Turn Your Landscape Marketing
into a Lead Machine

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Introduction

Getting traffic to your landscaping website is an obvious first step you’ve focused on in your marketing. Perhaps you have AdWords campaigns running on Google, television commercials airing, sponsorships at local events, billboards strategically placed around town… you have the visibility that is gaining attention to your landscape company and traffic to your website. The problem is, you are not seeing this traffic convert into more leads. You have more traffic to your website than ever before, but you are just not seeing an increase in customers. There is no correlation between this increase in traffic and the number of leads. What gives?

This problem is something we like to call Website Traffic Evaporation. Website Traffic Evaporation is the traffic that comes to your website and disappears without a trace. These website visitors have made it a point to come to your website but, for whatever reason, they leave without filling out a form to schedule a consultation or a meeting. Once gone, the likelihood they return is not great. So how do we combat Website Traffic Evaporation? We think this guide will provide some answers. We cover the following:

• Why most of your website traffic leaves without contacting you
• Understanding your website visitors
• 3 key components needed to increase lead conversions
• Types of content offers you need to get on your site today
• Tips on what you can do to get started

The Guide for Making Your Landscape Company Website a Lead Machine is perfect for any business with challenges in turning website visitors into leads that will eventually become customers. It was created by Neon Goldfish as part of our mission to help landscaping companies improve their website and online marketing strategies.

The Truth About Your Website Traffic

Let’s start off with a staggering statistic.

It is estimated that 95% of the visitors to your website are not ready to make a decision.

This means that only 5% of the visitors that you attract to your website are at the point in the buyer’s journey where they are ready to make a decision and move forward with contacting someone to help them.

Where most landscaping websites fail is not catering to the other 95% of those not quite ready to move forward. This group of site visitors is still learning about their problem and researching options to solve it. They are searching for more information they will use to progress through the Buyer’s Journey eventually moving them into that 5% group that will take action.

So how do we connect with this larger group of visitors not quite ready to buy?

It starts with Getting to Know Your Website Visitors.

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Getting to Know Your Site Visitors

There is no doubt that you have most likely identified a target market for the marketing campaigns that are driving the traffic to your website.  The standard demographical information is essential for just about any outbound marketing campaign so you are well positioned in front of potential leads for your landscaping business. Additionally, you want to make sure you are NOT exhausting resources (time and money) to get in front of individuals that are not a good fit for your clientele. This still is not enough. You need to dig deeper. You need to create and focus on your buyer persona.

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Ways to Create Buyer Personas

This all sounds great, but I’m sure you are asking how to go about creating a Buyer Persona.

• Interview Current Clients

  You likely have existing clients that would be more than happy to share some of the details needed in creating a Buyer Persona. Focus on some of your top clients and compliment on how great of a client they are and ask if you could interview them so you can attract more customers just like them. Nothing beats a one-on-one conversation, but an online survey might make sense if you have a large group you want to collect feedback from.

• Get Feedback From Your Team

  Consultation meetings and talks with prospective clients all day, every day. They have an inside track on the goals, challenges and objections of your Buyer Persona. Talking to them about the prospects that did not turn into buyers will be extremely helpful.

• Good Old Fashion Research

  After talking to your best clients and consultants, you should have a good feel for your Buyer Personas. Put yourself in their shoes and turn to the Internet for additional insights. Try to search like they would search. Find blogs, industry resources, or forums they might reference. Digest what is being talked about.

Know Your Customer.

We want to help you understand your target audience and their buying habits.

Instead of marketing to everyone, market to your ideal customer. We’ve created a step by step process to help you identify and better understand your customers.

We will walk you through:

• What is a Buyer Persona?
• How do I create a Buyer Persona?
• How do I use my personas in my marketing efforts?

Get this free template and more by downloading the NGF Landscape Buyer Persona Template

Download the Buyer Persona Template

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Understanding The Buyer’s Journey

Now that we have a buyer persona created, we need to explore the journey that a potential client of your business will travel during the process of making their decision. This is called the Buyer’s Journey. You will see that these three steps pretty much apply to every purchasing decision we make. Anything from buying a cheeseburger for lunch to choosing the landscaping company that will provide the tools needed to begin or further advances our home values.

Pay special attention to this section as the steps correlate with the two groups of site visitors we are focusing on. The 5% of your website visitors ready to buy are in the Decision Stage. The 95% of visitors leaving your site without a trace are in the Awareness and Consideration Stages.

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3 Key Components for Lead Conversion

Converting more website visitors into leads often requires making some modifications to your website. Below are three key areas that can be improved on most websites that will have an impact on converting more visitors into leads.

1. Present a Clear Value Proposition

A value proposition is a concise statement positioning the value you bring to the table. It explains how you can solve the potential client’s problem. It clearly states the benefits. It tells them what makes you different from all the other companies they are considering. Your value proposition needs to answer the following questions:

• What is the product or service you are selling?
• What is the key benefit your product or service provides?
• Who is the target buyer persona you are selling to?
• What makes you different from your competitors?

A value proposition is something that is read and can be understood instantly. It is usually composed of the following:

1. Headline: A short sentence that grabs attention and keys in on the one main benefit provided.
2. Sub-Headline: A more descriptive sentence or two that speaks to the benefits of your company and defines exactly who it will help.
3. Visual: A compelling image that supports your statements. This can be a visual of the product or a person that is similar to the target buyer persona.

