Customer wants customers NOW!!

Fast results go for PPC. If things go well he could have new customers today.

Does he have past customers they let get away? One of the fastest ways to get money in the door is a lost customer reactivation campaign. Come up with a irresistible offer, send out emails or direct mail and get them back.

If not, can you saturate his area with postcards? Do they have the equivalent of EDDM there?

Hi there,

Are you marketing where his potential customers are likely to be found? I mean, will people really go to the web to look for a gardener? I know I wouldn't - I'd talk to neighbours, look at other gardens, watch for trucks outside gardens and observe the workers and maybe call the number on the side of the truck if they seemed impressive.

There's another thread here about about a gardener placing flags in lawns he's already working on and creating a stir about "the flags". Search for that and it might give you some ideas.

All the best,

Sasha.

PPC, FB ads, Linkedin Ads are all ways to attract visitors in short time. The key point for Google Adword is to the choice of keywords. Good luck.

In my mind here is what I would focus on.

1. Get his google places to show up well. (has this been part of your SEO?)
2. PPC and landing pages (do not just send them to the home page). Make the landing pages and the ads make people truly want to get him to do their work. To do that you need to find out about his customers and why they choose him so you can find more of the same and appeal to those same points.
3. Video (SEO the crap out of it) with questions people ask about his business. Get people who are researching to see him as the expert.
4. Ditto with a blog (see the concrete pool guy and how he has dominated his industry using this method) and literally over time answer every question he ever gets asked and make sure that he says the good and the bad. The more real he is with the answers the more they will trust him.
5. Get him some PR. News = free advertising. So what has he or is he doing that makes him a news story? Then get the papers and TV stations to make it the story.
6. Customer Reactivation: Get on the phones (no direct mail) and touch base with lost customers. If he can sell I would have him do this. The key is to make each feel like they are the only one being called even if he calls 1,000 people (I hope he hasn't lost that many customers as that points to a whole other problem for him). Focus on those he lost last season first. May be too late to reactivate depending on how contracts are in his industry.

Notes: Remember Bing and Yahoo PPC not just Google. Those customers are older with more money normally. Also lower price per click normally.

What I wouldn't do.
1. Facebook including ads (while long term this might help it will not get the ROI and speed he needs)
2. Direct Mail (at this time): His budget is too small to do it right. Build his business up and then do it once he trusts you.

Overall the key is to capture everyone who is looking for landscaping now and getting those he lost to come back. Assuming he does this year after year for customers and not just one time if just one time some of what I said is off. I just assumed he did the big work plus did maintenance on said work (and not his work) on a regular basis.

You have stumbled upon SEO's glaring weakness.

See, no matter how well you are ranked or how visible you are on any online venue...you are STILL sitting crippled, as far as any kind of marketing advantage goes.

Here's why. Your customer can't do anything until his customer decides for himself to go looking for on the internet, or take any action.

For every 1 guy who decides to go looking on Google, there are in reality like 500 more that STILL actually need the service, but just haven't done anything about it yet.

As an internet marketer you are trying like the devil to capture that one guy, the moment he pops his head into the game. A marketing strategy of sitting waiting and hoping, is not a very advantageous one.

Get your client in front of that 500 and the 1.

Direct Mail Postcards, or EDDM is how you do it.

Good Luck

You can't fix unrealistic expectations.

gumtree?

Posting of flyers in his neighborhood stores and such.

Desperate customers who are desperate for customers never make a good customer.

One tip is creating a direct mail piece that is like a letter from
one of his happy customers.

And when he's serving that customer deliver the letter to everyone
in the surrounding area (like 2 or 3 streets).

A little bit of extra work...possibly for a helper...that should produce
a regular stream of extra paying customers for him.

There are obvious advantages in having a lot of customers in the
same area...in the same street is better still.

The direct mail piece can also be used on a wider scale...testing
results as you go.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

You should've told this client from day one that SEO takes time and if you guys started late in the season for him now to expect much results yet. SEO is a marathon, takes time and the ROI will come but not right away. As Iam Nameless said, customers like that can be a nightmare and will bother you every second asking questions why they aren't busy yet.

Everyone above has given you advice on how to get more traffic

But maybe that is not the problem

Your problem could be converting that traffic.

So I have a question

You say that you are ranking well for some keywords.

But are you getting a good flow of traffic to the actual site?

If you are, and people still aren't calling in, then your problem is not necessarily traffic but your call to action.

So what is your call to action?

How are you going about getting people to call this business?

What is the offer you have setup on the actual site?

It's either going to be one of those two things

Traffic

or

Call to actions

This is one thing that most clients do not understand. You cannot rush things like this. Agree with IamNameless "Desperate customers who are desperate for customers never make a good customer." Why, you settle for second best since you are in a hurry to get a close.

Now, you said that the KW are ranking well. Is it visible to your target market? This is one thing that you should consider. Go through it again and if it is okay then go for paid ads.

Anyway OP, how did this turn out as you asked this back in May