There are about 600,000 lawn care companies in the United States. Each of these businesses is trying to cash on every opportunity that comes their way. According to data, each American household spends an average of $503 annually on gardening and lawn care. Hence, you have quite a good chance of standing out if you choose the right lawn care advertising strategies.
However, as the scope is a tad slim in the lawn care industry, and competition immense, you might have less time to take up the trial and error way. Besides, it is not a good choice for your business finances.
Hence, we are here with a comprehensive guide on lawn care ads. We shall discuss at length the best advertising channels for landscaping and lawn care and delve into the steps to launch your own lawn care business.
What is Advertising for Lawn care?
Lawn care advertising entails a range of marketing ideas that companies execute through paid channels. The main aim of lawn care advertising is to attract more customers and promote brand visibility.
Marketing for lawn care can be done through various channels like Google Ads, Bing Ads, Yahoo Ads, social media ads, etc. It is essentially a paid strategy that requires meticulous monitoring and supervision for execution.
Benefits of Lawn Care Advertising
There are several benefits that advertising for lawn care holds. We are discussing three of the most alluring reasons as to why you should engage in PPC ads for your business;
- More Customers
As advertisements for lawn care augment the discoverability, more clients come to know about the services. With the right ads at your hand that attract people, this strategy secures more customers for your business.
- Brand Visibility
Online advertisements boost the brand visibility of your lawn care business by placing it above search engine results. This enables potential clients to see your brand, which creates a consistent image.
- Immediate Results
The best part of paid ads for lawn care businesses is that this strategy has the power to get immediate results. If you can craft a powerful campaign, you should see a growth in business revenue within a week’s time.
Google Ads for Lawn Care Business
Google Ads has a market share of 14.64%. It holds the largest market size among the ad platforms. Hence, launching a lawn care advertising campaign without the inclusion of Google ads would certainly leave the scope for improvement. There are a total of 9 Google ad types, but we are explaining the four best Google ads that can help a lawn care business find new customers.
Lawn care professionals can create a Google Ad account and manage the advertisement campaign for the landscaping business. However, if you need any expert help, you can hire a Google Ads services company.
- Search Ads
Lawn care businesses that want to gain immediate popularity should consider search ads as their go-to option. Search ads fit in seamlessly with Google search results. These basically look like regular links with metadata that you would see in organic search results. The only exception is that these Google ads have the word ‘Sponsored’ written above them.
Leveraging Search ads for lawn care means attracting traffic directly to the lawn care website by positioning it higher than the organic search results.
These ads bolster the traffic volume while keeping the quality of the visitors in check. Lawn care websites that cannot wait for search engine optimization should settle for search ads.
However, you should note that launching a search advertising campaign for a lawn care business will not be the most cost effective way.
You need a sizable budget even to launch it for a month. Google search ads have an estimated average CPC of $2.69 according to SEMrush.
Steps to Create a Responsive Search Ad in Google:
- Navigate to your business website’s Google Ads account and click on the Campaigns icon.
- Open its drop-down menu and click on Campaigns.
- To create a new campaign, click on the + icon and select a specific goal or continue by selecting Create a campaign without a goal’s guidance.
- Choose the Search option under Select a campaign type.
- Select campaign settings to enhance your search campaign based on targeted location, audience, and language.
- Set up specific ad groups to make ads more relevant to the target audience
- Enter the final URL and its display path text.
- Create a minimum of three headlines and two descriptions that seems relevant to your products or services
- Click on the Save and Continue button.
Once your search ad campaign is ready, you can click on the Publish button to publish it online. Also, you need to set a custom budget amount based on your ad campaign from the recommended budget options.
- Display Ads
Often when you search for something previously, Ads related to the product or services pops up on your screen, these are display ads. Google display ads are visually engaging ads that can span across millions of websites and various devices. These ads run on the Google display network and cover Google properties like YouTube, Android and Gmail.
Display ads are one of the best fits for lawn care advertising because these ads have a text+image format. It allows a lawn care company to exhibit beautiful images of landscapes that allure potential customers for conversion.
