Leave Your Calling Card In Style

For years landscapers have used picture portfolios to help sell jobs to consumers. Pictures of their company's best work have been put together in a photo album picked up from a local Walmart. This is all well and good, but marketing is like a cold; you want it to be contagious.

That's why maybe trying something different when asking for referrals is in order. Shutterfly.com and other online picture stores allow consumers to put together professional printed, professional quality, keep-sake photo books for as little as $30. A great idea any landscaper can do is to take pictures throughout a project, take pictures of the project completed, load the pictures onto Shutterfly.com and create a professional photo book with your customers name and your logo and contact information everywhere.

Not only will this be a classy touch that will get you talked about, but when that customer shows their friends and family pictures of the job, your name and logo will pass on quicker than a cold!

Blogger Website

For those of you who do not have a website there is a website that will give you a quick and easy way to get one at absolutely no cost to you, even giving you your own distinctive website address. Well actually, you're already there.

That's right, Blogger can have you up and running in nearly minutes. Posting pictures writing content and other website tasks have never been easier. To get started, simply click on the "Blogger" icon located on the top left.

There are two reasons why I recommend at least pursuing a website this way. First, it's quick and inexpensive. The main reason you have a website in Landscaping is to be found on searches, show pictures of your work, and to give out your contact information. With Blogger, all three can be accomplished very easily. The second reason is communication with your customers. Postings that allow customers to post their comments are a great way to answer questions. Starting discussion threads can help eliminate phone calls from future customers too. For example, let's say you start a thread labeled "How to properly water your lawn after installation." Sounds goofy right? Well, as you may know already, the same questions pop up. How long, when, how much, and others are all obvious questions. Not only can you address each question posted, you have a saved record of that question.

What's the point? Well, as you know most questions that customers ask you are the same ones you hear over and over again. Wouldn't it be great to be able to walk away from a jobsite once your done and say, "If you have any questions, feel free to call the office. But you can also check my Landscape Blog and many of the questions people have are already answered there." If you think about it, the discussion topics are endless. How to change a sprinkler head, identifying weeds, how do you prune, troubleshooting, etc.

Maybe just maybe your cell phone will ring a bit less.

Craig's List - Check it out!

Craig's List is the new marketplace for generation "Next."

Postings are free and they do get responses. The downside is that your advertisement is only valid for seven days. But for the cost, well worth it.

So get busy and add an ad on Craig's List to gauge it's performance. To track it, you may want to put on a special "Craig's List" offer, allowing you to track your leads.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software

You've all heard the acronym thrown around, CRM. But what are they talking about, and do you need it? Well, the answers to those questions are Customer Relationship Management Software and yes.

CRM Software is a marketer's best friend. Tracking, emailing, scheduling and overall performance can be monitored using this software. In the landscaping industry, it is perhaps one of the most underused tools out there. It could bring in thousands and thousands of extra revenue if used correctly.

If you have a website, it's almost a must to have CRM Software. Information gathered on signup sheets and product request forms can be funnelled automatically into your CRM software for easy analysis.

One of the best CRM software, ACT! has free demos and list the benefits and tools their software has to offer.

Having a CRM program in place can also help you easily contact your customers for followup offers and additional specials through email or traditional mail.

Social Networks - 21st Century Marketing

Social networks such as Linkedin, Facebook, MySpace, and others are the key to marketing to the new generation. Engaging them in conversations on the web instead of simply talking to them through traditional media has such a dramatic effect. How you may ask?

I recently had the pleasure of attending a lunch in featuring Larry Weber from the company Digital Influence Group. Mr. Weber has been in the marketing industry for many years, and has successfully run marketing campaigns for companies such as GM, IBM, Coca-Cola, Pfizer, and many more. Mr. Weber was kind enough to share some knowledge from his book, "Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business" and let me tell you it was fantastic! I definitely recommend any small business owner to pick it up...

Let's Give Them Something To Talk About...

Everyone knows those favorite lyrics.

Your company has a unique and special story to tell, so tell it! Not just by word of mouth, but also on your website!

Landscape marketing starts with telling a story that is unique, powerfull, and creative! There are thousands of companies out there, tell them why you're different! But don't "vomit" your story on the site. Just give them enough to wet their whistle... Then let them contact you for the rest!

You Now Have 5 Seconds... Ready, Set, Go!

You now have 5 seconds.

That's the average time a consumer will spend on your website, if they cannot find what they want, before they get up and go.

Effective Internet marketing starts with a clear and simple website. Don't make your site to hard to navigate through, because people won't. What you may find interesting, others may not. In fact, ask some of your current customers to look at your website and take a survey on whether they could navigate it easily.

