Landscape Marketing Secrets: 12 Simple Marketing Strategies [That Actually Work]

Unless you’ve got $20,000 a month to spend on marketing, the common marketing tips you find online won’t be effective.

If you’re turning over less than $5 million per year and running your landscaping company in the residential or commercial sectors, these strategies are battle-tested and proven to generate leads and new business.

Read on for a mixture of paid and free marketing strategies you can apply TODAY.

The landscaping industry is growing, with a 2.5% increase in market size year on year.

As homeowners and businesses looking to invest in their yards, lawns, and outdoor spaces, competition for customers will only increase. That makes landscape marketing crucial to your success.

Whether you work on residential or commercial properties, there are endless ways for you to market your business to current and future customers – from the simple to the advanced.

It takes time to research every marketing strategy though.

And, there’s no guarantee the marketing ideas you pick will have any impact on your leads and customers. Not to mention you’re already putting in 50+ hours a week running your business.

So we’ve rounded up 12 of the most effective landscaping marketing strategies for you to use.

Best of all, these marketing tactics ACTUALLY work. Backed by research, tested by thousands of landscapers, and proven to put more work in your calendar.

Read on to learn the ins and outs of landscape marketing. Plus, how to use all 12 game-changing strategies in your business.

The best landscaping businesses don’t just have outstanding products and services – they have exceptional marketing strategies.

Marketing is how you promote your landscaping business.

And landscape marketing is crucial. You’ll need a unique approach that only works when targeting customers who need new garden paths, new patios, and new outdoor spaces.

Using generic marketing strategies is a waste of time and money without considering your ideal customer’s wants, needs, pain points, and obstacles.

If someone is thinking about ripping up their lawn and laying synthetic turf you can’t go with a generic marketing approach like ‘hand out business cards’. That customer doesn’t want a business card. They want to know how much a synthetic lawn costs, whether artificial lawns are suitable for their pets, what effect a new yard will have on their home’s value, etc.

If your marketing strategies aren’t directed at landscaping customers and targeting landscaping problems, they won’t work.

Need a surge of leads? Check our top 10 genius ways to generate landscaping leads

The one constant in landscaping is change.

Your word of mouth could be bringing in quality leads each week, but what strategy do you have to keep the work rolling in if that word of mouth dries up?

Sitting on the customers you have and expecting to generate revenue year after year is like looking at a freshly mowed lawn and thinking “I can throw away my lawnmower now”.

A new landscaper could siphon your leads. Your best clients could move 500 miles away. You might need to take personal time off and your momentum vanishes.

The point is, there is always going to be change in the landscaping industry. Still, with the right marketing strategy you can ensure you’re a). receiving a consistent supply of leads and b). maximizing revenue from repeat customers.

Let’s say you wanted to sell your home. A stunning and eye-catching front yard brings in eyeballs and increases the odds of someone looking at your ‘For Sale’ sign and thinking “yes, this is the type of house I need”.

Now switch ‘home’ for ‘landscaping services’.

A stunning and eye-catching website brings in eyeballs. It increases the odds of someone looking at your landscaping services and thinking “yes, this is the type of landscaper I need”.

It’s a simple comparison, but painfully true.

86% of people rely on the internet to research local businesses. If you haven’t got a website for your landscaping company, over 8 out of 10 people won’t find you – but they will see your competition.

If you don’t have a landscaping website, that’s your first priority. And if you’ve got a spare hour, we’ll teach you how to make one.

Most landscaping customers research online before reaching out to a business.

This is most common on Google with roughly 80% of people using search engines to compare local landscapers.

Still, your customers will go looking on Yelp, Facebook, Instagram, landscaping directories, in blog articles, through Google Ads, and anywhere they can compare services, prices, and trustworthiness.

With customers relying on the internet, most of these are digital marketing strategies – but not all!

We’ve included a few old-school approaches that still work in 2021. Whether you’re a seasoned landscaper looking to utilize the internet, or you’re new to the industry and looking for tried-and-tested methods, the following 12 marketing tactics will help you grow.

