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The Landscaper’s Guide to Modern Sales and Marketing Newsletter
DECEMBER 2023
Don’t Slow Your Marketing Efforts Don’t Hit the Brakes!
I won’t lie to you. We’re heading into a down market, almost like 2008, when practically no one was hiring. Searches are down nearly 30% from where they were at the peak of 2020. But this is not the time for you to start slowing down. In times like these, you need to amp up your marketing strategies and shake things up. I’ve had plenty of owners come to me worried about what they can do in a slow season like this, but you just need to be patient. It won’t last forever, and while you do need to ride it out, you can’t sit idle. Despite what others might believe, in a down market, it’s crucial you spend more on marketing. You’re less likely to have a potential customer search for landscaping services online or directly seek out your help. So, what should you do? Expand from just digital marketing and make the first move! Outbound marketing, like direct mail, allows you to bypass the waiting game and immediately interact with potential customers. Postcards, flyers, and catalogs are just a few options to consider when contacting your community. The days of waiting for leads to come to you are long gone, and it’s time to adjust to this new demand. It can be easy to sink into doom and gloom when we fall into a down market like this. But the only thing you can do is accept it and work with it. Market cycles mean there will be lows like these, but they don’t last forever. We survived the pitfalls of ‘87, ‘99, 2008, and 2020. Now, it’s time to ride the wave of 2023 and start setting yourself up for success in 2024.
Down markets are inevitable. It has happened, will happen, and is happening as you read this.
The key is strengthening your online marketing and expanding your outbound marketing. Don’t slow down on improving your SEO, facilitating reviews, or uploading new business photos and videos. You should also consider fueling your outreach by incorporating direct mail. When you send direct mail, you can use EDDM to offer your services to potential leads in a new area. This can open up an entirely new geography for your business and increase sales faster than you think. Don’t forget your existing customers! They might not know all of the services you provide, and a simple flyer or postcard detailing each one could be exactly what you need for them to dial your number. You can also lead readers to a special page on your website that can allow you to track how many new customers you’re getting from direct mail, what’s working, and how to keep enforcing it. While demand is lower and searches are dwindling, your moves can determine how well your company will perform in the coming months and seasons. Like I’ve said before, a fruit tree only produces fruit during certain times of the year, but it needs to be watered and pruned year-round. This is especially true during the winter! Whatever you do, don’t slow down now.
JACK JOSTES, CEO RAMBLIN JACKSON
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Of the three founders, the most notable is Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s president and CEO. According to Medium, Huang “never finished his business plan” and “learned how to start a company by reading books and meeting lawyers.”
Since the end of 2022, interest in AI chatbots like ChatGPT has exploded worldwide. This was bad news for copywriters but fantastic news for a technology company many people have never heard of — Nvidia. Between October 2022 and May 2023, Nvidia’s market valuation spiked 200%. Then, in May, the company reached a total worth of $1 trillion, placing it in the exclusive “$1 Trillion Valuation Club.” It’s Bigger Than Netflix and Facebook Combined: Learn How Nvidia Grew 200% in 1 Year!
Given that, it seems unlikely that traditional business acumen was the secret to Nvidia’s success — so, what was?
The Secret Behind Nvidia’s Wild Success • Aggressive Innovation: Nvidia’s founders were all engineers with practical, hands-on knowledge. They used this knowledge to stay on the cutting edge of their industry and consistently develop new technologies. • Bold Pivots: Nvidia’s team kept a close eye on developing trends and areas for exploration in technology and adjusted its offerings to meet them. Though Nvidia began as a graphics chip company, it now offers networking tools, gaming laptops, embedded systems, cloud and data center technology, and more. • Sharp Client Focus: When personal computers were trending in the 1990s, Nvidia pioneered GPUs to make them more functional. Since then, the company research and development team has consistently worked to fill needs in hot markets like PC gaming and AI. Whether you run a tech company, law office, or medical clinic, you can use these three strategies to increase your revenue and grow your business. You may not reach the $1 Trillion Valuation Club, but you could still see the growth that put Nvidia on every stock broker’s map this year.
So, how did Nvidia experience such massive, rapid growth?
The Founding of Nvidia The story starts back in 1993. Electrical engineers Jensen Huang, Curtis Priem, and Chris Malachowsky brainstormed the idea for Nvidia — which initially made graphics chips for personal computers, pushing the limits of 3D graphics.
ENSURE SUCCESS IN SPRING WITH WINTER PRUNING We’ve already talked your ear off about the importance of winter pruning your business; the same applies to your company website. watered and pruned year-round to make this happen — especially during winter. This 3. Ensure the page has quality photos and testimonials so that when people find this page, they hire you! GETTING TO THE FIRST PAGE OF GOOGLE
is a major part of Jack’s book “The Tree of Good Fortune,” which shows that slow seasons like winter are when you should be focusing on improving your business. What better way to get started than your official company website?
