Paul, congrats on being a new moderator. I didn't know you consulted on marketing issues. Hmm, I see an income opportunity here...
Tiffany,
I couldn't tell from your profile if you are primarily trying to attract commercial business or residential business. The approach you take will vary quite a bit depending on which you're after.
Paul covered important parts of the commercial side, his specialty. I'll try to give you some info on the residential side, my specialty. I'm not going to go too much in depth here, as this post would then likely take 15 minutes to download. I'll just cover the highlights:
With the residential customer, you should be marketing primarily to the women. They are the ones with influence in this arena. Gear your advertising to them. Landscaping is a right-brained thing (in general), women tend to be right-brained thinkers (in general). Which means, you'll want to stress different things than latest equipment, trained employees, etc. Not to say those aren't important. They just aren't AS important as selling benefits, to these customers. Sell the benefits the customer will receive, not the elements of the products you're offering. That you use the biggest, fastest irrigation line is less important than having a lush lawn, with trouble-free, guaranteed work.
Know the demographics available to you in your market. Know the demographics you're after within that market.
I don't know if this is your only job function and how much time you have to invest in the marketing of your company (though it should be a lot), if you want to get into some unorthodox, high-impact, low-cost guerilla marketing ideas, e-mail me.
