20 Actionable Ideas to Use Emails for Your Lawn Care Company
admin | Jul 30, 2019
Do you collect emails from your current or potential clients? Maybe you have a list of emails, but do you know what to do with it?
A segmented list of emails is a valuable resource for marketing your landscaping company. You can use an email list to communicate & upsell existing clients, target potential clients, and build your online reputation within your service area.
Here are 20 ways you can use an email list to grow your lawn care company through digital marketing.
1. Send a Monthly Newsletter
A monthly newsletter is a common tactic for local businesses trying to get started in email marketing. It usually consists of company updates, an employee of the month, and featured projects.
How do you get your email newsletter to stand out in a client’s crowded inbox? We recommend segmenting your list and providing outstanding value with the contents of your newsletter.
2. Upsell Existing Customers
The best type of audience to sell to is one that already knows you and has hired you. After segmenting your email list into specific audiences, you can upsell them with additional services. For example, you don’t need to sell an irrigation system to someone who you already installed a system for, but you can upsell them with seasonal maintenance and inspection of the system.
3. Highlight Community Involvement
Like many local businesses, you and your team are likely involved in giving back to local community groups. Be sure to let your customers know about your community involvement, whether you are sponsoring an event, supporting a local charity, or donating time or materials for a civic or non-profit group.
4. Send a Reminder of Upcoming Service
If you use a CRM or scheduling app to run your business, you may already be sending appointment reminders to customers. If you have not invested in this type of software, you can mimic this feature in your email service provider. Simply segment your list by what services they are receiving, then schedule an email to send right before you offer a specific treatment.
5. Announce a New Service or Offering
When you are branching out to offer a new service, the best audience to announce it to is your existing client base. They already know and trust in your brand, so it should be an easier sell than when you announce your service to a wider audience. It’s a great way to roll out this new service in your area.
6. Invite to a Customer Appreciation Event
If you don’t already, consider holding an open house or customer appreciation event for your clients. It is a time to have your clients meet with account managers & team members, thank your clients for their business, and create a community within your client base. These types of events build brand loyalty and can increase referrals.
7. Answer FAQs
Does your customer service team answer the same questions over and over again? Use your email list to send answers to frequently asked questions. It is likely that other clients had the same question and chose not to reach out. Being proactive and answering their questions shows that you care and can set better client expectations.
8. Provide Local Updates
You should be setting yourself up as the local lawn care expert, so use your email list to communicate this expertise directly to your clients. You can provide insights on how seasonal conditions are impacting plants and lawns across your service area. Offer recommendations on how property owners should water, cut, or care for their yards in between service appointments. And if there is any public concern that’s hit the local news – like an increase in the tick population or a new invasive species – you can provide your take on the news.
9. Offer Discounts
Looking to drum up some business for an underbooked division? Send out an email to existing clients offering a discount for anyone who books within the week. This may be the thing that pushes someone who has been on the fence to call you and make an appointment. This tactic can also work well in promoting shoulder season or off-season jobs.
10. Announce a Contest
Many landscaping companies run social media contests to build brand awareness and generate more leads. In addition to boosting a contest post on Facebook, you may also want to let your email list know about the contest. It’s a relatively free way to get more people engaged with the contest.
11. Send Curated Content
People love seeing new ideas for decor online; it’s why Pinterest has grown to be a major social media platform. Consider curating inspirational content from online sources and send to your client base. By doing this, your audience can dream bigger and bolder for their next project, and they will look to you – as their source of inspiration – to perform the work.
12. Share Newly Completed Projects
Landscaping companies can produce stunning transformations in a client’s backyard. Find ways to share newly completed projects with your email list so they can see the work you do. It may inspire them to call you for their next project, or you may see this type of email shared with friends, family members, and co-workers so that even more people are seeing your stunning work.
13. Show Unique Ads on Google
If you are running search ads on the Google Ads platform, you can further expand the capabilities of these ads with your email list. By uploading an email list of current clients, you can show different ads in search or display. You can use Returning Customer language to tailor the message and have your ad stand out among the rest.
14. Show Targeted Ads on Facebook & Instagram
Facebook & Instagram are two popular marketing platform for landscaping companies for building brand awareness and driving potential clients to your website. Not only is it where large portions of the population spend time every day, the targeting options available means you can get your message in front of the right audience.
As you expand your Facebook/Instagram advertising strategy, you may find that you want to create separate ads for existing customers. You can do that by uploading your email list to Facebook and creating a custom audience. Then you can create ads that will only be shown to people on this list. These types of ads can be for a referral program, discounts for long-time customers, or a specific service that an audience is interested in.
15. Exclude from Ad Campaign on Facebook
If you are using Facebook to target new clients, you may not want these ads to appear for your existing clients. You can create a custom audience of existing clients by uploading an email list, then exclude them from seeing your new customer ads. This way, you can give each audience the right message at the right time, while not overloading them with too many ads.
16. Build a Lookalike Audience
Do you ever wish you could just clone or duplicate some of your great existing clients? With a Lookalike Audience tool, you can get close to that! Available on both Facebook and Google ad platforms, you can upload your email list and the platform will create an audience that shares similar characteristics – demographics, geography, behavior, or interests.
17. Send a Customer Survey
Want to know how well your team is doing in servicing your clients? Send out a customer survey. Different survey platforms can measure satisfaction with service, individual team members, and the entire sales process.
18. Ask for Reviews
Building and maintaining your online reputation can make a difference in whether someone chooses you or your competitor. A reputation management platform like GatherUp can gradually email your list with a link to review your company on Google, Facebook, or another platform.
19. Launch a Referral Campaign
Referral programs are a great way to turn customer satisfaction into more leads. When you launch a referral campaign, emailing your current clients with a summary of the program is a good idea.
20. Ask to Vote for Local Award
Most community magazines, newspapers, or business associations have a Best Of or other local business awards. These awards are great for building trust and brand recognition in your service area. When nominations or voting are open, be sure to email your clients and let them know how they can vote for you. And when you win an award, be sure to announce it and thank your clients for voting.
Fitting Email Within Your Digital Marketing Strategy
All of these ideas are just that: ideas. It would not be wise to take all 20 tactics and start implementing them within one week. This will lead to poor results, annoyed clients, and an overwhelmed marketing team.
Instead, find which ideas fit best within your digital marketing strategy and overall business goals, then come up with a plan to implement them. Don’t have a cohesive digital marketing strategy? Contact us; our team is ready to help you create an online marketing plan that generates more leads for your landscaping business.