What's new

[Help Requested ] How do you go about marketing as a local business?

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Live your best life.

Tired of paying for dead communities hosted by absent gurus who don't have time for you?

Imagine having a multi-millionaire mentor by your side EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has been a cornerstone of Fastlane, actively contributing on over 99% of days—99.92% to be exact! With more than 39,000 game-changing posts, he's dedicated to helping entrepreneurs achieve their freedom. Join a thriving community of over 90,000 members and access a vast library of over 1,000,000 posts from entrepreneurs around the globe.

Join Today
Download Books
No Ads? Join Insiders
Forum membership removes this block.
Y

yyes

New Contributor
LEGACY MEMBER
Read Fastlane!
Joined
Jun 18, 2017
Messages
93
Location
Boise Idaho
Rep Bank
$400
User Power: 97%
Hey guys,
I am hoping I can get help from you guys here in the forum when it comes to marketing because frankly, I don't know how to.

Right now all our business comes from homeadvisor but theres got to be a better way.

We are a tree service company but suck at marketing.

Any ideas on how we can get this started?
 
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
Fid said:
Hey @yyes,

what have you tried/thought of trying and what made you do so?

There are many ways you could market such a local business.
@Andy Black has a couple of threads about local lead gen with Google Ads.
Click to expand...

Hi Fid.
I have tried so far to market via Craigslist, Nextdoor, and GMB. I have also tried Home Advisor and Thumbtack but these mediums get expensive for bad leads sometimes.
 
For a local business you could build your website and optimize it for searches in your local area. Depending on your location and competition that could be very easy or very difficult or anywhere in between. Looking in Boise it seems that there is quit a few businesses in your niche. The websites don’t look that hard to outrank though. If your site was in top 3 in GMB and on first page of organic search it should generate you some traffic. Additionally, some Google and Facebook ads could speed this process.
 
Last edited:
Dmorr said:
For a local business you could build your website and optimize it for searches in your local area. Depending on your location and competition that could be very easy or very difficult or anywhere in between. Looking in Boise it seems that there is quit a few businesses in your niche. The websites don’t look that hard to outrank though. If your site was in top 3 in GMB and on first page of organic search it should generate you some traffic. Additionally, some Google and Facebook ads could speed this process.
Click to expand...


Do you do this type of stuff? It sound like you know your stuff?
 
yyes said:
Hey guys,
I am hoping I can get help from you guys here in the forum when it comes to marketing because frankly, I don't know how to.

Right now all our business comes from homeadvisor but theres got to be a better way.

We are a tree service company but suck at marketing.

Any ideas on how we can get this started?
Click to expand...
I'm curious, what is a tree service company?
 
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
yyes said:
Do you do this type of stuff? It sound like you know your stuff?
Click to expand...
Yes I could help you. My email is dustym321@att.net. You could send me some information about your company and situation and I will see what we might could do.
 
yyes said:
Hi Fid.
I have tried so far to market via Craigslist, Nextdoor, and GMB. I have also tried Home Advisor and Thumbtack but these mediums get expensive for bad leads sometimes.
Click to expand...

Mind posting a link to your website and GMB? I'd be able to give you some tips then.

Sounds like Craigslist/Nextdoor/GMB perform better for you than Home Advisor or Thumbtack.
What made you look for another solution?
 
door flyers

flyers inside starbucks and coffee shops

newsletters

?email marketing?

partnerships with local companies

random ideas at the top of my head
 
I've been helping local service businesses with marketing for a few years now and here are the steps I always take.
1. Fully filled out GMB listing with pictures and a visible address.
2. A website that shows the services you offer and in what locations that makes it easy to contact your company.
3. Fully filled out profiles on free directories like Yelp and Yellow pages.

With these three items set up, make sure you get as many 5 star reviews on your GMB as possible. You can ask friends and family to leave reviews that talk about your character and reliability. No need for them to make up bs. Just tell the truth. Get all happy customers to leave reviews moving forward.

Use some sort of CRM and look for ways to circle back around with customers. If you trim hedges, you know how fast they grow and can contact people when it's time to trim again.

Your website can be further built out with pages addressing specific services like tree/stump removal and tree planting. The pages should be based around things people type into Google.

Flyers and door to door marketing is great. You can go to neighborhoods you like and talk to people to let them know who you are. Mailing flyers is good too, especially during storm season or times your services are in higher demand.

With the basics in place you can advertise on Google and perform SEO rank organically.

