Late summer is an ideal time to focus on how you are going to market your business this fall, if you haven’t started already. Be sure to read our Part 1 Article on this subject, to learn why it is so crucial.
5 Reasons Now is the Best Time to Market Fall Services, and How To Make It Effective
Because the importance of marketing in advance of the fall season is so vital, we’re sharing four more ways to utilize your time most efficiently in your marketing efforts. Laying the groundwork now, is the best way to ensure a successful fall season.
1. Announce a New Service
Expanding and diversifying the services you offer will not only set you apart from competitors, but it gives you flexibility to adjust to ever changing markets, weather, and the demands of different customers. Start by evaluating what your company already offers and seeing what new services your current customers may need. Perhaps you only do irrigation and would like to start doing drainage as well. Or, maybe you already install lighting but don’t offer maintenance packages for previously installed lighting systems. You’d be surprised how many new services you can add to your repertoire that require minimal additional training or tools.
Once you are prepared to add a new service to your fall offerings, make sure to let everyone know by:
- Adding information about the new service to your website
- Sending targeted emails and mailers to existing customers letting them know
- Creating door hangers to target new customers
- Utilizing social media to share information about the new service, and highlighting the value it may provide a new customer
2. Showcase You’re An Industry Expert in Seasonal Needs
Nearly all places around the country will experience changes in weather as the summer ends and we prepare for the fall. Homeowners will be looking to you for information about the services that are required or recommended for this time of year.
Ensure you are marketing information now to your customers to get them thinking ahead about turf disease prevention, stormwater management, holiday lighting installations, and more seasonal services. While many in the green industry stick to marketing their irrigation blowouts in the fall, they are missing the real opportunity. Your company has the ability to stand out as a trusted advisor to your customers, because you can share recommendations on how to improve their property.
3. Sharing Project Photos
Consumers often make decisions based upon their first impression of a business. Because of the internet, that initial impression is made well before you even have a chance to meet with a potential customer face-to-face. This makes it crucial for you to take advantage of every opportunity to improve your online presence. High quality photos are a great way to demonstrate the stellar work that you provide. The best part is that these photos are completely free, and can be used on everything from a website to social media. (Read more about Central’s tips for utilizing before and after photos HERE)
Fall is the perfect time to use new photos to market your business. Perhaps you have a large project you worked on all summer and nowyou can capture final photos of the work your crew has done. Or as daylight patterns change, the lighting in the late afternoons can be perfect for beautiful; natural lighting shots, compared to the extreme brightness during much of the summer.
4. Invest In Organization
July is also a good time to prep for marketing fall services by organizing your contact lists. Ask yourself some key marketing questions:
- When was the last time you checked the status of your contact lists?
- When was the last time you checked your bounce rates on emails?
- Take some time to discuss with your team what your CTA (Call To Action) buttons are going to be in the communications you will send out.
- Are you offering free estimates on fall landscape lighting projects?
- Are you encouraging current customers to start booking their winterization as soon as possible so that they don’t have to remember once the busy season of the fall kicks in?
- Are you looking to move customers into wifi-enable products so they don’t have to be home for routine or emergency calls later in the year as the weather gets bad?
Finally,
Whatever your fall messaging is, take the time in August to prepare and ensure you are reaching your clientele and not losing their year-round business. Whether it’s marketing and design support, digital/social media marketing assistance, website and SEO audits or access to professional job site photography, Central is the right partner to help you increase your sales and efficiency this fall. Our highly skilled team has decades of experience to help you identify best-practices and implement initiatives that deliver results. We’re ready to help you grow!