MARKETING

PRO

Surprisingly effective Longer life than digital ads Highly controllable reach Messaging control Budget flexibility, high to low

Creativity: from post cards to door hangers to custom print shapes

Co-op support from partners

CON

Takes more time to create and mail

Jenneka Temkin, J & J Property Pros said:

We are working on our first direct-mail strategy right now. For years, it was all word-of-mouth for us. Digital marketing is good, but it seems saturated. People are receptive to old school methods like post cards. We found a marketing agency that provides the addresses for our target radius, hitting select zip codes and income levels. We have a plan for a series of mailers that will highlight our unique service offerings – landscaping, housekeeping, pet care.

These three pillars are unique to our area, and every business should communicate what makes it unique. The“ local business” message is good to promote too. We are looking into Google ads as a supplement to this. For us, social media hasn’ t produced the potential client mix we want.

Our final strategy is a free option, kind of a guerilla campaign. We are putting up flyers in local stores. We can target where we want and which stores. And the local networking with other business owners is great for the growth of our business.

We decided to budget 7 to 10 percent of our revenue for advertising this year. We will see where that gets us. Last year, we spent money on mowers and equipment. Now we have what we need there so we can put money toward marketing. Josh Flynn, Power Equipment Plus dealer said: We have found almost no success with our own direct mail, and mild success with manufacturer co-op direct mail. It’ s tough and so expensive. Especially when we want to connect with contractors and pro customers. Yes, it can help with homeowner outreach, but that’ s not the majority of our market.

One direct mail campaign that worked well was a personal note and a coffee gift card that I sent to pro buyers after a purchase. This introduced me to more business owners and I even followed it with in-person visits. But I couldn’ t keep doing it because we just got too busy. And I didn’ t want to automate this – I wanted it to be personal.

Today, I’ m working on more digital marketing. TR Digital agency is helping with SEO and Google analytics. Google ads seem to work best for us is when we get the keywords right. We spent money on programmatic banner ads but that had less impact. We experimented and learned that you need both ads and SEO. The banners worked only because we built the SEO that drove our name recognition.

It’ s really hard to measure the effectiveness when we don’ t sell online. We have to ask, and that helps. But it’ s still hard to know. I view this as maintenance.

Social media, in my opinion, is not a primary way for us to find new customers. We would have to put a ton of time and work into it. It works to talk to the people we already know. Nobody is going to buy a $ 20K zeroturn because they like my Facebook posts. Higher production costs Mailing costs can be high Less measurable than email Some is seen as“ junk” Harder to reach pro audience Can’ t change message once printed

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nesses. The face-to-face interaction with people goes a long way.

I’ ve tried using door knockers, which produced very few new clients. I’ ve also tried using the yard signs and placed them around targeted neighborhoods. That produced zero new clients. But I don’ t do a lot of residential work; it’ s just become a low-price game in my area.

My best way to find new clients is to just do a great job on every job. Go above and beyond and the word-ofmouth impact will find the best long-term clients. This has been a winning strategy for me. I am also in the process of doing some SEO work with a local agency to improve my ranking on Google. And they say it could take 6 months. I know I can’ t rely on referrals completely.

30 OPE + April 2025 www. OPE-Plus. com