Marketing Plan

[PlymouthRiverLandscaping]

I am looking to create a sound marketing plan for my company ( 25-30) mowing accounts. I have room to grow to about 60-70 accounts with the current equipment that I have. I am a senior in college so money is tight ( Marketing Major). Does anyone have some low budget marketing ideas that they have used in the past that I may be able to use to grow my company? I am looking to stay in the residential area as opposed to doing commericial properties.

[Hedgemaster]

Lawn care business tips

Craigslist was my main source of clients last season (my first). I hung a flyer and business cards at a local supermarket and picked up maybe 4 clients from that, but the majority came from Craigslist ads I ran. I used an actual advertisement (image) in place of a text ad. It set me apart from the rest. I included a set of keywords following the image that helped direct searches for areas I wanted to target to my ad.

[Steve]

Check out this section in my blog on how to get lawn care customers.

There are a lot of ideas in there that should help you.

Let me know how they work out.

[jklawncare]

Put your name out EVERYWHERE
also, everybody that you meet, hi, here's my card
word of mouth is what is going to get you the best results.

[thegroundscrew]

Word of mouth is by far the best form of marketing! You just can't be shy! Sometimes it helps to just stand outside of a grocery store passing out business cards and talking to people. You can meet a lot of potential customers. Also post like crazy on all the free local classifieds. Good luck

[PlymouthRiverLandscaping]

I have tried to use craigslist, but only worte a text post. I will design a better flyer this off-season and try more keywords in my post.

Are you supposed to ask the business before hanging a flyer?

Word of mouth is my strongest way of picking up potential customers. I have a referal incentive program with my current customers with offers a free lawn mow or bed weeding for the referal of a new customer. This has brought me 4 or so new accounts.

Steve, i have added that page to my favorites. THANKS as always!

[Steve]

I have tried to use craigslist, but only worte a text post. I will design a better flyer this off-season and try more keywords in my post.

There are a bunch of discussions on here with example of what others have done, so I'd suggest to a little searching and you will find a bunch of craigslist ad designs others have used and found success with.

Are you supposed to ask the business before hanging a flyer?

I don't think you need to if it is a community bulletin board in a store.

Word of mouth is my strongest way of picking up potential customers. I have a referal incentive program with my current customers with offers a free lawn mow or bed weeding for the referal of a new customer. This has brought me 4 or so new accounts.

Don't forget to talk to the neighbors of your current customers and hand them out marketing material as well.

[earthworks knoxville]

where can i find the key words i need to post a profitable add on craigslist.ive just started a new business and dont know what would be my best next step to getting my first customers.would be very greatful for any help

[yourscape]

Originally Posted by Hedgemaster

Craigslist was my main source of clients last season (my first).

I hung a flyer and business cards at a local supermarket and picked up maybe 4 clients from that, but the majority came from Craigslist ads I ran.

I used an actual advertisement (image) in place of a text ad. It set me apart from the rest.

I included a set of keywords following the image that helped direct searches for areas I wanted to target to my ad.

What is the trick to using an image on Craigslist? I tried that the other day and I could get it to work. Is it a code thing?

[Steve]

where can i find the key words i need to post a profitable add on craigslist.

I would think using keywords like all the services you offer, the towns you service and the zip codes of those areas would be beneficial.

What is the trick to using an image on Craigslist?

You need to use a little html code.

<img src="http://www.gopherforum.com/uploaded-files/images/small-gopher-image.jpg">

This code will create this in your ad.



Just make sure you change the link to where your photo is.