Some Don’ts When You Do Advertise

The price of the gun never hits the bull’s eye.
And the bang seldom rattles the bells.
It’s the hand on the trigger that cuts the real figger.
The aim’s what amounts–that’s what makes record counts–
Are you hitting or just wasting shells?

DON’T forget that the man who writes your copy is the man who aims
your policy.
When you stop to reflect what your space costs and that the wrong talk
is just noise–_bang without biff–you must see the necessity and
sanity of putting the right man behind the gun.

DON’T tolerate an ambition on your ad-man’s part to indulge in a
lurking desire to be a literary light.
People read his advertising to discover what your buyers have just
brought from the market and what you are asking for “O. N. T.” They buy
the newspaper for information and recreation and are satisfied with
the degree of poetry and persiflage dished up in its reading columns.

DON’T exaggerate. Poetic licenses are not valid in business prose. The
American people don’t want to be humbugged and the merchant who
figures upon too many fools, finds himself looking into a mirror,
usually about a half hour after the sheriff has come to look over the
premises.

DON’T imitate. Advertising is a special measure garment. Businesses
are not built in ready-made sizes. Copy which fits somebody else’s
selling plans, won’t fit your store without sagging at the chest or
riding up at the collar. Duplicated argument and duplicated results
are not twins. Your policy of publicity must be specially measured
from your policy of merchandising.

DON’T put your advertising in charge of an amateur. Let somebody else
stand the expense of his educational blunders. Remember you are making a
plea before the bar of public confidence. Your ad-writer is an advocate.
Like a bad lawyer, he can lose a good case by not making the most of
the facts at hand.

DON’T get the “sales” habit. “Sales” are stimulants. When held too
often their effect is weakening. The merchant who continually yells
“bargain” is like the old hen who was always crying “fox.” When the
real article did come along, none of her chicks believed it.

DON’T use fine print. Make it easy for the reader to find out about
your business. There are ten million pairs of eyeglasses worn in
America, and every owner of them buys something.

And DON’T start unless you mean to stick. The patron saint of the
successful advertiser hates a quitter.

Courtesy Flickr cc lic The Punch Pizza

This is an idea that most of your competitors will never try.  That’s because it requires some REAL forethought.  And some face-to-face time with other business owners.  And that usually takes us out of our comfort zone.

Show Me Yours, I’ll Show You Mine ( or how to share customer lists)

It’s called joint-venturing or ad swaps ( or one hundred other possible names.)  But it works like this:

• You go to Big Looey’s Pizza Shop and offer to give all your customers one of his coupons with your next round of invoices.
• Big Looey agrees to put one of your sales pieces on each box of pizza he sends out the door to his customers.
• You both get (almost) free exposure to a new set of customers in a highly localized area.

Talk about win/win!

Important Steps To Make This Work

1. Have your sales material already planned in advance. Your material should have one singular purpose – to get a potential customer to call you.

2. Be willing to negotiate a fair trade. If you only have 20 customers and Big Looey has 50 customers a day, you may need to send his offer out to your customers several more times than he sends yours out.

3. You each should supply your own materials (coupons, offers, whatever) for the other to use.

4. As always, consistency is key! You both have to be willing to stick it out on this for at least enough time to gauge results.  A couple months at a minimum, but a whole season would be nice.

5. Communicate. Talk to your new “partner” often to see if they are getting similar results to you.  Remember, you are both in this together – help each other.

6. Don’t be a pest. Closely tied to the last step, don’t overdo the communication.  After all, Big Looey has a business to run too.

Pick A Partner (or two)

Who can you do this sort of marketing with?  Any one who has customers that you want to serve also.  Some one who isn’t in direct competition.  This could be the guy who does the driveway sealing, or the car dealer who specializes high end models.

This is the part that requires some creativity.  But the effort will be worth it.

Now, go make something happen.

Presumably they are already happy with your services.  So what better time to make another offer or to upsell your services than right now, while they have their hand on their wallet, thinking about paying you.

