Lawn Care Marketing Plan [Sample Template]

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Do you run a lawn care company and want to promote it? If YES, here is a sample lawn care business marketing plan template and ideas to attract client. Okay, so we have considered all the requirements for starting a lawn care company.

We also took it further by providing an in-depth sample lawn care business plan template. In this article, we will be analyzing and drafting a sample lawn care marketing plan backed up by actionable guerrilla marketing ideas for lawn care businesses. So put on your marketing hat and let’s proceed.

A Sample Lawn Care Marketing Plan Template

1. Our Present Business Situation

Posh Lawn Care and Landscape Company has been legally registered and we have acquired the required business license and all the necessary permits to run this type of business in Long beach, California and neighboring states.

So far, we have been able to successfully acquire the required trainings and licensing that will enable us launch our lawn care Company without any stress. We will ensure that every property that we handle has our unique signature of excellence on it.

Before launching our business, we have been able to secure several business deals to manage and take care of 25 residential clients a week and also one golf course in Long Beach, CA. We are set to offer several services amongst which are mowing, fertilizing and chemical application et al. This is just the basic services we will be offering to the clients that hired our services.

We have also successfully acquire all the needed equipment and tools such as Lawnmower, String Trimmer, Edging Shears, Turfing Iron, Half Moon Cutter, Brooms, Besom, Leveling Rake, Spring – tined Rake, Switch, Wheel Barrow, and truck that will help us effectively carry out our lawn care services.

2. Our Product and Services

Posh Lawn Care and Landscape Company that is committed to excellent and timely services delivery and to give its customers value for their money. We know that our customers are the reason why we are in business and we will ensure that we make them our number one priority. These are the services that Posh Lawn Care and Landscape Company will be offering;

Lawn mowing/maintenance
Sod installation/hydro – seeding
Weeding or fertilizer and/or pest control application
Landscape care/maintenance services
Landscape design/contracting services
Landscape architecture services
Weekly lawn cut
Weeding Beds
Spring Cleanup
Trimming Landscaping
Fall Cleanup
Chemical Treatment
Snow Plowing
Consultancy and Advisory Services

3. Our Mission and Vision Statement

Our Vision at Lawn Care and Landscape Company is to become the preferred choice of homeowners, property managers and the government when it comes to lawn care and landscaping services in Long Beach and other cities in Los Angeles.

We are a company that is established with the aim of helping homeowners, property managers and the government manages their lawn and any other related services. We will work towards becoming the number one choice lawn and landscaping company in California.

Our Market Goals

From the survey conducted, we were are able to discover that the average lawn care and landscaping business owner rakes in about $5,000 to $50,000 in their first year of active business, and a steady increase of $160,000 to $250,000 from subsequent year as long as they are consistent in what they do and have been able to create additional sources of income.

We have perfected our sales and marketing strategies and we are set to deliver excellent lawn care services. We know that if we structure our business properly and we have highly trained and motivated employees, we are likely going to meet or even surpass our set market / sales target of generating enough income / profits from our first three months of operations.

With the help of experts, we have been able to critically examine the landscape industry with more emphasis on California and we have analyzed our chances in the industry and we have been able to come up with the following sales forecast. The sales projection is based on information gathered on the field and some workable assumptions as well.

Execute a minimum of 30 lawn care services for residential facilities monthly within the first 6 months of operations
Execute a minimum of 10 lawn care services for golf courses monthly within the first 6 months of operations
Executes a minimum of 20 lawn mowing/maintenance jobs monthly for public facilities within the first 6 months of operations
Handles a minimum of 30 Sod installation/hydro – seeding, Weeding or fertilizer and / or pest control application jobs within the first 6 months of operations
Provide lawn care related advisory and consultancy services for a minimum of 10 client per month
Handles a minimum of 30 Chemical Treatment, Snow Plowing, Tree Cutting contracts within the first 6 months of operations

What we aim to achieve from our market efforts are as follows:

To be listed among the top 3 lawn care companies in the united states of America (within a 7 years benchmark)
To become the number one choice when it comes to lawn care services in Long Beach and the whole of California
We want to build a self – sustaining property management business that will contribute to the growth of the economy of the United States of America.

