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Building and maintaining a profitable landscaping business isn’t easy. And lately, many operators have found it’s been tougher than usual to grow their client base and revenue. That includes well-established midsize and large businesses in the landscaping industry.
Economic factors that can curb consumer spending, like high interest rates and inflation, have been one challenge. The persistent shortage of labor also makes it difficult for these home services businesses to take on new projects, consistently deliver promised services, and adapt to ever-changing customer preferences and expectations.
Extreme weather conditions, which are occurring more often across the country, are yet another issue for landscaping businesses. They can potentially make or break a company’s success during a critical season for service — or perhaps even the entire year.
While developing a robust landscaping marketing strategy can’t help operators solve these complex issues, it can give them an edge in their efforts to earn repeat business from valued clients and identify new customers and growth opportunities. In this post, we’ll discuss how to develop a landscaping marketing plan, what it should include, and how emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) can help midsize and large landscaping businesses optimise their marketing efforts and drive measurable growth.
Your landscaping marketing plan should address how to find new leads and the steps necessary to convert those leads to paying customers. To that end, we’ve outlined 12 strategies specifically designed to help landscaping marketers attract more clients, increase revenue, and stand out in a competitive market.
More than two-thirds of consumers surveyed by Invoca said they prefer to pick up the phone and speak to someone at a business before they make a high-stakes purchase. Many landscaping jobs, including monthly yard maintenance or seasonal cleanups, can be significant investments. So, you need to be prepared to take calls from customers looking to connect with your company representatives directly before they commit to a service or project.
With tools like intelligent call routing, your landscaping business can handle calls efficiently and effectively by sending callers to the most suitable team members based on their needs. And with a solution like Invoca, which does much more than call routing, you can access other powerful tools to support your landscaping marketing efforts.
For example, Invoca’s PreSense can help your representatives deliver VIP experiences for customers contacting your business by phone. This conversational AI tool captures insights from customers’ pre-call digital journeys and packages that data in a convenient screen pop, so your reps have much of the key information they need to personalise interactions with callers.
By getting callers to the right team members faster and providing a stellar customer experience, your landscaping business can reduce call transfers and abandonment, drive higher call conversion rates, and boost customer satisfaction scores, too.
See how PreSense works in this short video:
A landscaping marketing strategy designed to earn a company more local business must prioritise local search engine optimisation (SEO), which includes setting up a Google Business Profile. Online data suggests there are more than 100,000 average searches monthly for terms like “landscapers near me” or “landscaping near me.” So, if you don’t yet have a Google Business Profile, get one quickly so your business can benefit from these types of searches.
You can boost your chances of appearing high up on a search engine results page (SERP) by creating content optimised for popular keywords relevant to your business (e.g., sustainable landscape design, outdoor lighting installation experts).
Also, be sure to optimise the meta titles and meta descriptions for each page of your website. Meta titles, which appear as clickable headlines in search results, should be concise and compelling and include primary keywords to help improve your search engine rankings. Meta descriptions allow you up to 150 characters to succinctly summarise your business and highlight what sets you apart; they should include keywords, too.
Tailor these elements to the needs and interests of your target audience. For example, if your landscaping business wants to appeal to environmentally conscious customers and uses eco-friendly products, strategically place keywords like “eco-friendly” in the meta titles and descriptions for relevant webpages.
Don’t forget to optimise your site for mobile, too. Many consumers today conduct their initial research about businesses online, and more and more are using smartphones to do it. With responsive web design tools, you can make your website navigable on any screen size.
Landscaping company marketing should include a social media component. After all, you want to meet your audience where they are, and increasingly, that’s social media.
Social media is tailor-made for landscaping business marketing because it’s so visual. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and even WhatsApp offer a compelling canvas for showcasing “before and after” photos of your recent projects. Posting time-lapse videos of projects, sometimes with backing music, can be a great way to attract and engage with followers.
To boost your visibility, you can also run localised social ads offering special discounts or promoting new services.
