The Top 20 Benefits of Inbound Marketing for Landscape & Pool Contractors
—
The Content Team,
HALSTEAD.
Originally published on September 30, 2015. Updated on June 27, 2022.
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Landscape and outdoor living pros have more than their fair share of challenges. Seasonal demand shifts, daily weather changes, sales appointments at 7 p.m. after a hectic day in the field, and neverending staffing issues, just to name a few.
But most owners we meet wouldn’t have it any other way. And when it comes to inbound marketing, it’s all easy street! OK, not always, but proper marketing does have the power to solve a lot of problems.
But what marketing is best? Paid ads? SEO? Truck wraps? There are a lot of options. Here, we are going all-in on inbound!
Inbound marketing focuses on providing valuable content that will attract potential leads. But to drive this point home even harder, we’re going to highlight 20 reasons why inbound is right for landscape and outdoor living businesses in particular. If you aren’t sure of the difference between inbound vs. outbound marketing, we’ve summed it up nicely in our article about why attracting organic leads should be a part of your marketing strategy.
1. Brings You More Leads
Content marketing generates 3x as many leads as outbound marketing, according to Demand Metric. Not only does inbound marketing bring you more leads, but it brings you qualified leads that are more likely to convert.
In fact, Invesp reports that inbound marketing is 10x more effective for lead conversion than outbound marketing when properly executed. Invesp studies show that the more content your business has out there, the more likely you will have conversions. Marketers who blog daily acquire 25% more leads than those who only blog monthly.
2. Reduces Overhead Costs
Demand Metric also states that inbound leads generally cost about 62% less than outbound leads. Landscape and pool contractors can reduce their customer acquisition cost (CAC) by focusing on an educational marketing strategy known as content marketing. Content that is created will be available indefinitely, so while it’s a strategy that requires an initial investment of time and money to get established, the content created will continue to work for you as long as it’s posted online.
3. Increases Profit Margins
Since we know that inbound marketing can cost significantly less than outbound marketing and is much more effective, think about how this could affect your profit margins. In fact, Serpwatch states that uninterrupted inbound marketing efforts can decrease the cost of leads by 80% within five months. So with a reduced cost in lead generation combined with the profit you’ve made from that complete landscape project with an outdoor kitchen and outdoor living area, you can increase your profit margins.
4. Adds a Sales “Person” to Your Staff
The sales “person” that inbound marketing adds to your staff works 24 hours per day and seven days per week because that sales “person” isn’t a person but rather your content working overtime for you. Content marketing acts as your front-line sales team in that it’s often the first contact that potential leads have with your business. Even better, this content helps pre-qualify your leads, frees up your salespeople’s time, and ultimately saves money.
5. Allows You to Increase Your Average Project/Account Value
One of the benefits of inbound marketing is that it addresses a customer’s pain point by providing a solution. Because of this, the average project/account value increases as the customer develops the like, know, and trust factors that are essential in marketing. The customer can see the value that your company’s solution can provide.
For example, say you run a lawn care business. You have posted a blog on your website about the benefits of having professional lawn care services, specifically addressing the common customer pain points such as not having enough time, not getting the beautiful lawn they desire, etc. When customers are looking for a solution to these problems and come across your content that provides that solution, they will place a greater value on your services.
6. Doesn’t Force You to Decrease Quality Due to Low Margins
Since inbound marketing tends to lead to higher profit margins, you won’t have to decrease the quality of your advertising efforts or the services you offer simply because of low-profit margins like you might have to with outbound marketing. One of the primary reasons for this potential with inbound marketing is the access to data that informs you of which tactics are working and which aren’t.
For example, if you are running a Facebook Ads campaign done with inbound methodology, you can see how many clicks to your website you’ve received on a particular ad and how many of those ads converted. Because of this, you can strategically make changes to your ad copy or targeting criteria so that the ad performs optimally. Conversely, most outbound marketing methods cannot be altered—they’re one and done, whether effective or not.
7. Increases Productivity in the Field
Inbound marketing frees up time for your salespeople by working as your front-line sales team. Instead of focusing on unqualified leads, they can focus on leads that are pre-qualified and more likely to convert. Because of this, productivity increases.
Rather than wasting time visiting a potential job site only to find out that your company’s pricing isn’t a good fit for their budget, the pricing information posted on your website will eliminate this prequalification process and fill your sales funnel with qualified leads.
