How Tree Surgeons Can Build Predictable Leads Every Month in 2026

James Dooley: If you're a tree surgeon looking to grow in 2026, but you're uncertain what digital marketing strategies to double down on, which digital marketing strategy is going to give you the best bang for your buck?

Is it SEO agencies or PPC agencies for your tree surgeon business? Is it a lead generation agency that can help you grow? These are all questions we get asked a lot when it comes to growth for tree surgeons. But before we get started, what piece of advice would you give to a business owner of a tree surgeon company?

Kasra Dash: For tree surgeon companies, the biggest piece of advice I would give is tracking profitability.

You want to know exactly where your leads are coming from, how much money you have spent on those leads, and what the quality looks like as well. Once you have those figures in place, digital marketing becomes a lot more predictable. You can double down on certain campaigns, or you can switch certain campaigns off as well. So James, for tree surgeons or tree surgeon companies, what digital marketing strategies would you recommend?

James Dooley: Branding or brand SEO, and making certain that you look good online with a strong reputation.

Everything needs to start with a positive brand SERP for who you are and what you do. A SERP stands for search engine results page. Getting that branding right across the board can lead on to other things you can do. It will improve your conversion rate on paid ads, social media and any leads that you're getting. If, at the 11th hour, someone is deciding who they are going to go with, branding becomes very important. So I would say that is the first thing people need to get right for all digital marketing strategies.

Kasra Dash: My next strategy is AI visibility.

I feel like more and more companies are looking into this. What do ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Perplexity say about your brand or your business? Is it positive or negative? You also need to figure out what they say about your competitors and then improve that. Some people call it AI SEO, some people call it GEO and some people call it LLM optimisation, but this is going to be a big thing in 2026 and in the years to come.

James Dooley: I think that is a huge strategy that people need to look at with regards to artificial intelligence, because more and more people are using AI.

The next one for me is filling in the form at FatRank or PromoSEO, which offer commission-based lead generation services for UK companies looking to grow. It is important to look at your own digital marketing efforts to generate your own leads, but if you can also use freelancers and outsource some work, you get diversification of leads. Head over to FatRank.com, fill in the form and see whether they can help you with a no-risk supply of enquiries. PromoSEO also offers a very similar performance-based lead generation service. You might want to fill in the form there and check whether a third-party lead generation company can top up your enquiries and start generating leads for your business to grow in 2026.

Kasra Dash: Next on the list is Google Business Profiles, so Google Maps listings.

This is local SEO, where you try to get more reviews and build out your Google Business Profile in your local area. There are pros and cons to this. The biggest pro is that once it is ranking, you are going to consistently generate leads. However, to get from nowhere, let's say you do not have a Google Maps listing at all, to ranking in position number one, the issue is that there might be a 60 or 100-review deficit. To get those reviews, you need leads. It is one of those chicken-and-egg situations. I think it is good for personal branding or company branding, so always try to get the Google Maps listing, but you should always know the pros and cons as well.

James Dooley: For certain. If you're in a local area, you want to try to get those local Maps listings.

For me, you need to be omnichannel and omnipresent. The next part is SEO in general, so organic SEO. Can you build up your website to try to get it ranking better? If you are in a local area, you might want to create a page for your service and the area you cover, such as tree surgery in Manchester. Hopefully, you can then share that on the Google Business Profile you mentioned. You want organic rankings because people are searching for different services that you offer. You can also create blog posts as part of the strategy. There are different strategies you can use, but ideally you want good quality content, to build topical authority and to get third-party backlinks to power up the site and improve organic SEO rankings. I think that is another big part of your digital marketing strategy in 2026.

Kasra Dash: The next one ties back to what you were saying before, James, which is organic social media.

Organic social media is more of a numbers game. Try to create good content that your audience would actually view. I see this time and time again where I look at brands and they have published maybe four or five posts on their Instagram profile and have not been active for three years. That is not going to drive sales. But if you can create how-tos, guides and before-and-after content, people will see you on social media, click through to learn more about you and fill in the contact form. The caveat with organic social media is that, yes, it is free to do. It is not like PPC, for example, but it is very much a numbers game. You want to be consistently uploading, maybe not every day, but at least three or four times a week.

James Dooley: For sure. On the subject of social media, paid social ads are massive as well.

