I am trying to Market my landscaping business. How should I go about marketing it? I was thinking mail flyers to select elderly and Wealthy sections of towns nearby then spread. Unfortunately, I am not sure how to get mailing lists for those areas.

Do people actually look at newspaper ads?

I have a small amount of cash, and am actually going to try and save enough cash for a truck to plow with during the winter so my company and last all year round.

I have someone creating a Logo for me and Business cards, Flyers, Letterheads, ect.

I just need to get the customers.

Would you recommend myself getting a laptop to run Landscaping programs on? Also maybe a cell phone, I have one at the moment but it is a prepaid, and has decent service.

Probably the best way i have seen a lawn mowing service advertsied was a flyer in the mailbox.

This guy had done the flyer up A5 size and instead of putting a fixed price as he went round to deliver the flyer he stood in front og the house looked at how the yard was laid out and put a quote for that yard on the flyer so if you had a small yard he quoted less then if you had this great big yard.

You could also offer hourly rates for larger lawns that take a lot fo time, or for doing things like digging garden beds or removing shrubs and plants, maybe even partner with a local tree lopping company.

Hope this helps a little and good luck in your business.

Do you have a Pennysaver in your locality? It is one of the most cost effective ways to direct market to thousands of homes.

If your looking for cheap... Go door to door!

It can be a pain but it works!

Should I walk up and ring the door bell? or just out flyers to the side of peoples mail box?

I'm assuming you have a vehicle to haul your equipment. Do you have any graphics or lettering on the vehicle....company name...services offered...phone number? Vehicles are great places to advertise your business as they are visable 24/7 and people will see you while you're working and know how to get ahold of you.

I recently read a post on another forum somewhere about a guy who started a landscaping business with almost no money, and soon had more work than he could handle. You can read about it here:
http://www.sowpub.com/cgi-bin/forum/....pl?read=20055

Hi, Bluefalcon. I'm sure you can get many customers, but you have to know what they want. You may think you know what they want, but you'd be surprised. For example, I am ALWAYS looking for a better landscaping company, one that will be 1) reliable (do what I ask them to do, the way I ask them to do it), 2) proactive (suggest things I could do better or smarter that would help me manage my landscaping more intelligently--i.e., suggest things that deer won't eat) 3) consistent from year to year.

It is VERY difficult to find landscaping people who will do more than mow and blow. Everyone wants that kind of business. But customers have other needs--selective weeding, for example. I would be willing to pay someone handsomely to do that. And someone who will stay ahead of the aggressive growth that gets ahead of me. These are just my personal needs, but I am mentioning them as an example of what is *important* to me as a potential customer.

The best thing you can do for your business, as someone suggested, is go door to door, at a time when the customer would be home but you're not interrupting dinner, and when it's still light enough outside so you're not coming around in the dark. I would even think about putting a flyer in the door handle saying you'll be stopping by on X date between X and X time.

Your goal with each visit is NOT to sell but to find out what people like and don't like about the landscaping service they're currently using. You will find, if you DON'T SELL, that you will learn all kinds of things, and, if they really do have needs you can address, when you're ALL DONE getting their input, you might gently suggest that you could help them with that specific problem. As I describe in my book, if you ask potential customers correctly, they will tell you what they want, and even how to sell to them!

You will have no problems picking up customers this way. It will require a little courage up front, but it will be the fastest, cheapest, and most effective method.

Sorry for ressurecting an old post, but along the lines of what kzhivago said, you might place a door hanger on the door handle if people aren't home when you go door to door. This is basically a small flyer, roughly the size of a #10 envelope, with a hole in it to fit over the handle. They're pretty cheap. This would likely be most effective once you have a few clients and you can advertise in this way to their neighbors. If they can see an example of your work from their doorstep while they are holding your advertisement, or walk over to the neighbor's house for a quick reference, it will give you a big edge over the competition.

Hmmm anothor could idea could be to get some signs made up 12" x 12" or so out of the plastic that real estate sales signs are usually made. And offer the home owner where you do work a 50% off discount or another service extra for free to place it on their fence