Marketing Must-Dos

When it comes to marketing and advertising, lawn care and landscaping companies should strive to highlight two things: their services and themselves. Promotional efforts must emphasize the breadth of services the company offers, as well as the fact that the company performs those services with professionalism and the homeowner or property manager in mind.

But how?

Well-designed fliers and post cards can do the trick, but direct mail can become expensive. Even if the price is right, how can a contractor know for sure that his or her mailer isn’t going to end up on a stack of competitors fliers just like it? Differentiating the outstanding from the ordinary is what customers specialize in, so contractors need to set themselves apart from the competition at the outset.

To this end, contractors with unique marketing and advertising ideas provided some helpful hints for their fellow lawn care and landscaping professionals.

WHICH IS WHICH? Customers generally see a company’s image and its services as a package deal of sorts – they’re rarely introduced to one without the other. For the business owner, this is called “branding” and it’s a valuable concept. Customers can see the company logo and identify its reputation or, conversely, they can pass by a well-groomed lawn and immediately the company’s name will come to mind.

Broken down into finer parts, though, branding is the result of marketing and advertising efforts, which in and of themselves are two very different things.

Advertising methods are usually easily recognized: print ads, television and radio commercials, direct mailings, door hangers, fliers, etc. Through these media, companies say, “these are our services and we want your business.” Marketing strategies, however, are handled differently.

“Everything you do is marketing,” remarked Terry Wallace, president, Wallace Landscape Associates, Kennett Square, Pa. “For instance, every time a client calls your office, the response they get is marketing.” Most contractors agree with this conceptual definition and take steps to ensure that their companies are presenting themselves properly.

“Our trucks are always clean and well painted with few dents,” Wallace listed. Additionally, many contractors ensure that their employees are well-groomed and wear clean uniforms and work boots everyday; all staff and employees are friendly and willing to answer questions; job sites are cleaner than when the crew arrived; and some companies encourage crewmembers to retrieve clients’ newspapers from the driveway or save homeowners a few steps by pulling garbage cans to the curb.

Companies initiating steps like these illustrate that they take not only their work, but their clients, seriously. Additionally, many contractors find that catering to existing clients generates a consistent stream of revenue year after year and significantly increases customer retention.

“I’m very fortunate to have customers who are have been with us for 27 years,” expressed Jack Robertson, president, Jack Robertson Lawn Care, Springfield, Ill. Rather than advertising percent-off or first-time-free offers, which could offend long-time clients, Robertson rewards his faithful customers on a regular basis.

“One year, we took our rain gauges (which the company provides for clients regularly) and sent one to the woman of each household in a nice box with a big bow. It was a simple thing, but it was also a thank-you,” Robertson noted. He added, “if there happens to be a man who lives by himself, we try to learn about his special interests and maybe send him a dozen golf balls on the company’s anniversary as a thank-you.”

Marketing efforts like this reinforce the message to clients that they are the most important aspect of a lawn care or landscaping company. After all, there would be no work to do without customers.

OUT OF THE ORDINARY. According to Marty Grunder, president, Grunder Landscaping, Miamisburg, Ohio, “everybody has a friend who tells a good joke or does something funny, and that’s when you see people expressing their creativity – when they’re having fun.” In keeping with this philosophy, Grunder’s motto when it comes to marketing efforts is that each attempt to reach clients must meet two of the following three criteria:

1. It must be fun
2. It must be cheap
3. Or it must be different

One of Grunder’s more unique marketing tactics involves sending out boxes of fortune cookies reading “Here is some good fortune from Grunder Landscaping.” The fortune inside each cookie supplies the company’s phone number as the reader’s “lucky number.”

Grunder also has been known to rent an ice cream truck – music and all – and park in prospective commercial clients’ parking lots. Company employees receive frozen treats, compliments of Grunder Landscaping. Not surprisingly, a sweet taste comes to the property manager’s mouth when the time comes to choose a landscaper.

Influencing large groups of people at once is a great way for many companies to spread a wide marketing net. Linda Donovan, vice president, Earthworks Landscaping, Wakefield, Mass., works closely with her printer to find useful household items she can adorn with the Earthworks logo. “Right now I’m thinking about soccer season coming up – maybe water bottles for the kids, or a soccer ball that says Earthworks Landscaping,” Donovan mused. “People will take them to the soccer fields and everyone else there will see them too.”

Likewise, Erich Heinrich, president, Avalawn Landscaping, Cincinnati, Ohio, donates to company picnics for some of his commercial accounts. “We buy toys for the kids who come the picnics,” Heinrich explained. “I don’t think it’s that big a deal – it’s common sense to treat your customers well.” Heinrich also makes sure to recognize clients on their birthdays with a special treat.

Small, thoughtful gifts are easy ways to keep clients happy and sometimes companies don’t need to spend a dime. Jeff Lefton, marketing director, Mainscape, Indianapolis, Ind., made a personalized marketing effort for a particular subdivision in his area. “I drove around this neighborhood and I could tell these people were selecting the wrong plants,” Lefton explained. “So what I did was come up with a list of plants that would work in their subdivision – trees, shrubs, flowers and so forth.” With Mainscape’s name and logo at the top of the handout, Lefton provided a list for homeowners throughout the subdivision and encouraged them to call with questions and requests. “Now when you do something like that, it’s a personal thing. The only problem we created is that we have to do this every year now,” he joked.

Many contractors agree that “the little things” truly get clients’ attention and market the company’s message in a positive way. Even inexpensive ideas like hand-written thank-you cards in invoices give a genuine and personal touch. “If there’s a contractor who’s been in business for ten years or more and isn’t going back and thanking their customers, they’re really missing the boat,” Robertson maintained. “Without a loyal customer base, would you be where you are? The answer is no.”

The author is Assistant Editor for Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at lspiers@lawnandlandscape.com.