If you’ve got a website, a Google My Business listing, or GMB, should be the first item on your marketing to-do list.

In many cases, a GMB can bring in more enquiries and leads than a website because a GMB is your ticket to local searches. In fact, a typical landscaping business receives 59 actions through their GMB every month.

For example, when someone searches for ‘best landscapers + their location’, they’ll see local results on Google Maps and as a business listed under the map – known as the Local Pack’.

Ranking in these two key places is crucial because they provide instant visibility, contact info, reviews, directions, and a generally simple way for local customers to get in touch.

To improve your landscaping company’s chance of ranking here, you NEED a GMB. As a landscaper, most of your customers will be locals. They’ll come from surrounding suburbs and with a GMB you can put yourself on the map. Literally.

Anyone can add or claim their own GMB for free – check out Google’s official GMB verification guidelines here.

“How can I improve my Google listing?”

Once you’ve set up your GMB, there are a variety of ways to optimize it and boost your chances of ranking for local searches.

Here are a few of our favorites.

☐ Have you updated your NAP?

Your NAP stands for your:

• Name of business
• Address of business
• Phone number of business

This is arguably the MOST important optimization step. Google will use the NAP on your GMB as the original version of your contact details.

You’ll need to add your NAP to business listing sites and directories (we’ll explain how shortly) and if your NAP is different, your local SEO suffers. In Google’s mind, a trusted and credible landscaper will have the EXACT same NAP everywhere their business is listed, so take the time to get your contact information correct.

Even the difference between ‘street’ and ‘st’ is enough to raise red flags and hurt your local SEO.

TRADIE DIGITAL TIP: Create a master file of your business information including your accurate NAP. You can copy and paste this onto each directory that you list your site on to avoid mistakes.

☐ Have you chosen relevant categories?

Google offers roughly 4,000 business categories for you to choose from when setting up your GMB.

It’s important you pick the accurate and honest category, as this will help you rank when people search for those industries. You’re allowed to choose up to 10 categories, but only 1 category can be your primary.

☐ Have you added a keyword-rich business description?

You’re allowed to add up to 750 words of the original text to describe your business and help drive interest. Only the first 250 characters will appear when people see your GMB (unless they click to expand) but Google uses the full ‘From The Business’ section to learn more about you.

Add keywords in this description to help boost your odds of ranking for those terms. For example, as a landscaper, you could include your services, like ‘landscape design’, ‘backyard construction’, or ‘horticulture expert’.

As much as keywords can help, remember to use this section to focus on your customers. Keyword stuffing will only hurt your SEO, but writing about what makes you unique or what value you offer can help drive clicks and calls.

After more simple GMB optimization tips? Unlock the full power of your GMB without spending a dollar.

A PPC campaign – or pay-per-click – means you pay whenever someone clicks on one of your ads.

This cost can scare off landscapers who would prefer to reduce their marketing spend, but this is a missed opportunity. PPC visitors are 50% MORE likely to buy from you than organic visitors.

This is because people click on paid ads with a specific goal in mind.

If someone types ‘backyard renovation project’ into Google and sees an ad for a landscaping company, they won’t click on it by mistake. They want to learn about you, see if you can help with their renovation, and figure out if you’re a quality landscaper.

This type of targeted traffic makes a PPC campaign an investment. You’re paying for traffic that is actively interested in your products and services, so your odds of making your ad spend back – and generating a profit – go up.

There are two primary platforms to run a landscaping PPC campaign:

• Google (Google Ads)
• Facebook (Facebook Ads)

Each platform comes with its own pros and cons, so it’s worth learning a little about how they work.

Google Ads

Google Ads appear above the organic results, so you’ve got instant visibility.You can bid on keywords like ‘landscaping services’ or ‘affordable lawn care’ and your ads will appear when people search for those keywords. Even better, you’re only charged when your ads are clicked so there’s less wasted spend on people searching for ‘cleaning services’ or ‘tree lopping services’. These people are unlikely to trigger your ads, and if they do, they’re unlikely to click.

