Direct Mail Marketing for Landscaping Companies

by Brandon Cornett

I'm always amazed at how few residential landscaping companies take advantage of direct mail marketing. Direct mail is perfectly suited for these kinds of companies, but only a small percentage of them capitalize on it.

Quick story...

I once designed a promotional mailer for a guy who owned a landscaping yard. You know ... sod, stone, mulch, gravel ... that kind of thing. Until I met him, he'd never done any marketing beyond his Yellow Pages ad (which gave him marginal results).

I asked him what he wanted to sell the most, and he said, "Well, sod moves pretty well. And there are a lot of new neighborhoods being built where the developers don't put in sod."

Light bulb!

Long story short, I showed him how to target these specific neighborhoods with direct mail, designed a direct mail postcard around a special offer for sod, and added in the fact that "sod planting season" was right around the corner.

Results?

He had people brining in the cards for their discounts within two weeks of mailing. It outperformed his Yellow Pages ad in no time flat.

Landscaping and lawn care companies can use direct mail in a variety of creative ways:

1. Seasonal Reminders
I used a season reminder as part of the postcard tactic mentioned above. It's a great approach because many homeowners don't know the seasonality of lawn care, planting season, etc.

2. Customer Follow-up
You're probably familiar with the 80/20 rule -- you get 80% of your business from 20% of your customers. You've probably also heard how much more expensive it is to acquire a new customer than to retain a current one.

With this in mind, why not send your best customers thank-you cards, holiday greetings or special offers? It's a great way to stay in touch with the 20% who mean the most to your business.

3. Neighborhood Prospecting Around a “Prize Lawn”
If you're responsible for a beautiful lawn in a particular neighborhood, let the rest of the neighbors know about it. You can use direct mail postcards to target the exact streets and neighborhoods you want. This lets you draw attention to projects the recipient has probably already seen!

4. Tip-of-the-Month Series
Want an easy way to stay "top of mind" with your prospecting area? Want to build value into your postcards to keep them out of the trashcan? Try a tip-of-the-month series. The concept is simple: take your sales message, and wrap it inside a helpful hint so the homeowner has an extra reason to keep it.

The goal here is not to give away your professional secrets -- but to make your audience aware of your services, while also increasing the shelf-life of your postcards.

5. Special Offers
Postcards with strong offers outperform the more "informational" pieces. So if you're offering some kind of discount or special, send it straight to your audience's mailboxes. With a newspaper or magazine ad, you're limited as to how specific you can make your offer. But with postcards, you can speak more directly to the various segments of your audience.

Good luck and good marketing!

-Brandon from PostcardSmart.com