Digital Marketing Series: Landscapers 繁體中

Digital marketing has created a new avenue for landscapers to exponentially expand their businesses, while decreasing expenses and streamlining basic business practices. When people are searching for a landscape contractor, they are using search engines, asking for referrals on social media, as well as checking review sites, and listing pages. Traditional offline marketing can also assist in driving traffic to a landscape company’s online presence, especially their website. Lettered vehicles, job site signs, and business cards are all great offline branding components. However, each should feature the company’s domain name. Having a strong online presence and positive online reputation has never been more important for this business category.

Let’s talk about specific things a landscape company can do to leverage digital marketing and online trends to move their businesses forward.  How can a landscape contractor generate more inbound leads, increase their visibility, have higher client retention, and receive more quality referrals?

WEBSITE

Having a dynamic and responsive website should be at the centerpoint of a landscape company’s digital marketing strategy. It should be visibly appealing, clean, clear, and photo-rich. The first impression is vital to keep your prospective client engaged. With that being said, a video embedded on this site, as a short commercial will also enhance your visitor’s experience. The most Important aspect of the website should be contact information, perhaps a click-to-call feature in the header so that mobile visitors make an easy call. Aa landscape website should also showcase work, as a picture is worth a thousand words. Visitors are looking for credibility, and they will judge this upon seeing the work. The site should be maintained and updated regularly (quarterly or seasonally) to reflect changes in the services offered, potentially due to seasonality.

Galleries with before and after photos and lifestyle shots should be an important focus on the website. Top pages to feature would include an explanation of services offered, reviews and testimonials, frequently asked questions (FAQ), and even highlight resources and articles related to lawn care and more. If applicable, a quote request form and feedback form may help generate leads, as well as reduce the amount of time taking inbound calls.
Lastly, the website can also be used to help streamline business practices, such as, invoicing and taking payment through an e-commerce solution. Reducing the time it takes to manage a business, should be a major consideration. Having the availability to add customers to an email newsletter and links to your social media channels on your website should be strong considerations in your comprehensive plan.

Maintaining and managing your website content then becomes the challenge most face.  When working with a traditional web developer, it may become cost-prohibitive, and working with a do-it-yourself discount host provider, then takes time, energy, and know-how to continue to keep things fresh, updated, and relevant.  By using a professional service that can assist in keeping your site updated, you save time but also don’t sacrifice your brand or market positioning.

LOCAL AND REGIONAL SEO

When people visit a search engine, they are looking to find the best results to their search queue. Search engines have multiple places where businesses can be listed in the results. The top section is reserved for advertisers, the middle section is for maps and local results, and the final area is the natural or organic results listing, ranked by relevant search content. This area comes from search engine optimization tactics from the content that is throughout the internet. It is vitally important to have a search strategy.  Appearing in the advertising section, as well as, having your website listed and all of your social channels and listing on other web pages, is a way to brand your business, build credibility, and ultimately claim authority in the marketplace.

In order to place your business in these areas, you first need to look at your as it will impact your rank on the search engines, as well as the effectiveness of a paid search marketing campaign. The website should have strong page titles, page descriptions, and be rich with content including keywords throughout the site.

Launching a  search engine marketing (SEM) campaign on Google through their AdWords program should be the strongest consideration. With a high return on your investment, the Google AdWords campaign is sure to drive traffic to your business or bring you live, local leads through there call extension ad program, which delivers your ad at the top of the search results with a phone number where people can click to call you immediately.

Lastly, it is important to claim your business listings on other web pages. From social media channels such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter to  listing sites such as Yellow Pages, local Edge, Manta be sure that your contact information and website links are correct. Other sites include review sites such as Angie’s List, Yelp, contractors.com, and other industry related sites. It is important to have your business information and listings up to date.

These three areas of search engine results, will improve your search marketing efforts, further driving inbound leads to your website and/or phone. People don’t search to search, they search to find. They are looking for quick, local, relevant, credible results. This is your chance to impress them!

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media management is an important aspect of your strategy, because social media is a digital version of “word of mouth.” With most landscape contractors getting new business leads from referrals, social media is a necessary component to a comprehensive marketing strategy.

“Like us on Facebook”, is an important  tagline for your emails, invoices, and other print materials.  Your Facebook followers should be your clients, friends, and family that love the service you provide.  in order to engage with them, ask them to participate. Running a social campaign such as “post your photo on our page,” or “tag us in a post”, or even running contests for your followers to vote on their favorite project you’ve completed, are ways to get the conversation going.

Having others create content for your social media Pages, reduces the time it takes to generate your own content. However, be sure to comment, like, and engage with all of your followers. Social media management should be seen as a client retention strategy. The fact is, the world is social, and everyone lives in a scroll world. Utilizing photos and videos in your social media is not only recommended it is necessary.

EMAIL MARKETING

While attracting new customers is great, and engaging on social media is important, sometimes it’s best to utilize email ad another communication method.  Sending out newsletters or reminders to customers can improve retention, but also make them aware of new services or things to consider in various seasons.  Be sure to collect every customer’s email address and add them to your email marketing service.  You can even segment your list for various campaigns based on geography or type of client (landscape design, lawn care, snow removal, etc.)

FACEBOOK ADVERTISING

If you’re looking to use social media to acquire new leads, a Facebook advertising program could be right for you. With its profile, demographic, and social data, Facebook allows you to target the right audience, at the right time, to increase leads to your business. Do you want to find new homeowners, are you looking to reach a certain socioeconomic status and household income? Are you looking for individuals and a certain radius, then a targeted Facebook ad campaign is right for you. Create a list of the type of client you’re looking to attract, and work through the ad program and their insights to continue to develop a strong ad campaign.

ONLINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

The truth is, referrals are the best leads you can have. When you have happy clients, they already know you, like you, trust you, and can bridge the gap with new potential prospects.  In today’s world, people are searching and scrolling through online reviews in order to learn about other customer’s experiences using your service. Listing and review sites are an important part of your digital marketing strategy, because there are search results that include listings to what people are saying about you online. Encourage reviews and testimonials from your clients, and respond to any negative or poor reviews. Do not delete or defend, but rather respond and engage, to both learn from the customer how you can improve your business, as well as see if there is a way that you can make things right.  Many customers will appreciate seeing your engagement on poor reviews, more so then all 5 star ratings! Some may give you a second chance.

So it’s important to see what information is on these sites, as there may be incorrect business information, as well as any reviews of your company, staff, and service. Having a strong presence on review sites is a way to further drive inbound leads, as 88% Consumers read online reviews to determine the quality of a local business, and 72% said that positive reviews make them trust a local business. Web directories and sites, such as Yelp, Angie’s List, home advisor, and  contractors.com can play a big part in your comprehensive digital marketing strategy.

IN CONCLUSION

It is evident that digital marketing can help landscapers and Landscape contractors attract new qualified, inbound leads for their businesses, while engaging current clients, in developing long-term success. However, the most important thing is to get active in your local community and build local relationships. While digital marketing is part of the strategy, nothing beats face-to-face interaction with your local customers and prospects or being seen in the community. Make connections that aren’t online, sponsor a youth rec sporting event, network in person and with other businesses. Beyond your offline marketing and digital marketing strategies, none of it will work without providing “Best in Class” service.  It is all part of the big picture, but digital marketing certainly has many pieces of the puzzle.

If you are looking to analyze your current digital marketing efforts, we’d like to help. Be found, be seen, be heard, and work with a company that can provide you online solutions for growth and retention. For a free consultation please contact us so we can assess your current situation and provide detailed information on how your business can leverage digital marketing.

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