simplest but sometimes the most effective form of advertising you can get. Word of mouth has been around forever and when you have satisfied customers you have more potential customers. The goal with word of mouth is you definitely have to earn it and sometimes you need to ask for it. Just let your clients know if they know anyone that is looking to have some landscaping done on their property. Sometimes it’s good enough to just ask them to post a pic of their new project on their Facebook or Instagram profile.
Door Knocking
When you are about halfway through or just about finished a project, a great promotional technique is to approach all the close by neighbors to the home or business you are working at. These are the properties directly to the sides and across the street from the location you are at. These are great potential customers because over the last several hours or days they have been watching you and your team working on the property. This makes approaching them easier than usual.
To do this, just knock on the neighbor’s door and explain to them that since you are in the neighborhood you could give free estimates on any work that they may be planning for the future.
It is good to do this after you have been working for some time already so the neighbors have had a chance to see you and your team in action.
Additionally, if the budget allows it, you can print off some great-looking door hangers from a place like VistaPrint and have one of your crew members go around the neighborhood and place the hangers. These hangers can say something like “Were doing work nearby and don’t want you to miss out on a great deal… call now“
local advertising
Advertising your landscaping business in the traditional local paper and penny-saver coupon books can sometimes be a great source for new clients. Many retirees or people who enjoy reading the paper will ofter take advantage of the deals in those advertisements. It is great for a business owner like you because you can often choose the neighborhoods that you would like to target or leave out of your campaigns and get more for your advertising dollars.
Why would you spend extra money sending flyers to entire apartment complexes when you already know they don’t need landscaping services? Put the money instead, toward targeting single and multi-family homes where they do need your services
Use Lawn Signs To Your Advantage
– Lawn signs are a great well known way to help promote a landscaping business or even a lawn care business. They are to the point and are usually displayed right where the work is happening so it’s easy to get attention.
These signs are easy to get made up at a place like VistaPrint. You can order as many as you would like and get bulk discounts. Always ask the home or business owner if you can place a sign on their lawn before doing so. some people just don’t like them.
Keep your sign simple: Your lawn sign should be easy to read and understand from a distance. Use a clear font and limit the amount of text that you use to only your company name, logo, and a short tagline that highlights your services.
Highlight your services: Use your lawn sign to promote your most popular services, such as landscape design, landscaping, lawn, and garden revitalization, or tree trimming. This will help potential customers understand what your business does and how you can help them.
You can also switch the signs up for different offers or seasons depending on the type of work you do.
Include contact information: Make sure to include your phone number, website, or social media handles on your lawn sign so that potential customers can easily contact you wherever they find most convenient
Choose a high-traffic Location: On top of using your client’s yards as locations you can also place your lawn sign in a high-traffic location, such as near a busy road or intersection, park, or community center. This will help maximize visibility and increase the chances of attracting new customers.
Use eye-catching colors: Use bright colors that stand out from the surrounding environment, such as green or blue. This will help your lawn sign grab people’s attention and increase the chances of them noticing your landscape business.
Offer a promotion: Something I liked to do when creating any type of advertising including lawn signs is to offer a discount or promotion to potential customers who contact you after seeing your lawn sign. This is as simple as adding a “mention this sign and get a free potted plant” or something like that. This can help incentivize people to reach out and give your business a try.
lawn signs, truck signs, signs on your own equipment, door hangers
Social Media
Social media is a great way to promote your landscaping business and connect with potential customers. The first step is to figure out which social media platforms your target audience uses the most. This could be Facebook, Instagram, or others. Once you’ve identified the right platform, create a strong profile that showcases your services and provides contact information.
When posting on social media, make sure to use high-quality photos that show off your work and services. It’s also a good idea to use relevant hashtags to help your content get discovered by more people. Don’t forget to engage with your followers and respond to their comments and messages.
To further promote your business, consider offering special promotions or discounts, like a discount on a lawn mowing service or a free consultation for landscaping design. Sharing positive reviews and testimonials from happy customers is also a great way to showcase your expertise and build trust with potential customers.
Lastly, paid advertising on social media platforms can help you reach a larger audience and target specific demographics. With consistent and strategic use of social media, you can increase your business’s visibility and attract new customers.
Local Sponsorships Of Teams And Events
Every city and town has several little league teams of their own and all of them are always looking for ways to raise enough money for uniforms, trophies, and out-of-town games. Landscapers can utilize this by helping to promote their local baseball, football or even hockey team and get their business name on the jersey or scoreboard for everyone to see. It’s always good to show up at some of the games as well and meet some of the parents as they will often try to give back to the companies that helped their children play the game they love that year.
And it’s great for the community so why not?
Donate your landscape services
Staying in the local community, there are always times throughout the year when you will have a chance to give back to your community in ways that not many can. You have a truck and various landscaping equipment.
For example, on Earth Day each year, you can offer to help pick up trash bags with your truck. you can offer leaf bags and rakes to help clean debris.
If there are some areas of the town that may need more attention in the form of landscaping you can call city hall and offer your services.
All these things can help get your name out there in the community and help get more phone calls in the future.
Build a Website
These days you have to have an online presence. Everyone loves having the ability to look up and research their favorite products or vacation spots before they choose to buy so why would researching a service business be any different?
When you have a website you will be able to better utilize digital marketing and rank in the search engines. Being a small business owner, you need all the advantages in promoting your business that you can get.
Building a website for your business doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive but it does involve more information than I can add here. If You’d like more on how to build your own website that can act as your digital business card and bring in more leads, check out our How to build a website for your service business page.
What kind of Advertising For Landscaping
There are many landscaping marketing strategies out there and some work better than others. some younger communities may respond better to email marketing and online reviews on local social media sites while people who live in slightly older communities may respond better to a direct mail campaign such as landscaping or lawn care postcards advertising your landscaping services.
The point is, you may have to look a little closer at the clients you are trying to attract to your business and look at who is living in your service area. This will give you a far better chance at landing more jobs while spending less money.
Working Together With A Lawn Care Business
Another great way to promote your landscaping business is to partner up with a lawn care business in your area that is willing to help you. If you get anyone at your jobs looking for lawn care services, you can refer the customer to their business and they can do the same for your business if anyone asks them. This works great because once people start getting some yard work done they usually keep it up with more down the road.
In conclusion, starting and growing a landscaping business can be challenging, especially when it comes to promoting and marketing the business to attract new customers. However, if you take advantage of some or all of the suggestions within this article and the resources on fullthrottlestartup.com, you can quickly gain traction in your business and gain control of your livelihood once and for all!