13 minute read
What the tech? Putting technology to work
Putting technology to work
Tech tips to help you grow your landscape business
by Kevin Bossons, WT Digital Agency
Photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash
In our post-pandemic world, many landscape businesses have struggled to stay afloat. Marketing tactics like flyer postings in local businesses just weren’t conceivable or effective with the quarantine pushing us all indoors and out of our local stores, restaurants, and hangouts.
Business marketing strategies have moved online now more than ever and this provides a great opportunity for your business. Many of these online marketing methods are cost-effective and allow for a larger reach. They are also trackable - unlike flyers, business cards, and billboards.
Most of your customers will search for a landscape business via Google or social media and if you aren’t up there, you will miss out on potential customers.
Today's market demands an online presence from businesses and if you want your company to be successful, you should make friends with technology.
In our last article, we gave you some suggestions for email automation and if you took our advice, you’ve probably seen some significant growth. In this article, we’re going to take those tips up a notch with technology tools you can use to grow your business even more.
Ask for reviews
Reviews are a crucial part of your landscape company’s online presence and they can make or break a potential customer’s decision to work with you. Would you choose to eat at a pizza place with three stars or would opt for the place with five stars? The choice is simple and the same goes for your landscape business. Potential customers will often search “landscape business near me” and scroll through the businesses that pop up on Google or Yelp. Your company is sure to stand out from the competition with a high star count and flattering feedback. To earn reviews for your business, ask the loyal customers who call you every year for annual flower
planting or the homeowners who rely on you for consistent maintenance services. These clients definitely have something positive to say about your business if they keep coming back, so they would probably be happy to leave a review. Once you have a list of email addresses, tools like Birdeye, Podium and Grade.us offer simple yet powerful solutions to communicate with your clients to increase the quantity and quality of your reviews.
When you ask customers to leave a review, encourage them to be specific. The best reviews are the ones that mention a particular service, employee name, or include a picture. These bits of information will help potential customers get a feel for how you operate and your customer satisfaction rates.
Create a great website
Once potential customers have become interested in your business because of your awesome reviews, their next step is to head over to your website. If you don’t have a website - or don't have a website where your potential customers can easily find the information they need - you may lose interested people to a company that does. Creating a website may be out of your skillset, but no worries! This is when you enlist the help of a marketing agency to build your website and optimize the content to appear in search engines like Google. This means that when a potential customer in your area searches for “landscape services,” your website will appear near the top of the page, getting you noticed and driving more traffic.
Marketing professionals also can help you create a positive user experience for customers who visit your page so they can easily navigate to your services pages and learn about your company. If you have a website ask yourself these questions:
How does it look?
Does your website appear near the top of the page when you Google search one of your services?
When you put yourself in a potential customer’s shoes, do you find it easy to navigate through the site and find what you are looking for? If you answered "no" to any of these questions or find that your website has a lot of room to grow, a marketing team can offer their expertise and update or remodel your website for optimized reach. We build all of our websites using WordPress for a few simple reasons:
It’s reliable - we run hundreds of WordPress websites and rarely have issues.
It can be hosted on nearly any server, so you are not tied to a specific host.
There are numerous design and functionality plugins, making it easy to extend your website with additional features, requiring zero coding knowledge.
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Social media
Is your landscape business taking advantage of social media? If not, today’s the day to start because many businesses find huge opportunities for growth via social media marketing. According to an Uswitch study published by Forbes, the average American spent 1,300 hours on social media last year. It only takes a couple of seconds for a social media user to see your ad and navigate to your page, so think about how many opportunities you have to put your business in front of potential customers.
As a landscape company, you have so many opportunities for postable content. Think about those before and after shots of the deck you recently remodeled or the intricate irrigation system you put in for a colorful garden. These shots or videos are perfect for uploading onto Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Hire a photographer or videographer to take some quality images of your work or invest in a good camera. Today’s Instagram influencers often use merely their iPhone camera so that’s okay, too, as long as it’s a good shot with proper lighting. Once you have some top-notch content, you can run Facebook ads or Instagram ads for aeration in the fall or outdoor firepit installation for the winter. There are many time-saving tools that allow you to post updates and allow you to create marketing campaigns right in the platform such as HootSuite, Zoho Social and SocialPilot. These ads generally have a huge ROI and drive significant traffic.
