Communications Plan
Executive Summary
Fiske Brothers Yardworks offers outstanding lawn care throughout South Metro Denver, and while they are well-respected throughout this community, there is an opportunity to build relationships with customers and branch into new neighborhoods. Fiske Brothers Yardworks has a detailed website that highlights their passion and experience as a Winner of a Gold Star Certificate from BBB Denver/Boulder for more than ten consecutive years. Although the company advertises through neighborhood newsletters and websites, the overall marketing budget is limited. The team is focused on providing excellent lawn service, though they often lack the time and resources to devote to consistent communication and social media. The business is also restricted by difficulties recruiting and maintaining staff members, and social media will play a vital role in communicating with potential employees.
After evaluating the current situation, there are opportunities to increase awareness of Fiske Brothers Yardworks and their lawn services as well as increase their customer base. An additional objective is to recruit new staff members to join the Fiske Brothers Yardworks team. The strategies for achieving these goals are emphasizing the various lawn services and their benefits, engaging with customers through consistent interaction and utilizing social media to communicate with potential job applicants. The specific tactics include launching a Facebook page, writing blog posts and creating employee bios for the core staff members.
The season for lawn care is very specific and depends on the weather conditions, so it is very important to start a conversation with customers in mid-March and continue the discussion into the warmer months. The blog and social media posts will focus on specific lawn services and what is appropriate for the time of year, and the employee bios will be available for customers who are looking to learn more about the Fiske Brothers Yardworks team. Social media posts will also target students as they are looking for summer jobs. The budget is based largely on billable hours at a rate of $40 per hour in addition to the costs of commuting to and from Denver.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
Well established within the community
Knowledge and experience about lawn care
Received Better Business Bureau's Gold Star Award for over ten years
Informative website with images and visuals
Advertising through neighborhood websites and newsletters
Weaknesses:
Limited advertising budget
Lacks the times and resources to utilize social media
Difficulties recruiting and maintaining staff members
Inconsistent communication with customers
Opportunities:
Potential to expand into new neighborhoods
Build a reliable team beyond seasonal staff
Start a conversation about lawn care and the available services
Establish a social media presence
Threats:
Competition from other lawn care and landscaping companies
Varying weather conditions throughout the season
Very specific time and season for lawn services
Purchasing and repairing expensive equipment
Audience
The primary audience for this campaign is individuals and families who live in houses within the South Metro Denver area. This audience cares about the health and appearance of their lawn, though they may not have the time, resources or knowledge to care for it themselves. A secondary audience is students and young adults who enjoy working outside and are looking for employment during the summer months.
Goals
Objectives:
To increase awareness of Fiske Brothers Yardworks and their lawn services throughout the community
To increase the Fiske Brothers Yardworks customer base
To recruit new staff members to join the Fiske Brothers Yardworks team
Strategies:
Emphasize the various Fiske Brothers Yardworks lawn services and their benefits during the 2018 season
Engage with customers through consistent interaction and conversation
Utilize social media to communicate with potential job applicants and encourage them to apply
Tactics:
Launch a Facebook page to communicate with current and potential customers
Write blog posts to update customers about the business and provide lawn care suggestions
Create employee bios for the core Fiske Brothers Yardworks staff
Budget
Fiske Brothers Yardworks is located in the Denver area, so the budget includes travel expenses for driving back and forth from Fort Collins. This comes to a total of approximately $100
Based on the rate of $40 per hour, the budget includes $1,200 for 30 billable hours
Evaluation
This communications campaign will extend throughout the 2018 season, and the evaluation will also continue as Fiske Brothers Yardworks builds their social media presence and shares information about the overall business and their available services. The campaign began with a press release discussing the spring lawn care services, and this will be evaluated by looking at which local publications picked up the story idea. While it is important to consider the stories themselves, the next step is to evaluate how many people reached out to Fiske Brothers Yardworks regarding the aerating, fertilizing or revive services discussed in the press release. When customers request a price quote on the Fiske Brothers Yardworks website, there is a section that asks where they were referred from. When inquiring about a lawn service, customers can mention that they read about Fiske Brothers Yardworks and wanted to learn more. This will provide general information about how potential customers became familiar with Fiske Brothers Yardworks and illustrate if a particular newspaper or article was effective in capturing their attention.
The next element of the campaign was developing employee bios, and this will be evaluated by determining how many people view the page on the Fiske Brothers Yardworks website. On a more everyday basis, the Fiske Brothers Yardworks team will be aware of how many people recognize and interact with the staff members featured in the employee bios, as people tend to only know Tim and Greg Fiske. For the blog posts, the evaluation will consist of assessing how many people visit the website and read each post. To determine how many people are actually engaging with these posts, the comments, follows and viewing time will be considered. The final aspect of the campaign is social media, and the overall Facebook page will be evaluated by the total number of likes and follows. This is especially important since Fiske Brothers Yardworks is so new to social media and is striving to connect with customers. For each Facebook post the likes, shares and comments will be examined to see how people are interacting with the content and how engagement is increasing. To evaluate the Facebook posts specifically about recruiting new staff members, the number of applications distributed as well as the number of new employees will be measured. The price quote and contact page on the Fiske Brothers Yardworks website will also provide an opportunity to see if customers are being driven to the business by the blog posts and/or Facebook posts.
Conclusion
Fiske Brothers Yardworks represents a passion for lawn care, and they strive to understand their customers’ needs while cultivating beautiful and healthy lawns. Although the business has established a local clientele, there is an opportunity to continue telling their story through advertising and social media. This will create a conversation about the available lawn services and their benefits throughout the summer 2018 season.
The Fiske Brothers Yardworks team holds years of knowledge and experience about lawn care within this specific community, and their main goal is to interact with customers and provide the best lawn care. This campaign creates the opportunity to emphasize communication, while still allowing the staff to perform their essential tasks during this busy time of year. The campaign strives to increase awareness of Fiske Brothers Yardworks and ultimately increase their customer base through consistent and meaningful conversations with customers, especially through platforms like Facebook and a Fiske Brothers Yardworks blog.
This business has the potential to grow both in its customer base and its team of reliable and knowledgeable staff members. By utilizing social media, Fiske Brothers Yardworks can attract potential employees and start a conversation about the benefits and advantages of working for the company. Social media will also reach potential employees at crucial times such as when students are looking for summer jobs. Overall, Fiske Brothers Yardworks has established a well-respected and trustworthy business, and with these resources there is endless potential to flourish and develop new roots.
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