Deciding Your Next Advertising Move as a Landscape Contractor
—
The Content Team,
HALSTEAD.
Originally published on October 13, 2015. Updated on November 22, 2022.
Table of Contents Click Here to Show
There’s never a convenient time for a business slump, but it inevitably happens. When it does, many landscape contractors scramble to find a quick win. They’ll send a quick email blast with the latest pricing offer, a direct mail piece, or something similar, hoping to generate immediate business.
When you receive a similar offer, how do you perceive such “get it fast, ask now, call today” types of marketing campaigns? It likely lessens your perceived value of the product or service, even subconsciously. If you want to establish your company as a luxury service provider, sending these quick marketing sprint tactics won’t get you there. Instead, it’ll hurt your brand image.
Today’s buyers are savvier than their predecessors and more likely to overlook these sales tactics. As it is, 47% of buyers see three to five pieces of content before engaging with a salesperson. While spontaneous purchases are made all the time, in the high-end landscape industry, it’s unheard of.
Studies show that 81% of consumers do online research before buying anything and spend an average of 79 days doing it. Consumers have access to more information than ever, which challenges businesses to provide the type of content that their target buyers are seeking. While quick solutions may work in the short term, inbound marketing is a long-term solution that will create stability in your business and create a consistent flow of traffic, leads, customers, and potential recruits.
What Is Inbound Marketing for Landscape Contractors?
Inbound marketing is also referred to as attraction marketing because you naturally attract customers to your business content. Compare this method to outbound marketing, which pushes content onto your audience whether they want it or not.
For example, inbound marketing may involve a targeted social media post sharing your professionally-produced case study video of a retreat-style backyard with an inground pool. Outbound marketing might involve an ad spot on TV.
While those who find your social media post will be those who already follow your business on Facebook or Instagram or who have specifically Googled keywords that bring your post into their search results, the TV ad spot will go to everyone watching that particular channel. This means you could be reaching people who live in apartments and don’t even have a backyard.
It’s impossible to effectively target with outbound marketing, which makes it more of a spray-and-pray marketing method. In contrast, inbound marketing content helps answer questions and inspires and educates potential customers—you’re adding value and establishing your brand image while reaching your target audience.
How to Use Content to Establish Your Brand Image as a Landscape Company
Content is anything from blogs, articles, ebooks, photos, videos, social media posts, and anything that represents your brand online. It must be high-quality and professional if you want to establish yourself as a high-end outdoor living space builder. Displaying your work is one of the best ways to develop your brand image.
The Importance of a Visually Pleasing & Easy-to-Navigate Website
Your website is the hub where you house the majority of your content. Once posted on your website, you can share this content on social media and send links to your email subscribers. Your sales reps can use the content to share information with a prospect. It is an invaluable source of information you can repurpose over time as long as your website is easy to navigate, fast, and visually pleasing.
Since website design plays a massive role in the customer journey, successful landscape business owners don’t skimp on their website design budget. Mobile devices generate over 50% of website traffic, and 73% of web designers state that a non-responsive website design is a top reason why visitors leave a website—demonstrating the importance of having a responsive website design. Plus, 42% of people will leave a website because of poor functionality, while almost 40% leave because of an outdated design, resulting in lost sales.
Investing in Professional Videography and Photography for Brand Image
Leading landscape contractors hire a professional to produce videos and take photos of their completed projects. When you share high-quality content, it naturally demands higher-quality costs. Potential customers will see the value of your work and be willing to pay for it. It takes time and dedication to establish a brand image, but if you’re consistent with it, your content will build upon itself like an investment.
Choose visual content that reflects the scope of jobs you want to take on. If you only build complete outdoor living areas, post photos showing a fully equipped outdoor kitchen or an expansive paver patio with a custom inground pool. This content prequalifies your leads by setting expectations and demonstrating the value of your work.
Become an Industry Expert Using Professionally Written Content
Written content is crucial for search engine optimization (SEO), but the primary focus should be creating useful content that serves a purpose. While the purpose of this content is to generate leads, it’s seen as helpful information and helps establish trust in your company and brand.
If your business provides commercial landscape services, you could write a blog about why it’s never too early to get on a commercial snow and ice removal company’s list or about ways a commercial landscape company can help during the winter months. With strategic SEO, commercial property decision-makers will find your content when searching for information about commercial snow and ice removal. Your content will be informative and help them see your company as a trusted expert.
Using Content for Employer Branding and Recruitment
Your content on social media helps establish your employer brand. Approaching recruitment from a marketing perspective helps attract quality recruits, whether you’re looking for your next rock star sales rep, irrigation technicians, or crew members.
Landscape construction companies that post content demonstrating their positive company culture catch the attention of current job seekers and hardworking people who are currently employed but may be looking for a career move in the future.
This recruiting strategy creates a steady flow of potential employees, which you can keep track of, automate, and streamline recruiting efforts via an application tracking system (ATS). Whether it’s used for sales or recruitment, inbound marketing is an effective tool with numerous benefits.
Additional Benefits of Inbound Marketing for Landscape Contractors
Effective inbound marketing helps you avoid the rollercoaster effect with cash flow that many businesses experience. Foresight and planning go a long way in building content that can help to establish a more stable business. Beyond the predictable consistency this strategy provides, it’s a multi-purpose tool that offers benefits in several categories.
Financial Benefits of Inbound Marketing
On average, inbound leads cost 61% less than outbound leads, with the average cost per lead dropping 80% after five months of consistent inbound marketing. Imagine what you could accomplish by investing the same amount of your traditional marketing budget in content marketing. Blogs are one of the highest ROI marketing channels when there is high-quality content and consistent effort over time.
Time-Saving Benefits of Inbound Marketing
While traditional marketing is typically a one-and-done approach, content marketing keeps working for you. Not only does your website function as an extra salesperson on staff, but there’s no limit to the number of leads it can generate and nurture simultaneously—while you and your team continue business as usual. There is a time investment to create content, but you’ll begin to see results within approximately six to nine months. The more content you create, the faster you’ll see results. Many landscape contractors rely on marketing agencies to create content for them as part of their marketing strategy, which is one more thing off their plates and additional time savings.
Lead Generation Benefits of Inbound Marketing
Combine content marketing with automation software, and you have an efficient lead machine. Studies show that inbound marketing is 10 times more efficient for lead conversion, an impressive stat showing the value of the strategy. Using marketing automation software to distribute your content can increase the number of qualified leads you generate by as much as 451%.
Customer Relationship Benefits of Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing is an excellent tool for nurturing leads and maintaining long-term customer relationships. You can use concrete data from your digital platforms and channels to guide your efforts. For example, consider a scenario with a customer who hired you to build a pavilion with an outdoor kitchen and living room a few years back. They’re on your regular email list, so when you send an email about how much fun families can enjoy with a custom pool, you’ll know when they click on a link. You can see what they may be potentially interested in so you can target your marketing efforts accordingly.