4. Our Marketing Budget

Our market budget for our lawn care company is put at 7,500 US dollars for the first year of officially launching the business.

This is so because we have been able to study the industry and winning clients is easier when you are competent and trustworthy. Relationship is also a key factor when it comes to meeting and surpassing your market target and we are going to go all out to secure relationship with property owners and government agencies at all levels; they are our major market.

Subsequently, we will budget between 5 percent and 7.5 percent of our annual income towards marketing and promoting of Lawn Company in the Long Beach, California.

5. MARKET ANALYSIS

Lawn Care Industry Overview

In a recent publication released by a Professional Land-care Network (PLANET), an international association serving landscaping professionals, lawn care professionals, exterior maintenance contractors, installation/design/building professionals, and interior scapers, there are an estimated 10,000 individual lawn care service providers and approximately 12,000 landscapers in the United States of America. This statistics covers independent operators, franchises and large corporate chains.

They also stated that the number of professional gardeners could actually be considerably higher because there are so many people doing lawn and landscape maintenance on part – time and on a pay as you go basis.

Lastly, according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, published in 2006-2007 (U.S. Department of Labor), is that almost 1 out of every 4 landscaping, grounds – keeping, nursery, greenhouse and lawn service workers is self-employed and provides maintenance services directly to customers on a contract basis. Of these, about 1 out of every 6 works part time.

Even though lawn care business might not be amongst the money spinning businesses in the US, but they have a very large market that is readily available for them. All they need to do is to convince property owners, corporate organizations and the government to patronize their services.

Interesting Statistics About the Lawn Care Industry

As a matter of fact, statistics has it that the United States green industry (landscape and lawn maintenance, landscape contractors, landscape architects, irrigation contractors, and lawn and landscape product suppliers) generates roughly $67 billion to $69 billion annually.

PLANET estimates that the lawn care services sector alone generates about 704,000 jobs and $35.6 million in value-added services annually in the US; it is indeed a growing industry.

In spite of the fact that the lawn care / landscaping industry is considered to be at the matured stage, in some location the business is still pretty much green. Entrepreneurs who are interested in venturing into the business still have the opportunity to come into the industry.

Even if you decided to start on a small scale / sole proprietorship, you will still make headway in the industry. It is a fact that 72 percent of the lawn care / landscaping industry are driven by small business owners.

At least the industry is noted to be growing approximately 10 percent annually. Statistics has it that the industry had already hit the 61 billion dollars annual revenue mark by July 2012 and during the same year, landscaping / lawn care supervisors earned about $20 per hour, while workers (gardeners) earned about $12.44 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

On the average, it is noted that commercial landscaping and lawn care services account for about 50 percent and residential lawn care services accounts for about 30 percent of industry revenues. The lawn care services industry in the United States is highly fragmented and the top 50 lawn care services companies generate about 15 percent of the total revenue in the industry.

The fact that the start – up cost for starting a lawn care industry is pretty low, the amount required to run the business is low, as well as gives room for entrepreneurs to come into the industry. So also, the available market for lawn care services are part of the factors that encourages entrepreneurs to come into the lawn care / landscaping industry.

6. Our Target Market

Our lawn care company was deliberately located in Long Beach, California simply because we have a wide range of people and businesses that can hire our services; the geographical nature of Long Beach is highly suitable for the kind of services we render.

Our target market as a lawn care company is not just restricted to only homeowners and property managers but also government establishment.

We are quite aware that the state government is one of the biggest clients in the industry which is why we have structured our business to meet the expectations and requirements of the government when it comes to bidding for government lawn care contracts.