The best part about display ads is that, other than being a highly targeted form of ad, their CPC is lower than that of search ads. The average cost for display ads is generally under $1 for most niches.
Steps to Create a Responsive Display Ad in Google:
For creating a responsive display ad, repeat the first three steps the same as mentioned in the steps for creating a ‘Search ad.’ After that, continue following the steps given below:
- Under Select a campaign type choose the Display option, and under the Campaign subtype, choose Standard Display Campaign.
- Enter the URL of your business website and the name of the campaign.
- Click on the Continue option.
- Now, you can personalize your campaign by selecting your campaign settings and choosing the location, language, ad schedule, device targeting, start and end dates, etc. that align with your brand.
- Then set your daily budget and choose your bidding strategy for your display ad.
- Set your audience targeting strategy by selecting the Add targeting option and choosing your targeting signals.
- Then click on Next
- Proceed to upload all the relevant assets including images, videos, logos, headlines, descriptions, etc. required for the ads.
- Click on the Save option.
- Once you have finished doing so, choose the Add to Ad group option.
- Choose the Next option to finalize your display campaign.
Once completed, you are free to review your campaign, make any changes if required and publish it online by choosing the Publish campaign option.
- Local Service Ads
The local service ads are not a part of the Google Ads hub. Nonetheless, they are a Google ad type that should be the primary focus of a lawn care advertising campaign. These are geo-specific ads that lawn care advertisers can create to market the company in a particular service area.
An LSAs would show a Google business listing with the name of the company, navigation and other essential details when someone searches with keywords like ‘best lawn care services’ from the target location. This type of Google ad shows up on the top of the Google SERPs and on the Google Maps.
The characteristic identification mark of a local service ad is the word ‘Sponsored’ written above the business listing.
Landscaping businesses have to clear the background checks and ensure that they have insurance. Running local service ads would also require you to have a Google Business Profile.
However, unlike the search and display ads, which run on the PPC model, the local service ads take up a PPL payment method. This means that you will have to set a weekly or monthly maximum budget. You will be charged according to the number of leads the search engine has sent your way. The average cost per lead can vary from $25 to $45, depending on your target area.
Note: If you think that you have been wrongly charged by Google for a lead, you can always dispute charges and get matters fixed.
Simple Steps to Create a Local Service Ad on Google:
- Walk through these simple steps to create a local service ad for your business.
- Begin with checking your business’s eligibility for the local services ads.
- Navigate to Google’s Local Service Homepage and click on the Get Started button.
- Then from the drop-down menu, select your country’s name, ZIP code and job categories, and click on the Check Eligibility tab. If it’s available for your business, proceed with the next steps.
- Now, input some basic details including the name of your business and its contact details.
- Add more specific information about your business like its service offerings, the fees that you charge, and the ZIP codes where your services are available.
- Once you have created a basic profile for local services ads, upload various relevant documents to prove that you are licensed and qualified to work in the industry.
- Double-check whether all the relevant documents are uploaded or not.
- Complete the background check (if your business is in Canada or U.S.)
- Once your profile is completed, start advertising by setting and managing your budget.
Depending upon the number of leads you are targeting, you can review your budget for the local service ads from time to time.
- Performance Max Ads
Performance Max ads launched in 2021 under the Google advertising hub. This ad automates the campaign using Google AI to attract interested clients across all Google platforms. It traverses on a holistic path by letting Google machine learning and artificial intelligence exhibit lawn care service ads to audiences over several platforms.
Google uses audience signals for ad placements to drive the maximum conversions. It is a goal-based campaign that focuses on conversions.
While it does not let you have control over which platforms your ads would be visible on, you do have some customization options with the PMax Ads. You can set the cost per action and location of your target audience.
Among the array of Google ads for lawn care businesses, the performance ads cost the most. This is basically because of its pinpointed focus and success as an advertisement for getting better ROAS for your landscaping business.
Tips to Create Performance Max Ad in Google Ads:
Creating a performance max ad campaign requires this simple step-by-step process to follow.
- Sign in to your Google Ads account and select the Campaigns icon.
