The Holganix Blog

Over 1,000 lawn and landscape companies use our products in the USA. That means we get to hear from all different types and sizes of lawn and landscape companies. Here are the 5 hot landscape trends that lawn and landscape contractors should pay attention to and how to incorporate those trends into your services.

Check out the SlideShare for the 5 hot landscape trends, or skip the SlideShare and read the article below. If you are reading this blog via email, click here to view the SlideShare.

1. Younger Customers Demanding Organic or Sustainable

According to Garden Research’s 2018 National Garden survey, 29% of all gardening households are between the ages of 18 and 34. These younger homeowners are less concerned about a green, weed-free lawn, and more concerned over having an organic or sustainable landscape for their pets and children.

And the trend is only going to increase in popularity as more and more millennials purchase homes and start families.

>>Watch our webinar on how to market to the growing green movement

2. Baby Boomers Downsize But Gardening Remains Important

Baby boomers may be downsizing from the homes they raised their families in but, “they are still likely to remain, homeowners, particularly seeking properties that allow them to age in place,” explains Jennifer Mapes-Chris, manager of the consumer and commercial products team at The Freedonia Group in an interview with MarketResearch.com. And, Baby Boomers remain gardening enthusiasts. In fact, the American Association of Retired Persons reports that nearly 109 million Americans are now 50 years old and older - and 52% of them garden.

Catering to Baby Boomers which may opt for lower maintenance landscapes or smaller landscapes as they age, has become increasingly important for landscapers looking to serve this segment.

>>Learn more about how to capture the Baby Boomer market with this Garden Center Magazine article

3. Pollinator Gardens Continue To Trend Higher

This year, the National Pollinator Garden Network surpassed its goal of one million registered pollinator gardens. Thanks to news about pollinator populations declining and an increase in younger, more sustainably oriented consumers, pollinator gardens have become an increasingly popular trend.

>>Learn about the plants to include in your pollinator gardens here

4. Native Plants Provide Environmental and Economic Benefits

Consumers understand the environmental and economic benefits of using native plants. According to a 2016 survey by the National Association of Landscape Professionals, 85% of landscape respondents say they are being asked to specify if they are using native plants. By choosing native plants as opposed to alien ones, you’ll be contributing to your clients’ sustainable footprint, supporting local wildlife and saving your clients’ time and money.

>>Learn more about the benefits of native plants on our blog here

5. Technology Helps Landscapers Increase Efficiencies

In the 2018 Lawn and Landscape Report, 56% of landscapers report that finding quality labor was their biggest concern. That’s one reason why landscapers are increasingly looking to technology to help them make production more efficient. Everything from aerial photography to apps that identify insects and disease, to estimating and measuring a site. And, while there are still doubts as to the efficacy of robotic mowers and robotic snow removal machines, as the technology improves, these tools will become increasingly important to landscapers.

Just because you're gearing up for a crazy spring season, doesn’t mean it’s time to slow down on marketing and selling your lawn care services. Don’t get off the marketing and sales hamster wheel just yet, or risk losing your momentum and compromising your growth opportunities.

Take 15 minutes each day to follow up with a lead, write a social media post, mail a post card or send out an email newsletter.

Has operations chaos sapped you of all creative juices? Check out the list of resources below on marketing and sales for busy LAWNtrepreneurs. 

Holganix Launch Box

The Holganix Launch Box is filled with tools to help you start marketing your use of Holganix. It’s an excellent resource to cheat on your marketing and sales initiatives and to R&D (rip off and duplicate) from marketing tools Holganix has already created for you. Tools include but aren’t limited to social media posts, customer letters, blogs and email blasts, all on Holganix.

>>Download the Holganix Launch Box

Branding Your Lawn Care Company

Get inspired by this Holganix webinar featuring Linda Thomas, The Director of Marketing at Real Green Systems. According to Linda, branding is more than just a logo. Watch the webinar to establish what BRANDING really means and what you can do to establish a successful brand for your lawn care company. 

Reading this blog via email, click here to access the video.

How to Get Your Ideas to Spread

In a world where consumers are faced with too many options, it’s easy to ignore the ordinary and boring. Instead, Seth Godin urges marketers and entrepreneurs to build products, services and campaigns that are Remarkable. The term “remarkable” means it’s worth making a remark about. Remarkable products, services and campaigns are inspiring and crazy, and certainly not boring.

