Four Ways in Which Lawn Care Firms Have Been Affected by the Internet

Four Ways in Which Lawn Care Firms Have Been Affected by the Internet

It is safe to say, without fear of contradiction, that the Internet has had an effect on all types businesses in the world. In other words, there is no line of business that can be said not to have been affected by the Internet. Thus, whenever we are trying to analyze the effect of the Internet on a given business line, the question (nowadays) is never as to whether the business line has been affected by the Internet; but rather ‘how’ that particular line of business has been affected by the Internet. Take the example of the lawn care business (which is one of the businesses one would expect to have been least affected by the Internet). It turns out that there are actually numerous ways in which the lawn care business has been affected. We proceed to look at four of those ways in which lawn service firms have been affected by the Internet:

1. The Internet has provided a platform for lawn care firms to get in touch with their clients (and prospective clients) easily: before the advent of the Internet, most of these firms relied on telephone communications. But these tend to have some rather huge limitations, meaning that, due to communication problems, a considerable amount of business ended up getting lost. Today, all a lawn service firm has to do is to set up an email address, and it instantly opens up a 24/7 (24 hours, 7 days a week) open communication channel. It may not look like a big deal today, but three decades ago, this would have been a very great deal.

2. The Internet has provided a platform for lawn care firms to promote their businesses cost-effectively: through the Internet, and with as little as a hundred dollars, it is possible for a lawn service firm to launch a successful marketing campaign. Most of these firms have set up websites, which serve as major promotional tools (besides also being their communication vehicles, as they set up email addresses around them). Things have, of course, not always been this way. Before the advent of the Internet, the only major promotional channels open were the newspapers, TV and radio – whose charges tended to be beyond what most lawn service firms could afford.

3. The Internet has increased the level of competition in the lawn care industry: for one, thanks to the Internet, there is free flow of information in the market, and clients tend to know what the going rates are (meaning that lawn service firms have to charge their best rates, or be pushed out of business). Through the Internet, clients can also get to learn which the best rated and best reviewed lawn service firms are. This in turn means that all lawn service firms have to keep their best feet forward, or risk messing up with their online reputation through poor ratings/reviews.

4. The Internet has snatched some business from lawn care firms: through the Internet, some folks are able to learn how to do (by themselves) certain things they would otherwise have had to enlist the help of the lawn care firms for.

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