Scotts Miracle-Gro is using a new mobile application to share lawn care tips and promote its line of products.

Scotts created My Scotts Lawn with mobile developer appssavvy as a tool for homeowners looking for advice on maintaining their lawns. The application provides lawn care tips and recommends Scotts products.

?Scotts wanted to bring the Web experience that builds an annual lawn care program to on-the-go users on mobile devices,? said Chris Cunningham, cofounder/CEO of appssavvy, New York. ?Giving users the ability to find the best products for them, based on their location, shopping habits and grass type is a huge advantage for Scotts with users who may be out shopping.

?We also wanted to provide long-term value for users, so we added the capabilities for users to track their lawn?s health and get expert advice about care through videos,? he said. ?This additional functionality gives users reasons to continue to use that app after they?ve gotten their suggested program.?

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company offers a branded line of lawn and garden care products.

Appssavvy is a direct sales and services team that partners with brands and agencies to develop relevant mobile applications.

Scotts is promoting the application via a variety of channels, including in the mobile space.

?Scotts ran an advertising campaign to drive applications through in-app advertisements, which helped elevate the app as high as No. 3 in the Lifestyle/Free category on iTunes,? said Kip Edwardson, manager of interactive marketing at Scotts, Marysville, OH. ?Scotts also is currently promoting it on the site (http://www.scotts.com), through social media, PR and through our popular email newsletter.?

How it works
Consumers can download the My Scotts Lawn application from the Apple App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch, and will be available later this month on handhelds running the Android operating system.

From the application homepage, users navigate to content like product recommendations and video tips.

Here is a screen grab of the My Scotts Lawn homepage:

When users click on the ?Lawn Program? link, they can follow a series of steps to receive customized lawn care tips and product recommendations.

The application prompts users to enter their ZIP codes, select a grass type and indicate what type of store they shop for lawn care supplies in, such as hardware stores, nurseries or mass merchant.

With that information, the application generates a lawn care program that includes a list of products to apply to lawns, and designates time periods when each product should be used.

Here is a screen grab of a lawn program page: 

By clicking the green arrows that appear next to the product listings, users can find more information about each particular product.

The ?Video Tips? section, accessible from the My Scotts Lawn homepage, includes YouTube-integrated video clips that include tips and demonstrations for better lawn care.

Here is a screen grab of one of the video clips:

Finally, the ?My Lawn Profile? section, available from the homepage, lets users keep track of their lawn programs by uploading pictures of their lawns and logging the products they have used to care for their grass.

Here is a screen grab of the lawn profile section of the application:

?By addressing the need to care for your lawn, [My Scotts Lawn] helps our current brand users to remember what to apply and when to apply it,? Mr. Edwardson said. ?Push notifications have been built in as well to send tips and reminders directly to the phone.

?Future updates will include calendar functions, social utilities, more videos, regionalized lawn care tips and click to call/text to contact abilities,? he said.

The application is targeted mainly at males in the 40?s and 50?s, though Scotts is tailoring it to any homeowner with a lawn to take care of.

?[Scotts is going mobile because] it fits the demographic, and consumers were asking for an app from us,? Mr. Edwardson said. ?Over 90 percent of our mobile traffic to scotts.com comes from the iPhone, so clearly the penetration has reached our demographic.?

The biggest draw of the application is the added-value it gives consumers caring for their lawns, per appssavvy.

?Brands are looking to connect with people on multiple platforms, including mobile, thanks to apps,? Mr. Cunningham said. ?The key, however, is to not just enter the app space, but do so by adding value, which is exactly what Scotts has done with its My Scotts Lawn app.?