- Then click on the Campaigns option from the drop-down menu
- Click on the + icon and select the conversion goals for the campaign.
- Now, choose the Performance max option and name your campaign.
- Proceed with adding some useful business data to your campaign ad in the Assets page.
- Navigate to the More Settings section to adjust your campaign settings as per your business goals and needs.
- Create an audience signal and proceed with selecting a bidding strategy.
- Select the budget depending upon your campaign goals and business budget.
- At last, don’t forget to review the setup of your new Performance Max campaign.
Bing Ads to Leverage for Lawn Care Services
While Google does acquire the lion’s share of the advertisement market, forming marketing strategies without considering other platforms like Bing can be a mistake for lawn care businesses.
You might be intrigued to know that Bing ads deliver a CTR of 2.83% as opposed to Google ads, which have a click-through rate of 1.91% ! If you compare Apple to Apple, the CTR of Bing ads is higher than that of Google. An added advantage of this type of ad is its lower cost as compared to the former.
- Audience Ads
The audience ad appears across the Microsoft network to audiences whose user signals express an interest in getting landscaping services. Bing uses AI to ascertain the level of interest, type of signal and the ad platforms that can garner conversion within the shortest span of time.
The audience ad can take several forms, such as Video ads, Native ads, and Display ads. These advertisements can appear anywhere on the search engine and across Microsoft networks like MSN, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Outlook, and Microsoft Start, etc.
The audience ads work on a keyword bidding system. It requires you to participate in an auction and bid for the target keyword. You will have to pay when someone clicks on the advertisement.
Easy Steps to Create a New Audience Ad on Microsoft:
- Head over to your Microsoft Advertising account and from the tree view in the left pane, choose the Campaign where you want to set up Audience Ads.
- Choose Ads & extensions and click on the Audience Ads
- In data view, select Add audience ad
- In the edit pane, create your new audience.
- Ensure to enter ‘Short headline’ and ‘Long headline’ for your ads. It is recommended to create multiple long headlines and short headlines so that the ads can be flexibly displayed across various placements.
- Proceed with entering the ad text. Depending upon your ad’s placement, this text will appear either adjacent or below to your ad.
- Now, provide your business name.
- Choose Add images to add images into your ad. Ensure to check the image dimensions and format before adding here.
- Once done, then enter the URL of your landing page in the Final URL text field.
- Finally, enter your Mobile URL.
Following these easy steps, you can set up audience ads on your Microsoft ads account.
- Dynamic Search Ads
Dynamic search ads use the website content to target customers. These ads are dynamically created by Microsoft AI to address specific search queries if they match the services you offer.
These ads leverage real-time customer data and use them to target audiences who have expressed an interest in certain services.
Unlike many other paid advertisement types, here you do not need to bid on keywords. Hence, it is a time saving option that lawn care services should definitely try out. It reduces the workload, checks missed opportunities and is a hassle free way of advertising your lawn care services.
Dynamic search ads are best for lawn care websites that have a huge collection of web pages. Having various web pages is necessary to run this lawn care advertising campaign because these ads directly depend on the website content for the ad copy.
Steps to Set Up Dynamic Search Ads on Bing:
The steps for setting up dynamic search ads are different for existing search campaigns and for new search campaigns.
For new search campaigns, follow the steps given hereunder:
- From the navigation menu on the left of your Bing Ads account, choose the Create option.
- Select Generate leads or Drive conversions as your campaign goal
- In the Campaign Type, select the Search option.
- Choose the Search Ads option below “Which ad type would you like to serve?”
- Click on Continue
- In the Campaign Settings option, ensure to select the Ensure dynamic search ads option.
- Now, enter your website’s URL (enter either your website’s root domain or subdomain)
- After you have entered your website’s URL, choose the Website language from the dropdown menu.
- Choose your Targeting Source.
- Now, select the Enable dynamic search ad text checkbox to enable dynamic search ad text.
- Proceed creating a Dynamic ad group with dynamic ad targets.
- Choose the Save & go to the next step option.
- Now, select your campaign budget as well as other settings.
- Click on the Save option.
