When most green industry companies think about hiring a marketing agency, they focus on strategy.
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What are you going to do for us?
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What campaigns will you run?
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What results can we expect?
Those are all fair questions. But once the work actually begins and challenges arise, a new question often comes to mind...
Who can help me keep track of what’s happening in our marketing?
No matter how strong the strategy is, it’s the day-to-day communication that determines whether things move forward smoothly or become frustrating.
This is the second article in our three-part series based on a recent Landscape Leadership Podcast episode. In the first article, "Practical Green Industry Experience & Your Marketing Account Manager", we looked at how real-world experience shapes marketing results.
Here, we’re shifting to something a little less obvious, but just as important: how communication, responsiveness, and relationship management impact your experience with an agency.
Here's the podcast episode in case you missed it.
There’s No “One Right Way” to Work With a Client
One of the more honest parts of the conversation was the idea that not every client wants the same kind of relationship.
Some green industry company owners want to be deeply involved. They review everything, ask questions, and collaborate on ideas. Others are harder to reach, not because they don’t care, but because they’re busy running a business.
Neither approach is inherently better than the other. What matters is whether your account manager can adapt to how you prefer to operate.
Kyle Larson, account manager with Landscape Leadership, described this balance in a practical way:
“The highly engaged client allows great collaboration, & projects move faster. The hard-to-reach client… this style usually does allow for more freedom of creativity and often lends itself to not needing approval on all elements… [both styles] work pretty well.”
That flexibility is important. A rigid communication style, where everything has to happen one specific way, can create friction quickly. On the other hand, a good account manager finds a rhythm that works for you while still keeping things moving.
At the same time, there’s a limit. Even the most hands-off client still needs to be involved at key moments. As Chad put it during the episode, clients can choose how involved they want to be.
Good Communication Isn’t Just About Frequency
A common assumption is that more communication equals better service.
That’s not always the case.
What tends to matter more is clarity. Are you getting information that actually helps you understand what’s going on? Are you being told what matters, and what doesn’t, without having to sort through noise?
James Conley, one of our account managers, touched on this when talking about reporting. Most agencies provide dashboards and data, but having the data and understanding what to do with it requires input and context from the account managers who run these campaigns every day:
“If you're looking at a dashboard for the first time, it might seem overwhelming… as time goes on, you get to know what you're looking at.”
The role of an account manager isn’t just to send reports, but to interpret them. Reporting is more than keeping score. Your account manager should explain what’s worth paying attention to, what’s normal, and what might need a closer look.
Image Source: Lawn & Pest Solutions
James gave an example of a client whose lead mix looked unusual - plenty of phone calls, but very few form submissions. At first glance, it raised questions about whether the website was working properly. But after digging deeper, the explanation had more to do with the client’s market and how their customers accessed the internet.
That kind of context changes how you respond to what seems like a problem spot in the business. Getting there requires conversation, not just the data.
The Best Agency Account Managers Stay Curious About Your Business
One theme that came up repeatedly in the conversation is that communication isn’t just about updates, but about understanding.
James mentioned that he often starts conversations with clients the same way:
“I like to ask… how are things in the field? Tell me what's going on in your business.”
It’s a simple question, but it opens the door to a lot of insight. Marketing decisions don’t happen in isolation. They’re tied to hiring challenges, equipment issues, weather patterns, shifting priorities inside your business, and more.
Image Source: KD Landscape
If your marketing agency account manager isn’t asking about those things, they’re missing important context that could influence a great marketing strategy.
Over time, those conversations add up. Patterns start to emerge, opportunities become clearer, and the marketing begins to feel more connected to what’s actually happening day to day.
Too Many Voices Can Slow Everything Down
Another challenge we often hear from clients (especially growing green industry companies) is the number of people involved in the process.
It’s understandable. Marketing is visible, and people across the organization often want to have input. But without some structure, that can lead to confusion.
Our account manager, Drew Holler, described it pretty plainly:
“Too many cooks in the kitchen end up making word soup on a website.”
The issue isn’t that the input is bad. It’s that conflicting input can stall progress or dilute the message.
What tends to work best is having a clear point person on your side, someone who gathers internal feedback and communicates it in a consolidated way.
That doesn’t mean other voices aren’t heard. It just means the process stays organized.
Image Source: Seacoast Tree Care
From the agency side, that makes it much easier to move projects forward without constantly revisiting decisions or sorting through competing directions.
Communication Should Help You Make Decisions, Not Avoid Them
One subtle but important role of an account manager is helping you navigate trade-offs.
Not every idea can be pursued at once. Not every piece of feedback can be implemented. There are always competing priorities.
In the podcast, Chad discussed situations in which different stakeholders within a company push for different directions.
One department wants more focus on its area. Another has a different priority.
In those cases, communication becomes less about execution and more about alignment. Helping the client step back, look at the bigger picture, and decide what matters most right now.
That’s not always a comfortable conversation, but it’s a necessary one.
Planning Marketing Strategy is an Ongoing Conversation, Not a One-Time Event
Another area where communication plays a major role is long-term planning.
It’s easy to think of strategy as something that gets set once a year. In reality, it tends to evolve continuously.
James described it as an ongoing process:
“It is an ongoing process. I don't think you sit down at month eleven of a year-long engagement and say, ‘Okay, what are we gonna do?’ You're keeping notes all year and just remembering pain points that you might run into, things that could be potential opportunities, etc.”
That approach leads to better decisions when it’s time to plan the next phase. Instead of starting from scratch, you’re building on everything that’s been learned over the past year.
It also reinforces an important point: good communication isn’t just reactive. It’s proactive and looks ahead and doesn’t just dwell on routine tasks and due dates.
A Few Things Worth Paying Attention To
If you’re evaluating a green industry marketing agency, it’s worth spending some time thinking about how communication will actually work once you’re a client.
A few things to consider:
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Do they adapt to how you prefer to communicate, or expect you to fit their system?
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Do they explain results in a way that makes sense, or just send data?
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Do they ask about your business regularly, or focus only on marketing metrics?
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Do they help you prioritize decisions, or simply execute requests?
None of these is complicated on its own. But together, they shape your overall experience more than most people expect.
Looking Ahead
In the first article, we looked at how practical experience shapes the quality of your marketing. Here, we’ve focused on how communication shapes your experience working with an agency.
In the final article, we’ll zoom out even further and talk about structure - how agencies are set up, how workloads are managed, and how that affects the consistency and quality of the work you receive.
Stay Connected
If you’ve ever felt like communication with a marketing agency was the missing piece, you’re not alone.
It’s one of the most common issues we hear about from lawn care, landscaping, and tree service companies that have worked with other partners in the past.
Join over 5,000 others who subscribe to our blog to learn more about topics like this.
And if you’d like to talk through your own situation, feel free to request a consultation. 
