Lutz Gärten: 300+ leads in 5 days with a prize draw at Giardina

Background

Lutz Gärten is one of those landscaping businesses that do very good work but are hardly visible online. Business was solid, mainly thanks to referrals and regular customers. But that was exactly the problem: growth depended entirely on chance and the seasons. Spring and summer went well, autumn and winter were quiet.

What was missing was a direct line to potential customers. There was no email list, no newsletter and no way to send seasonal offers to the right people. When Lutz Gärten wanted to launch a spring promotion, there was simply nobody they could contact directly, apart from the existing customers in the CRM.

Then Giardina came along. The largest garden show in Switzerland attracts thousands of garden lovers every year, exactly the audience Lutz Gärten wanted to reach. The question was: how could we use this momentum to build a qualified contact list in a very short time?

How we went about it

The idea: Giardina as a boost for a prize draw

Prize draws are not a new idea, but they work when timing and context are right. That was our strategy: we linked the prize draw directly to Giardina.

Why? Because during the show, attention to everything around gardens, terraces and outdoor design is naturally at its peak. People scroll through Instagram, see posts about Giardina and get inspired. At that very moment, they are open to an attractive prize draw on the topic of gardens.

We designed a competition with a prize that fitted the target audience well. Not a generic voucher, but something that was only really attractive to garden owners. This made sure that the participants were actually potential customers and not just prize hunters.

The landing page: simplicity as a conversion strategy

The landing page was deliberately kept radically simple:

• Hero image with the prize and a clear promise
• Three bullet points on why taking part is worthwhile
• Short form: name, email address, phone number, done
• No distractions: no menu, no navigation, no scrolling needed. Everything was above the fold, meaning visible without scrolling.

We tested two versions beforehand: one with a longer description and a minimal version with only the essentials. The minimal version won with a conversion rate around 30% higher. The lesson: in a prize draw, nobody wants to read much. The prize has to convince at once, and the form has to take seconds to fill in.

The campaign: social media ads with Giardina momentum

All promotion ran exclusively through Instagram and Facebook ads. No Google Ads, no SEO, no newsletter push. Only social.

The targeting was clearly defined:

• Geography: the catchment area of Lutz Gärten plus a wider radius (show visitors come from all over German-speaking Switzerland)
• Interests: garden, home ownership, Giardina, garden design, house and garden, outdoor living
• Age: 30 to 65 (homeowners)
• Timing: the ads ran exactly during the five days of Giardina, not before and not after
• Creatives: authentic images from real Lutz Gärten projects, no stock material. Plus a clear reference to Giardina in the ad text.

We started with three ad versions and focused on the best one after 48 hours. The focus was on timing, not on sheer volume. Giardina provided the context, and the ads provided the reach.

Tracking: everything measurable

As with every project, we set up clean conversion tracking. Every form submission was recorded, and every lead could be traced back to its ad. So we knew exactly which creatives and which targeting worked best, and we could shift budget to the strongest ads in real time.

The results in detail

After five days of Giardina:

• 300+ qualified leads. More than 300 people with name, email address and phone number. All of them are actively interested in gardens and live in the catchment area. Not a purchased data set, but a genuine opt-in.

• Conversion rate of around 12%. Around 12% of all landing page visitors filled in the form. Our minimal page without distractions made the difference.

• Strong output. The cost per lead was low. For a landscaping SME, where a single job is easily worth a four- or five-figure sum, that is a very good ratio.

• The Giardina effect used in full. Thanks to the exact timing alongside the show, we benefited from the naturally higher attention. People were already in “garden mode”, and our ads reached them at the right moment. The result: clearly higher click rates and lower cost per lead than comparable campaigns outside the show period.

• A contact database ready to use. The real value: after five days, Lutz Gärten had an email list that had not existed before. This list now serves as the basis for regular newsletters, seasonal offers (spring check, autumn pruning, winter service) and targeted follow-up.

What you can take from this

1. Timing is everything. Use industry events. Giardina was the ideal catalyst. Ask yourself which event, which trade show or which seasonal moment is the high point for your industry. That is exactly when you should run your campaign, when your audience is already paying attention.

2. A prize draw is not an end in itself. It is a lead magnet. The real value is not in the prize draw itself but in the contact list you have afterwards. Plan from the start what you will do with the leads (newsletter, offers, phone follow-up).

3. The prize has to fit the audience. An iPhone will win you thousands of entries but hardly any real customers. A prize that is relevant to your audience filters out the right people automatically.

4. Landing page simplicity is everything. The fewer distractions, the higher the conversion. A prize draw does not need storytelling. The prize has to convince and the form has to be quick.

5. Social media ads are enough. You do not always need a multichannel approach. For a time-limited prize draw with a clear audience, Instagram and Facebook ads are fully sufficient and highly effective.

6. Five days are enough. You do not need a campaign that runs for months. A well-designed prize draw with the right landing page, targeted ads and the right timing can generate hundreds of contacts within a few days.

7. The leads are only the beginning. The real work starts after the prize draw: welcome email, regular newsletter, seasonal offers, personal follow-up. If you only collect the leads and do nothing with them, you waste the potential.