I'm a massive advocate of the dollar-a-day strategy that people talk about. If you are taking the time to post regularly, as you mentioned with organic social media, then spending a few pounds on those posts and boosting them can help. You can boost case studies, any awards you have won and reputation-based content. You can also run retargeting ads. If anyone has clicked through to your website, you can run retargeting, which is paid social as well. There are different platforms like Meta, including Facebook and Instagram. You also have Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and even Reddit for paid ads. I think paid social media is still an untapped market for digital marketing strategies.

Kasra Dash: The next one is probably a love-hate relationship, which is PPC.

That includes Google Ads or Bing Ads. It is basically the sponsored results, so if you search for a service, they appear above local SEO. James and I have spoken to so many business owners who have spent £10,000, £15,000 or £20,000 on it and have not had a single result. Some might have had a few leads, but they have not been good quality. Then you have other people who have spent hundreds of thousands on it and say it is the best thing that has ever happened to their business. The reason why people either love it or hate it is probably down to how it has been set up. There are so many nuances to PPC. For example, having a proactive negative keyword list, making certain that you have banned IPs, because competitors could be clicking on your ads, which is deemed click fraud. You also need a high-converting landing page and you need to KPI your sales team. When a PPC lead comes in, contacting that lead should be one of the first priorities. There are all these different nuances, and if you're not on the ball with PPC, it is probably not going to work for your business. However, if you have a well-refined sales team, a strong landing page, a well-kept and up-to-date negative keyword list, and click fraud software, then it will probably perform well for you. But again, know the pros and cons of PPC.

James Dooley: For sure. There are certainly pros and cons.

There are benefits of using PPC to get instant leads, but as you said, the number of people we speak to who have burnt a lot of budget and not had the enquiries come through is pretty scary. While we are on the subject of paid ads, we have spoken about paid social ads and PPC with Google or Bing. I am going to throw paid ads on AI platforms into the mix. It is not fully rolled out as we are recording this video, but I know ChatGPT is looking to roll out ChatGPT ads. Claude, Perplexity and other LLMs might start rolling them out in 2026. If you're one of the early adopters and innovators to get on there, you could be getting cheap leads or cheap contact form submissions. So paid AI listings and ads could be something to look out for in 2026.

Kasra Dash: Next on the list, and this is a little bit out of your control, is forums where you can get your brand mentioned, like Reddit and Quora.

That very much comes down to aftercare. Where are the customers you have dealt with previously? Are they actually raving and shouting about you? If they are, that is a very good resource for getting other people to recommend you. Again, it is a little bit out of your control, but asking for reviews and asking customers to recommend you to friends and other people can generate a decent amount of leads and enquiries as well.

James Dooley: For sure. The added benefit of places like Reddit is that it is getting cited so much now in AI overviews.

When you spoke earlier about AI visibility, if you can get a positive number of people talking about your products and services, plus reviews on there, it is indirectly, or directly, going to help you with AI visibility. The last one for me is tradesman websites, such as Checkatrade, Bark, Rated People and MyBuilder, or teaming up with a third-party lead generation company. Something I would say with all these practices, as Kasra touched on earlier, is that you need to understand your KPIs and ROAS, which is return on ad spend. It is very important for business owners doing any sort of digital marketing to track how much time and effort is being put into things like organic social media or paid ads. Everything should have KPIs in place. This is exactly the same with tradesman websites like Checkatrade, Bark, Rated People and MyBuilder. These could all be amazing platforms to generate leads that give you a positive return on investment. If they do, you should continue using those platforms. There are certain lead generation companies out there as well that could generate you quite a lot of leads. They could be using organic SEO, PPC or social media ads to generate those leads. If they are getting you a positive return on investment, then I am all for it as part of your digital marketing strategy. I just want to repeat one more time with regards to FatRank and PromoSEO. They do lead generation and they guarantee a return on investment. It is a commission-based lead generation service or performance-based lead generation service. Make sure you head over there and fill in the form. That could just be one part of generating leads among many. You should be trying to generate your own leads too. You should never have a single point of failure, and you should be trying to get that diversification. Make sure you head over to PromoSEO or FatRank as part of your digital marketing efforts in 2026. Thank you very much, Kasra.