8. Stabilizes Cash Flow
Many companies in the industry experience a significant dip in cash flow during the off-season months, which we at HALSTEAD like to call the strategy months. With consistent inbound marketing, your sales funnel can be full no matter what time of year it is, resulting in stabilized cash flow since you’re not missing out on opportunities during these times. We often get one piece of recurring feedback from clients that have had complete marketing systems in place for over 12 months—“I’ve never been so busy with sales and design in the winter.”
9. Allows You to Decrease the Number of Hours You Work
While there is an initial investment into content creation, ultimately, this marketing strategy saves landscape industry professionals time. For example, your blog posts will serve to educate potential customers so that you don’t have to spend so much time doing it yourself. Your role will only be integral further along in the customer journey.
10. Helps You Stand Apart from Your Competition
When your business creates content that solves a pain point for a customer, you can establish your business as a leader in the industry and stand apart from your competition. The more information you have on your website or blog, the more likely potential leads will recognize your company as having expert knowledge, unlike your competitors.
11. Allows You to Win More Against Extremely Low-Priced Bids
Leading companies know that a value-based pricing strategy will win against even the extremely low-priced bids. When a consumer can see the value of your services or work, the higher price they are willing to pay. Inbound marketing allows you to communicate the benefits that your services or work provides, which influences the value customers place on them.
12. Enables You to Spend Less Time at Appointments
Since your company’s online content serves to educate potential leads, they will already be educated before even contacting you for an appointment. This means less time can be spent qualifying the lead during the meeting, and you can focus on guiding the prospect further along through the customer journey.
13. Gives You Yet Another Reason to Stop Doing B2C Home Shows (in Case You Needed Any More)
We won’t have to convince you why you may want to stop doing home shows since you have likely seen that they’re often not worth the time or investment. You will have far more access to potential leads online via social media and your website than you would at a single home show.
14. Offers the Opportunity to Increase Your Prices
Since perceived value influences pricing, if you can effectively convey the value of that luxury poolscape, then customers will be willing to pay more. This opportunity can be increased even more if you can make an emotional connection with the consumer. A study shared by Folajomi Ballo shows that 71% of people will recommend a company with which they have an emotional connection. Plus, the lifetime value of the customer is 306% higher.
15. Helps Bring You More Qualified Job Candidates
Top firms approach recruiting from a marketing standpoint, and so inbound marketing is an effective strategy for the hiring process too. You can share content demonstrating your positive team culture and the benefits of working for your company. Communicating the career possibilities will also help attract qualified candidates. When recruiting is done consistently vs. only when you have open job positions, you have the time and opportunity to attract top talent currently employed elsewhere.
16. Gives Your Business Credibility and Improves Your Reputation
When a landscape or pool contractor has established credibility, they will be seen as a leader in the industry. Much of this credibility is established by your website design. In fact, 75% of consumers admit to making judgments on a company’s credibility based solely on the company’s website design, according to Sweor. Strategic inbound marketing has the potential to increase credibility and improve your reputation.
17. Speeds Up the Track for Free Media Coverage
When you already have professional quality photography and videography of your completed projects, it is easier to get free media coverage. The most successful landscape professionals have an online portfolio that is filled with top-notch content, photos, and videos of their work. This content can be shared on social media by local news stations and influencers.
The copy will tell the project story from the design process through project completion. It will share what the customer’s vision for the space was, how your design team came up with the final plans, the materials used, the crew who worked on the job, and will show how the new outdoor living space will be used.
18. Provides You More Time to Complete Other Key Tasks in Your Business
Instead of spending time on the phone setting up appointments, your leads can simply visit your website and schedule an appointment at a time that you have already blocked off for such appointments. You can use this time to work on other key tasks in your business. This is just one example of how inbound marketing can free up more of your time.
19. Puts Your Business on Track for Growth—and Away from Decline
82% of marketers who have a blog enjoy a positive inbound marketing return on investment (ROI) for their efforts, according to an article posted by Thrive Agency. Combine this with the fact that inbound practices produce 54% more leads than traditional outbound practices, and your business will be on track for growth.
20. Makes Your Family Happier
You’ll be happier because you have more time to accomplish all of the key business tasks on your plate, because your profit margins have increased, and simply because your work becomes much more enjoyable when there’s less stress. When you are happier, your family will be happier. Achieving work/life balance is possible when you create a stable business that is less hectic and has fewer emergencies and fires to put out. It’s a win-win.