Look to your marketing partners for more advice on where to start!
Retargeting Ads
Retargeting ads are like follow-ups and similar to the email automation tools we discussed in the last issue. When you visit a website, it will often give your computer a cookie. That cookie is used to virtually track the other websites you visit and employ ads on those pages for services you viewed or deals for that business.
Research shows that many potential customers don’t buy products or services the first time they visit a website. Retargeting ads are used to “retarget” your website visitors back to your page where they are more likely to make a transaction on the second visit. For example, if a website user recently visited your website and checked out your pest control services, when they are scrolling on Instagram the next day, they might see an ad for your mosquito control program and be reminded to reach out. Google Ads is connected to a huge network of websites and social media sites where they will advertise your company if you take advantage of these opportunities. The ROI for retargeting ads is huge and you can easily track their success. While Google Ads is far from easy to use, you can place ads within Google Ads using AdRoll, which is powerful, simple and saves time.
Here at WT Digital Agency, we know all the latest technology tools to market your business and achieve significant growth. Investing in your online presence will keep your company at the forefront of your industry and the investment will always pay off. We welcome the opportunity to meet with you and discuss how these digital strategies can improve your landscape business and which methods are right for your unique company. You can call us at 404-649-0261 or visit our website at wtmarketing.com for more information about our team and services.
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Landscape Design Seminars
URBAN AG COUNCIL
GEORGIA
October 6: Fundamentals of Design Graphics
Intense, hands-on instruction in design illustration and graphics. The full-day workshop offers participants bold yet efficient strategies to communicate design concepts on paper. Who should attend: This course is recommended for landscape professionals who wish to improve their design marketing abilities and drawing skills.
Morning Session
> From Mediocre To Magnificent - what is outstanding landscape design? > Fundamentals Of Speed Graphics - using your equipment to quickly communicate your ideas on paper > Bold Yet Efficient Symbols - hands on exercise to create striking trees, shrubs, groundcovers and hardscapes > Making Your First Impression Count - creating crisp, architectural lettering Lunch on your own - there are many options in the area.
Afternoon Session
> Selling your design - step by step recipe to wow your client and close the sale > High Speed Title Blocks And Plant Lists - strategies that save time and effort yet produce professional results > Elaborate Symbols - learn how to draw sophisticated symbols that create punch and interest in a fraction of the time > Putting It All Together - a final project that ties together everything that you have learned during the workshop Registration: UAC Member - $249 | Non-member - $299
October 7: Creating the Ultimate Landscape Design
Hands-on workshop with extensive training in design theory; moving from a basic understanding to creating a master plan in just one day. Improve your skills as you create and sell beautiful, practical, profitable, earth-friendly design solutions to your client. Who should attend: Developed for landscape professionals wanting to enhance their design philosophy to create plans that are stunning, unified and functional. Class takes an architectural approach and emphasizes topics such as form composition and lines of force. In addition, the course weaves sustainable, earth-friendly principles into traditional design.
Morning Session
> Practical, profitable principles of design for the landscape professional > The client interview and speedy site analysis - making the most of what they have > Setting you apart: An architectural approach to design > Lines of force: The ultimate design tool Lunch on your own - there are many options in the area.
Afternoon Session
> Designing vs. decorating > Form composition > Marketing and selling your design ideas > Putting it all together: Final project Registration: UAC Member - $249 | Non-member - $299
Time: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm Location: Caldwell Tree Care Training Room | 310 E Crossville Rd | Roswell, GA 30075
All drawing supplies and course materials are included:
circle template, 30-60-90 triangle, drafting vellum, 4B,2B,2H,4H graphite pencils, eraser, erasing shield, pencil sharpener
Instructors
Dr. Richard Ludwig is a 30-year career educator and retired director of the horticulture program at Gwinnett Technical College. Bill Slack, ASLA, is an author, lecturer and registered landscape architect with over 25 years of design experience.