So, what exactly should be on your invoices?  Well, of course all the normal business stuff.  You know, the date of service, description of what you did, an amount to pay, etc.  But have you ever thought about including any of these on your invoices:

–Method of Contact – Yes, you need to constantly provide multiple ways for your customer to reach you.  Sure you know all your phone numbers and website, but your customer has probably lost your business card by now. That’s why all your contact information needs to be on every invoice.  It’s like a new business card every week, and your phone number is there at precisely the moment they are thinking about you.

You should include all your business phone numbers (including cell phone), your mailing address, your email address, your website addresses, infolines if you use them( you know,”call for free recorded information about your lawn.”), and any other way your customer can get in touch with you or your services.

–Method of Payments– Let your customers know how easy it is to do business with you.  If you accept any form of payment other than cash or checks, you gotta let them know.  Do you have a merchant account to accept credit cards?  Do some research to find out if you can afford this.  Know this… your bank isn’t the only way to get one of these.  What about accepting payment through paypal on your website?  An awful lot of people in your target demographic use Paypal.  What about offering a payment plan to break up 9 months of service into a 12 month payment plan.

–Timely Notes– How about a short note concerning what services would be appropriate at this time of the year.  Your customer may not be aware that a related product or service exists, much less that you offer it.  Is it time for aeration?  Let your customer know, while they are paying their invoice, what aeration will do for their lawn.  You can come up with additional services at any time of the year.  Put a short note on the invoices instead of sending out an entirely new mailing.

–PR Campaign Notice– Are you using the PR tool to build free publicity?  Bring attention to it in your invoices.  Something like “Read an interview with me in the local paper tomorrow.”  Or “See our Fall Plantings Tips in this month’s Real Estate News available at retailers everywhere.”  Maximize your PR efforts.

–Incentives– Make an offer in your invoice for reduced cost services, or print coupons for something like “One Free Tree with the purchase of Three.”  If you have a historically slow month coming up ( you can know this if you have marketing calendars from previous years) you can drum up extra business for those periods by running specials for your existing customers.

–Testimonials– Use some space on that invoice to reprint testimonials (which you have solicited from other customers.)  Be sure to describe the service performed which elicited those testimonials – it may be something which other customers didn’t know you could do.

–Survey– Print a survey or questionnaire on the bottom half of the invoice and include an incentive of some sort for your customer to take the time to respond to it.

This is a great way to find out what your customers actually want, not what you think they want.  What better market research could you have than this?  Have you been wondering what would make customers be loyal to you rather than switch to the next cheaper guy?  Ask them(I’ll bet it’s not price either.)  Are you struggling with what services to offer next?  Put some choices in a survey and let your customers tell you what they want.

–Newsletter Invitation– Offer a way for your customers to join your online newsletter.  This will give you another inexpensive method to promote your services.  It will give you unlimited opportunity to show your customers what your company can do.

As you can see, your invoices are actually VALUABLE real estate.  Don’t waste it by sending just another bill.  Be creative and make it work for you.

Okay. No question about it.  When you’ve got a real problem, you’re going to search until you find someone who specializes in solving that exact problem.  And, the more important that problem is to you, the more you are willing to spend to get that specialist’s services.

Need an extreme example?  When I needed abdominal surgery several years ago, I didn’t look up CraigsList for the cheapest surgeon in town who does anything that comes his way.  You know what I’m talking about…”One call does it all.”  “No job too small.”  “Need Anything-Ask Me.”

On the contrary, I sought out a highly recommended surgeon who specializes in abdominal surgery.  And it wasn’t cheap.  But, I don’t have an ounce of regret.  You see, my life-threatening problem was solved within a week! (Plus recovery time:))

Sure it’s an extreme comparison to lawn care.  But, you can draw the parallels to your own company I’m sure.  Do you appear desperate for business in your paper ads and door hangers?

Does your phone book ad make you sound like a jack-of-all-trades, master of none?  Does it look like you’ll take any job that comes your way?  Do you advertise low price?(WHY!?!)

