About two years ago I set up my own gardening business. Back then, it was just me and another guy. Now we’ve grown to a workforce of ten people. And we need to create some serious marketing collateral. I’m thinking local newspaper ads, car decals and signage for the street. We’re going to get a signwriter in to do the designs and make the banners. Melbourne has a lot of gardening companies so we really need to stand out. I’m a bit of an amateur connoisseur of advertising and what I’ve learnt from my personal observations is that the absurd sells, especially if it’s just the right amount of risque — this is how to get people’s attention with a great sign. So for Bert’s Gardening, we’ve come up with a few taglines to get people’s attention. We’ll have a picture of a person standing behind a hedge and the text reads, “Bert’s Gardening – trimming your hedge” and another one saying “Bert’s Gardening – you’ll dig us”.
People are constantly telling us that we’re the best gardeners in Melbourne, but sadly we can’t advertise that unless we can prove it. So I’m going to have to stick to the signage in Melbourne and hope that they have good results. It’s amazing the power that good advertising can have. You’ve got to get your right target audience. For example, we’re aiming for richer clientele in the Malvern and Toorak area, therefore the advertising needs to speak to their desires, hopes and fears. You’ve got to get inside these people’s heads when coming up with a great sign. What matters most to them? Money usually, that’s a given. So if you market yourself as a more expensive gardener, you’ll actually get more business from clientele that have more money to spend. Something like ‘Bert’s gardening – Can you afford us?’ That will play on their insecurities and their pride, they’ll want to prove themselves to their community of rich people by having our signature gardening work done to their hedges.