Small Business Marketing Sells the Sizzle, Not the Steak

We just got back from seeing ICE! at the Gaylord Springs in Kissimmee, Florida (right next to Hollywood, FL – just outside of Orlando, home of Disney World) and man, oh man, have I brought back a ton of real-world lessons on marketing from the big boys. If you can only work out ways to apply but a few of these multi-million dollar tools to normal businesses, you’ll be well on the way to sharing a similar success.

It’s going to take me a little bit to gather my notes and work up all of my thoughts on the lessons I’ve brought back into a cohesive package, so I’m going to drop another little nugget of wisdom on you.  This is a simple and fundamental concept any business can apply to their marketing, and every business should.

A few days before we took off, I was golfing with an old friend and client, a partner with half-ownership of a prolific landscaping company, here in Tampa. I was talking about market segmentation and customer lifetime value and all that stuff that I get all excited about. He was examining the landscaping and telling me how they could be doing this and that better with their selection of materials or plants and such.

One of the things we worked on was selling benefits versus services. You see, people don’t buy “lawn mowing” – they buy what having someone else mow the lawn for them provides. Or, if they’re forking out the big money to have a full planter bed installed, they’re buying what that new bed of plants and flowers and such provides them – they don’t want the bed, they want what they get from the bed and plants.

Now, how would you do something like this when marketing a lawn mowing and yard trimming service? What could such a basic service as mowing lawns do that would be so appealing to home owners? Is a “freshly mown lawn” enough of a motivator?

Here are some ideas of what lawn maintenance companies provide as an emotional end benefit:

• “Stop slaving away on your lawn”
• “Get your weekends back”
• “More time for golfing”
• “More time for fishing”
• “Get to know your kids”
• “Relax and enjoy your weekends”
• “Enjoy life again”
• “Get that Christmas shopping done”
• “Watch the game instead of mowing your lawn”
• “Spend more time with your family”

Taking that same perspective, what emotional appeal can you use for a landscaping service?

• “Make your yard a showpiece”
• “Cut your water bill with xeriscaping”
• “Save natural resources with drought resistant  landscaping”
• “Create a yard in tune with nature”
• “Increase your privacy, naturally”
• “Create the yard you’ve always dreamed of”

As you can see, all it takes is a little rearranging of your thoughts on the service you provide, regardless of how mundane it might seem to you. Marketing something like lawn mowing and landscaping can be spiced up significantly if you realize the benefits of your service and start selling those benefits rather than the raw product of “cutting the grass.”

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