Watch Seth Godin’s TED Talk entitled, How to get your ideas to spread for remarkable marketing inspiration. Reading this blog via email, click here to access the video.

4 Minutes of Focused Spring Marketing Tips

Holganix CEO and Founder, Barrett Ersek is a former lawn care company owner. In the below 4-minute video, Barrett compiles his favorite lessons on spring marketing from his 20+ years of experience on building, running and selling lawn care companies. Hint, getting customers from marketing initiatives doesn’t ALWAYS mean selecting the cheapest tool in your marketing arsenal. 

Reading this blog via email, click here to access the video.

Social Media Tips for Lawn Care Companies

Social media is a tough nut to crack. However, utilizing social media in lawn care enables you to build relationships with customers, creating a more loyal fan base. Furthermore, you can tap into your customers’ friends or followers and maintain an up-to-date flow of information about the goings-on in your company including coupons and sales.

This short blog will discuss how to jump on the social media bandwagon with tips specific to the lawn and landscape industry.

>>Read the social media blog article

Your Elusive, Creative Genius

For those of you stuck in a creative rut, here's a TED Talk that is sure to inspire your inner creative genius. Elizabeth Gilbert of famed Eat, Pray, Love explores the art of creativity and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. 

Reading this blog via email, click here to access the video.

Don’t wait until the spring lawn care season to think about your 2019 marketing and sales strategy. Take advantage of the preseason lull in sales to strategize and map out your plan for successful growth this upcoming year.

Utilize these three FREE marketing tools to ensure you are ready for 2019.

1. Holganix Launch In A Box

If you are looking to plan campaigns to educate prospects and customers about Holganix and soil health, look no further than the Holganix Launch In A Box. This tool contains 12 “Stealable” tools for you to incorporate into your 2017 marketing campaigns.

What are some of the tools provided? Some of our favorite tools include three articles to use in your blog and/or email newsletter, postcard designs, social media posts and website content. All materials are 100% stealable.

>>Download your Holganix Launch In A Box here

2. Webinar: Marketing to the "Whole Foods" Consumer

Organic isn't a fad - in fact, according to the Organic Trade Associate (OTA) 82% of U.S. households buy organic with millennials representing the largest group of organic buyers in America. That may not seem like a large number to you, but consider that today 25% of millennials have families and that in 10-to-15 years, that number is expected to increase to 80%. Can you consider how these new families will affect the consumer market - whether it's groceries, cleaning products or lawn care, buying organic matters to the millennial consumer.  

Check out our webinar recording on how to market to the "Whole Foods" Consumer and take advantage of the growing organic trend. 

>>Watch for the webinar

3. Ebook: How to GROW Your Business with Tree and Shrub Services

Consider growing your business by offering tree and shrub services to current customers. Did you know that you could expect 10-to-30% of your current customers to sign up for tree and shrub applications Not to mention the fact that adding an additional revenue source to current customers means boosting profit margin. It's like new found money! 

Your current customers are your low hanging fruit. Think about it. Your customers already know and trust your brand; they also care deeply for their landscapes or they wouldn't be paying for lawn fertilization to begin with.

Download this book to learn explore: 

1. How to market your tree and shrub business to current customers

2. How to price out tree and shrub applications

3. What materials you will need to get started!

>>Download the ebook

One of the biggest advantages of working at Holganix is that you have the opportunity to learn from hundreds of lawn care companies and take note of best practices in the industry. That's why we have curated 4.5 tips based on how some of the best lawn care pros run their businesses.

If you have a suggestion for another tip that you see missing, be sure to include it in the comments of this blog.

Calibrate Your Equipment

Often, as lawn care companies get busy they forget to calibrate their equipment. The risk of not calibrating is that you may use either too much or too little product, that also means the results you are providing for customers can be at risk. Start off the season right by calibrating your equipment and be sure to continue calibrating each week. 

Don’t know how to calibrate your equipment? Don’t sweat it, we have a blog and video that will walk you through equipment calibration step by step.

>>Click to access calibration instructions

Make A Plan, Then Adjust

Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin once stated, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” If you want to grow your business this year, be sure to spend time planning out your marketing and sales strategy. But, also be okay with checking in on your goal, and adjusting it higher or lower as the year progresses.

>>Looking for tips on growing your business, check out this blog and video from Holganix CEO & Founder, Barrett Ersek on his top tips for growing a lawn care company.