For the long-term stability of your company, you need to begin to “nichefy” your company.  You need to be the local go-to-guy for your particular specialty.

Whenever someone needs what you offer, you need everyone else to tell them that you are the one to call.

When a customer has got to have what you offer, all of the sudden, your pricing structure isn’t the basis for their decision to buy.  When you are in demand, my friend, you write the ticket to your success.

What’s A Lawn Care Niche?

So what are some examples of niche businesses in this industry?  Well let’s start by saying that “complete lawn care and grounds maintenance” isn’t exactly a niche.

It’s a carbon copy of the 45 other display ads in the phone book.  I’m sorry if I offended you.  Not really.  I want you to think about how your potential customers see you through your marketing.

Okay, off the top of my head, here are a few niche businesses in this industry.

• Indoor plantings for homes or businesses-which you supply and care for.
• Organic lawn care-organic fertilizers and pest control, soil building
• Earth friendly mowing-what is the possibility of electric mowers and other green energy sources
• Palm tree experts
• Tree transplanting
• Hardscaping specialists
• Water gardens and water features
• Public land contracts
• Mowing Large Areas (not bushogging)
• Mowing Trailer Park Lots (contract with the park owner to provide service or offer an incentive to residents)

That’s just a quick brainstorm.  Ok, maybe just a brainshower.  But I know you can put some thinking effort behind this idea and come up with the perfect niche for your company.  Then, go and dominate it.

Photo courtesy Flickr by Renix ccLic

Why is an email newsletter better than a paper newsletter?  Well, to begin with, cost.  It is much less expensive to press the Send Button in your email program than it is to cart 100 or 200 folded paper newsletters to the post office and pay postage for them.

Also you can afford to send communications much more frequently.  As often as weekly wouldn’t be out of line.  Keep in mind, the more often a customer sees your message, the more likely they are to eventually buy your offer (just don’t over do it with the emails – you don’t want to be compared to a spammer!)

Use HTML Templates For Consistency

It’s a great way to brand yourself.  If there is a consistent theme to all of your emails, and they all look alike, only the content is changed, your customers will recognize your newsletter and maybe even look forward to receiving it.  You can achieve consistency in look by using an HTML template.  These are widely available online, many for free.

Not Too Long, Just Short and Sweet

A newsletter in email format doesn’t have to be as long as a paper newsletter either.  Really, if you received a single page, paper newsletter, with only a single article on the front, maybe an ad for one of your services, and not enough content to fill the back, let alone another page, you wouldn’t perceive much value from it, would you?  I know if that newsletter showed up in my mailbox, it would probably find its way to the recycling bin pretty fast.

But an email newsletter is just the opposite.  It needs to be short and to the point.  It needs to be packed with information and a call to action in a relatively short space.

Your customers will stop opening your emails if they always require 30 minutes to read.  Email is supposed to help us get things done faster, not tie us up.

Short messages at regular, frequent intervals will help to keep you at top of mind position with your customers.

What Information Would You Put In A Newsletter?

Timely, useful information.  For example, in the Spring you could let your customers know what weeds are getting ready to germinate.  And how they can prevent it.  If you use great detail to explain the process, it may convince them to use your service.  After all, you just showed them you know your stuff well enough to explain it, and after all those steps it just sounds like it would be easier to hire you.

If you’re experiencing a drought, you need to let your customers know about the benefits of xeriscaping – and that you are the local expert.

You could create a series of articles that explain the most common threats to lawns in your local area.  And the answers to the threats which leads to your service which just happens to address each of those threats.

The subject in the email newsletters can be very specific or very general as long as it is useful to your customers.  One successful strategy is to make them useful, but incomplete.  There is enough information to be of use to the customer, but they need to contact you to get all of the information.

For example, to use the weed germination scenario, you could write about all the weeds which are about to germinate in their lawn, how to identify them, what its going to make the lawn look like, and generally how the lawn could be treated with a pre-emergent herbicide.  For the exact chemicals, methods of application, etc. they could contact you, or, of course, they could hire you and forget these weeds ever existed.