If you pair great customer experience with a solid system for keeping in touch with past clients you will rely less and less on new leads and build an ecosystem of loyal customers.

There are a lot of more niche ways to scale this stuff up but this is a great place to start.
 
Fid said:
Mind posting a link to your website and GMB? I'd be able to give you some tips then.

Sounds like Craigslist/Nextdoor/GMB perform better for you than Home Advisor or Thumbtack.
What made you look for another solution?
Click to expand...

Craigslist and Nextdoor perform good for me in the basis of ROI but they still dont bring in as many leads as I would like. Home advisor would bring maybe 10-15 leads a week while Craigslist and Nextdoor bring in 1-2 a week. Also, I tend to think that Craigslist and Nextdoor attract Price shoppers.

Here is a link to GMB.

MrChippLandscaping - Google Search

g.page
 
Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)
yyes said:
Craigslist and Nextdoor perform good for me in the basis of ROI but they still dont bring in as many leads as I would like. Home advisor would bring maybe 10-15 leads a week while Craigslist and Nextdoor bring in 1-2 a week. Also, I tend to think that Craigslist and Nextdoor attract Price shoppers.

Here is a link to GMB.

MrChippLandscaping - Google Search

g.page
Click to expand...

No website yet?

Also please claim your gmb and add your services, etc as @GoodluckChuck suggested.
 
yyes said:
Craigslist and Nextdoor perform good for me in the basis of ROI but they still dont bring in as many leads as I would like. Home advisor would bring maybe 10-15 leads a week while Craigslist and Nextdoor bring in 1-2 a week. Also, I tend to think that Craigslist and Nextdoor attract Price shoppers.

Here is a link to GMB.

MrChippLandscaping - Google Search

g.page
Click to expand...

Just curious.

Of the leads you get from Homeadvisor:

1. How many do you talk to?
2. Of those, how many close?
 
GoodluckChuck said:
Just curious.

Of the leads you get from Homeadvisor:

1. How many do you talk to?
2. Of those, how many close?
Click to expand...

Based off the numbers that I acquired from last year here is what I have.

Nextdoor- 5 Estimates- 1 Closed. (I started next door 2 months ago.)
Craigslist- 15 Estimates- 8Closed
Home Advisor- 43 Estimates- 7 closed.
 
I agree with what the others have recommended! Google My Business/Google Maps is a big one!

...once you have your website up you can:

1) Compile a list of all your the questions you get asked on a regular basis. Then use each topic as its own blog post. If you can afford a local SEO company, they can help with setting you up otherwise - make sure the title of each post includes the question, have a picture or two that include that question in some way in title. Answer the question in as much detail as possible. This can help you get started on SEO. *Make sure you ask the hard questions like "how much does it cost to have my trees..." even if the answer is "it depends" and you give the details that go into your pricing.

2) Make sure your home page & header have a "request a quote" or "book your service" button with an option for people to go ahead and schedule service - or take the next step in the process.

3) Create a free FB page for your business. Install the FB pixel on your website. You can retarget people who have come to your website & are within x # of miles from your location with a coupon, information, request a quote, or something of value. You should be able to set this up for as little as $1 a day.

Another idea...are there any independent adjusters in your area? One of my clients is an independent adjuster, they review insurance claims and partner with roofers and others who do the repair work that they refer to them. There are probably other companies like that who are already out there, who would refer you business.

I'm not sure where you live. I live in AZ and I've always just hired the company that my landscaper recommends...or whoever knocks on the door when the palm trees need to be trimmed. Are you connected with landscapers?

Good luck!
 
For a tree trimming business I would try partnering with a realtor. Reach out and see if that realtor has trees around their personal house that need trimming and do it free of charge. In return they can send you a leads/business. Realtors try to get houses looking their best and curb appeal is a HUGE part of it.

If you try any of these ideas out, let us know how it goes. I am curious myself.
 
yyes said:
Hey guys,
I am hoping I can get help from you guys here in the forum when it comes to marketing because frankly, I don't know how to.

Right now all our business comes from homeadvisor but theres got to be a better way.

We are a tree service company but suck at marketing.

Any ideas on how we can get this started?
Click to expand...

The guy in our area does so much of his business just because he will go to all of the houses around the house he is presently working on and knock. "I'm in the neighborhood today and tomorrow and am giving a discount." It cost him less because he doesn't have to travel and I would say he ends up work until dark every time he does this. Make sense?
 
yyes said:
Hey guys,
I am hoping I can get help from you guys here in the forum when it comes to marketing because frankly, I don't know how to.