Once you have created an effective, simple website, people won't be running after 5 seconds. They'll be buying.

You Don't Need a Website to Have an On-Line Portfolio

That's right! Our friends at Google has made it possible to have an attractive, easy to use portfolio right on the Internet.

Picassa is Google's photo organizer on the web. Here you can upload your images easily, and make them available to others on the Internet. The best part of this, is that it's FREE!

With the ease of a few clicks, you can have your images on the Internet, able to be seen by all of your potential customers!

To check Picassa out, simply click here, or enter in the website address: http://picassa.google.com.

So How Long Do You Have To Fill Out a Form?

We've all seen them before.  "Contact us by filling out this form."  Sounds easy enough, right?  

Sometimes companies go overboard on their forms and try to obtain every bit of information possible.  The problem is that you don't need every bit of information to contact a customer.  

Remember, the key to any good form is keeping it simple.   The average Internet visitor gives a webpage five seconds.  Think about the purpose of the form, it's not to gather every bit of information, but to make initial contact with the potential customer.  So remember, keep it simple and gather only the information you need!

How Much Should I Spend on a Website?

This is a great question. But to answer it, you have to ask yourself another question.

How much energy am I going to put towards it?

"Well, if I'm hiring someone else to do it, I don't want to spend any time on it." If this is the answer you're thinking of, I'm guessing you should spend only a couple hundred dollars at most.

The point of this question and this post is that a website is a living and breathing thing. If you do not have the time to review the site, send information to developers to update it, learn to update it yourself and make it a part of your company, why bother to invest a ton of money into it?

Let's put it another way. If you were going to buy a truck for your company and weren't going to change the oil, rotate the tires, clean it, service it or keep it in shape; would you spend $20,000 on it only to have it be worth nothing in a few years?

You Tube, Blogs, and other Multi-Media

You Tube has millions of hits a day. One out of ten internet users have a Blog. Nine out of every ten internet users log on to view video or listen to something.

What's the point of that statement?

You and your business can use that to help promote your company! Think outside the box when it comes to your website. Offer tips, videos, podcasts, or even start a blog! People are looking for Multi-Media information. Do you have what they're looking for?

You Have a Remarkable Story... So Tell It!

I'm sure that you're in the business for some reason. Probably because you can do something that no one else can. Something that makes you unique. Seth Godin calls it "your free prize inside," meaning that it's the little reason that makes people buy.

Soon as you start concentrating on the thing that makes you different, promote the heck out of it! The biggest mistake is that you try to be everything to everybody. Your different and people need to hire you based upon that.

So in your marketing make sure you concentrate on what makes you different!

Websites: They're not just for Large companies...

Websites. Every one seems to have them, so now is the time to jump on board! Gone are the days where landscapers carry a large portfolio book with pictures of past jobs.

Websites are a great way to post pictures of previous jobs, company information, services offerred, and even gather payment from customers.

But beware, many web developers do not know how to create a website for our industry. Most webdevelopers take websites to the "extreme" and develope a site that is high-priced and non-rellavent to what you are trying to accomplish.

Here are some tips to give a web developer that is building your website:

1. Keep it 5 pages or less. Most people don't want a lot of text to read with a "landscaping" website. Concentrate on your work!
2. Payment sites like paypal can offer you a way to let your customers pay you using your website without the cost of having someone design a payment center for you.
3. Remember, make sure all of your services are represented.
4. Keep your photos up to date!
5. A contact page or form is a must for customers to contact you about your services.

For more tips, simply email me at skanary@hotmail.com!

Yellow Page Advertising... Don't Waste Your Money!

Here's the thought around the yellow pages:

So you open up a landscaping company and you take out an add in the Yellow Pages. But you find out that there is more than one. So you spend $5000 placing a text add in several Yellow Page listings around the county and just wait for the business to pile in...

But let me ask you this: When was the last time you used the Yellow Pages to find something? Well, my answer to that (and probably your customer's answer) is, not in a very long time.

So what gives then? You have to advertise your business, right?

Of course you do. But take a look at your customers first. Most are professionals, who have a moderate to significant income. Most use the internet to look for things. So why would you not be there!

So try to do the following:

• Open up an AdWords or Yahoo Search Marketing account. Internet Pay-Per-Click can deliver customers LOOKING for you and your services.
• Improve your site and keep the content relevent and current. This will help you climb the "organic" search engine charts.
• Never forget that customer word of mouth is the best form of advertising. Do a good job and ask for referrals!!! If you do a good job, the neighbors WILL notice.