Social Media Advertising that can Leverage Lawn Care Businesses
Social media houses 5.07 million users! Hence, social media platforms are one of the strongest hubs to leverage while advertising for the lawn care industry. You would get a lot of prospects with interest in lawn care and landscaping. Some of them might even be searching for services you offer but might not be able to find your page.
Hence, in such cases, it is perhaps best to resort to social media advertising for lawn care business. You can even take the assistance of a good social media marketing company if you aren’t sure about the drill. Although there is an array of social ads available, we are jotting down the names of two giant platforms that should surely come to your assistance.
- Meta Ads
Meta ads was previously known as Facebook Ads. However, with the expansion, meta ads run on Facebook, and Instagram, along with other networks owned by the company. To create Meta ads for lawn care advertising, you can go to the Meta Ads Manager and create a campaign.
With meta ads, you can create ad copies in the form of single-shot images, videos or carousels. While carousels perform better on Instagram, the engagement rate of Video ads on Facebook is somewhat higher.
Meta ads lets you target the audience of multiple social media platforms at a single go. You can decide the budget allocation, bid on keywords and choose the type of ads you want to launch. If you have many lawn care advertising ideas, you can even try more than one ad type. As the cost of social media advertising is relatively lower than search engine advertising.
Steps to Enable Meta Ads on Meta Business Suite
Before you start creating an ad on Meta Business Suite desktop, it is essential to add a Facebook Page to your business portfolio in the Meta Business Suite. Once done, follow the steps given below:
- Go to the Meta Business Suite desktop and from the left sidebar, click on the Ads option.
- From the top right bar, choose the Create ad option and then click on the Promote button.
- Now, navigate to the drop-down menu in the top right and choose your ad account.
- Choose a specific goal for your ad
- Depending on the goal you have selected, fill out the other sections on the screen. The sections include- Ad creative, Special ad category, Audience, Schedule and duration, Daily budget, Customer info, Payment, Privacy Policy.
- Once you fill up all the information, you can preview how your ads look on the right-hand side. To see how it looks across different formats, click on the Preview drop-down menu and select different options.
- After it’s finished, click on the Promote now button.
You can also review your ads by clicking on the Ads option from the left-hand side menu. From here, you can verify your ads status, its preview, how your ad is performing for specific audiences, its performance, and other Meta ads campaign information.
- YouTube Ads
YouTube has over 2.527 billion monthly users, making it one of the largest platforms to market your lawn care company. Because of the high user engagement rate, YouTube ads are perhaps one of the best lawn care marketing ideas.
YouTube generally plays ads based on the interest of the users. If a potential customer is actively looking for landscaping services, chances are YouTube will play the ads to them.
There are 5 YouTube Ad formats. For maximizing brand exposure TrueView ads take the crown. Viewers will have to at least play these ads for 30 seconds before they can skip them.
Non-skippable ads, on the other hand, have no fixed duration, and YouTube users cannot skip. They have to watch the ad for the full duration before the video resumes. If you want to deliver a short message to the potential clients, try the Bumper Ads. These ads are under 6 seconds that can play anytime, during, while and after the video sans the option of skipping them.
Steps to Set Up a YouTube Ads Campaign
Setting up and managing a YouTube ad campaign has become much easier with the newly designed Google Ads interface.
Want to know the steps for setting up your YouTube ad campaign? You should begin with linking your Google Ads account to your YouTube channel. Thereafter, proceed with these.
- Sign in to your Google Ads account (in case of an agency, sign in to My Client Center).
- From the top of the page, click the Tools icon and from the Setup Column, choose Linked Accounts.
Once done, then follow the prompts to add your YouTube channel to it and link your Google Analytics account. In case you want to add a video in your YouTube ad campaign, ensure to first upload it to your YouTube channel.
After this, begin creating your ad campaign by following the steps provided hereunder.
- For that, visit your Google Ads dashboard.
- On the Campaigns tab, click on the + button and choose New Campaign.
- Depending upon the type of ads that you want to run, choose your campaign goal.
- After you have selected your campaign goal, choose your Campaign Type.
