Boy, good luck!

I run a small gardening business and for the first time in 25 years, I've started sending out postcards advertising my services. Got one call without a follow up the other day, and that was it. I've always had word of mouth recommendations, but with this economy, we've lost over a third of our clients and I've had to cut down the hours of my employees.

Thanks for the reply Julie. Sorry to hear about your client loss.

I've tried business cards before and only got a few calls myself. Think I'm going to contact some luxury real estate brokers and see if they could use my help when getting properties ready to sell. It was interesting to find out that all the gardening companies here all charge the same price.

When I moved to a new area, networking was really important to regenerate the word of mouth business. "traditional" marketing never worked, since I think professional gardener is kind of a niche business. Introduce yourself to everyone who could be a 'power partner', as they say: arborists, landscape architects, mow & blow guys who don't touch garden beds. Have a business card and an elevator speech about who you are, what your background is, and that you've just moved to the area. They'll understand that you'll just trying to build connections and not shut you out, think you're trying to sell them something. i see you've already learned some about your new market, now find a way to set yourself apart. If everyone charges the same rates, what makes you better/different?
good luck!

Thanks for the reply Rachel.

I had a couple great opportunities to meet some "power partners" in the last week. I'm working on getting my name out there and perfecting the short elevator speech. Next up is getting ready to do some short gardening "seminars" at the local libraries this month and next. I hope to attract some clients and give out some useful information on gardening, planting seasonal containers and "green" topics such as composting, organic products, rain gardens. I'm going to post flyers announcing the "seminar" at the library and around town. Anyone ever had success with a press release to a local newspaper or writing articles for a newspaper?

As far as what makes me different from the others locally. I'm going to stress my horticulture skills and education, superior customer service and plant health care programs. Can anyone tell me what makes your service better/different from the rest?

Thanks in advance!