Although starting a lawn care business is relatively easy, making your business stand out from the crowd is essential. Word of mouth, marketing, social media, email — all of these will help you build your customer base and grow fast.
We’re here to help. In this article, we’ve broken down how to find what makes you unique, how to market and price your business, and some further training you might need so you can mow down your lawn care competition.
3 Ways to Stand Out From Other Lawn Care Pros
1. Word of Mouth
Word of mouth marketing is free advertising for your company. According to Investopedia.com, more than 92% of people trust their friend’s recommendations over other media forms. This makes it one of the most influential forms of advertising.
How do you generate word of mouth for your business? Deliver excellent service, be polite, get to know your customers (send a birthday card and a holiday card — frequent connections keep you top of mind).
2. Social Media
Social media is a powerful, influential, and affordable tool you can use to market your blossoming lawn care business. 80% of the U.S population has some sort of social media profile, which means more than 200 million people could potentially interact with your company.
Some ways to use social media to promote your business include:
- Facebook: is a great way to promote your business, interact with customers, and many other lawn care companies also use Facebook with their business website.
Join Facebook groups of lawn care pros or self-described “lawn care nuts” in your area. By commenting and showing your expertise, you build credibility, trust, and your business. For example, people will turn to you to mow their lawn because they see through your comments that you really know lawn care. - YouTube: As your lawn care business grows, you can start a YouTube channel showing potential customers the work you’ve done or giving them tips and tricks on caring for their yard.
Having a social media presence will help your customers find you, trust you, and spread the word about your business.
3. Google Ads
Google ads are fast and effective but can be more expensive than word of mouth or social media advertising. However, if you pay for this tool, Google will let your business display ads on its search results.
For Example: if you search Amazon, two links are shown in the Google results; one has Ad next to it in bold, and the one directly below it doesn’t.
Pro Tip: You can target your Google ads to appear only in specific locations, at certain times, and for certain people. This can help you promote your business to your desired audience.
Offer More Services To Make More Money
Add Specialized Services
Because it’s easy to enter the lawn care industry, it’s important to make your yard maintenance company stand out, such as offering only organic lawn care.
Some other specialized services you can offer include:
- Arrive on time, every time
- Install hardscapes or water features
- Invest in your website and your online presence
- Find services that your competitors have overlooked, like snow removal, pond care, or hanging holiday lights
Stay on the Cutting Edge
You can start a lawn care business with a push mower and rake, but some services like horticulture or landscaping require further training and certifications. By learning about these services you can expand your offerings and increase your sales.
Additional services your lawn care company can offer, provided you get the necessary training or gain the experience to be an expert on the topic, include:
- Become a horticulture technician to work with a variety of plant life
- Learn how to install specific types of turf
- Learn how to install and maintain irrigation systems
- Learn how to design and install hardscapes
- Become a certified arborist
- Become certified as a vehicle technician so you can fix any issues with your truck as you move from job to job
Next Steps
Like the rose that blooms before the others, marketing your business can help you blossom over your competition.
From finding the right tools to choosing the best services, making your business stand out is just one piece of the puzzle.
Check out our articles on the Pros and Cons of Starting a Lawn Care Business and the Cost of Starting a Lawn Care Business so you can make the best decisions for your new company.
LawnStarter is here to make starting and managing a lawn care business easy. Check out our FAQ and testimonials from other pros to see if we can help simplify this process.
Main Photo Credit: Brenda Ryan / LawnStarter