Managing a Google Ads campaign could fill an entire guide on its own…so it’s lucky we already wrote those guides for you.

• Google Ad basics (jargon-free!!!)
• How much Google Ads will cost your business
• Learn EXACTLY how many leads a Google Ads campaign creates

Facebook AdsFacebook Ads are similar to Google Ads, meaning you can control who sees your ads. Instead of keywords, you’re able to choose the type of customer persona you’re interested in. That means showing your ads based on people’s:Facebook Ads let you put your ad where it will be most valuable, instead of posting an ad in the newspaper and hoping your target audience sees it.It’s common for landscapers to run Facebook Ad campaigns and feel frustrated at the results. This comes from a mistaken belief that Facebook Ads will drive sales – which isn’t always the case.Your customers aren’t on Facebook to look for products and services. If they wanted to research landscaping businesses they’d go to Google. They’re on Facebook to unwind and connect with friends and family – making a hard sell a challenge.Instead, consider using Facebook Ads to generate awareness and align with your other marketing strategies.For example, if you’ve handed out flyers in a particular zip code, you can run Facebook Ads to appear to users living in that same zip code. This way you’ll have twice the brand exposure, making it seem like your business is everywhere.

Your brand needs to be seen 7 times before you’ll land a sale. Facebook Ads keep your business in people’s minds so that when they’re ready to hire a landscaper, they’ll be more likely to think of you.

You’ve got a professional-looking website, now it’s time to start giving away something for free.

We know the word ‘FREE’ can set off alarm bells. Discounting your services can inadvertently project an aura of being cheap or low-quality. You don’t need to slash your prices on any of your landscaping services.

Instead, you should be giving away free information.

The reason this matters comes down to the way people interact with your website.

Website traffic studies show 98% of people won’t buy from you on their first visit. And 55% of people will leave your website within 15 seconds of your second visit. With so few people hanging around, offering free information provides a simple hook to catch their attention.

This free information is easiest to offer in one of the following formats:

• eBook
• Downloadable guide
• Checklist

The benefit of offering a free resource falls into two categories – you build trust with site visitors and you capture email addresses.

BENEFIT #1: You build trust with your site visitors

Trust is the currency of the internet. People will spend their money, but only if they trust your business.

As a landscaper, you need to convince people you know your pot plants from your poison ivy. That you can create a stunning yard on a budget. And that your recommendation for a backyard patio will make their house more valuable.

If people trust you’re an expert in the field, your odds of landing a new customer go up exponentially.

A free resource builds trust because, well…it’s free.

You’re not asking for money or even time. You’re giving away your knowledge and insights to make people’s lives easier.

Here’s the catch though, focus on teaching people WHAT to do, not HOW to do it.

You don’t want to release a step-by-step guide to building backyard retaining walls because that can leave you with fewer customers. Instead, you could share a downloadable guide titled ‘5 Retaining Wall Mistakes to Avoid at ALL COSTS’ or, ‘7 Simple Retaining Wall Tips to Add $10,000 in Property Value’.

These titles get people excited about building a new retaining wall, but they don’t give away the secrets to build one – customers will need to hire you if they want those secrets.

BENEFIT #2: You capture email addresses

Marketing to landscaping customers isn’t easy.

If you’re using SEO to rank on Google you’ll be up against 9 other landscaping sites on the same results page. If you’re using Google Ads, there’ll always be one or two different paid results competing for attention.

Emails give you unobstructed access to customers (old and new).

Your resource is free for anyone and everyone…but only if they give you their email address in return. You’ll be sending the free guide to that address, but more importantly, you’ll have that email address for later.

This email address lets you establish a relationship. You can send newsletters to show off your outdoor expertise, or contact people with seasonal specials to help drive sales.

Marketing is all about maximizing multiple channels, or an omnichannel approach. When you can reach potential customers through their inbox you’ll have an advantage over landscapers who never took the time to offer something for free.

The average ROI for email marketing is 3800% – or $38 earned for every $1 spent. So, if you’re paying someone to create your downloadable assets or you’ve paid for software to automate your emails, it’s nice to know that money is helping bring in plenty of new business.

