[Ethan R]

We are newly developing our website for our young business by ourselves. We are almost complete but a few thoughts and queries. At this point of time social media presence is playing a vital role. Though we lack much idea about how much effective will it be for a lawncare business. Currently we are targeting residential landscapes.
Going through the internet I came to know that we can generate leads through SEO, social media marketing, email marketing and paid ads. My question is that does email marketing and social media platforms give a fruitful result in a small and fresh residential lawn care startup? Which social media platform will be appropriate to start with? Do the residents check their emails and trust the promotional mails?
Any online presence will need a regular updation. Due to a minimum number of workers at this point of time, we want to focus in our digital presence at a minimum or no cost (if possible) and don't want to choose any wrong option.
All your suggestions and other information are welcome.

 

[Scott87]

The internet, is that thing still around-Homer Simpson. Ok seriously online platforms are good for leads espicially starting out. Look at thumbtack and nextdoor. DO NOT GIVE ANGIES LIST ANY MONIES. Alot will also depend on your location and your competions web presence.

 

[Evergrow Marketing]

does email marketing and social media platforms give a fruitful result in a small and fresh residential lawn care startup?

It depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for a lot of leads, social media could be the way to go -- but only if you do it correctly. If you boost a post or don't use correct targeting, you could be serving to completely irrelevant people.

Additionally, you have to consider that people that discover you on social media are at the top of the buying journey, which usually means they haven't even thought about your services yet. In our experience, you can get a lot of leads, but they'll be very low-quality.

The way to go for our clients has always been Google Ads and SEO. Including Local Service Ads through Google which you can set up yourself. They're a pay-per-lead ad where you place a monthly budget and then you'll only be charged when someone makes a phone call through the ad to your business directly.

We offer social, but we never recommend our clients get on it without first taking advantage of all Google services have to offer. Those clients are much lower on the funnel and ready to convert. Meaning, it has the highest ROI.

Which social media platform will be appropriate to start with?

Facebook & Nextdoor. Leave out all the rest.

But you have to pay for ads. You're not going to grow your business with organic posting unless you're able to manually post in local neighborhood groups.

With Nextdoor, just keep browsing the chats. Respond to anyone requesting lawn care. You can also run ads on Nextdoor as well. I recommend this. But you're limited to 30 miles around your physical location.

Do the residents check their emails and trust the promotional mails?

You have to be careful with this. You don't want to violate CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 when making marketing solicitation emails to people who didn't give you their email address. I recommend reading up on the requirements to comply with it.

Lastly, you need a website. Ads are almost worthless if you don't have a good landing page for the service you're advertising for. In other words, don't have a promotion on spring aeration if you don't have a page about your spring aeration promotion.

Hope this helps.

 

[typical landscaper]

Social media is more about building and reinforcing your brand. You are not going to get conversions because it's mindless entertainment for your followers. They are not looking to hire anyone.

Emailing people will annoy them and go directly to spam.

Walking around and handing out flyers is exhausting mentally and physically but still very effective.

SEO work depends on how entrenched your competition is online. It could be easy as pie and take just a few hours of work or ongoing tens of hours per month.

 

[kemco]

We do zero social media on purpose. We do ok. Good website build. Lots IMO of organic traffic.

 

[Ethan R]

Facebook & Nextdoor. Leave out all the rest.

With Nextdoor, just keep browsing the chats. Respond to anyone requesting lawn care. You can also run ads on Nextdoor as well. I recommend this. But you're limited to 30 miles around your physical location.

You have to be careful with this. You don't want to violate CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 when making marketing solicitation emails to people who didn't give you their email address. I recommend reading up on the requirements to comply with it.

Haven't explored Nextdoor yet. Thank you so much for recommending. Your suggestions were very clear and helpful. And the website is in progress. Hope everything goes well.

 

[jetson]

The internet, is that thing still around-Homer Simpson. Ok seriously online platforms are good for leads espicially starting out. Look at thumbtack and nextdoor. DO NOT GIVE ANGIES LIST ANY MONIES. Alot will also depend on your location and your competions web presence.

Good point. I've learned over the years is that Angie's list! Hahaha it's a joke but is good for hard scape companies and landscape companies if.. if.. U already have a substantial presence in a specific area. Make connections with larger lawn care companies. Take their crappy business and refer them quality business. My company has grown by doing this. What works for me may not work for you but we are first call for lawn care for several large landscaping companies. Advertising lawn care alone is a losing business. Craigslist yeah. You and everyone else. Find large organizations. Churches. Vfws . Auto workers associations. Places regular people don't even bother with but these people are hard working middle class people who will pay u good for ur services.

 

[Gardner's Landscaping]

Haven't explored Nextdoor yet. Thank you so much for recommending. Your suggestions were very clear and helpful. And the website is in progress. Hope everything goes well.

Have you ran ads on nextdoor yet? I think it's juat a flat $30 a month. I haven't done it yet, but very curious to know how it would go

 

[220464]

Have you ran ads on nextdoor yet? I think it's juat a flat $30 a month. I haven't done it yet, but very curious to know how it would go

I have and it was $35 per sponsored zip code/neighborhood and 3 posts per month. I cancelled my account and left the platform. People who weren’t paying were constantly posting their services and the people running it let it slide with only a warning and didn’t remove their post. When I said something about it, I was ganged up on and banned for a few days because I publicly posted one of their messages that they let one person slide because she was going through a hardship. I was just trying to level the playing field. You can’t let non paying businesses post while paying businesses are shelling out money to do so. To each their own. Funny thing as mentioned is if someone is looking for services, you can reply to that post telling them you offer those services without having a paid business account lol. It’s a flawed system I think and when I did pay, their algorithm was messed up and didnt show my posts in certain zip codes near me.