Here are the list of people and organization that we are set to market our lawn care services to;

Facilities managers for botanical gardens, historic buildings, municipalities and other government entities, universities, cemeteries and other public places with green spaces
Homeowners who plan to put their home on the market and want to improve its curb appeal with fresh or updated landscaping
Builders of both residential and commercial properties who don’t already have in house lawn care staff member
New homeowners who wish to update the existing landscape of their property and also ensure that the lawn are well maintained
Homeowners who are frequently out of town on business but want their lawn / garden to be properly taken care of.
Retirees who don’t have the strength to do their own lawn maintenance any longer
“Snowbirds” with winter homes in warmer climates
Golf course managers who may need help with maintenance
Rental property or condominium association managers who are personnel-impaired
Homeowners who don’t have the vision, skill or tools to design their own landscaping
Managers of public facilities such as stadium pitch / fields, parks and open play grounds
Government establishment / facilities

7. SWOT Analysis

Posh Lawn Care and Landscape Company do not intend to launch out on a trial and error basis, hence the need to conduct a proper SWOT analysis.

We know that if we get it right from the outset, we would have succeeded in creating the foundation that will help us build a strong and reliable Lawn Care and Landscape business. As such, knowing the areas of strength, weakness, as well as the opportunity that abounds for us at Lawn Care and Landscape Company became very expedient.

As a company, we look forward to maximizing our strength and opportunities and also to work around our weaknesses and threats. Here is a summary from the result of the SWOT analysis that was conducted on behalf of Lawn Care and Landscape Company;

Strength:

Our strength as a lawn care and landscape company is the fact that we have healthy relationships with loads of homeowners (residence) within the area where our business is located. We have some of the latest equipment that will help us deliver neat and excellent jobs.

Aside from our relationship (network) and equipment, we can confidently boast that we have some the qualities that are in high demand in the lawn care and landscaping line of business which are trust, honesty and relationship management.

Weakness:

Our weakness could be that we are a new lawn care and landscaping company in Long Beach, California and it will require consistency for us to gain the confidence of our prospective clients (homeowners, property managers and even the government).

Opportunities:

The opportunities that are available to us cannot be quantified; we know that there are loads of homeowners, property managers and government establishment that will require our services in Long Beach and other cities in California.

Threat:

Some of the threats that we are likely going to face as a lawn care and landscaping company are global economic downturn that can impact negatively on household spending and the arrival of a competitor (a company that offer same service as we do) within same location.

There is hardly anything we could do as regards these threats other than to be optimistic that things will continue to work for our good.

Our competitive advantage

Posh Lawn Care and Landscape Company is fully aware that there is competition in Long Beach, California, which is why we decided to carry out thorough research, so as to know how to take advantage of the available market in the city where our business is located.

We have done our homework and we have been able to highlight some factors that will give us competitive advantage in the marketplace; some of the factors are trust, honesty, good network and excellent relationship management.

Another competitive advantage that we are bringing to the industry is the fact that we have designed our business in such a way that we can comfortably work with both the highly placed clients and the lowly placed clients; our prices are designed to fit into the budget of the lower class, the middle class and the upper class.

Lastly, our employees will be well taken care of, and their welfare package is amongst the best in the industry, meaning that they will be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and achieve all our objectives.

8. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

Sources of Income

Posh Lawn Care and Landscape Company will ensure that we do not only generate income from our core service delivery but also from complementary services that we will render. Below are the sources we intend exploring to generate income for Posh Lawn Care and Landscape Company;

Lawn mowing/maintenance
Sod installation/hydro – seeding
Weeding or fertilizer and/or pest control application
Landscape care/maintenance services
Landscape design/contracting services
Landscape architecture services
Weekly lawn cut
Weeding Beds
Spring Cleanup
Trimming Landscaping
Fall Cleanup
Chemical Treatment
Snow Plowing
Consultancy and Advisory Services

9. Sales Forecast

We have perfected our sales and marketing strategies and we are set to hit the ground running and we are quite optimistic that we will meet or even surpass our set target of generating enough income / profits from the first month or operations and build the business from survival to sustainability.

