Why Landscape Contractors Should Invest In Print & Digital Sales Brochures
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The Content Team,
HALSTEAD.
Originally published on December 8, 2014. Updated on July 28, 2022.
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Does your landscaping business have a marketing strategy that makes you stand apart from your competition? With the highly competitive state of the landscape industry today, you know that your company is just one of many that a prospect is scoping out. If you have been in business for a few years or more, you likely know exactly which one (or more) of your competitors will soon be sitting down for a home sales meeting at the same prospect’s table that you are, based simply on the location and scope of the potential project you’re bidding on. But will your company be the one chosen for the job?
Standing Apart From the Competition
Knowing how to stand apart from your competition is essential, and it takes an intentional effort to develop a strategy—it’s not something where you can just “wing it.” Every great salesperson knows they must do everything possible to close the sale during that first in-person meeting with the homeowner.
Oftentimes, in the landscape industry, that just doesn’t happen so quickly. Maybe the husband had to work late on the evening of your appointment, so the wife will have to relay your sales pitch. And while she may do a great job, there will likely be key details lost in translation. Or perhaps you’re the first of the three companies they are meeting with, so they won’t be signing anything just yet. Most likely, however, it is simply because of the typical sales cycle for landscape contractors.
It usually goes something like this: The prospect contacts your company to set up a consultation after discovering your company via social media, a referral, or through your website—thanks to search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. You have a prequalifying initial sales call over the phone or via Zoom to see if there is a potential fit. If there is, you’ll schedule the first on-site consultation. You go out to the property to discuss what they are looking for and to measure the land for estimating purposes. Then you leave and return to the office, fire up your landscape design software, and work up a preliminary design and cost proposal.
It’s not until the second in-person meeting that you are actually able to work on closing the sale. In between these two presentations, beginning as soon as you leave the first meeting, is the time when the prospect’s opinion of your company is formed and solidified—and this could be a considerable amount of time! Will your efforts have made a big enough impression to make you stand apart from your competition? What do you leave behind for them to remember you?
Are Branded Leave-Behinds Worth It?
83% of people are more likely to do business with a company that has given them a promotional product, which is a solid statistic to support the effectiveness of leave-behinds in marketing efforts. But what kind of leave-behinds are effective for use in the landscape industry?
There are many options for branded leave-behinds. Presentation folders, flyers, brochures, printed PowerPoint slides (heaven forbid!), and the ever-so-classy coffee mug—you name it, and you can slap your logo on it.
All of these options considered, the most common choice among small to midsize landscapers is a business card and, oddly enough, catalogs from manufacturers of products they commonly spec. Yes, that’s right—some other company’s marketing piece! Why in the world would you want to leave behind another company’s marketing material at the home of your prospect? After all, it was your inbound marketing dollars and company reputation that got you that appointment in the first place. Don’t waste the opportunity to leave a lasting impression and communicate your brand’s message. Remember, what you leave behind is what keeps selling long after the meeting has finished.
The Branded Portfolio & Sales Brochure
A branded portfolio can be really effective in closing the sale long after you leave the prospect’s home. It's a professional leave-behind that showcases possibilities. A well-designed print or digital portfolio will help your lead imagine what it would be like to have that beautiful outdoor kitchen in their backyard or a lawn covered in lush green grass like the gorgeous one in the photo in your brochure.
Picture this: Mr. and Mrs. Jones retire to bed for the night. As Mr. Jones turns on the TV to check the score of the game, Mrs. Jones usually reads for a few minutes until she drifts off to sleep to the sounds of SportsCenter. Tonight, she’s thinking about the new outdoor living room she’s been dreaming of and recaps the meetings she has had with the landscapers. She remembers that one salesman left behind a beautiful, glossy magazine, a simple leave-behind that makes that one company stand apart from the competition.
Top companies use a magazine format as their portfolio. It’s designed to engage and inform prospects and is filled with excellent custom content to help them decide on the details of their outdoor living project. Can print marketing be inbound in nature? We think so, and these portfolios are the inbound marketing and content marketing way of doing it. However, not just any portfolio will do—it must be professional and reflect the high quality of the work that you do.
Contents of a Show-Stopping Sales Brochure
This print magazine portfolio showcases your company’s work through project photography and case studies with testimonials. Every single photograph and every single word should be thoughtfully integrated into the portfolio—every detail counts. This is why we recommend having a marketing company with professional copywriters and graphic designers take care of the project for you.
Companies with effective marketing, including print materials, invest in the four integral components of a branded portfolio.
1. Professional Photography
There is no comparison between a professional photograph of your landscape projects and a photo that has been casually snapped on your iPhone. Sure, iPhone photos can be pretty spectacular these days, but there’s a lot more to professional photography than the device that captures the photo—it’s the skill behind the camera that matters most.
A premium, magazine-style sales brochure requires premium, magazine-quality photographs. Sometimes this means staging an outdoor living area with stylish patio furniture and potted plants. Other times it simply means pruning the shrubs, weeding the plant beds, and scheduling a photo session when the flowers are in full bloom. These stunning outdoor spaces, combined with expert photo editing, make for impressive photos that you can use for years to come.
2. Excellent Copywriting
There is limited opportunity to place the written word on a brochure or portfolio, so it’s important to make every word count. Remember that a picture is worth 1,000 words, so the copy used should complement what is already being expressed in the photographs. Use words that will invoke emotion in the reader, get them excited about the possibilities of their proposed landscape project, and ultimately help them decide on your business as their landscape company of choice. Featuring quotes from testimonials from past customers can be especially effective in creating social proof.
3. Formatting
Gone are the days when you could close a large project with a basic, low-quality tri-fold brochure. Today’s consumers expect more because they’re used to seeing higher-quality marketing materials.
At HALSTEAD, we’ve streamlined the size offerings and formats and only offer printed materials that truly make an impact on closing the sale. You can choose between a square 9x9 sales brochure or a 9x12 pocket-folder brochure, both featuring 12 pages of expertly selected images and professionally edited copy. The pocket-folder brochure option provides a convenient place to include relevant inserts such as industry certifications, proposals, and insurance certificates.
4. High-Quality Paper
The touch and feel aspect of your portfolio is also important. In fact, researchers have found that physically touching an object creates a sense of psychological ownership that triggers an emotional response, whether we know it or not. So when you hand over a printed portfolio to your prospect, you’re establishing that emotional connection in a very simple way.
Studies have shown that marketing materials printed on high-quality paper lead to better information retention and increase brand preference, helping to keep your company top of mind. At HALSTEAD, we offer the 9x9 format with an 80 pound weight gloss cover and the 9x12 with a 14 pt. card stock gloss cover that makes the colors pop on the paper. The inside paper is a 100 pound weight. Our portfolios also have a soft touch coating, which not only increases the tactile appeal but also reduces the glare. Even perceived touch can be impactful, which is why posting a digital flip-book of your brochure can be an effective marketing tool also.
Digital Portfolio
The great news is that once a print portfolio is created, you also have the option to secure a digital copy of it. This means that you can feature it on your website, which makes it easy to share via email or on social media. This is just another way to extend the return on investment (ROI) on your investment in a printed portfolio.