You’ve started your own business in the lawn care industry. You’re doing well, and you have a loyal set of customers. But maybe your growth has stagnated and you’re not sure how to fix the problem. After all, your business can only improve if you continue to grow and obtain new customers. That’s why it is so important to have a customer acquisition strategy. Here, we’ll share a few creative ways to build your customer base and keep your business in the minds of potential customers.
How To Improve Your Customer Acquisition Strategy
Build Engagement With Your Customers
Don’t expect customers to buy your service sight unseen. Help build engagement with your customers. When someone reaches out to you questioning how many visits it would take each year to maintain a green lawn, don’t simply answer their question. Find out why your customer is asking these questions. Do they want a nice lawn but can only afford a certain number of visits? Maybe you can work out a deal to keep their lawn looking good without breaking the bank.
Another way to build engagement is to make good use of social media. Customers use social media to research companies, look at reviews, connect directly with brands, and share experiences about rendered services. If your company is being talked about on social media, you want to know; consider using a social media monitoring tool such as Sprout Social. You’ll want to make a community or group on social media where customers can turn to if they have questions or are looking for more information. You can manage the representation of your brand in this way. Further, you can connect with customers by answering questions; providing special offers; and getting their feedback on new ideas, products, or services.
A customer who engaged with your brand is someone who will be more likely to purchase your products and services time and again.
Develop Partnerships With Other Local Businesses
Find new audiences by forming strategic alliances with complementary businesses. Do you provide landscaping services but no lawn care? If you partner with a lawn care company, you’ll be able to refer the customers who ask you for lawn care to that company. This works the other way too; that lawn care company will refer any customers looking for landscaping to you. Both companies will increase market share if the partnership is right. You can think outside of the box here; any businesses within the green industry make a good match, but you could also consider partnering with a painting company, pest control company, or pet clean-up company. You might even create marketing materials about the partnership to raise brand awareness and develop the opportunity for cross promotions.
Educate Customers on Programs and Services
Customers will likely first encounter information about your company online. In this low-pressure environment, the last thing you want to do is try to push a sale on someone. Instead, focus on educating the customer. For example, instead of just listing out the chemicals used in your anti-weed service, explain why you use these chemicals. Teach the customer how these chemicals work to control weeds and why the blend you use is superior to what they can buy at their local home improvement store. Show customers that you’re an industry expert and they’ll trust your opinion.
Customers also inherently trust other customers. Studies show that a high percentage of customers read reviews before purchasing a good or service and that those reviews influence a decision more than information from a manufacturer or business. No matter how much of an expert you appear to be, no one will want to purchase your services if all they see are negative reviews. Customer testimonials and reviews are always a worthwhile addition to your website, but you consider using a tool like Crate that pulls together reviews from satisfied customers (even linking back out to the social media site where they posted their review, for more credibility).
Limit Spending
You may be wondering, how can you spend less on customer acquisition but gain more customers? The key is to be strategic about how you’re spending money. Don’t just throw large sums of cash into a huge sales team that may or may not be effective. Use tools such as HubSpot and Marketo to improve email marketing, convert leads into sales, and align data with future offers. Tailor your campaigns based on the information you gain, to move leads efficiently from prospect to paying customers.
Before you set your budget, crunch some numbers. How much does a paying customer typically spend in their lifetime? What percentage of people who visit your website end up becoming a customer? The answers to these questions, and other similar ones, will help you identify what to spend your money on—and how much of it. Your most valuable channel will be the one that brings you most customers at the lowest cost.
Spring-Green Can Help With Your Marketing Strategy
Maybe you know that customer acquisition is important, and you want to implement the tips shared here, but you don’t have the time or expertise to accomplish these things. Spring-Green can help you identify and execute on the marketing strategies that will work best for your business. That’s why Dan Hillenbrand decided to become a Spring-Green franchise owner in Oklahoma City, OK. Said Hillenbrand, “After reviewing the industry-leading marketing support provided by Spring-Green, I knew it would be the perfect strategic partnership and help accelerate my growth.”
Interested in a company that can help keep you up to date and competitive in the green industry? Spring-Green can help you grow and diversify with our 40 years of experience and our proven expertise in marketing and technology. Learn more about how Spring-Green can expand your lawn care services. Call 1-800-777-8608 or visit us at www.growmygreenindustrybusiness.com.
