Marketing that pays dividends
Knowing who you are marketing to and getting them to market for you is the secret to growth advertising.
No company can be all things to all people, and nor should they. I have seen many optimists fall for the, “If I can get 1/10 of 1% of a multibillion dollar industry, I could make…” pie in the sky dollars or something like that. Many contractors have found the benefit (and profit) in specializing and focusing on a market segment rather than compete for an entire market. Doing this will help in a number of ways:
- You can focus your marketing dollars. By focusing on a specific audience, your branding and recognition efforts will be tightly intertwined as opposed to “shotgunning” your dollars over different mediums and market segments.
- Become an expert. You have the opportunity to be perceived as the expert in a particular field or expertise. By marketing your arborist skills, or topiary skills, or hardscaping abilities you can build your company as the premier supplier for [insert your skill here].
- Make it easy for customers to talk about you. By being the expert above and using a little creativity, your clients will have fewer competitors to compare or confuse you with. Your customers will be excited to talk about you and your work.
Know your audience
Landscapers that focus on managed properties, or commercial clients, or residential markets and the like, will be better prepared to make accurate bids and help their clients make better purchases. Your company should make very specific customer lists (not just current clients, but those who you would like to have, and those that you would like to have back) and learn everything possible pertaining to their business, history, future plans and purchases, and contact information. Your company will be able to accurately bid for future projects and increase your per transaction sales.
Whether your company focuses on design and installation, water-scapes, or municipalities, the most important objective is to identify which customers are most likely to utilize your services. Your company will then be able to maximize marketing dollars by finding the medium(s) most likely to communicate your message and spread the word.
A Professional among us
Positioning your company as the leader in its field and branding yourself as an expert can drive potential clients to your business with credibility and prestige. By focusing your services, you also eliminate your competitors. If you can write about your industry, you will find numerous people willing to publish articles. Once the writing gets distributed, you will be asked to do more speaking engagements. This will create more exposure for you and further distance your company from competitors. All of this can be done with little to no money.
Your customers want to talk about you
People are very excited to be able to recommend products and services to others. Since your customers will be dealing with the expert of the industry, they will want to talk to their friends about what they have learned from you. Materials such as door hangers for your customers’ neighbors or donating to community projects heightens their desire to spread the word about you.
Help them develop opportunities to talk about you by creating a buzz around them. Signage on trucks and trailers, logos on uniforms, home-show and community displays, and door hangers all get people wanting to know more. How can they get that landscape for their own property? Who should they talk to about that? Your clients will have an answer for them. Just make sure your products and services back up the buzz.
[…] wanted to expound a little on my last post, Marketing that pays dividends, because I received a few emails from landscapers that were looking for a little more detail on […]