Marketing & Sales Insight for the Lawn & Landscape Industry

One of the most powerful sales tools that you already have available to you is completed projects. But if you’re like a lot of landscape business owners, you might not be taking full advantage of this.

There’s no question that having photos of finished jobs on your website in the form of a portfolio is important. But when it comes to leveraging the power of successful projects, you also want to tell the story behind the project.

The story is where people find connections and relatability—and that is powerful.

In this article, we’ll talk more about why case studies are so important as well as how you can create a great one to help you qualify potential leads.

Marketing a lawn care business often carries with it a degree of experimentation.

Unfortunately, trial and error can mean wasted money, time, and missed opportunities to get more lawn care customers.

You already put so much blood, sweat, and tears into growing a lawn care business. The last thing you want is to rub salt in the wound with tactics that pan out to be a colossal waste of time (and money).

This article was updated to include a bonus video interview with Marcus Sheridan, the author of "They Ask, You Answer". Enjoy these original concepts and additional tips for using content in your sales process.

As consumers, we have grown more and more impatient as we search for information online. I’m cursing at a company if I have to wait more than five seconds for their website to load.

We’ve been conditioned to believe we can find the answer to any question or problem we may have simply by entering a string of words into a search engine. Got a question? Just Google it. We know we’ll find the answer somewhere online as long as we look hard enough. That’s our expectation today.

About 15 years ago, a “RotoZip” saw was on my Christmas wishlist. I just had to have it. 

As of today, I have yet to use it. 

The tool, itself, is fantastic. I can think of many practical uses. Ironically, the RotoZip would have been perfect for cutting a hole in my drywall, just a month ago. 

But...I forgot all about it. It has been collecting dust in my tool cabinet.

At one point, video production may have found its way onto your wishlist. 

Maybe you spent a ton of time creating your own videos. 

Maybe you paid a videographer a few (or tens of ) thousands of dollars... 

Big investment...and yet there the videos sit...

“They had no clue how much a patio/lawn program costs.”

“We don’t even do [insert service]!”

“Ugh! They’re not even the decision-maker!”

Sound familiar? Do you ever get the feeling that your lawn care or landscaping prospects are clueless tire-kickers that just eat up all of your precious time?

Maybe the problem isn’t your prospect. Maybe your website does a lousy job of disqualifying bad-fit leads.

(Here's a teaser video with 1 example of each of the 10 tips mentioned below. Read on for 30 more tips.)

Over the past two years I’ve spent a lot of time scouring YouTube and the Internet. I’ve wanted to get a really good sense of what kind of marketing tips are out there for lawn and landscape companies.

I’ve made a few general observations…

• The large majority of content addressing marketing for landscapers is geared towards entrepreneurs and businesses under $2 million in annual revenue. 
• Most of the people offering these tips are either A) well-intentioned small business owners sharing their personal advice or, B) landscaping marketing agencies that specialize in small businesses.
• And lastly, most of the popular "influencers" make money by producing videos (ads on YouTube, product endorsements, selling software, franchises, or courses for startup businesses).

None of these things are bad. However, these landscaping marketing strategies may not apply for companies with an annual revenue of over $2M or for companies pursuing aggressive growth goals. These tips are aimed at the bulk of the landscape industry, small startup businesses.

Just like you don’t want to be Just Another Landscaper, I don’t want this to be just another article about marketing for landscapers. These are not basic tips. They are specifically for companies that plan on surpassing $2M in annual revenue (or are well past it already).