When you invest in marketing content for your lawn, landscape, or tree service company, what kind of return do you expect?
More leads? More customers? More revenue? Of course.
Those are important outcomes, and you should expect your marketing to contribute to them. However, if that's all you're measuring, you could be overlooking some of the most valuable returns on your investment.
Good marketing content can strengthen your reputation, build trust with prospective customers, make your employees proud of where they work, and create a business that's more valuable over time.
Some of those benefits are difficult to measure. Others might not become apparent for years.
I recently discussed this with Phil Jackson, former owner of Nature's Turf, a Georgia lawn care company acquired by Turf Masters Brands. He and I've become marketing pals over the last few years. He's been creating some really fun content so I decided to revisit some of our conversations.
Phil invested heavily in marketing content while growing Nature's Turf. And along the way, he discovered some ROI he never anticipated.
His experience offers some valuable lessons for green industry business owners who want to build something bigger than their next marketing campaign.
Marketing Content Should Help You Sell More
Before we explore the less obvious benefits, let's acknowledge something important.
Marketing content absolutely should help generate revenue.
Phil and his team created videos that educated homeowners about lawn problems, explained services, and introduced customers to the people behind Nature's Turf.
But they didn't simply publish those videos on social media and hope someone would eventually call. They put the content to work.
For example, when a customer requested a quote for an additional lawn treatment, the team could follow up with a text message containing a video explaining why that specific treatment was needed.
They also incorporated short videos into email campaigns promoting additional services to existing customers.
This is an important distinction. Creating content and using content are two different things.
Your sales and customer service teams should have access to relevant marketing assets they can use throughout the customer relationship.
Consider how a single educational video could support:
- Social media posts that build awareness
- Website pages that help prospects evaluate your services
- Follow-up emails to people considering a proposal
- Text messages answering customer questions
- Campaigns promoting additional services to existing customers
The more ways you put your content to work, the more opportunities it has to generate a return.
Your Content Helps Customers Get to Know Your People
One of the more interesting things Phil discovered was how familiar customers became with Nature's Turf employees.
Ruth, a member of the company's customer support team, regularly appeared in videos and on the company's podcast, Behind the Turf.
One day, she answered the phone and introduced herself to a customer. The customer recognized her immediately. Ruth was so excited about the interaction that she ran into Phil's office to tell him about it.
And it wasn't an isolated experience. Think about what that means.
The customer wasn't talking to an anonymous employee at a lawn care company. They were speaking with someone they already recognized and felt familiar with.
That's a powerful advantage. We talk frequently about helping prospective customers know, like, and trust your business.
People don't develop relationships with logos and trucks. They develop relationships with other people.
When you feature your employees, their personalities, expertise, and experiences become part of your brand. You're no longer just another lawn care company claiming to deliver great service.
You're a team of recognizable people whom customers can begin trusting before they've even met you.
Your Employees Benefit From the Spotlight, Too
There's another side to Ruth's story.
Imagine how it feels to work in customer service, answering phones and handling difficult customer conversations every day.
Then imagine customers recognizing you because they've watched you share your expertise.
That kind of recognition can create pride in someone's work.
Phil admitted that not everyone at Nature's Turf was comfortable appearing on camera. He encouraged employees to try it but didn't force anyone to participate. Eventually, they discovered several team members who enjoyed it and became regular contributors.
That's a practical approach I'd encourage other companies to consider.
You don't need every employee to become a content creator. Find a handful of people who are knowledgeable, personable, and willing to participate.
Give them opportunities to share what they know.
Your technicians, account managers, customer service representatives, and production leaders all have experiences that can make your content more interesting and credible.
When employees see their contributions celebrated publicly, it can reinforce that their work matters.
Can you assign a precise dollar value to that? Probably not. But that doesn't make it unimportant.
A Small Audience Can Still Create Meaningful Value
Nature's Turf also experimented with something I initially questioned: a podcast for homeowners.
I'll admit I've been skeptical about whether people really want to listen to a podcast about lawn care.
Phil's experience challenged some of that thinking.
Their podcast, "Behind the Turf", featured relatively short episodes, typically 10 to 20 minutes long. They would then repurpose those conversations into several short videos for social media and customer communications.
The podcast wasn't attracting enormous audiences. But that wasn't the point.
Nature's Turf served customers primarily in the south Atlanta market. They didn't need thousands of viewers scattered across the country. They needed to reach the right homeowners.
Phil shared stories of people recognizing the podcast and its hosts around the community.
That illustrates something I think gets overlooked when evaluating content performance.
A few hundred people developing a meaningful connection with your brand can be more valuable than thousands of people casually scrolling past it.
Views and followers are easy to measure. Familiarity, trust, and affinity are much harder.
I'm not suggesting every lawn care company should launch a podcast. But I am suggesting you think carefully about whether your content is helping a smaller group of the right people develop a stronger relationship with your business.
Your Marketing Content Can Make Your Business More Valuable
Here's where Phil's story takes an unexpected turn. When he and his brother began investing in professional video and other content, they weren't preparing Nature's Turf for sale. They were trying to grow a successful lawn care business.
Eventually, they began exploring an acquisition opportunity with Turf Masters Brands. During that process, Phil discovered that their marketing content had become valuable to an entirely different audience: potential buyers.
Of course, the financial performance of the business was critical. But buyers also wanted to understand the organization behind those numbers.
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What did the company look like?
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Who were its leaders?
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How professionally was it operated?
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What kind of culture had the owners built?
Nature's Turf had spent years creating content that helped answer those questions.
Videos featured employees throughout the organization, including an assistant branch manager who shared his background and why he enjoyed working for the company.
Because acquisition discussions are often confidential, potential buyers can't necessarily meet employees or visit every location during the early stages.
Nature's Turf's content helped them see the people and professionalism behind the business.
Even Ruth's story came full circle. Following the acquisition, she earned a promotion to lead the office. Phil was careful to explain that appearing in marketing content wasn't the reason she received the opportunity. However, the Turf Masters team already knew who she was and had seen her contributions through the company's videos.
That's a return Phil never anticipated when he started creating content.
And while we can't say the content increased Nature's Turf's sale price by a specific amount, it helped communicate the strength of the organization to prospective buyers.
(Follow Phil's new Instagram channel for Turf Master's Brands here)
Build a Content Library, Not Just a Collection of Posts
One final takeaway from Phil's experience deserves attention.
Over several years, Nature's Turf accumulated a substantial library of professional footage.
That included employees, equipment, operations, properties, and other visuals that could be reused in future projects.
Some of those assets are now useful to Turf Masters Brands.
Phil emphasized the importance of building that library intentionally.
I couldn't agree more.
A professional video shoot shouldn't produce only a few finished videos that get posted once and forgotten.
It should also create reusable assets that make future content easier and more efficient to produce.
The value of those assets compounds when you organize them, retain access to them, and continue putting them to work.
Are You Building a Brand or Just Generating Leads?
Phil's experience reinforces something I frequently tell our clients.
The long-term goal of marketing content is bigger than leads and sales.
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You're building a reputation.
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You're making your company recognizable.
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You're helping customers trust your people.
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You're giving employees something to be proud of.
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And you're creating a business that may become more attractive to future employees, partners, and even potential buyers.
These benefits don't always show up neatly in a marketing dashboard. That doesn't mean they aren't creating value.
The aspiration should be to become the leader in your marketplace. Become the brand people want to work with and for. That's the kind of marketing investment that can keep paying dividends long after the original content was created.
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And if you're ready to create the type of marketing content that results in leads, sales, and long-term payoff for your lawn care, landscaping, or tree service company, reach out to request a consultation.