Aside from planning your business growth, it is important to plan out your yearly fertilizer plan so you are organized on your rounds and have products in hand. Also, understand that Mother Nature throws curve balls and that your plan may need to be adjusted based on weather. We suggest proactively planning for weather problems by building a 1-to-2 week buffer between rounds, giving you ample time to catch up if you fall behind schedule.

Looking for tips on planning your lawn fertilization program? Consider checking out Holganix’s Soil Smart Program which includes a recommended fertilizer program for your specific region.

>>Download Your Soil Smart Program

Scheduling And Organizing Routes

Inefficient routing can lead to reduced profits. Keeping routes tightly grouped together means your technicians spend more time servicing customers and less time driving from neighborhood-to-neighborhood, ultimately spending excess money on labor and fuel.

Consider utilizing software like Real Green System’s Routing Assistant to maximize your routes.

Also, consider ranking your neighborhoods so you and your team understand where your VIP customers live. When scheduling gets difficult, organize your routes so your VIP customers are serviced ahead of your B or C customers.

>>Want to learn more about this customer ranking concept? Check out this blog on a process called Golden Street Approach.

Research New Technology & Trends

To make sure you are providing the best possible results for your homeowners, and doing so in a way that is efficient for your business and your piggy bank, stay abreast of new technology and trends in the industry.

How do you stay in the loop on new technology and trends? Consider subscribing to an industry magazine, finding blogs (like this one!) that offers quality content, and attending trade shows and conferences. Also, consider stepping outside of our industry bubble and subscribing to magazines or newsletters like Fortune, Inc, and Entrepreneur to keep you in the loop on macro trends in the U.S. You never know when inspiration for your business will strike.

Speaking of trends and new technology, here are some of the trends we are following.

Soil Health - This is an increasingly big trend in the food and agriculture industry that we suspect will (and is!) trickling down to the landscape industry.

Transparency - This is a trend affecting nearly all industries with thanks to the Millenial and Gen Z generations. Consider, how can you increase transparency at your lawn care company in order to best serve these new generations.

Microbes - The food and agriculture industry is going crazy for microbes. Indigo Ag raised more than $650M to fund their business which has a focus on microbe technology, among other products. You can expect that harnessing microbes to care for turf will start to become big news. Check out this webinar for information on the results your company can expect by harness Holganix microbial product - Bio 800⁺ Lawn.

This Too Shall Pass

When spring hits and the dandelions pop, your phone will be ringing off the hook with customers requesting extra service calls or just looking to complain. Understand that this too shall pass. If you have 300 customers, and 30 complaints, that means you have 270 happy customers! Don’t let the complaints drive you crazy, stay positive and do the very best you can.   

Want to Access Free Marketing Tools To Grow Your Business?

New to the Holganix community? Or, just looking to add Holganix to your marketing strategy? Great! This marketing box is for you.

he Holganix launch box includes content that helps you communicate why your lawn and landscape company is special for using Holganix. 

WHAT IS IN THE BOX?

1. Swipe our free brochure that talks about the benefits of Holganix from a homeowners' perspective

2. Poach website copy that talks about Holganix

3. Loot blogs that are written specifically with the homeowner in mind

4. Ransack designs for postcards, yard signs, and door hangers

5. Pirate social media posts

6. Steal a letter designed to announce Holganix to current customers

Are you looking to grow your lawn and landscape business this year? “I would urge all lawn and landscape companies to review three crucial levers to their business in order to maximize growth - People, Sales and Marketing, and Cash”.

People - If you don’t get “people” right, your lawn care business with suffer. 

Watch the 16-minute video above or read the synopsis below. If you're reading this blog via email, click here to access the video.

“56% of lawn and landscape companies said that quality labor was their NUMBER ONE concern going into the new year,” according to Lawn and Landscape Magazine’s State of the Industry Report. Quality labor consistently is a chief concern for lawn and landscape company owners over the past several years. It doesn’t matter which state you are located in, it is hard to not only locate quality labor but also to pay quality labor.

People are one of the most important foundations for running a successful business. It doesn'tmatter how well you sell or how immaculate your services are, if you don’t get “people” right, business growth often stalls.

While we can’t solve all of our labor problems in a video or blog like this, we can talk about two ways to increase what we get out of our labor: (1) Empowering employees, and (2) Increasing employee efficiency by measuring success.