We mentioned how valuable an email address is, but only if you use it properly.

Avoid spamming your email list with endless offers and sales pitches. An email is hard to earn, but easy to burn. You should nurture the relationship by sending valuable emails in an 80/20 split.

That means 80% of your emails are educational or informative, and 20% are sales.

A hard sell will push people to unsubscribe from your mailing list, and that will undo all your hard work.

Speaking of work, you don’t want to be sending 200 individual emails each week, so look for email marketing software to automate the process for you. Using email marketing software you can create a sequence of emails sent while you’re on the job site (or relaxing at home).

Each email software available allows you to segment your list. You should be sending content that directly relates to the type of content a contact downloaded in the first place.

For example, let’s say you have 50 email subscribers and 25 of them came on board after downloading a guide called, ‘10 Backyard Spring Cleaning Tips to Save 10 Hours’. These people are likely interested in content relating to their yard, time management, to keeping a garden tidy.

In contrast, if 25 of your email subscribers came onboard after downloading a guide called, ‘Luxury Backyard Makeovers: 5 Design Trends You Need to Steal’, they’re more likely interested in content about construction, adding value to the home, and big-ticket services.

“How do I choose the right email marketing software?”

The right email marketing software is the one that works for your business.

Here are a few of our favorite email marketing tools you can use to automate your emails and save time while nurturing leads:

Each option comes with pros and cons, for example, some tools may have a range of email templates for you to customize. If playing around with your email design is important to you, that would be software worth checking out.

Or, prefer not to drag-and-drop your own email templates and want a tool that includes analytical features? You’d know to keep searching for a better fit.

Adding a ‘Blog’ page to your site means you can publish blog articles on every landscaping topic under the sun.

More than content for the sake of content, each blog you write has the potential to show up on Google and bring you traffic and quality leads. For example, if someone jumps on Google to search for ‘Affordable landscape design ideas’ and you’ve written a blog titled, ‘10 Affordable Landscape Design Ideas to Help You Save Money’, they’ll be able to see your content and click through to your site.

These people are already keen on your services, which is why landscapers who blog see their leads increase 126% faster than landscapers who don’t.

“How will I know what to write about?”

Writing doesn’t come naturally to everyone, and that’s fine.

There are two ways for you to choose a topic and write a blog post. They are:

• Use keyword research tools
• Ask your customers what they want to read about

How to use free keyword research tools

Keyword research can feel complicated, but with free online tools you can figure out which keywords are being searched and by how many people.

For example, a tool like Ubersuggest can show you how many monthly searches a keyword receives. You’ll also be able to see a range of data for your target keyword including:

• How hard it is to rank for that term
• How hard it would be to rank for that term using PPC
• How much it would cost-per-click to target that term with Google Ads

Plus, a range of related keywords to get you thinking about new topics. If a term like ‘Landscaping Tips’ looked too competitive to rank for, you might change your approach and go for keywords like ‘Front Yard Landscaping Tips’ or ‘Summer Landscaping Tips on a Budget’.

The goal is to find keywords that receive enough monthly searches to make it worth your while. So a monthly volume of 1 or 2 might end up wasting your time, but ranking for keywords that bring 5, 10, or 20 clicks a month can help create multiple streams of traffic.

Remember, you don’t have to rank for the most competitive keyword that averages 1,000 searches a month. You could rank for 10 x keywords that average 100 clicks a month which gets you the same number of eyeballs – and you face less competition on each smaller keyword.

How to ask your customers for blog ideas

Your customers know what problems they face better than anyone.

If using a keyword research tool feels too time-consuming, you can ask your customers what landscaping topics they’d like to learn about.

• What do they need help with?
• What areas of their garden do they find frustrating to manage?
• Would they prefer to save money on landscaping or splurge on luxuries?

By answering current customer problems you’ll have an endless list of content ideas. Even better, you’ll be sure there’s an audience waiting to read your content – because they’re the ones who gave you the idea!

It’s a mistake to think the quality of your work will make people remember you.

