How to Generate More Commercial Maintenance Business for Your Landscaping Company
If you’re running a landscaping company and want to get more commercial maintenance clients, you need a solid marketing plan that can help you find more leads while making your brand stand out. However, in today’s digital age, it’s not enough to rely solely on traditional marketing approaches such as flyers and word-of-mouth.
The majority of purchases, including commercial maintenance contracts, start online with a search. Your digital marketing strategy must take into account a multi-channel approach to secure these precious contracts. This approach increases your brand visibility, recognition, and chances of securing maintenance contracts.
So, how can you optimize your marketing strategy to win over potential clients? In this blog, we delve into specific strategies to help you win commercial business. We will explore website optimization, commercial RFPs, paid advertising, marketing automation, leveraging CRM software, and becoming data-driven.
Key Takeaways
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A multi-channel digital marketing approach is crucial to secure more commercial maintenance contracts.
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Website optimization is vital to increase your online presence and help potential clients find you.
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Commercial RFPs can be an excellent way to win more contracts with larger clients.
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Google Ads Display Retargeting helps you reach out to potential clients who have already shown interest in your services.
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Marketing automation and CRM software can streamline your marketing efforts and lead nurturing.
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Becoming data-driven is essential to track and improve the effectiveness of your marketing strategies.
Are you ready to level up your landscaping company’s marketing game and secure more commercial maintenance contracts? Keep reading.
1 – The Importance of a Modern, High-Performing Website
A well-optimized website serves as the foundation for your online presence and is often the first point of contact for potential commercial clients, either when they are finding you for the first time through marketing initiatives or when they are reviewing your proposal.
Ensuring that your website is visually appealing, loads quickly, and functions effectively is crucial in making a positive first impression on potential commercial maintenance clients.
A. Modern Design and Fast Loading
Having an outdated website with slow load times can turn off potential clients and negatively impact your company’s image. Investing in a modern design and fast-loading website is crucial for a positive user experience and to showcase your professionalism. For landscaping companies looking to secure high-value commercial contracts, a professional website is a must-have. Don’t let a subpar website hinder your chances of new business. The good news is, upgrading your website can be a small fraction of your marketing budget.
B. Easy Navigation and Clear Value Proposition
For public servants and engineers who have to quickly review multiple proposals, easy navigation through your website is crucial. A clear layout helps potential clients find the information they need efficiently. Make sure to display your value proposition prominently on your homepage, highlighting what makes your landscaping company and maintenance program unique from competitors and why clients should choose you for large commercial projects.
C. Professional and Impactful Commercial Maintenance Landing Page
To showcase your expertise in commercial maintenance services, it’s essential to have a dedicated landing page. Include a portfolio with recent project case studies, allowing potential clients to visualize the quality of your work. For added credibility, include reference links to project locations or client reviews when possible. This provides proof of your capabilities and highlights the breadth of your experience.
2 – How to Find and Secure RFPs
Finding commercial Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for maintenance contracts is an essential part of growing a Canadian landscaping company. By accessing the right sources, you can locate RFPs and bid on projects that match your expertise.
1. Government Procurement Websites:
Start by visiting federal, provincial, and municipal government websites to search for RFPs posted for public bidding. For example, the Government of Canada’s procurement website, CanadaBuys, is an excellent resource for federal contracts. For provincial and municipal opportunities, visit the respective government websites and search for terms like “landscaping” or “grounds maintenance.”
2. MERX:
MERX (merx.com) is a popular platform for Canadian public and private sector procurement opportunities. Register your company, create a profile, and set up notifications to receive updates on landscaping maintenance contracts. Use filters to narrow down search results and find RFPs specific to your landscaping business.
3. Biddingo:
Biddingo (biddingo.com) offers access to public and private sector procurement opportunities across Canada. Sign up for an account, set up notifications, and search for RFPs related to landscaping maintenance.
4. Networking and Partnerships:
Building relationships with other local businesses and professionals in your industry can lead to partnerships, subcontracting opportunities, and valuable referrals. Join Canadian trade associations (such as CLNA), attend industry events (such as the upcoming BCLNA golf tourney!), and participate in local business networking events like BNI to connect with others who may have access to RFPs or be willing to refer your company.
5. MURB Contracts
Networking is also a crucial component of securing multi-unit-residential-business (MURB) accounts for landscaping companies. Reaching out to property managers and strata associations can often lead to new opportunities for business. By building relationships with these entities and demonstrating your expertise in commercial landscaping, you can increase your chances of securing MURB contracts.
6. Social Media RFP Monitoring:
Monitor social media platforms like LinkedIn for updates and announcements about RFPs. Follow Canadian government agencies, property management companies, and other organizations that may require commercial landscaping services to stay informed about new opportunities.
7. Newspapers and Trade Publications:
Some RFPs may be advertised in local newspapers or trade publications. Regularly review these sources to identify relevant opportunities and stay ahead of the competition.
3 – Google Ads Display Retargeting
Retargeting via online ads is a marketing tactic that involves showing ads to users who have previously engaged with your website (as well as in other ways with your business). This allows you to keep your business top of mind for potential commercial clients who may have checked out your commercial maintenance landing page or engaged in other ways with your business website.
Here are a couple of tips for creating effective display ads for commercial maintenance:
- Design: Use eye-catching visuals that reflect your brand and value proposition. Ensure that your logo and brand colours are prominently displayed and that the ad is easy to read and understand.
