Lawn and landscape business owners: We received this marketing question a few days ago. It’s a common question…
However, it’s the wrong question. Let me explain.
Marketing has three purposes. The most effective marketing will accomplish all three.
- Build awareness about a company, its products or services,
- Create a perception of value about the company, its products or services,
- Create a desire to purchase your products or services NOW.
Could you accomplish these three missions with a Facebook ad? Perhaps.
But before you pull out your credit card and start sending hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of dollars over to the woke Zuckerberg mob…hold on a minute. We will share what you must do to grow your business BEFORE you purchase Facebook ads. Here we go…
There are three things you need BEFORE you run any ad.
These three things are:
- A clear target customer. You might call this an avatar. You might call this a target market. But you must know exactly WHO you want to attract to your company. We mean you must identify the demographic, geographic and psychographic profile of who you want to work for.
- A well written message designed for the target customer. Think of it like this. Until you know WHO you want to attract to your company, you can’t be sure what to say. You will need to have a very different message if you are trying to communicate with property managers versus homeowners. You would need a very different message if you were trying to communicate with home builders versus the purchasing director for your local city or county government. Are you with me so far? Here’s the third one.
- You’ll need a delivery system. AFTER you’ve identified the target client and written a highly targeted message, we can consider how we might deliver the message to the target.
You see. You can’t begin a discussion about investing in a delivery system like Facebook advertising until you carefully consider the target and the message. After you answer the first two questions, you might consider running ads on Google, Linked In, Houzz, Home Advisor or Angi’s list. You might choose an offline marketing strategy like direct mail, local radio or even a television ad. There’s countless delivery systems to choose from.
When YOU get ready to grow your business, NEVER begin by asking yourself the “delivery system” question. You will be very disappointed with your results. The target audience and the message comes first. The delivery system is always the last decision. It’s never the first decision.
Now…the truth about the most effective marketing that can make YOU a Very Wealthy Landscaper.
Before you spend a dime on running ads, you MUST target three groups of people. The great news is, you already know most of these people. These include:
- Your existing customer list. The people who will buy from you the fastest, with the least amount of negotiating and the highest probability to pay you quickly are those folks who already know you, like you and trust you. NEVER stop marketing to your existing customers. They need to hear from you every month for as long as you operate your company. Got it?
- Your past customers are the next most likely group to buy from you. These folks thought enough of you to hire you in the past. Many of them will hire you again and again. But YOU must communicate with them on a regular basis. We have found that monthly, consistent communications will keep you top of mind. This way, when they re-enter the buying cycle, they will choose you. NEVER stop marketing to your past customers. Are you still with me?
- Your Dream 100 list of perfect prospects. Most lawn and landscape companies don’t need hundreds of new customers. They simply couldn’t take on hundreds of estimates or hundreds of new accounts at once. You need 5 or 10 high-quality accounts to move your business forward. So go out there and CHOOSE who you want to do business with. Keep the list to 100 names or less. This way you can afford to do consistent and personalized marketing to a small group without wasting money.
Some of you high-tech warriors may discount my recommendations here. A few of you may have had success running online ads for your company. We get it.
There will come a time when broadcast ads will be a part of your marketing program. But I promise you, the list of three groups above plus the right message could be enough to double the size of your sales in the next 12 to 24 months.
We used this simple marketing plan to double sales from $1 million to $2 million in 24 months. Then we kept using the plan and doubled sales from $2 million to $4 million in 24 more months. Not too bad huh?
It’s true that we crafted a number of highly targeted messages to attract homeowners, property managers, facilities engineers and industrial properties to our company. I’m glad to say we were able to grow without running online ads.
The Spring season is a perfect time to add new clients. But please, take care of your existing clients and past clients first. Consistent communication with these folks will always serve your business growth needs more dependably than running Facebook ads.
If you want help creating effective marketing to grow your company, we can help. We’d like to invite you to join us at Wealthy Landscaper Letter. We will keep you energized and educated with proven techniques to grow your lawn or landscape business.
Click here to learn more and to choose a plan that fits your budget.
Profit Greatly,
Tony Bass, founder
866-923-0027
PS – Landscaping is a great business. But you’ll need to learn marketing if you’re going to become wealthy from landscaping. We would like to help you learn how to market your business so you’ll never have to worry where your next job is coming from. Education is your choice. Outlearn your competition. Join me on the journey. Click here.