The Goal In Marketing Is To Get Sales

Be creative, but not over the top.  You want your message to be remembered, not your marketing.  All your marketing has one goal – to get more sales, not to win awards.  Don’t worry about creating the perfect newsletter from the start.  Just get started and perfect it as you grow.

In all of your marketing efforts, you MUST track results.  Methods that don’t work should be ruthlessly axed.  Methods that do work should be improved and re-tested.

For any small company, marketing has got to prove its value every single day.  You can’t afford to throw hard earned money after advertising methods that you aren’t sure about.

The easiest and most reliable way to track results is by split testing. (See my report for details, coming soon.)

Split Testing

Split testing works only if you can tell which ad copy brought your customer to you.  Well, here is an inexpensive way to know.  Your control copy has one phone number for response, and your test copy has another phone number.  Which ever phone number gets the most rings is your best performing ad copy. (I go into detail with this in my report.)

No, you don’t have to carry around two phones or pay for multiple phone lines.  There is a service which provides 1-800 numbers and even local numbers (in some cities) for less than a few dollars a month.

These numbers all ring to any phone you wish.  And you can log on to a secure webpage to view the results.  And there are many other features you may or may not find useful such as caller ID even if the person hangs up,etc.

How It Works

So, follow me here for a minute.  You put out two different flyers-flyer “A” and flyer “B”.  Each flyer has its own contact phone number.  Both phone numbers ring to your cell phone.

You get ALL of the calls from interested prospects of BOTH flyers to your cell phone.  At the end of your test run, you log in to your secure webpage and see which flyer generated the most calls.  You now know which flyer to use to test against any new ideas.

This service, KALL8, is by far the most useful, affordable method to track your marketing by phone response.  There is a small fee per month(only a couple bucks as of this writing) and you pay a few cents per minute used – so you aren’t paying unless your marketing is generating calls.  And that’s what you’re after anyway.  Check it out HERE.

Photo courtesy Flickr lancefisher cc

Sometimes the difference between keeping a customer and losing a customer boils down to just how easy it is to do business with you.  As you were just beginning your company, you probably found it best for you if you were able to bill and collect at the time of your service visit.  But, as your company grows, you will probably find it easier to mail invoices and collect payment monthly.

The more methods of payment you you offer, the more likely your customers are to pay you promptly.  So, in the interest of keeping your cash flow flowing, here are some ideas:

1.Sign up for PayPal

• -if you email invoices, include a PayPal link to encourage prompt payment
• -If you have a website with “membership” capabilities you can have a password-protected page for each customer to review their invoice and billing activity with a PayPal Pay Now button on each page.

2.Merchant Accounts with your local bank

• -this might be difficult to get without unreasonable fees (which is why I use PayPal)
• -this will allow you to accept credit card payments by mail or phone.
• -you should also check into using 3rd party processors if you can’t get your own merchant account.  Just do a Google search and really check into the company you decide to use.

3.Mobile Processing

• -some credit card processors have mobile equipment which allows you to process credit cards on the service call through their equipment and your cell phone.

4.Monthly Payments

• -break your service fees up into 12 equal monthly payments to keep your customer’s service cost low in the summer and you cash flow up in the winter.

5.In-House Financing

• -allow your customer to pay in monthly installments for a premium fee.
• -incidentally, if cash flow is tight, financed accounts can be sold to factoring companies who buy accounts receivables from cash strapped companies.

6.Recurring Billing

• -PayPal and many Credit Card processors allow recurring billing options.  This is usually for subscriptions and memberships, but it could be worked out to complement your business as well.

I don’t know all the possible options, but this short list should get your creative juices going.  There are so many more options available today than just a few years ago.  Let your customers pay you with ease and you might see better customer retention.

The cost of producing DVD brochures is really not that great compared to print brochures when you consider that you only need to burn as many DVDs as you need for now vs. minimum runs for brochures.