Place your value proposition on the home page of your website above the fold. This is the real estate that is visible when a potential client visits your website before they begin scrolling down the page. It should grab their attention and instantly let them know they have found a solution to their problem.

2. Use Lots of Calls-to-Action (CTAs)

The action that you want the site visitor to take can be anything. Here are some examples:

• Download your eBook now
• View exclusive video content
• Schedule your consultation
• Sign up for a demo
• Begin your free trial
• Attend the event
• Receive a coupon
• Register for the webinar

These CTAs lead to additional content often in the form of a landing page containing a gated content offer they will find valuable enough to exchange information to obtain.

3. Use Content Offers to Convert Traffic into Leads

To be clear, we are still focusing on the site visitors in the Awareness and Consideration Stages of the Buyer’s Journey. This is that website traffic that is not yet ready to directly interact with us but needs more  information so they can progress to the Decision Stage.

These content offers provide your site visitors with the information they are searching for to solve the problem they are having or achieve the goal they desire. They’ll find it somewhere on the internet, so why not be the one that provides it to them?

When you provide content that is helpful during the Awareness and Consideration Stages of the Buyer’s Journey, you gain a few distinct advantages over everyone else.

1. You build credibility and trust with them. When you are the one providing the information they need to make their decision, you become the authority figure.
2. You can influence their buying criteria. What is your competitive advantage? Is your cost lower than most of your competitors? Do you offer value that others do not? The content offers that you provide can educate potential buyers about these details that will position your company as a front-runner when it comes time to make a decision.Too often, these small details are seeds not planted in the beginning stages of the buyer’s journey and end up being “selling points” that we try to force into the mix during the Decision Stage. Plant seeds early and you will be surprised how much better
   educating potential clients will lead to a higher conversion rate.
3. You passively participate earlier in their Buyer’s Journey. These content offers are usually gated, requiring the  exchange of an email address to download or access the content. An email sequence can be implemented to begin once the content offer is obtained. This will be a series of emails sent to their inbox with additional information tailored to the Buyer’s Journey. This process is called Lead Nurturing and allows you to continue educating the potential client, placing your branding front and center and getting them back to your website throughout the process.

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Different Types of Content Offers

The sky is the limit when it comes to content offers you could create as valuable resources for your buyer  personas. Focus on solving their problems and you will be headed in the right direction. Here are some common content offers.

• Email Subscription

  The most basic opt-in offer. Website visitors will follow those that present value. Do you have great content on your blog or podcast? Do you send out valuable insights to your subscribers? Using a simple email signup form on your website to build your audience is an excellent tool.

• eBook / Guide

  An eBook or guide is typically a multi-page PDF document that covers a specific topic in detail or is a step by step guide teaching your buyer persona how to do something that will help solve their problem.

• Checklist

  A checklist is a list of specific actions that need to be covered for completing a certain task. Think of this like you sharing your “secret” recipe where each list item is the ingredients coupled with details on how you make your special dish.

• Case Study

  This is a real life story of how you solved a problem for yourself or a client. Case studies help your buyer personas identify with a real life problem that is likely similar to something they are facing. The explanation of how you solved this problem builds credibility instantly. Share as many  numbers/metrics to quantify your success

• Comparison Sheet

  When it comes down to evaluating options, nothing works better than a side-by-side comparison. A comparison sheet places several top options next to one another noting the attributes of each revealing which options have common and independent features the buyer persona will find important during making their final decision.

• Infographic

  An infographic meshes graphic design with story telling to deliver a single image that drives home a message. These visually engaging designs are usually full of statistics that support the infographic theme.

• Quiz

  Quizzes are a series of questions that your buyer persona will answer to reveal an outcome that will help them with their problem. They can be used to show the best program from your company for their interests.

• Calculator

  A calculator helps your buyer persona understand the outcome of the variables that go into an equation. These calculators are excellent tools for driving value. Examples of this are showing the lifetime earning potential of a particular landscape project over time to justify the investment in  time and hard work.

• Video

  Video is growing like crazy and rightfully so… it is accessible everywhere. Take advantage of this engaging medium by telling your story using video. Create proprietary videos as opt-in offers. Perhaps it is a video going through the key attributes of potential clients that best fit your program.

• Online Course

  What better way to teach your buyer persona more about alleviating their problem than through an online course. Setup a short mini course that helps them tackle a small problem. This will build trust and increase the conversions for them contacting your company to tackle a project.

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Next Steps

Now comes the time to roll up your sleeves and apply everything we’ve just covered. Below are some simple steps you can follow to begin. This will take some time to plan and implement so be sure to physically mark time in your calendar to devote to each of these actions. It will also take time to see results so be patient. This is far from a “set it and forget it” campaign.

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Conclusion

Stop wasting precious website traffic. Only when you truly understand the future clients of your landscaping company can you create content they will find valuable at all stages of the buyer’s journey. This content will build trust and credibility as the authority that helped them research, understand, and solve their problems or challenges.

NEED HELP? Not a problem.

Neon Goldfish helps landscaping companies make the most out of their marketing budgets. We take the time to learn about the goals of you and your business so we can customize a solution that will increase consultation scheduling and retention.