Empowering Employees

Happy Lawn of America

In a previous business, Holganix CEO and Founder, Barrett Ersek was building a fast growth lawn care company called Happy Lawn in the Mid-Atlantic Region. “We had big growth goals and you can see in the picture above that this was about mid-way through that growth. The problem was that if our team wasn’t working towards a common vision, it was really easy to steer off course… wasting company resources.”

That’s when Happy Lawn introduced its Dream On initiative. “To really empower our team, we helped them set personal goals and plans to reach those goals. We brought in a goal setting consultant who ran seminars each month. Managers knew the personal goals of each direct report. We then helped them understand that by striving to reach the company’s growth goal, they could earn bonuses and commissions that would directly fund their personal goals.”

For example, one employee - a college dropout, wanted to purchase a BMW M3, another employee - a new immigrant to the U.S. - wanted to purchase a home for his family. In both instances, they reached their goals.

“We got a much higher level of commitment and engagement out of our employees by helping them realize their personal goals and helping them to understand that their personal goals and our company goals were tied together.”

GrowinGreen Lawn Care

In another example, Jonathan Rigsbee, CEO and Founder of GrowinGreen Lawn Care describes how he empowered technicians to make decisions about their routes. “We are all facing the same challenges with a tight labor market and that’s not going to change anytime soon,” explains Jonathan. “A few years ago, we changed our mindset to how can we get more out of what we have?”  

For Jonathan that meant investing in the people (specifically his technicians) to empower them to make decisions about their route. As a result, most technicians have been with GrowinGreen for over 5 years. It also meant organizing better routing, investing in better trucks and equipment and working on educating his technicians.

In addition to lowering tech-turnover, Jonathan says he’s reduced his customer cancel rate from 19%-to-15%, while increasing his revenue per truck by 60%.

>>To learn more about GrowinGreen and how they empowered their employees, watch this 7.5-minute video.

Measuring Employee Effectiveness

If we don’t measure our employee’s output, we can’t manage or direct them to do better. Each employee should have a KPI - Key Performance Indicator, that measures whether they had a successful day and week.

For example, a production technician might have a KPI around how much revenue they can do in a day, or the cancel rate on their route. A salesperson might have a KPI around the revenue they book, their cancel rate or the profitability of their sales.

You can utilize the FACe exercise listed below to help you visualize how to measure and get accountability for each function of the business. The FACe exercise comes directly from Scaling Up - a model for fast growth companies by Verne Harnish.

>>Download the FACe chart

Sales and Marketing - How Do You Target The Appropriate Customers? 

Watch the 6-minute video above or read the synopsis below. If you're reading this blog via email, click here to access the video.

If you want to grow your lawn and landscape business you have to set growth goals and track those goals. Ultimately though, growth comes from creating the appropriate lead list. There are five sources you should consider to create your lists.

1. Cancelled Customers - If you listen to your cancelled customers and generally look to solve their problems, you can close about 20% of your cancelled customers.  

2. Estimates - Even if a lead received an estimate from you and decided to go with another business, these leads are an excellent source for your sales and marketing campaigns. You never know why or when a lead might decide it is time to try a new lawn and landscape company.

3. Current Customers - Find services that your customers need and upsell them. Doing such, provides extra value for your customers and increasing your margin on each customers.  

4. Partnering Companies - For example, if you only do lawn fertilization, you can partner with a mow-only company and refer each other business.

5. Referrals - And, of course referrals from your customers are often the easiest sale you can make!

If you look at your lists, also consider that not all leads are equally valued. Some leads are worth more than others… not just because they have a larger property, but also because of their proximity to current customers.

As you think about maximizing the efficiency of your marketing - consider the Golden Street Strategy. The Golden Street Strategy asks the question, Which one-to-four neighborhoods do I want to “own”. Consider which neighborhoods or subdivisions that have over 100+ homes, have a higher value homes, and are newer (usually 10 years or younger). Your goal is to reach a 20% saturation point that provides high customer density, increasing production efficiency and driving your profit per truck.

Cash - The Limiting Factor To Growth 

Watch the 7.5-minute video above or read the synopsis below. If you're reading this blog via email, click here to access the video.