For a quick run down of the costs of burning DVDs let’s look at a retail office supply store. Blank DVDs cost about 32 cents each and slim jewel cases cost about 15 cents each. That’s about 47 cents each.  Now, I know you can have brochures printed for about  20 cents each but that’s a minmum run of 500 usually.  So you have a higher upfront cost as well as the design work involved in preparing the brochure.  The software required to produce a DVD is all available free.  So if you already have a camcorder, you’re in business!

Now, your first video brochure may take some time to create as you overcome the learning curve (unless you are already familiar with video and using youtube, etc.)  But once you get the hang of it, you can churn out DVD’s in no time.

And, you burn just a handful at a time.  Keep a few with you as you are out working.  Burn a few dozen if you are attending a lawn and garden show.  They can be made on demand unlike printed brochures, which require a minimum run.

If you don’t happen to have any with you, send your prospect to the website where your videos are posted.  This also can be done with no out of pocket costs.

As cost effective as it is, you could even have a DVD brochure for each individual service you offer.  Or, one about each topic for which you have a solution.  Maybe one for new customers.  And another for Fall aeration and overseeding (with before and after shots.)  And another for leaf collection.  You get the idea.  If you had a printed brochure for for each service, it would cost you an arm and a leg for each run of 1000 copies!  Not so with your own DVD brochure.

And if you need to make a change, its not set in stone and you don’t have to scrap all the extra brochures lying around.  You just make your changes and burn a few new DVD’s.

Stay tuned as I delve into using video for marketing YOUR lawn care services in future posts!

Photo courtesy Flickr Jim Epler

Note: In the previous post we touched on creating a direct mail campaign, package design, and targeting your list.  Here we look at what goes into the actual mailing.

The Sales Copy (Copy writing 101)

Now that the piece has gotten enough attention to be opened (the biggest hurdle of direct mail, where a 1% to 3% response rate is considered average) it is time to turn to sales letter copy.  Each piece of direct mail should have one single purpose.  I don’t care what that is, you decide.  Just be sure you aren’t trying to get your prospect to do more than one thing.

• This makes it easier to track results as you are only looking for a single result from each piece.
• You do not want to confuse your customer with conflicting messages.  For example, don’t try to get a new lawn care contract and a newsletter sign-up out of the same piece or mailing.

So, this “one single purpose” can be whatever you choose it to  be.  To get a lead or a call from them, to get a sale, to get them to request more info, to request a quote, to think about your company when they have that problem(branding).

Headlines and Content

Now you work on your “copy” – that is, the words that trigger the response you desire. Although entire careers are built on this topic of copy writing, with a little practice and study of successful mail pieces, you can write ad copy that will attract the actions you desire from every contact.

Begin by studying some “classic” ad copy.  And by collecting direct mail that you receive that appears especially effective.  Also read the full page ads in your favorite magazines (many, many hours have been put into crafting each headline and sentence in these ads.)

Notice that sales pages typically begin with a strong headline that commands the reader’s attention to read more.

Notice also that there are many sud headlines in bolder-than-normal print. This is useful for readers who like to scan the page.

Under each subhead is a paragraph or two relating to the subhead.  Each ending sentence of each paragraph will usually be incomplete without the following subhead and paragraph. For example…

Also notice that the offer is generally made several times throughout the letter.  Each time it is offered, it addresses a different need of your potential audience (though it is the same, single offer, leading your reader to the same single action that you desire).

The offer will be made compelling by one of several different reasons such as this is for a limited time,  we only have 12 slots left open, this must be done before the winter sets in, not doing so could ruin your lawn, etc.

Professional copywriters charge thousands of dollars for a single sales letter because they have proven their ability to cause a person to take the desired action of the letter.  You may need to write your own copy until your marketing budget can afford one.

What About Graphics

If your marketing budget is still quite small, I would avoid using pictures, unless you have already purchased some good, high quality postcards or glossy paper stock on  which you can print your own message.

