Total Landscape Care Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/146141
business bests Marketing the Target As landscape companies enter niche services, the holiday lighting market continues to grow, says Shawn George, president and owner of Elite Lighting Designs out of San Antonio, Texas. George's company has had to develop new ways of marketing since it entered the holiday lighting market 12 years ago. "We market it a couple of ways," George says. "We do our home shows and trade shows throughout the year, and we'll do a mailer through our local market that goes out in the early fall." At each show, George says his company brings detailed postcards, directs each potential client to its website, shows the latest-and-greatest holiday lighting materials and showcases their portfolio with a variety of completed projects. By targeting the market as soon as September and October, George says his company can start estimating and getting installation calendars set up with actual installation starting as early as Nov. 1. The key to installing that early, George says, is the ability to run every string of lights neatly and set up timers accordingly so a client can flip the switch with ease at the appropriate time. "First, we're full-time, year-round outdoor lighting specialists, so our guys know lighting as well as electrical," George says. "So secondly, they are licensed and insured. Thirdly, I use my own crews. And lastly, being a reputable company, like a landscaper or irrigator, gives you credibility that this company will come and take the lights down and put them back up." For other companies that are branching out into the holiday lighting business like Epic Landscape Productions out of the Kansas City area, word of mouth can benefit the services, says Rachel Olson, seasonal color production manager. "This coming year, as far as pushing the market, we're trying to get just lighting-only customers," Olson says. "Direct mail seems to be an inexpensive way of marketing, and it seems you can market the segment of the population that you want to." When the company begins to market with the mailings, Olson says it will start with the higherend market and trickle down depending on the mailings' success. The biggest challenge Olson and her company have seen is learning and understanding the market where they are trying to sell. "There are landscapers who use the more Red, green and white are still dominating the market through the holidays and have continued to be favorites. PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRISTMAS DECOR through discounts in January and February. As more companies enter the market of holiday lighting, they are finding they not only have to become more creative with lighting designs, but more creative in marketing those lighting designs. PHOTO COURTESY OF ELITE LIGHTING DESIGNS The price point of LEDs has significantly decreased, allowing users to cut power bills and increase light bulb brightness. 16 To ta l L a n d s c ap eC are.c om TLC0813_BusBest.indd 16 A U G U S T 2 013 7/24/13 2:19 PM