Many people want to grow their business, but are concerned they don’t have the cash to invest into marketing and sales. One way to fund your business is to get your customers to prepay. Offer customers a small discount to prepay upfront and then deploy that cash into marketing.

When you do decide to invest cash into marketing and sales, it is important to measure your marketing ROI. Your marketing ROI tells you how long it takes you to recoup marketing costs.

Marketing ROI = Gross Margin / Cost Per Sale

Another important metric is your cost per lead and specifically your cost per lead by marketing campaign. This will help you measure which marketing and sales campaigns produces the best results.

Cost Per Lead By Marketing Campaign = Total Number Of leads Generated/ Money spent on a marketing campaign

Want To Access Free Marketing Tools To Grow Your Business?

New to the Holganix community? Or, just looking to add Holganix to your marketing strategy? Great! This marketing box is for you.

Communicating Holganix to prospects and current customers can be difficult. The Holganix launch box includes content that helps you communicate why your lawn and landscape company is special for using Holganix.

WHAT IS IN THE BOX?

1. Swipe our free brochure that talks about the benefits of Holganix from a homeowners' prospective

2. Poach website copy that talks about Holganix

3. Loot blogs written specifically with the homeowner in mind

4. Ransack designs for postcards, yard signs and door hangers

5. Pirate social media posts

6. Steal a letter designed to announce Holganix to current customers

Just because the spring season has come and passed doesn't mean there aren't opportunities to grow in the fall! In fact, about 25% of your business' growth may come from the fall season. Start planning your sale and marketing initiatives now to ensure you take advantage of the fall season growth period.

 Watch the webinar below to learn about the 7.5 Ways To Grow Your Lawn and Landscape Business In Fall. Or, if you prefer to read your material, skip the video and peruse the highlights from the webinar below.

Resources From The Webinar

Looking for any of the resources mentioned during the webinar, download all of your tools below.

1. Holganix Soil Smart Program - Your turn-key, regional fertilizer program.
2. Holganix Aeration Box
3. Holganix Tree & Shrub Box
4. Grow Your Tree & Shrub Business eBook
5. Holganix Flower Box
6. Holganix Launch Box

Tip #1 - Low Hanging Fruit: Targeting Your Cancel List When Lawns Are At Their Weakest

The wonderful thing about cancelled customers is that they are already familiar with your company. Consider that just because a customer cancelled services, doesn’t mean they were an unhappy customer; many customers cancel to take advantage of a price break or discount offered by a competitor. Targeting your cancel list when lawns are at a weak point right after summer, is the perfect opportunity to bring in new sales. In fact, often if you conduct a mail campaign to cancelled customers you can expect an close rate of 2.5 - 5%; if you combine a mail campaign with a call, the close rate can reach as high as 20%.

Tip #2 - Golden Streets: Targeting Your Most Profitable Prospects

Golden streets are where your most profitable customers live. By focusing on neighbors of your most profitable customers, you acquire more profitable sales. Most golden streets are selected because they have over 100 homes in a neighborhood, usually have two working adults, and homes are at least two years old.

Tip #3 - Upsell Opportunity #1: Aeration & Overseeding

Upselling current customers on aeration and overseeding, is not only good for the customer’s turf, but it is good for your company’s wallet. Aeration and overseeding revenue can come close to or rival the revenue gained from that customer’s entire year of lawn care services. Consider also that your customers already know and trust your services, so upselling them is easier than any cold call to acquire a new customer.

Tip #4 - Guerilla Marketing: Getting Creative To Make An Impact

Guerilla marketing is about being creative and cost effective in your sales and marketing approach. An example of guerilla marketing might be throwing frisbees with your company information and an offer in a neighborhood. Watch the video for other examples of guerilla marketing.

Tip #5 - Designing a Fall Program for New Customers and DIY Homeowners

Package a fall program that you can sell to new customers and DIY homeowners that would normally conduct their own lawn care services. Specifically, target leads that you have pitched in the past but haven’t yet sold. You can also look at targeting your cancelled customers with a new fall program.

Tip #6 - Capturing Money Early With Late Season Prepays

Prepay invoices are often sent to customers to encourage them to pay in advance of services and are usually a big focus for Q1 in the lawn care industry. However, offering late season prepays doesn’t necessarily need to involve a discount. In fact, instead of a discount, try offering an additional service for free such as a flea and tick application.