If you plan on using a template in a Word processor and printing your own pieces on your home printer, you should stick with logos and the printed word.  If you try to print pictures on copy paper with your home ink jet printer, you will most definitely give the impression that you have no marketing budget (and make your customers wonder what else you have no budget for!)

Besides, carefully chosen words can do just as much or more than a bunch of stock photos which look just like the pictures of nice grass on everybody else’s lawn care mailings.

Testing 1-2-3

Any direct mail campaign (and any marketing campaign for that matter) needs to be tested so you can know the results it brings and what changes to make so that future mailings bring in better results.  How do you test?  Start with a control piece.  This can be your first piece.  Then choose an element to test – the headline, the envelope size, the color of text, how many times you make the offer, you get the idea, and change that one element.  Use two different response phone numbers, one for each piece so you can track results.  When the test element pulls better results than the control, change to the new element.  Keep records of these tests and you’ll have a pile of valuable research.

Tie Up The Loose Ends

We have touched on alot of topics surrounding direct mail, such as copywriting, designing a campaign, building a list of addresses and phone numbers, delivery methods, testing,etc.  Some of these topics will be the subject of future posts, so keep your eyes on this blog.

Alright, alright!  I know what you’re thinking.  Junk mail.  Am I right?  Well, if you’re using direct mail the way 99% of business use it, then yes, junk mail.

And wasted marketing dollars (especially  for a small lawncare company.)

But let’s take a look at how to make it work for you.

Typically, your first step in direct-mail would be to design a campaign.  What? A campaign?  Is this some sort of Crusade or something?  YES!  Exactly.  You’re wasting your money if you only send one mailing.  Or even if you send multiple mailings which aren’t consistent.

You should decide what the purpose and thrust of each campaign will be.  To brand your company?  To sell new fertilization jobs?  To dominate a neighborhood?  You must know so that you can design each mailing.

You should target an area (the area you want to concentrate in) and blanket them with your campaign.

Your List Of Prospects

Next, you would typically buy a list of addresses with names.  But, I wouldn’t.  Instead, collect these names and addresses yourself.  This allows you to “laser-target” your market.  There are resources at your public library in the reference section which contain listings of homeowners by street address (along with much useful information such as telephone, years in residence, etc.)  Target a few streets and be sure everyone on the street gets on your list.

A little more complicated method would be to use the whitepages.com.  Just click on the People Search tab, then click Find Neighbors tab.  Here you can enter an address on a street and your search will return all the neighbors’ names with address on the street (minus all the other useful information.)

Just a side note about collecting this information—if you use telemarketing, this is a primo way to target your market, but be aware of the laws surrounding the “Do Not Call Registry” (more on this in another post.)

The Package

The next thing to do is design your campaign pieces.  Letters or postcards?  Trifolded paper in newsletter format or a complete package in a manilla envelope?  Now, spend some time here with me.  This is very important.  Your package must raise enough curiosity to get opened and be read.  Whether its intriguing words on the envelope, the size of the envelope, the method in which it was delivered, something about the package has to make your prospective customer want to open the package.

Need some ideas?  How many large manilla envelopes do you receive in the mail each week?  Do they get opened?  Probably so.  If you received a birthday card sized envelope with nothing on the outside but your address handwritten, wouldn’t you be curious to see who sent it?  Use your imagination.  Since this mailing is on a small scale (you probably aren’t going to target 5000 people all at once) you may be able to afford to send a package that would  have been cost-prohibitive on a larger scale.

What about including some novelty item?  Well, the general rule is that if the novelty item is actually useful, it will likely be kept around.  For example,  my kids hang pictures on the refrigerator all the time.  So I always keep those business card magnets that come in the pieces I receive.  Benefit to me : extra magnets on the fridge.  Benefit to sender : their name and number always in sight close to my phone.

That’s about enough to digest in one post, so stay tuned for Part II, where we’ll cover what to actually say in the pieces you’ll be mailing.