- Choose Video as your campaign goal.
- Once finished, click on the Continue tab.
- Select Video reach campaign as your campaign subtype.
- On the same screen, you need to choose your YouTube ad formats (depending upon your video ad length and campaign goals). You can select any of these options – TrueView Ads, Non-Skippable In-Stream Ads, or Bumper Ads.
- Now, enter a name for your campaign.
- Proceed with setting your campaign budget and select its Start and end dates.
- Next, choose your bidding strategy (Maximum CPV, Target CPV).
- Under Networks, select the YouTube Videos option to determine where your YouTube ads will run.
- In the Languages column, you can select the languages that you want to target for your ads. Follow the same for the Location.
- Choose your Inventory type (Expanded, Standard, or Limited) and exclude types and labels that seem inappropriate for your brand. Tick the Content not yet labeled option.
- Select the target audience for your YouTube campaign.
- Once done, then refine your Ad visibility to narrow down your reach based on relevant keywords, topics, and placement targeting.
- Set a specific bid amount for your ad campaign.
- At last, choose the video for your YouTube ad by pasting the exact URL from YouTube or using the search box to find your video.
8 Steps to Do Lawn Care Advertising: The DIY Method
Lawn care companies who want to spread their wings beyond the organic rankings on search engines can take a shot at launching a paid ad campaign. Another reason why lawn care and landscaping businesses resort to paid adverts is that this is a cost-effective way to get qualified leads to the websites. Most importantly, they gain immediate results;
A lawn care PPC campaign is not tough to set up per se. However, beginners can face a few hurdles while setting up a campaign for pay per click ads.
Hence, we are here to guide lawn care professionals through the process. Peruse through the entire section to learn how to launch a PPC lawn care advertising campaign.
- Get an Ad Account
The paid ad account varies depending on the channel you use. For instance, if you want to advertise across the Google network, you will have to set up a Google Ads account.
Bing advertising campaigns should be registered with Microsoft Advertising, while ad campaigns on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram need to register with the Meta Business Suit.
This is the primary step for the launch of lawn care advertising and you should be able to cross this without any external help. You will have to enter the basic details of your details, and set a payment mode for the registration.
- The Treasure Hunt for Keywords
When it comes to keywords, PPC works much like SEO. Hence, similar to finding keywords while doing SEO for landscapers, you will have to find search terms for paid ads as well. Most PPC Ad types, like search ads, display ads,, depend on keyword targeting. Hence, choosing which keywords to use is important.
Although keywords with high search volume are similar to gold in the realm of digital marketing, too much shining can be blinding. If you are a new lawn care company, do take care of the competition for the keyword. If there is strong competition for the keyword, the bids can be high.
Now, if you are a new lawn care company, affording such a budget for a single search term can go heavy on your pockets. Hence, it is better to scour keywords with moderate search volumes and less competition.
- Choose the Ad Format
No matter which platform you choose for lawn care advertising, there is an array of ad formats. For instance, Google offers Search, Display, Discovery, performance Max, and Local Services ads that lawn care professionals can use.
With social media, you will find options in the form of text, image, video and carousels. There are also multiple formats of Bing ads.
While it might be luring for you to try all ad formats at once, that can have a detrimental effect on your profit margins.
To know which ad type will suit you the best, do a competitor analysis. This will expose the type of campaign your competitors in the league are leveraging. To topple them, you can select the same ad format with better ad copies that resonate with prospective clients.
- Be a Part of the Bidding war
Once you know the keywords to target and the type of advertising format, it is time to shed some money in the bidding. In this step, you bid for keywords for which your ad copy would be best. For example, a lawn care service can bet on general service keywords like Seasonal Lawn Maintenance Services, Landscaping Services, Fix Yard Signs, Lawn Cleaning, etc.
If you find keywords that can bring a lot of fresh leads, try outbidding your competitors. While it might pinch your pocket initially, it can generate a lot of business revenue in a short span of time. However, if you have a limited marketing budget, it is better to stick to it.