Right now all our business comes from homeadvisor but theres got to be a better way.

We are a tree service company but suck at marketing.

Any ideas on how we can get this started?
Click to expand...

If your marketing skills aren't that great, outsource it to someone that knows what they are doing.

I've found Craigslist does not have many top tier clients, just ppl looking for rock bottom prices. It's an avenue that can be pursued, but it's not the first place I would go if my marketing dollars were tight.

Having a high ranking, highly reviewed company on Google though is another story. When someone types in tree service, be the first to pop up on Google ads, Google maps, and your website the first result under that, and watch the business come in.

Marketing is important, but networking is even more important.

I don't know where you are located, but if you get a lot of bad weather, I would be connecting with insurance companies to be on their vendor list.

I would make friends with fix and flippers, and get in with them. Be on a vendor list with realtors, property management companies, give them a piece for all the business they send you. Then the homeowners they connect you with can refer you to other homeowners.
 
yyes said:
Hey guys,
I am hoping I can get help from you guys here in the forum when it comes to marketing because frankly, I don't know how to.

Right now all our business comes from homeadvisor but theres got to be a better way.

We are a tree service company but suck at marketing.

Any ideas on how we can get this started?
Click to expand...

i would recommend some “give to get” tactics. Use your existing social streams to promote activities like the following: offer a local charity / animal shelter a free service you can comfortably afford to eat. They’ll be grateful and share your name on high. you can most likely get a tax deduction out of it as well
 
Duane said:
If your marketing skills aren't that great, outsource it to someone that knows what they are doing.

I've found Craigslist does not have many top tier clients, just ppl looking for rock bottom prices. It's an avenue that can be pursued, but it's not the first place I would go if my marketing dollars were tight.

Having a high ranking, highly reviewed company on Google though is another story. When someone types in tree service, be the first to pop up on Google ads, Google maps, and your website the first result under that, and watch the business come in.

Marketing is important, but networking is even more important.

I don't know where you are located, but if you get a lot of bad weather, I would be connecting with insurance companies to be on their vendor list.

I would make friends with fix and flippers, and get in with them. Be on a vendor list with realtors, property management companies, give them a piece for all the business they send you. Then the homeowners they connect you with can refer you to other homeowners.
Click to expand...

Thats something that I am definitely willing to do but ive been burned by a couple of folks that didnt really do a good job at it. So its hard to find someone like that. I wouldnt mind outsourcing at all.
 
Run local ads on Facebook: there's very little competition and its easy.

You need a great offer and a converting landing page. That's pretty much it.
 
yyes said:
Thats something that I am definitely willing to do but ive been burned by a couple of folks that didnt really do a good job at it. So its hard to find someone like that. I wouldnt mind outsourcing at all.
Click to expand...

That will happen, but the more you get burned, the better your hiring process will become. Giving up because of a few bad eggs will only stunt your growth.
 
yyes said:
Hey guys,
I am hoping I can get help from you guys here in the forum when it comes to marketing because frankly, I don't know how to.
Click to expand...
Looks like I am a little late, but anyhow, here is my opinion.
As a small business owner, I had some success in the past three years with Facebook Ads. What you need is a landing page, which can be one of the existing pages, but better yet, a fresh one well related to your ad. You can A/B test different versions, see the conversions, choose, improve, etc. And of course, never forget about retargeting previous visitors, because that is where true money comes from.
With Fb Ads you can very precisely target people, based on a number of factors like residence, age, family, etc. You can set or exclude postal codes, or just draw an x miles radius circle around your business location, and ads will appear only in the news feed of people complying with all of your criteria.
If you do it well, you won’t need to bother with any other form of marketing, for a while.
BTW, I like your website very much, nice design. I see you use the Astra theme just like I do on a new website. May I ask you, if yours is the free or the Pro version?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Navigation Shortcuts

Welcome to an Entrepreneurial Revolution

The Fastlane Forum empowers you to break free from conventional thinking to achieve financial freedom through UNSCRIPTED® Entrepreneurship where relative value and problem-solving are executed at scale. Living Unscripted® isn’t just a business strategy—it’s a way of life.

Follow MJ DeMarco

Fastlane Resources

Get The Books that Change Lives...

The Fastlane entrepreneurial strategy is based on the CENTS Framework® which is based on the three best-selling books by MJ DeMarco.

mj demarco books
Back
Top Bottom