Rob Murray is the Co-founder and CEO of Intrigue Media, a digital marketing company that has been empowering and growing businesses in the home improvement space for the last 15 years. Intrigue has been on Canada’s Growth 500 list for four years, is a Google Premier Partner and is Meta Certified. Rob directs the organizational vision, works with clients to grow their businesses, and ensures that Intrigue has the right people and the right tools to get results. He is the past President of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization in Southwest Ontario and past digital marketing chair for his local hospital board.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- GTmetrix: Website performance testing tool – check speed, structure, and load time.
- Semrush: SEO and competitive analysis platform used to measure domain authority and identify marketing opportunities.
- Intrigue Media: Digital marketing agency for the landscape industry.
- Resources: Guides, checklists, blogs, podcast, and downloads
- IM Landscape Growth Podcast
- Events: Free webinars and live marketing trainings
- Wilson 360: Digital business courses and training programs for scaling and leadership.
- Emerging Tech:
- ChatGPT – Now taking ~5% of search share from Google
- Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses: Voice-activated AI, camera, and search
Episode Transcript
Robert Clinkenbeard:
Hi, this is Robert Clinkenbeard with the Commercial Landscaper Podcast. I’m going to take about 20 minutes of your life to deliver some amazing content from accomplished leaders and business owners to help provide you with great Ironman mindset ideas to help you scale your business, become a better leader, and push yourself out of your comfort zone.
We’ve now doubled our audience, and we really hope you enjoy these shows. We encourage you to like and share with friends, family members, and your network. Based on my book, The Ironman Mindset for Entrepreneurs, I aim to pull out one insight you can take back to your business in every single show. Ultimately, my goal is to help you make fewer mistakes than I did and make your company more profitable.
I’m also super excited to share that we’ve finally gone live with our digital courses on the Wilson 360 website: wilson-360.com. Cheers, everyone!
Robert Clinkenbeard:
Hi, this is Rob Clinkenbeard with the Commercial Landscaper Podcast. I’m really excited to be joined today by Robert Murray. Rob, pumped to do this?
Robert Murray:
Let’s go!
Robert Clinkenbeard:
You doing okay?
Robert Murray:
Yeah, man. I’m on the right side of the ground. Life’s good.
Robert Clinkenbeard:
Perfect. That’s good. For our audience, can you tell everybody about your background?
Robert Murray:
Sure, I’ll keep it quick. I’ve been running Intrigue, a digital marketing company, for 17 years. We started with zero dollars—just myself and my co-founder. For the first five years, we were in digital out-of-home—we put up flat screen TVs in local geographies as an alternative to the local newspaper and radio stations.
We ended up franchising that and growing into seven communities, building a customer base that advertised on these TVs. As websites, Google, and Facebook emerged, our customers started asking us for help with their online presence—websites, SEO, social media.
So we evolved into a full digital marketing agency. Online marketing brought transparency and measurability to our work. Around 2017, we realized we were solving Rubik’s Cubes with every new client—jack of all, master of none. So we looked internally to see where we were making money and making clients happy.
That analysis led us to focus on home improvement—higher average sales, happy clients, strong demand. Our team was good at it, and the customer decision-making process was consistent across industries like landscaping, pools, and roofing.
By 2019, we leaned more into landscaping. We gave our first talk at the Landscape Ontario Congress in January, then went to Elevate in Louisville and did a talk there. That’s when we realized landscapers were our people—work hard, play hard, sleeves-rolled-up types.
One thing that stood out about landscapers: the openness to share best practices. We didn’t see that in other industries—insurance, HVAC, banks, etc. So we leaned in. We’ve spent the past 4–5 years travelling North America meeting landscape entrepreneurs, coaches, and associations.
Today, we’re working with about 130 clients—around 100 of those are landscapers, primarily residential design-build and maintenance, with about 30% in commercial.
Robert Clinkenbeard:
A couple of key things there—our industry is definitely generous and open. The other big takeaway is that you examined your business and made a strategic shift based on where you were profitable. That self-analysis is something not enough companies do.
So now you’re focused on landscapers with a great client base. What does that initial engagement look like? I’m sure you do some kind of analysis when starting with a client. What do you typically uncover?
Robert Murray: We actually give a talk called The 5 Marketing Mistakes Green Industry Entrepreneurs Make and How to Fix Them. That’s the basis for our implementation.
Right off the bat, we use two quick tools. The first is GTmetrix. It gives you a free technical audit of your website. You enter your URL and email, and it grades your site A–F based on load speed, code quality, and structure. Most clients come to us with a C or D. If your site takes more than a second to load, people bounce—and Google penalizes that.
The second tool is Semrush. We use it to assess your site’s domain authority compared to your top competitors. That’s your trust score with Google. We’ve seen landscapers with scores ranging from 0 to 32. If you’re at an 8 and your competitors are too, you’re on a level playing field. If they’re at 26, you’ve got a hill to climb. We use this to set expectations and find strategic opportunities.
Robert Clinkenbeard:
That’s amazing. Most business owners don’t know these things—and many working with marketers still don’t. What’s another key lever?
Robert Murray:
One of the biggest mistakes? Talking about yourself. Customers don’t care about you. They care about solving their problems and achieving their goals. Yet, most websites talk about how long the company’s been around, their equipment, uniforms, etc.
We flip it. Our websites are customer-focused and problem-oriented. We build content around ideal clients—people who love your work, pay full price, and refer others. We figure out their specific goals, property types, pain points, and tailor messaging to speak to them directly.
We demonstrate trust by helping customers understand their problems better than they could describe them. That builds credibility. Add Google reviews, testimonials, and case studies—and you’re solid.
Robert Clinkenbeard:
Totally agree. We had a similar transformation after reading The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes. Built a sales playbook, identified key client pain points, and tailored our approach. It made a huge impact.
Robert Murray:
Love that. When we onboard clients, we guide them through working on their business. Think personal training. We don’t just say, “Go do 100 push-ups.” We do the work with them, step by step.
Robert Clinkenbeard:
That’s such a great analogy. One marketer I spoke with emphasized personalization. On the commercial side, you’re seeing great results from just taking people out for lunch—landscape architects, property managers, HOAs.
Robert Murray:
Absolutely. Offer to take them to the best lunch spot in town. It’s personal, memorable, and effective.
Robert Clinkenbeard:
What else are you seeing in the market these days?
Robert Murray:
Two things. First—marketing is simple: go where your customers are. That hasn’t changed.
Second—new tech. Meta Ray-Ban glasses, ChatGPT, Instagram search—it’s all changing how people discover businesses. ChatGPT has taken a chunk of Google’s search share. Optimization today means being everywhere on the internet—not just your website. Tools like Houzz, Yelp, Reddit, and your local Chamber matter more than ever.
Robert Clinkenbeard:
Incredible insight. I know we could go another two hours, but how can people connect with you?
Robert Murray:
Head to intriguemedia.com. Under Resources, you’ll find guides, blog posts, checklists, and our IM Landscape Growth Podcast. Under About > Events, you’ll see upcoming live webinars—like How to Make the Most of Your Leads in 2025.
Everything we teach, we give away. If you’re ready to reach out, feel free. If not, browse the content—it’s all free.
Robert Clinkenbeard:
Awesome, Robert. It’s been a pleasure. Thanks so much for sharing your insights. I’m sure our audience took tons of notes. We’ll definitely have you back on soon.
Robert Murray:
Appreciate the opportunity, Rob. Thanks again!