Word of mouth is, and will no doubt remain, a powerful marketing strategy for landscaping companies, even in a digital world. Satisfied clients can be your best source of new business, so establish a formal referral program to incentivise your best customers to be your advocates.
Offer discounts on future services if customers introduce a new client to you and step up the incentives when they bring in more business. Promote your referral program on your website, in social media posts, and through direct email and flyer campaigns to your best customers.
If loyal customers aren’t interested in discounts from a referral, perhaps they’ll still provide a testimonial. Testimonials from satisfied customers build trust with your target audience and help to attract new customers.
Customers typically won’t offer to write a testimonial, so you must ask. The best time to do that is when you’ve completed a job for them. You can supplement a testimonial strategy by collecting reviews from social media platforms, as well as review sites like Google, Yelp, and Angi, and posting them prominently on your website.
Traditional Google Ads and Local Services Ads can help drive credible traffic and generate high-quality leads for your midsize or large landscaping business. You can target these ads to specific audiences in specific geographic areas. All you need to do is tell Google how many leads you want to generate, what budget you have to spend, and which local markets interest you.
Give your ads additional impact by using keywords likely to resonate with a landscaping audience in your area. Examples might include “[City name’s] lawn care experts” or “affordable landscaping in [City name].” Also, make sure each ad carries a clear call to action (CTA). If you are promoting garden design services, for example, you could use a CTA like: “Let us transform your yard into a beautiful, relaxing oasis today!”
You should also support your ad program with the right technology. If an ad has a click-to-call button, a call tracking platform like Invoca can gather insights from the resulting call to provide a deeper understanding of lead quality. By tracking how many phone leads your Google Ads drive, you can understand your true return on investment (ROI) and make smarter budgeting decisions. Analysing customer calls can also help you surface new landscaping marketing ideas based on caller comments and intent.
Get more tips on how to supercharge your rankings and conversions with local SEO.
Remember to incorporate so-called “traditional” techniques into your landscaping business’s marketing strategies. Email marketing is sometimes overlooked in favor of social media and digital ad programs, but this simple way to connect with customers can be highly effective.
Sending monthly or quarterly newsletters offering your clients gardening tips, coupons, and engaging content based on the season can help nurture relationships with existing and prospective clients and keep your brand in front of your audience.
If you are marketing a landscaping business to different audiences, such as homeowners and commercial landlords, you’ll want to segment your audience and deliver separate emails, each with its own targeted content.
It’s also worthwhile for landscaping marketing professionals to craft direct mail campaigns. With direct mail, marketers can target specific areas or neighborhoods within the landscaping company’s service range.
Use direct mail to deliver giveaways like calendars and fridge magnets — little things you can’t pass along in digital campaigns but which can help raise your profile with customers. Make direct mail visually appealing by using compelling graphics on postcards and flyers, and always make sure your business contact information is prominently displayed.
You can tie direct mail into your larger campaign analytics by using a trackable phone number in the contact section. If you use Invoca to optimise direct mail campaigns, for example, incoming phone calls from that trackable number will be logged to show how many leads it generates. And with Invoca’s AI call analysis, you’ll also get a clear idea of lead quality and insight into how to optimise future direct mail.
Tracking phone calls generated by your ads, website, and other marketing strategies is a business-building strategy in itself. It lets you tap into the voice of the customer (VoC) and equips you with valuable insights to help you generate landscaping marketing ideas.
VoC data from calls with actual customers allows you to surface and address pain points, remove barriers to purchase, and identify service gaps so you can improve your marketing and conversion funnel. You can also analyse VoC data to identify new search keywords and opportunities to upsell or cross-sell. Additionally, you can use this data to enhance your buyer persona research.
Developing informative content can play a significant role in your landscaping marketing strategy if you have the time and resources to do it well. Engaging customers with blog posts, planting guides, e-books, and articles allows you to demonstrate your expertise and build trust.