Your customers are bombarded with thousands of brands trying to sell them to them, every day. When they need landscaping help you can’t rely on goodwill to boost your chances of a repeat sale. Instead, you need brand recognition.

Having a memorable and eye-catching logo is one of the simplest ways to create brand recognition, and you can do it for $0 if you want to save cash.

“Does a logo REALLY matter?”

We can practically hear you asking the question. And the answer is YES.

Imagine you’re standing in your driveway and both of your neighbors have hired landscapers. On the left, there’s a black truck, with no signage, and a man working on a new garden path wearing a pair of denim overalls.

On the right there’s a truck with a striking logo on the side that says, ‘123 Landscapers – A beautiful yard is as easy as 123!’. And the man working on a new garden path has a bright ‘123 Landscapers’ logo on the back of his uniform.

Now, 3 weeks later when YOU need a landscaper. Which of those businesses will stick in your mind? 123 Landscapers!

Logos are the most recognizable brand asset, at 75%. A logo helps your business:

• Look more professional
• Build trust and credibility
• Stick in people’s minds

Best of all? You can create your own landscaping logo with zero experience and zero expenditure.

“How could asking for a review be a marketing strategy???”

Because Google LOVES landscapers with 5-star reviews. In fact, Google loves reviews so much that earning more reviews can improve your rankings when people go searching for local landscapers.

When someone searches for ‘local patio builder’ or ‘commercial landscaper near me’, Google will use the number of reviews that local landscapers have to help determine who gets the top spot.

Outside of Google, 5-star reviews help you land more customers. 90% of landscaping customers say they’re influenced by online reviews. This makes sense, as it’s easier to click on a business and contact them for a service when there are tens (or hundreds) of people publicly saying they’ve had a great experience.

Those bright, yellow stars are easy to see and make it easy to trust those landscapers.

The takeaway here? Get as many 5-star reviews as you can for your GMB listing, website, Facebook, and any directory site you’ve listed your business on.

Don’t have the time to ask for reviews? Check the 15 BEST landscaping apps to save you hours (includes apps to earn reviews while you sleep)

“How do I get online reviews?”

Asking for reviews can feel icky, but your customers don’t see it that way. In fact, 76% of people asked to leave a review will happily do it.

The best time to request a review is right after a service to catch people in their “new backyard” glow. You don’t need to ask for reviews face-to-face either, with email the easiest method.

After you’ve finished the job and the invoice has been settled, a simple email is enough to drive tens of reviews each month. Keep it simple and make the review-leaving process easy by attaching a link people can click on. This link should take people directly to the ‘review’ page so there’s nothing for them to do but click, share their experience, and hit ‘submit.

Here’s a simple review template you can use:

You can alternate review links to build up reviews on every website you’re listed on. With this marketing strategy, you’ll have 5-star reviews everywhere people go looking.

The easiest way to find new business is for someone to jump on Google, enter your business name, and contact you directly.

But that rarely happens.

Landscaping customers typically go through a lengthy research process before picking a landscaper. They want to read reviews, compare prices, look at pictures, etc.

To compare landscapers your customers will use Google to search for ‘best landscapers near me’ or, ‘top landscape design companies’.

Google knows these people are looking to compare businesses because of terms like ‘best’ and ‘top’. Instead of showing individual landscaping sites, they’ll offer a ton of business directories and listings, like:

Make sure your business is listed on all of these sites so people can find you when they compare landscapers. You’ll be able to enter your contact info on your own business profile. So get all your up-to-date info added with professional photos of your work.

The best marketing isn’t about ‘set and forget’, but being proactive. Check in to your listing sites regularly to update any contact info or details that have changed, keep adding new photos, and encourage customers to leave reviews (which we’ll cover in the next step).

Looking for MORE business listing sites? Access EIGHTY (yep, 80) directory sites for your landscaping business.

66% of homeowners would rather watch a video than read about a product.

Your website needs content if you have landscaping SEO goals, and to give people the info they’re looking for. But don’t discount the effect a good video can have on someone who’s still deciding if you’re the right landscaper for them.