- Ad Creation
The ad creation is a mix of technical and creative aspects. You can maximize ad reach and the right audience with some technical knowledge. However, to create an ad copy, you require a touch of creativity.
First, you have to address the customer’s pain points. This can be in the heading of the ad copy itself.
For instance you are trying to sell services for ‘lawn maintenance’ . The title or the main caption of your lawn care advertising copy can say something ‘ Weeds all over the Lawn? Trust the Experts” , or , you can even take a more general approach like ” From Bland to Beautiful: Revitalize your Lawn Today.”
If you have any plans of incorporating visual appeal, ensure that you attach high quality images and videos. However, you also have to ensure that the file size is not too large as Google has an image size capping for display ads.
Never forget to add a strong CTA to the ad copy. Call to action guides potential customers in taking desirable actions after they are through the advert.
- Target Audience & Service Area
Choosing the right advertising channel and creating a stellar advertisement will only lead to losses if you do not optimize the campaign with effective targeting strategy.
Targeting while ad campaigns for lawn care is not limited to a certain demographic cohort. You will also have to choose the area of your operation. Unlike professions like education or tax consultation, your job needs you to be physically present on-site. Hence, if you are operational in Manhattan, people clicking on your ad in Toronto will bring little benefit. On the contrary, such instances mandate you to pay a hefty sum to the advertising platform while the ROAS still remains zero.
AI insights on user interest is a strong indicator of the chances of conversion, but customer targeting by age, and gender can also bring in profit to landscapers.
Retargeting prospective customers is a pro move in this aspect. Display ads work wonders in this regard. As these people have already shown interest in your services, converting them would be rather easy.
- Set a Budget Capping
You certainly don’t want an advertising campaign to continue for eternity, even when you don’t need it. And certainly, you won’t want to shell out an exorbitant amount for the purpose. This is exactly why budget capping for lawn care advertising is necessary.
You can simply go to the ads manager account and set a capping on the maximum budget for an ad campaign for a day, a week or a month. This enables frugal spending , and gives you the best results .
Hence, when the ad campaign reaches its budget for a certain duration, it stops running until the next budget cycle restarts.
- Ad Placement & Monitoring
Ad placements play a vital role in deciding the visibility quotient. Generally, a placement above the fold (for display ads) is good, but that can cost more than other ad placements. If you do not set any preference for ad placements, then the search engines will decide for you. The positioning depends upon the target audience, ad size, campaign goal and budget.
It is crucial to monitor the lawn care advertising campaign for best results. Use Google analytics and GA4 to track the key performance metrics. Important KPIs for lawn care advertisers are click through rate, conversion rate, conversion acquisition cost, and ROAS.
FAQs
A number of factors like marketing budget, scale of business, business model, and marketing aim decide which lawn care advertising suits you the best. However, as a general rule of thumb, we suggest you leverage the display ads and local service ads when it comes to search engine advertising. Settle for marketing on social media platforms with meta ads and YouTube video ads.
However, if you have a higher marketing budget, search ads work very well. This is because this type of advert guarantees placements above the search results.
Advertising for lawn care can cost between $100 to $ 1000 a month. The exact price depends on the advertising type you choose, the scale of the business, the budget capping and the duration for which you are running the campaign.
Traditional marketing strategies like making lawn care flyers, TV advertising, hoardings, etc., cost a lot. If you add up the figures, you are likely to find that traditional forms of advertising cost more than digital marketing for lawn care.
Hiring a PPC company to launch and manage a lawn care advertising campaign can prove to be beneficial. The only thing is that you will have to cough up some money as they charge a price for their professional services. However, this choice would prove to be profitable in the long run as there is a slim to no chance of bad expenditure.
Conclusion
The breakneck competition in the lawn care industry can be mind-boggling. With some knowledge of lawn care advertising, you can get the odds in your favor. However, ensure that you have a sound understanding of the various steps of setting up a PPC campaign. This is crucial because one misstep can knock down the entire thing.If you are too busy offering top-notch services to your clients or are not sure how to advertise your lawn care business, you can get the help of a PPC management company. These agencies have experts who can take care of every step from start to finish.