Tip #7 - Upsell Opportunity #2: Plant Installation

One thing lawn and landscape professionals often don’t think about is the fall planting opportunity. Even if you aren’t installing the new landscape, your company can offer a “plant start application” of Holganix Bio 800+ product in order to ensure that the landscape doesn’t just survive, but thrive.

Tip #7.5 - Upsell Opportunity #3: Tree & Shrub Maintenance Application

Offering a tree and shrub program is another way to secure additional revenue from current customers. In fact, you can expect between 10 - 20% of your current customers to sign up for a tree and shrub program.

As a contractor, it is hard to give homeowners the thick, green lawn they are looking for in the summer. It is also hard to properly deploy labor in the summer months when services have slowed to a crawl. So, how can lawn and landscape contractors provide value to homeowners while building revenue and keeping their labor force working?

In his tip of the month video, Holganix CEO & Founder, Barrett Ersek dives into 4 methods he incorporated in his previous lawn care business during the summer months to meet demands and generate revenue. If you are reading this blog via email, click here for Barrett’s video.

Barrett’s Lawn Care Tool Box

In the above video, Barrett mentions several tools he recommends lawn and landscapers utilize to market their services to homeowners. Access those tools in the resources below.

Holganix Tree & Shrub Box

The Holganix Tree & Shrub Box contains several tools to help lawn and landscape businesses generate a tree and shrub business to compliment their turf business. Tools enclosed include but are not limited to: pricing guide, postcard designs and a video for your website. 

>>Download The Tree & Shrub Box

Summer Weather Box

The Summer Weather Box contains tools to help lawn and landscape contractors communicate to homeowners how they can help take care of the lawn during the summer. Tools enclosed include but are not limited to: homeowner letter and social media graphics. 

>>Download The Summer Weather Box

Aeration Box

The Aeration Box contains tools to helps lawn and landscape contractors upsell aeration and overseeding services to their current customer base. Tools enclosed include but are not limited to: homeowner letter, postcards and a video for your website. 

>>Download The Aeration Box

Why is social media so important for lawn care companies? Social media is a free tool your company can use to promote brand awareness, engage with customers through customer service, and can help generate new customer leads! Continue reading to see how you can maximize Facebook and other social media tools to help grow your company.

Ensuring your Facebook Page is set up properly is imperative to promote engagement. Before you even begin, make sure you are creating a “Page” as opposed to an “Account”. Facebook accounts are used by individuals while Facebook Pages are used by companies. Facebook may delete your account if you classify yourself incorrectly.

As you start to build out your page, consider these four items:

• Your Profile Picture - This is the first thing someone will notice about your Facebook Page and should be a recognizable image such as your logo. Your Profile Picture should also be 180 x 180 pixels.
• Your Cover Photo - This space should be used to show off your company’s identity in a visually appealing yet simple way. Your Cover Photo should be
• The “About Us” - This section is where you can help your page stand out from your competition and make your company shine. Be sure to fill out as much information in the “About us” as possible so customers can get a feel of your brand.
  
• The Call To Action - This is a button located in the right hand corner, beneath your cover photo. Consider making your call to action button a “Contact us” or “Call us” that allows prospects to get in touch with you directly when they have questions.  
  
  

Here are two examples of companies that have set up their Facebook Page using the above checklist.

Your company already uses marketing to gain new customers and promote your brand, don’t let these efforts go to waste. Add social media buttons to marketing pieces including email, newsletters, and print material. Also make sure you have your social media buttons linked to your website so customers can easily click to see and read more about your company.

With small or large companies, we can often find ourselves becoming “too busy” to get bogged down by the tedious work of social media. However there are ways to make sure that even in the busiest of months, you can still be posting effortlessly.

One way to do this is to schedule posts ahead of time. If you know there is a certain day or week that tends to get overwhelming, then schedule a post to get automatically sent out. You can schedule these posts weeks before, allowing you to be fresh and ready for the busiest of days!

Additionally, you can plan for success with a content calendar. A social media content calendar allows you to organize your social media activities far in advance in order to make your social media more manageable. You can download a customizable Social Media Content Calendar by Hubspot using the below link:

>>Download the the Social Media Content Calendar

4. Always Use Include Visuals in Posts

According to Hubspot, visual posts receive 2.3 times more engagement than posts without visuals and visuals account for 87% of total interactions. Whenever you are posting to your Facebook Page ensure you are incorporating an interesting visual or a video. See below for two free, easy ways to make professional grade graphics without paying for a graphic designer!