We have been able to critically examine the lawn care and landscape industry with more emphasis on Long Beach, California and we have analyzed our chances in the industry and we have been able to come up with the following sales forecast.

The sales projection is based on information gathered on the field and some workable assumptions as well. Below are the projections that we were able to come up with for the first three years of Posh Lawn Care and Landscape Company;

First Year-: $45,000
Second Year-: $120,000
Third Year-: $200,000

N.B: This projection is done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown within the period stated above.

10. Our Pricing Strategy

From our findings, the average cost of lawn services varies and it is dependent on loads of factors. For example, normal lawn services include prices for services such as regular lawn maintenance which includes edging, mowing and blowing, fertilization, weeding beds, hedge trimming, shrub removal, replacement or moving, grass replacement, landscaping, irrigation among other lawn services that may be required by a client.

Usually, these services are priced separately in most cases and in some instances; they may be priced together into one monthly service price.

The ideal thing for lawn care and landscaping business owners is to adopt a package services price format. Part of our business strategy is to ensure that we work within the budget of our clients to deliver excellent lawn services. Over and above, the prices for our lawn care and landscaping services will be affordable.

Our Unique Selling Point; What Makes Our Lawn Care Company Superior to Our Competitions

We were able to study our competitors in the lawn care/landscaping industry and we were able to craft out some unique selling points that will give us edge in the marketplace. As a matter of fact, our major unique selling point as a lawn company is the fact that we have healthy relationships with key stakeholders in Long Beach, California.

We have some of the latest equipment that will help us deliver neat and excellent jobs. Our management team and workforce are highly trained and qualified to deliver excellent jobs within record time. We are well positioned.

Another unique selling point that will give us edge over our competitors in the lawn care / landscaping industry is the fact that we are fully aware of the seasonal nature of the business which is why we have made provision to engage in complimentary services during off peak period.

We will engage in snow plowing during winter, sale of flowers, tree cutting, fumigation and other related services. We will also provide consultancy services to homeowners, property managers and the government.

Benefits Our Client Stand to Gain When They Patronizes Our Lawn Care Company

We are in business for the purpose of making profits and building long lasting relationship with its clients and we know that in other for us to achieve these, we must be able to leverage on our strengths and take hold of all the opportunities that we come across.

We are fully aware that there is competition in the industry which is why we decided to carry out thorough research so as to know how to take advantage of the available market in and around Long Beach. We have done our homework and we have been able to highlight some factors that will help us give our clients value for their monies; some of the factors are competence, trust, honesty, good network and excellent relationship management.

In view of that, here are the benefits our customers and potential customers stand to benefits when they patronize our services:

Excellent and timely lawn care job delivery
Highly competitive prices for all our services than they can get in the whole of the United States of America
Good value for their money

11. Guerrilla Marketing Strategies for Our Lawn Care Business

Creating Brand Identity for Our Lawn Care Company

In recent time more than ever before, business / organization spend more to create the brand identity that they want to be known for in the marketplace.

The truth is that, any business that wants to grow beyond the corner of the street they are operating from must be ready and willing to utilize every available means (conventional and non – conventional means) to advertise and promote the business.

We intend growing our business beyond Long Beach, California which is why we have perfected plans to build our brand via every available means. Below are the platforms we intend to leverage on to promote and advertise our lawn care business;

Encourage our loyal customers to help us use Word of Mouth mode of advertisement (referrals)
Advertise our lawn care business in relevant magazines (real estate magazines), local newspaper, local TV stations and local radio station
Promote our lawn care business online
List our lawn care business on local directories (yellow pages ads)
Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, Badoo, Facebook , twitter, et al to promote our lawn care business
Install our Bill Boards on strategic locations around Long Beach.
Direct coupon mailing approach to introduce our landscaping business to residence and property managers in Long Beach, California
Engage in road show from time to time to create awareness of our lawn care business.
Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas in Long Beach, California and other neighboring cities
Maximize our company’s website to promote our business
Attend landlord and residence association meetings with the aim of networking and introducing our landscaping business.

