Lawn Mowing Business - Ways to Advertise

By Steve Sutherland

Local Print Media

Buying advertising space in local print media can be effective depending on how you go about it. Remember that people buy based on perceived benefits and not product or service features so you should not just tell potential customers about your services but focus more on telling them how your services will benefit them. Research how a good advertisement should be designed and also look into ways that you can negotiate cheaper ways to buy advertising space.

Flyers and Direct Mail

Sending out an advertising flyer can work although this approach is much more effective if you personally hand out flyers and talk to people at the same time. Remember that the response rate for flyers and direct mailings is notoriously low.

Network

Join business associations such as your local Chamber of Commerce. Attending regular meetings is a great way to network, meet new prospects and to spread the word around.

Try to get to know some real estate agents and ask them to distribute you brochures or business cards to people moving into houses that have just sold.

Community Noticeboards

Look for local retailers who have community notice boards. You can often post your business card or flyer there for free.

Advertise on your Vehicle

While getting customized branding on your vehicle can be expensive, once it is in place it is a mobile, free advertisement for your lawn care business whenever you are on the road or parked in front of a customers property.

Online Advertising

Once you have your lawn care business's website online you can look into the numerous forms of online advertising available. It is now possible to set up 'pay per click' campaigns with 'Google Adwords' and 'Yahoo Search Marketing' that target Internet searches in only your local area.

Outside the Box Thinking

Learn to think outside the box. Instead of just use the same marketing methods that your competitors are using try to brainstorm and think of totally original ideas or borrow ideas from other industries with companies that are innovative and original in their approach to adverting.

Testing and Tracking

Once you have a good variety of advertising methods in place you should then try to track the performance of each method to determine which methods are cost effective. When customers enquire about your services make sure that you ask them how they heard about your company and keep a record of the number of customers that found you through each method. Then you can calculate the cost of acquiring each new customer through each method and you can eliminate the advertising methods that don't work.

There are no methods that can be expected to be better than others as every market is different. Look at the methods used by well-established lawn care businesses, as it is likely that they have tested many methods over time already.

Steve Sutherland has experience running a variety of small businesses. Passionate about helping others get started in business he writes on several business related topics including the lawn care industry. For more advice and articles about how you can start and maintain a profitable lawn care business visit http://www.StartaLawnMowingBusiness.com