Most landscapers fail to see the value of video content, thinking it’s an expensive add-on, or something only commercial landscapers working on million-dollar properties need. A single video can be used in multiple places to impress potential customers, including:

You can cut up one video and use it in 10 x smaller sections on Instagram. Or, upload the full video to YouTube and embed that video on your site. The more places you use video, the more engaged your audience will be.

Don’t have expensive video equipment? No problem.

Smartphone cameras offer more than enough to capture footage that will ‘wow’ your customers. This could be as simple as setting up your iPhone to capture a time-lapse of your latest construction project or talking-head interviews with your team to show your authentic side.

1 out of 2 consumers wants to see MORE video from the businesses they engage with. Get filming and tap into your audience’s desire for video content to help promote your business and build rapport.

Spring typically means overgrown yards and the chance to embrace larger garden construction projects – but don’t wait until spring to start advertising your services.

The early landscaper gets the worm, so consider scheduling your entire year’s worth of marketing to make sure you’re tapping into trends BEFORE they take off.

“How can I know what trend will take off?”

While it’s true you can’t predict whether patios or pergolas will be the hot trend this year, you can use market research tools to help spot historical trends.

Google Trends is a free resource that tracks the search history of users from year to year. You can follow the searches of a specific area, which helps you see how people embrace landscaping trends over time.

Check out the following Google Trends data for the keyword ‘outdoor garden furniture’.

If you’re working in the United States or Canada you can see that interest in that keyword drops significantly during the colder months. You can also see that the interest starts to spike around March. If you ran a Google Ads campaign or wrote blogs about transforming outdoor spaces in the months leading up to March, you could tap into this seasonal trend BEFORE it takes off.

Customers looking for outdoor furniture can find your landscaping business, see how you transform outdoor spaces and decide to hire you to build a new deck or patio instead of splashing the cash on a new outdoor lounge.

You don’t want to be advertising seasonal services when the season starts. Get a head start using Google Trends and by running campaigns before interest spikes. When people do jump online to look for outdoor products and services, they’ll find you.

“Isn’t direct mail dead?”

If you plan to generate most of your leads through direct mail, then yes, direct mail is dead.

But if you have a holistic marketing strategy and know-how to use direct mail to get people talking about you, then NO, direct mail is far from dead.

The reason most landscapers give up on direct mail is that there’s no direct link between a flyer or leaflet, and a sale. At face value this makes a direct mail campaign seem like a failure. If you’re asking 50 customers where they found you and all 50 of them say “your website”, then it’s easy to assume you should focus all your energy on your site.

Here’s why that strategy is wrong…

Your landscaping customers don’t wake up and pick a random business out of the phone book.

They go through a research process that compares local landscapers until they feel confident making a choice. That research process may involve Google, reading Yelp reviews, checking Facebook Recommendations, etc.

Direct mail is valuable because it kicks off this research journey.

How will a potential customer know to Google you if they’ve never heard of you? With a sleek and professional leaflet in their spare draw, they have a trigger to kickstart their research. At the same time, landscapers who focus on their websites exclusively never pop into a customer’s mind.

Introducing your business at the start of a customer’s researching process is key to being the last landscaper standing. With direct mail, you put your foot in the door.

Google ‘marketing strategies for landscapers’ and you’ll get endless lists telling you to forget old-school tactics and go digital.

Let’s be honest, starting a TiK Tok for your landscaping business isn’t necessarily the best use of your time. There are a variety of old-school marketing tactics that still work. In fact, the offline world is a valuable source of potential customers…if you know where to direct your efforts.

Here are a few of our favorite face-to-face marketing strategies that still drive results in 2021.

The 3/9 strategy

The 3/9 strategy involves sending two of your landscapers to a client’s house to get started, while the third walks to the nine closest neighbors and hands out flyers or leaves a letterbox drop with a promotion.

As this promotion will be limited to a small geographical area, don’t be afraid to offer value. 20% off a landscaping service, a free garden maintenance service, etc. And if you’re a one-man-band you can head around and drop off flyers yourself once you’ve finished the client’s job.