For instance, if it’s relevant to your business, you could feature articles on your website on topics like deer-resistant plants or flowers that attract songbirds. This content can showcase your knowledge while driving organic traffic from potential customers searching for these topics.
If writing isn’t your strong suit, explore external resources to help create high-quality content. You could hire subject-matter experts who freelance, collaborate with local gardening enthusiasts, or reference industry publications and research as a foundation for your content.
To maximise the impact of your content marketing efforts, incorporate relevant SEO keywords to improve search visibility. Also, make sure to always include a clear call to action (CTA). Whether it’s encouraging customers to call, book an appointment, or sign up for more information, a strong CTA helps ensure your content drives engagement and conversions
Your landscaping marketing ideas should include leveraging local partners such as garden centres, home improvement stores, and real estate agents. These types of businesses serve members of your target audiences, which means you can confidently co-brand promotions with them or create bundled discounts.
Most municipalities have beautification projects, which are yet another opportunity to raise visibility for your landscaping business in front of a local target audience. You might take on a flower box watering program for the town or sponsor a tree planting.
The final entry on our list of landscape marketing strategies is also community-focused. You can raise the profile of your midsize or large landscaping business further by being visible at community events or hosting local workshops. You can demonstrate your team’s expertise while fostering goodwill and providing value to the local community.
You can schedule events through local libraries, local chapters of the American Horticultural Society, or neighborhood garden groups. You can also use annual events like National Arbor Day to promote your landscaping business through tree plantings or workshops.
Now that you have an extensive list of landscaping marketing ideas to try, here are six steps to help you create and carry out a winning landscaping marketing plan for your business.
Don’t try to be all things to all people. If you specialise in sustainable landscaping, target customers looking to create beautiful, functional outdoor spaces using eco-friendly practices and products. If you recently bought an industrial snowblower or plow to generate income during the winter months, consider targeting large commercial properties and landlords, office parks, or municipalities as potential sources of business.
Set an achievable target for your marketing strategy. It might be a broad goal, such as adding 15 new clients each quarter or increasing traffic to your website by 20%, but make it attainable. Also, set goals aligned with the overall objectives of your landscaping business.
Do in-depth research on your competitors, focusing on their strengths, weaknesses, and marketing tactics. Ask customers and leads what they think of your peers. Their answers, provided in surveys and call transcripts, might reveal gaps in the market or suggest opportunities where your landscaping business can stand out.
A USP is what differentiates your business from the competition and helps your customers understand why they should hire you. If you have award-winning landscape designers on staff, for example, make that your USP and repeat it throughout your landscape marketing strategies and materials in a consistent and compelling brand message.
We live in an increasingly omnichannel world, but you should still choose your marketing channels carefully. For instance, if your target audience is seniors and retirees, you might want to commit resources to Facebook but not to X (formerly Twitter), based on AARP research.
Pair your marketing channels with specific tactics to optimise your impact. Project photos will look good on Instagram, and coupons for discounts on yard work or hardscape installations will be effective in emails with CTA subject lines.
When your landscaping marketing strategy is underway, constantly monitor performance in areas like lead generation and conversion rates. Measure attribution and ROI to gauge the success of your efforts.
Remember: You have a wealth of data available from your customers’ online activity and phone calls, so use it to your advantage. Analyse that information and make data-driven adjustments to your landscaping marketing plan as appropriate.
Just like you need the right tools to complete a landscaping job, you need the right tools to execute your landscaping marketing plan. Invoca’s AI-powered call tracking and analytics solution is one powerful tool to consider adding to your tool shed.
Our platform can help you optimise your marketing efforts, streamline customer interactions, and much more, so you can earn new and repeat business and drive measurable growth.
See how Invoca works in this short video:
Want more insight into strategies and technologies that can help your landscaping business drive more revenue? Check out these resources from Invoca:
Invoca helps marketing teams with home services businesses and other companies learn more about their target customers, nurture those relationships, and grow their bottom lines. Sign up for a customised demo today to see our platform and features in action.