12. Strategic Marketing Alliance with Our Competitors in the Lawn Care Industry

Forming strategic marketing alliance with a competitor in most business does not always come easy because everybody that are in business are their basically because they want to make money. Making money for an ideal business person involves executing as much job as possible or selling as much products as possible.

In essence, the only reason why a company will want to enter strategic marketing alliance with its competitors is when they lack the machines and manpower to execute a job but have the connections required to secure business deals.

When it comes to forming marketing alliance with a competitor in the lawn care industry, it will obviously be as a result of in adequate capacity to execute a job / contract that a lawn care company secured. Naturally in the business world, when a company secures a contract that they don’t have the capacity to execute, they would usually outsource it to a company that has the capacity while they get their commission.

For example, if a lawn care company secures a contract to take care of a golf course or even a football pitch and they lack both the human capacity and equipment to execute the job, they would prefer to engage the services of a bigger lawn care company than to let the contract slip off their hands.

13. Our Client Retention Strategies (Ways to Improve Our Customer Experience)

Renting customers in recent time has been quite challenging simply because there are several competitors who will be willing to offer less price that you are offering. In most industry, competitors are always improvising when it comes to winning customers from their competitors and also securing a fair share of the available market.

No doubt, if a company is able to achieve over 60 percent retention the company will sure experience huge turn over and such company can comfortably be classified as a thriving company. This is why we have perfected plans on how to improve our customer experience from time to time and to continue to improve on our customer’s retention.

These are the methods we intend utilizing when it comes to improving our customer experience so that we can create a good impression and generate repeated business from them:

Ensures that we deliver excellent lawn care services at all times
Offer highly affordable prices available in the industry
Ensure we get feedbacks from our customers at all times
We will create a system where points will be awarded to loyal customers – a point-based system for redeemable rewards.
Make use of effective customer relationship management (CRM) software to effectively manage our clientele base.
Ensures that we carry our customers along when making decisions that directly affect them.

Possible Ways We Intend Offering Incentives to Our Customers / Clients (Bonus, Discounts, etc)

The truth is that any business that aims towards building a good relationship with its customers and increase repeated business must be willing to give out mouth – watering incentives from time to time not only during special occasions.

As a matter of fact any company to gives out incentives on a regular basis will not only retain their customers, but they will also continue to attract new customers. So we are all out to continue to reward our loyal customers with incentives on a regular basis.

Part of the incentives that we intend dishing out to our highly esteemed customers is to give them discount on all our services offerings especially if they have consistently hired our services for a period of 6 months and above.

We are even determined to offer our services at half the prices for special customers who spend certain amount on our services within the period of 12 months. The amount that is expected to be spent by a customer before they can qualify for 50 percent discount will be determined by our management.

We will also create a loyalty plan that will enable us reward our loyal customers who refer our services to their family members, friends and colleagues.

Part of what we intend doing to reward our customers is to give them discounts anytime they patronizes our services and also give them gifts during special occasions like Christmas, New Year, Thanksgiving, Independence Celebrations and Easter et al.

After Sales Service and Customer Support Services

When it comes to after sales services as it relates to lawn care services and other related services it is simply going back to ensure that the job / jobs executed are thoroughly done and the client / clients are truly satisfied. The truth is that in some instance, when you go back to inspect the lawn care jobs that you have done, there may be need to make one or more adjustment / touches that will likely bring out the best from the job.

As regard customer support services we are not going to handle it with slackness, we will maximize our customer relationship management software applications so as to keep in touch with all our customers to make sure we carry them along when we have any promo that we know will benefit them and also to make sure they are satisfied with our services and to give them the opportunity to lodge their complains if they do have any.