Free resources for visual posts:

• Pixabay: Free stock photo website.
• Canva: Allows you to create a visually appealing post without the help of a graphic designer. They have numerous templates to use for Twitter, Facebook and more!

5. Create Attention-Grabbing Content

Posts should only include a 1 to 3 sentence summary about the article or piece of content you are linking back to. It should also always include a visual! When using social media, your audience is scrolling through news quickly so don’t get too wordy or they may bypass your posts. Keep posts short, simple and attention-grabbing!

When you are thinking about what content you should be posting use the “rule of thirds” to help guide you!

• Education Pieces Authored By You - ⅓ of your post should be educational pieces authored by your company. For example, you may post about pests that are destroying certain plants, then link this back to a product or service you offer to combat it!
• Brag About You - ⅓ of post should be about you. This is where you can get into sales in a tasteful way! Consider posting a testimonial or a promo for this section.
• Educational Pieces By A Third Party - ⅓ of posts should be educational content by a third party.  For example you might post an alert by your State extension on a specific weed or pest that’s prevalent in your region.

6. Free Resources to Steal Today

As you begin or continue to use Facebook in your marketing, be sure you are taking advantage of these free resources.

• Social Media Content Calendar: Helps you plan out your posts.
• Canva: Creates graphics without the help of a graphic designer.
• Pixabay: Download free stock photos.
• Holganix Launch Box: This contains a bunch of already created articles, social media posts and graphics that are designed for you to use to send to your homeowners!
• The Webinar recording: If this article appealed to you, watch our webinar recording below on the subject for additional information. Be sure to set aside 17-minutes to watch the recording. If you are viewing this blog via email, click here to access the video. 

Organic isn't a fad - in fact, according to the Organic Trade Association (OTA) 82% of U.S. households buy organic with millennials representing the largest group of organic buyers in America. That many not seem like a large number to you, but consider that today 25% of millennials have families and that in 10-to-15 years, that number is expected to increase to 80%.

Can you consider how these new families will affect the consumer market - whether it's groceries, cleaning products or lawn care, buying organic matters to the millennial consumer.

You can read the rest of our blog to learn more, or watch the webinar recording below for the story. If you are reading this blog via email, click here to access the webinar recording.

Today’s Disruptive Economy

Regardless of the industry, today’s economies are being disrupted. Consider how Tesla is disrupting the traditional auto-industry. Ten years ago, few took Tesla as a car manufacturing company seriously. Compare the views of Tesla from ten-years ago to today and you get a whole different story. In fact, Tesla’s market valuation exceeded century-old titan, General Motors in 2017 by $1Million Dollars. Earlier this year, reports stated that the Tesla Model S outsold the luxury flagships of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi in Europe for the first time.

In the green industry, robots are starting to be disruptive and have the potential to displace labor. Last year, the manufacturers of Roomba announced a solar-powered, weed eating machine dubbed the “Tertill” for presale on Kickstarter. While the first or second model of the Tertill may not function 100%, in a few years it’s our firm belief that devices like the Tertill will be commonplace.

It’s important to pay attention to innovation in and outside of our industry in order to outcompete the competition.

The “Whole Foods” Customer

Additional innovation is happening in our industry when it comes to the technologies we have to create a beautiful, green, weed-free lawn. Biologicals like Holganix Bio 800⁺ products (Holganix Lawn, Tree & Shrub, Bloom, Agriculture and Golf) are creating disruption by offering a better way to reach results using fewer chemicals. That innovation is being disruptive because there is a need to not only be more sustainable for the environment but because the customer is demanding it.

That customer could be called the Millennial but for this presentation we are widening that demographic to include anyone who would potentially shop at a "Whole Foods"-type of grocery store. These consumers are demanding that today’s businesses use sustainable products.

According to a report by Satista, the organic product industry in the U.S. is worth 26.7 billion dollars. This translates to us in lawn care as well. The millennials are going to be our consumers and if we take a look at the trends of this group of people it is going more and more organic. 82% of U.S. households are buying organic items already and 30% of those purchasing organic do so to avoid fertilizers and pesticides. Don’t you think that diversion from fertilizers and pesticides can translate to their lawn care services as well?