- Messaging: Tailor your messaging to your target audience and explain why potential clients should choose your company over competitors. For example, if you decide to specifically retarget only those who visit your commercial maintenance landing page you should create messaging that reflects this. You can get as granular as you want with retargeting (for example, if you’re targeting municipal recreational facilities you might want to have a portfolio page with only these types of projects populating on it)
- Call-to-Action: Include a clear call-to-action, such as “Learn more about our commercial maintenance services.”
To ensure that your retargeting efforts are effective, it is crucial to track and optimize ad performance continually. Use data-driven insights to evaluate the success of your campaigns and adjust your strategy as needed.
4 – Marketing Automation
Marketing automation is a powerful tool for engaging prospective as well as past commercial clients and creating personalized and relevant content that speaks directly to their needs. One of the weapons in our own arsenal that can specifically help with commercial (but we also deploy for residential accounts) lead generation is email marketing campaigns.
Email marketing can be one of the most effective but under-utilized marketing channels for landscapers. By creating targeted email campaigns that speak to the specific needs and pain points of potential commercial clients, you can increase the chances of converting them into paying customers.
To make the most of your email marketing efforts:
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Segment your email list: Divide your email list into different segments based on factors such as job title, company size, and industry. This allows you to create more targeted and personalized email campaigns that speak directly to commercial clients. This can help put you a cut above your competitors by creating customized and automated email campaigns that distinguish between residential and commercial and can even be further segmented by type of industry and sector.
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Track and optimize your campaigns: Use data-driven insights to track the effectiveness of your email campaigns and adjust your strategy as needed. Experiment with different subject lines, messaging, and design elements to see what resonates best. It’s also helpful to add value by offering insights, and resources that speak directly to the needs and pain points of your target audience. By providing value upfront, you can build trust and credibility with potential and past clients and increase the chances of converting them.
At Landscaper Marketing we have a “no lead left behind” initiative that is centred around re-engaging and reactivating past clients. This tactic leverages marketing automation to send targeted emails to past clients, offering special promotions, new services, and personalized recommendations based on their previous purchases or interactions with your business.
We also build systems for targeted follow-up emails to new leads for commercial maintenance services that help with providing additional information, answering questions, and encouraging them to take the next step in the customer journey. This is such low-hanging fruit but in our experience seldom done in an effective manner (and even less likely to be automated). If you want to be one of the landscaping business owners in the know, reach out for a free discovery call to see how this all works!
5 – Utilizing CRM Software
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is a valuable tool for tracking and managing commercial clients, streamlining communication, and improving client relations and retention. Here’s how you can utilize CRM software to generate and retain more commercial maintenance business:
A. Tracking and Managing Commercial Clients
Using CRM software is crucial for tracking and managing commercial clients. It lets you store all interactions with clients, including past projects, proposals, contracts, and invoices in one centralized location for easy access. With CRM, you can also track the progress of leads and proposals to focus your efforts on the most promising ones, increasing your chances of closing more commercial lawn care accounts. Utilizing the full functionality of CRM when integrated with your marketing and sales engine is a powerful tool that many landscaping companies overlook.
B. Streamlining Communication
On the customer service and sales end, CRM software enables you to streamline communication with commercial clients, making it easier to provide timely updates, answer questions, and address concerns. By integrating with marketing you can also start using automated email templates and drip campaigns, and ensure that clients receive the information they need at the right time, without requiring excessive manual effort.
C. Improving Client Relations and Retention
Finally, CRM software can help you improve client relations and retention by providing more personalized and responsive service. By keeping track of clients’ preferences, needs, and pain points, you can tailor your services and communication to meet their specific needs and increase their satisfaction.
6 – Monitoring and Adapting Your Marketing Strategy
Monitoring and adapting your commercial maintenance marketing strategy is essential for ensuring that your efforts are effective and generating the results you want.
Analytics provide valuable insights into how your marketing campaigns are performing and where you can improve. By tracking metrics such as website traffic, leads, conversions, and revenue, you can see which digital marketing channels are most effective and adjust your strategy accordingly.
In addition, analytics allow you to identify areas of your website or marketing campaigns that may be causing users to drop off or lose interest. This is vital on the commercial side of the business where you likely have less but higher value website interaction.
Continual refinement of marketing tactics using data is our bread and butter at Landscaper Marketing.
We implement comprehensive analytics, real-time reporting, advanced call tracking, and more so that we can improve quickly and consistently, create customized campaigns and respond quickly to challenges in the industry and our landscaping partner’s businesses including seasonality, competition, staffing, and more.
Our Landscaper Marketing Team
We pride ourselves on providing our clients with a comprehensive suite of services that can help them achieve their goals. Whether you’re looking for someone to help you produce high-quality video and image content, rank you higher in search engines, curate a social media marketing strategy, or need assistance with paid search advertising, we have the experts who can help. Our team of landscaping content marketing experts can create digital marketing assets that will make you shine online. And, our backend advertising wizards know how to leverage these assets in the most efficient way possible. So, if you’re looking for a complete solution to help you achieve your objectives, look no further than Landscaper Marketing.
Get More Commercial Maintenance Clients with These Digital Marketing Strategies
To win more commercial maintenance contracts, you need to have a solid digital marketing strategy that takes into account a multi-channel approach and is constantly optimized.
At Landscaper Marketing, we understand that each business has unique needs, and we offer customized solutions for your specific services, locations, value proposition, and target audience. Let our data-driven marketing approach help you take your landscaping company to the next level.
If you’re ready to get more commercial maintenance clients, contact us to learn how we can help you turn your marketing efforts into results.