Possible Questions We Intend Asking Our Clients During Our Market Survey

These are the 10 possible questions we are going to put forward when conducting marketing survey on our customers / clients:

Are you satisfied with the quality and standard of our lawn care services and other related services we render?
If you are not satisfied with the quality and standard of our lawn care services, in what areas would you want us to improve on going forward?
Aside from general lawn care services, which other related services you would gladly contract to us if we rendering the service / services?
Which of the following services would you want us to include in the list of the services we render? Sale of flowers, Chemical Treatment, Snow Plowing, Tree Cutting, and Consultancy and Advisory Services
How would you want us to communicate to you when we want to pass useful information that will be of benefit to you or someone you know? Through letters, text messages, e – mail, or via mobile apps (BBM, twitter, 2Go, WeChat, WhatsApp et al)
What is the highest amount you will be willing to pay for a thorough lawn care services?
What is the lowest amount you will be willing to pay for a thorough lawn care services?
Do you presently have a gardener that is handling your garden / lawn? If no, would mind hiring our services?
Can you comfortably recommend our lawn care company to your family members, friends and colleagues who are landlords or who are potential tenants?
Are you satisfied with our customer service delivery? If not what areas would you want us to improve on?

14. Actionable Marketing ideas for Our Lawn Care Business

Cost Effective Ways We Intend to Advertise / Promote Our Lawn Care Company without Using the Internet

Here are the platforms we intend leveraging on when it comes to advertising and promoting our lawn care company in the market place without making use of the internet;

Place adverts on both print ( local newspapers and real estate magazines) and electronic (radio and TV) media platforms
Sponsor relevant community based programs
Attend local and intentional real estate fairs / expos
List our lawn care business on yellow pages
Place our bill boards in strategic locations in Long Beach and neighboring cities
Distribute our fliers and handbills in targeted areas / estates from time to time
Attend landlord and residence association meetings with the aim of networking and introducing our business.

Low Cost Ways We Intend to Advertise / Promote Our Lawn Care Company on the Internet

In recent time, it has been proven over and over again that the internet is the cheapest and most potent tool when it comes to advertising and promoting any business or cause.

This is why you can hardly find any company or organization that is serious about doing business not having active internet presence. We are serious about advertising and promoting our law care business which is why we have decided to leverage on the internet to achieve our marketing goals and objectives.

Here are they ways we intending leveraging on the internet to advertise / promote our lawn care company:

Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; Instagram, Flickr, Fotolog, Pinterest, Shutterfly, Tumblr, WordPress, Facebook, twitter, YouTube, Google+, and Snapchat to promote our lawn care business brand
Design an interactive corporate website and we will make use the platform to promote our lawn care company
Place adverts on high traffic websites (Craigslist and other related real estate / property websites)
Engage in blogging and make use of the platform to promote our lawn care company
Leverage on email marketing strategy to advertise and promote our lawn care company

Creative Marketing Ideas Specific to Our Lawn Care Business

One of the creative marketing ideas that is specific to the landscaping type of business is simply to go all out there to directly relate / market your services one on one to property managers, landlords, households and also related government agencies. This marketing strategy has been proven to be very effective and loads of landscapers are leveraging on it.

When going around to market your landscaping services, ensure that you carry a neatly printed catalogue that shows the major jobs you have done in time past, it will aid you in convincing clients on what you can do simply because pictures they say speaks more than a thousand words.

Another creative marketing skill that is highly productive in the landscaping industry is leveraging on the internet. The internet is perhaps one of the easiest ways you reach out to a larger percentage of those who need your services. When making use of the internet to market your landscaping services, just ensure that you target high traffic real estate sites like Craigslist and other related real estate / property websites to list your landscaping service offerings.

One good thing about the internet is that you can stream line your marketing to people within the geographical locations where your landscaping services are available. You can also leverage on social media platforms like twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Google+ et al to market your landscaping services.