Attend networking events

An oldie but a goodie, networking events come in the form of community events, trade shows, meet-ups, chamber of commerce groups, or business groups.

Bring your print marketing materials and be prepared to shake a few hands and kiss a few babies. The more people you connect with, the more likely you’ll find new contacts or business opportunities.

Connect with similar businesses

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Connecting with businesses in complementary industries is a win-win because they can send referrals to you, while you send leads the other way.

Avoid partnering with landscapers in your industry (as you want the same clients they do). But consider partnering with other landscapers if their focus is commercial and yours is residential. You can also connect with realtors, builders, architects, hardware stores, etc. These businesses can send people your way, while you send interested people to them.

Everyone makes mistakes, it’s whether you can learn from them and stop repeating them that matters.

If you’re mowing over your customer’s rose bushes on every job, you won’t be pulling in too many lawn maintenance clients. And if you’re making any of the following landscape marketing mistakes, you won’t be putting new bookings in the calendar any time soon.

Springtime is busy for landscapers with plants and gardens flourishing and yards starting to become overgrown. It’s tempting to market your business only in spring, to take advantage of the extra customers, but this is a huge mistake.

Your potential customers will have started researching landscapers long before spring.

If you’re running Google Ads or handing out leaflets as the weather turns, you’ll be at a significant disadvantage against landscaping companies who are running ads and marketing campaigns during the slower months.

Marketing yourself only in the busy season is like a toy store launching their first ad on Christmas Day and expecting to sell toys. You can sit at the front of the queue by advertising BEFORE your customers need landscaping help.

You’re less likely to retain a customer when you treat them as dollar signs on a spreadsheet, instead of people.

A common marketing mistake made by landscaping companies is to focus on customer acquisition over customer retention. Of course, you want to bring in new customers, but not at the cost of your existing clients.

The numbers speak for themselves:

• Acquiring a new customer can cost 5x more than retaining a current customer
• Increasing customer retention by 5% can boost profits by 25-95%
• The success rate of selling to an existing customer is between 60-70% compared to just 5-25% selling to a new customer.

To prioritize relationships over revenue may sound like a new-age mantra that doesn’t consider the reality of running a business. But as the figures above show, prioritizing relationships is GOOD for your bottom line.

There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy here, just go out of your way to add value where you can. This could be a yearly special for long-term customers, a free lawn mowing service every 6 months, a monthly newsletter to share your expertise, or staying back a few minutes after the job to offer free tips.

When you treat customers like people, they return the favor in repeat business.

You want to generate as much revenue as possible. Still, if you target everyone you’re more likely to connect with no one.

Here’s what we mean…

If you’re in the market for a new garden design, which business are you more interested to speak with:

• Joe’s Landscaping – We do EVERYTHING!!!
• The Garden Design Experts – We plan, design and build stunning gardens

Your customers know what they want, and they’re looking for specialists to help them. It’s OK to acknowledge there are some customers you can’t help – and shouldn’t help.

If you’re a commercial landscaper then focus your marketing strategies on businesses, commercial properties, strata managers, etc. And if you’re a residential landscaper, stick to advertising to homeowners, renters, and locals in your service area.

With the marketing ideas we’ve outlined, precision is your friend. It’s not about casting the widest net but using these tips to target a specific type of customer.

As a landscaper, you already know that ideas are great, but the execution is better.

Any landscaper can pull out their CAD software and whip up a garden design. But it takes skill, patience, and commitment to bring that design to life with your own two hands.

Landscape marketing works the same way.

You’ve got the theory. Now it’s time to go out and start applying these strategies to help make your business more visible, more trusted, and more likely to be booked by local customers.

At Tradie Digital we understand you’re busy enough running a business without adding ‘Marketing Manager’ to your own CV. If you’d like help applying any of the strategies above, claim a FREE consultation to find out how to fill your calendar with bookings and become the #1 landscaper in your area.

Click here to claim a FREE consultation with a Tradie Digital expert (walk away with a bonus ‘Digital Marketing Blueprint’ valued at $495)