Get Credit For What You Do

One way to combat the disruptive economy is through your company’s “why.”  A customer is more likely to use your product if you have a “remarkable message” on why you do what you do. If you are using Holganix products, it’s important to tell your customers and prospects that you are doing something different and get credit for the steps you are taking to meet customer demand and do good for their plants, family and the environment.

Let’s look at a few examples that are currently using the “Holganix message” of using environmentally friendly lawn care products to build a green, weed-free lawn.

UltraGreen Lawn Care

UltraGreen Lawn Care allows the “Holganix message” to do their marketing for them! In any marketing or sales piece they create, UltraGreen, ensure they include the organic, environmental message to sell their product. Because they took advantage of the Holganix message, UltraGreen grew from 0 to 7,000 customers in just four years and saw a 15-to-20% savings on material costs! 

PureGreen

According to PureGreen Lawn Care owner, Nathan Brandon, “over the last ten years, I have really noticed that more and more of my customers are requesting organic services.” He latched onto this trend and changed his messaging to focus on communicating how PureGreen is responsible for the environment and how their customers play an important role in that mission.

According to Rob McCoy, Holganix sales manager, “This is giving people a purpose beyond what their lawn care choice is, and this message has really helped sell the product!”

Tomlinson Bomberger: Lawn Care Landscape & Pest Control

When Tomlinson Bomberger decided to start using Holganix products they designed the “Soil Smart Lawn Care Program”. Each time they get a new customer or lead they offered the customer the ability to either choose the “Traditional” lawn care program or the “Soil Smart” lawn care program. The Soil Smart program was roughly 20% more expensive than their standard program but incorporated Holganix products and thereby offered a more environmentally friendly solution. According to Tomlinson Bomberger, the Soil Smart lawn care program is their fastest growing program yet!

Using Holganix Products and Want to Get Credit For What You Do?

We’ve created multiple marketing tools to help you better communicate why your lawn care program is better than the competition because you use Holganix. The Holganix Launch Box is our most popular tool - it contains a multitude of both print and digital marketing pieces to help you grow your business. Download your Holganix Launch Box by clicking on the button below.

What is Holganix?

At Holganix we want to revolutionize the way the world grows by focusing on biology as the solution to soil and plant health. We have noticed that lawn care needs a good foundation in the soil and roots to really focus on plant health and to produce a happy customer. That is why our line of products uses living biology to nurture soils and ultimately create a stronger and healthier looking lawn!

Want to learn more? Click the button below to schedule an appointment with your Holganix representative.

At Holganix, we are self-appointed soil geeks. Learning about new trends, research and theories that are happening in the field makes us tick. We bet it gets you excited too!

Here are our top 5 favorite plant and soil science TED Talks. Warning! Some of these are crazy, unique ideas that will make Holganix almost seem ordinary! If you know a good TED Talk we are missing, post it in the comments of this blog. We’d LOVE to check it out!

If you are reading this on an email, video function will not operate. Click on the link to watch each TED Talk. 

Humus – The Essential Ingredient

Humus is what is left after soil microorganisms have decomposed organic matter. It holds nutrients and moisture and provides a great structure for planting in. Humus is essential for food production and is being gradually depleted. Learn more in Graeme Sait’s TED Talk.

Healthy Soil, Healthy World 

If you pick up a handful of soil, you will be holding more microorganisms in your hand than the entire number of people who have ever lived on earth. Think about that for a moment. Can you imagine the quantity of living things in your grasp? Soil is FULL of life. In this TED Talk you’ll have the opportunity to explore the soil from a microorganisms’ point of view.

Putting Carbon Back Where It Belongs

Good news! Plants can quite literally change the face of the earth. By growing more plants, we can capture more carbon dioxide, water, production, biodiversity and profit? In fact, a 1% change in soil organic matter across just one quarter of the world’s land area could sequester 300 billion tons of physical C02. Check out Tony Lovell’s TED Talk here.

Stop Treating Our Soil Like Dirt!

Healthy soil is not dirt! Healthy soils are critical for keeping water clean producing food and buffering the effects of extreme weather. Soil plays a fundamental role in our lives in three key ways… Watch Karen Wynne’s TED Talk here.

Soil – From Dirt To Lifetime 

Did you know there are more living organisms beneath the soil then there are above it? Soil scientists can’t even come to an agreement about how many microbes are actually in the soil. Check out Fred Kirshenmann’s TED Talk here.