How to get lawn care customers fast and grow your business

Key takeaways

• Lawn care business owners face steep competition, so consider multiple marketing strategies to secure new customers
• Use a combination of digital, word-of-mouth, and traditional marketing techniques to win new business
• Reaching out to friends, family, and existing customers with discounts and referrals is the easiest way to grow your business

The lawn care industry is a competitive space with plenty of companies vying for the same lawns. There are more than 505,000 lawn care services in the U.S., and most lawn care business owners want to know the same thing—how to get lawn care customers fast, especially when first starting out.

There are common marketing strategies you can use to grow your lawn care business, all of which are easy to implement. Some of these strategies lean toward maintaining a strong digital presence, while others tend to be more traditional, like print marketing.

Below are several marketing strategies to help you reel in new customers and take your lawn care business to the next level.

How to get lawn care customers fast

Growing your lawn care business requires a three-prong approach. First, advertise your business through word of mouth with friends, family, and existing customers. Next, establish a digital presence with a Yelp Business Page, social media, and company website. Lastly, utilize more traditional techniques like print marketing, discounts, and referral incentives.

Use your existing network

Friends and family are the first people to turn to when you’re figuring out how to get lawn care customers fast—they’re likely willing to lend a helping hand to grow your business. You’ll also want to reach out to any current customers for feedback and recurring business.

Let everyone in your immediate network know that you’re launching a lawn care company or trying to grow your customer base. Get the word out by posting on your social media channels or through word of mouth. You can also create a friends and family discount to make the offer sweeter.

Your existing customers are another source of potential leads. It’s crucial to maintain healthy relationships with your current customers if you want to keep their business. Check in with them periodically to see if they need any updates to their service, like spring lawn cleaning, lawn aeration, or continued service after the winter season.

Ask your customers for constructive, candid feedback that can help you improve your business. More likely than not, they will give you valuable insights and may be more inclined to leave a review on a site like Yelp or provide a testimonial you could put on your website.

Offer discounts and referrals

Discounts and referrals are an effective way to earn business from new and existing customers. Referral incentives, new customer discounts, and seasonal promotions are three effective ways to secure more business.

Customer referrals are one of the best ways to steadily grow your customer base. When you deliver excellent service to your clients, you can ask them to refer their friends and family. You can offer discounted services for every referral they send your way.

To incentivize new customers, offer exclusive discounts for first-time clients. The lawn mowing business is ultra-competitive with several large companies dominating the market with low-cost service. Customers have plenty of options, so an attractive deal could sway them to your business—especially if you don’t have an established brand name. You could offer something like:

• First-time customers can buy one mowing service and get the next one free.

Seasonal promotions are another way to re-engage existing clients and entice new customers. As soon as winter ends, create an early-bird special for those who sign up before others. You can create urgency by limiting the offer to a certain number of people. Here’s an example:

• Sign up before March 20 to receive 20% off your first five mows. Offer is limited to the first 15 customers.

Claim your Yelp Business Page

Creating a Yelp Business Page will give you valuable exposure to people searching for services in your area. You can add photos of your business, customize your page, and even run advertisements. Having a business page on Yelp also allows you to interact with your customers directly.

Customers are able to rate their experience with your business, which means a wealth of positive reviews for other potential customers to see. Even if you receive reviews that aren’t as positive, you can respond to customers and help solve any issues they may have.

Claiming your Yelp Business Page has a low barrier of entry and only takes a few minutes. Head to the “Claim my business” page to start interacting with your customers.

Use your social media channels

Social media channels allow you to communicate with current and potential clients online. Facebook and LinkedIn are two platforms that can help you get lawn care customers fast.

Facebook offers two ways to interact with locals in your area for free—a Facebook business page and local Facebook groups.

Facebook business pages are like mini websites but on the Facebook platform. You can include a link to your website, phone number, photographs, and your hours of operation. People can like your Facebook page and comment on your posts, providing a great opportunity to interact directly with current or potential customers.

Facebook groups are slightly different. They are groups of people with common interests who can share information and interact with one another. For example, your city likely has several Facebook groups like “Buy and Sell” or “Jonesville Neighborhood Q and A.” You can join these groups with your personal Facebook account and advertise your services. This is an ideal outlet to promote the discounts and referral incentives we mentioned before.

LinkedIn is another platform that can help you land customers. Since it’s a professional network, you’ll be interacting primarily with other business owners and professionals. While you won’t be talking directly to consumers, you can connect with other local business owners and present yourself as a thought leader.

You can also stand out by posting content with a unique perspective, participating in engaging conversations on posts, or linking to blog posts on your website. When you become an active participant, you’re bound to stumble on a few leads for your lawn care business.

Create print marketing materials

Print marketing may seem like a dated approach, but it still works. Consumers trust print ads 34% more than they trust search engine ads. Business cards, flyers, and lawn signs are three basic tools to land new customers. The more you get your name out there, the more likely you’ll receive calls from potential customers.

Carry a stack of business cards everywhere you go. You never know when you’ll meet someone and your business casually comes up in conversation. People are always on the hunt for a great deal. Make a good impression and they’ll likely be open to the idea of receiving a quote from you.

Flyers are another effective lawn marketing technique. You can go door-to-door and leave flyers or door hangers at houses in your service area. You could even leave flyers on parked vehicles at a home improvement store. Include a new customer discount on these flyers and you may receive phone calls from potential customers.

Lawn signs are also a popular marketing technique for lawn care businesses. After a job well done, you can get free advertising by offering discounts, upgrades, or complimentary services for customers who place signs on their lawn. 

For example, you can offer a 20% discount on their next lawn mowing service or provide free shrub trimming in exchange for the sign. Loyal and satisfied customers will be happy to help grow your business by leaving a sign in their yard.

Create a website

It’s vital to have an online presence if you want to grow your lawn care business. A polished website is the face of your company online.

Your website should include your business name, logo, lawn care services, pricing, and contact information. It should consist of everything a customer needs to trust your company and make an informed purchase decision.

If you haven’t already done so, you can create a business logo for a small fee using sites like 99designs. To build your website, you have two options—make it yourself or hire someone else to develop it.

There are easy-to-use website builders like Wix and Squarespace that offer all-in-one website solutions. They’ll help you purchase your domain name, secure website hosting, and give you templates to build your website. Note that you’ll need to pay a monthly fee to use these platforms, and it may be time-consuming to make your website look professional.

On the other hand, you can hire a web developer to take care of your website for you. They may either build it from scratch or use one of the platforms mentioned above. This is a smart option if you’re worried you won’t be able to create a polished website on your own. However, it comes with a steeper price tag.

Whatever route you take, you’ll need to optimize your website to rank high on search engines if you want potential customers to find you. This process is known as search engine optimization—or SEO.

There are many complexities to SEO, but a great start is creating useful and relevant content for people to consume. This can consist of blogging about topics such as how to keep your grass green or what you should do to prepare your lawn for winter. For more information, visit our SEO guide for small businesses.

Go for the easy wins first

When you want to know how to get lawn care customers fast, it’s vital to use a variety of marketing strategies—establish a digital presence, network face-to-face with potential customers, and employ traditional marketing techniques. Do the easy things first, like printing out business cards, establishing a social media presence, and claiming your Yelp Business Page. You can then move onto the more complex undertakings, like creating a website, and soon you’ll be garnering new lawn care customers.