As Jack mentioned, a slow season is not the time for you to slow down. What would you say in the spring if you focused on improving your website this winter? With the help of SEO strategies, you can fine-tune your website and go from the second page of Google to the first! To reel in online leads, you need to be visible to them. The key to doing this is to build a strong foundation for your website, then make adjustments that improve your ranking and increase your visibility. Our SEO strategist, Kevin, does this for our clients, which we call our “winter pruning.”
Does your current marketing team even know what page of Google your website is on? If not, our team can help you. We won’t hide what SEO strategies will improve your website; we even encourage those with the tech skills to do it! If you’re unsure where to start and your current marketing tactics aren’t bringing results, we’re more than happy to kick-start your SEO boost. For every new client, we do a “spring cleanup,” where we improve your basic SEO right out of the gate before launching your new site to get results faster. Remember, the results waiting
Some winter pruning we’re doing for our clients’ websites includes:
1.
Find your website pages that are ranking on the second page of Google you wish were ranking on the first.
2. Prune the pages by adding
additional keywords, build internal links to those low- ranking pages, and optimize the anchor text for those links.
A fruit tree can only produce fruits during certain times of the year, but it needs to be
for you in the spring can be unimaginable if you start now.
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UPCOMING EVENTS Real Recruiting Case Studies: WHAT WORKS for Landscapers Now Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023 10–11:30 a.m. MT Virtual Workshop Ramblin Jackson Ski Retreat Feb. 6–8, 2024
TAKE A BREAK
Breckenridge, CO For details, email jack@ramblinjackson.com
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CHIMNEY CHRISTMAS
MISTLETOE ORNAMENT PARKA REINDEER
SLEIGH SNOWMAN WREATH YULETIDE
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Schedule a 15-minute Marketing Brainstorm with one of our Landscape Marketing Assistants. In just 15 minutes, Alyssa and Eli will: • Offer game-changing feedback on your marketing ideas. • Find gaps in your existing campaigns. • Discuss your best marketing strategy. • Share next steps for success! This is a quick, easy, no-pressure call — and we’ll even send you beef jerky or candied almonds for your time. Visit LandscapersGuide.com/ brainstorm to schedule your Marketing Brainstorm today. Ready to Level Up Your Marketing and Get More Hell Yes Customers?
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1 How to Navigate (and Thrive) in a Down Market 2 Business Lessons From Nvidia’s Rise to $1 Trillion 2 How Winter Pruning Transforms Your SEO 3 Upcoming Events 3 Ready to Level Up Your Marketing? 4 Let’s Celebrate Kevin’s 5-Year Ramblerversary! INSIDE A TOAST TO KEVIN KAWA! MEET THE MASTERMIND BEHIND 5 YEARS OF SEO EXCELLENCE
We got big news. We’re celebrating Senior Local SEO Strategist Kevin Kawa’s five-year Ramblerversary! Our Google mastermind has been with us for over five years now, and we couldn’t let this milestone pass without recognizing him and all he’s brought to the Ramblin Jackson team. Before you go calling him Kevin “Kawa,” know that his Ukrainian last name is actually pronounced “Kava,” which means coffee, aka Kevin’s preferred beverage! Wasn’t it just meant to be? We’re so grateful to have Kevin on our team and get to know him as a person. If you didn’t know, his 18-year-old son, Elliot, recently left for college all the way in England. If you’re a parent, then you know Kevin’s hesitation in letting his son move to a new country, but what could he say when his son shared that the exchange program was a perfect fit? While he was able to grant his son’s wish, Kevin’s wife may not have been as pleased! Now, he watches from afar as his son works toward his degree in politics and international relations. Perhaps we’ll see Elliot Kawa as president someday! Keep an eye out for Kawa 2040! Aside from writing in “Elliot Kawa” on voting ballots, Kevin spends time sharing his SEO talents with us here at Ramblin Jackson. He holds the title of being the first remote team member for a company that is now
almost entirely remote. Nothing short of a trailblazer, Kevin may be off-site but he still puts the work in.
As our Senior Local SEO Strategist, Kevin works on accounts and projects building
SEOs and ensuring our pages rank as high as they can on Google. He moves our clients’ websites from Page 2 to the top of Page 1! When we throw our praises his way, Kevin always
takes only partial credit for our ranking results and claims the high- quality sites we create are why they rank. Well, we know the truth is that Kevin sets us up for success more than he likes to admit! If you’ve seen any of Jack’s Ramblin Jackson videos, then you’ve probably seen the wooden ship-lapped wall propped behind him — that’s also thanks to Kevin! The studio wall became somewhat infamous as Kevin built it himself with a suitcase (yes, a suitcase) filled with tools. Handy in building walls and SEO pages, Kevin has become an essential part of the team, and we couldn’t be prouder to have him here with us (remotely). Congratulations on your five-year Ramblerversary, Kevin, and we can’t wait to see what more you accomplish!
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