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Building a Brand
Lessons in creativity for high-end custom pool builders from 2024 CPSA Chairman Scott Cohen
Scott Cohen builds more than backyards. As president, owner, and garden artisan of Los Angeles-based The Green Scene, he has built an impressive brand.
The Green Scene, which Cohen’s parents established in 1972 as a landscape fertilization company, today specializes in the design and construction of high-end custom swimming pools, outdoor kitchens, shade structures, landscapes, and more.
Cohen began working in the company’s landscaping department as a teenager during the hot California summers. He went on to work for Target Stores as the Regional Nursery Manager for Los Angeles and Ventura Counties for several years before returning to The Green Scene. Cohen credits his experience at Target, managing multiple nursery sites, with helping him develop the ability to oversee many projects at once without sacrificing quality.
Throughout the past 35 years, Cohen has helped grow the company into a premier and award-winning design and build firm renowned for its contemporary pools and landscape. One of his greatest assets throughout the process has been his creative approach to marketing, which Cohen describes as essential for any designer of custom pools.
“You have to be creative in all aspects of what you do,” said Cohen, a Certified Builder Professional (CBP) who currently serves on the 2024 California Pool & Spa Association (CPSA) Board of Directors as Chairman. “Building creative work means running a creative management team, which includes running a creative marketing team.”
Creative and effective marketing is essential for a growing business. Here are three marketing strategies Cohen has used to create a brand his customers want to boast about.
Build pools your clients will love
Good marketing starts with a product people will want. For custom pool builders, whose business is often generated through word of mouth, this means ensuring your clients are satisfied.
By getting to know your clients’ needs, you can learn how to sell to them, coach them through the design process, and ultimately build a pool they’ll want to boast about to their neighbors.
“To be a good designer, you have to get to know your client first,” said Cohen. “Then, my job, and the job of any pool designer, is to guide your client to what they really should have for their space based on what they’re telling you they want.”
Coaching clients can be as simple as steering them away from passing trends or as tricky as helping them realize what they’ll want from their pool five or ten years down the road.
"To be a good designer, you have to get to know your client first."
- Scott Cohen
The process can be particularly challenging when working with couples, who often have different priorities.
“The lady of the house might want to make sure the pool is safe for the kids. But the guy wants to make sure it’s a party pool with a built-in table, swim-up bar, and a giant spa with extra jets,” said Cohen, adding that he’s often felt more like a marriage counselor than a contractor in these conversations.
This “battle of the sexes” process of navigating homeowners’ differences is such a common and challenging issue that The Green Scene is creating a new YouTube show around it called “Yardschtick”. While couples may disagree about everything from the size of waterfalls to the color of furniture, the designer must help them find common ground.
Inspire prospects with your best work
Once you’ve built a pool your customers love, Cohen suggests making it easy to show it off.
“Our reputation and potential should be available to the client before they ever call,” said Cohen. “When someone contacts us, they should have already had the opportunity to see a bunch of work, before and after shots, and remodel work, so they can know what we’re capable of doing for them.”
The Green Scene website reflects this philosophy. Nearly every webpage showcases photos, videos, aerial drone shots, or immersive 3D walk-throughs of numerous projects. Showing off every angle of a pool — both in daylight and at night — can help prospects better imagine how a pool might look in their own backyard.
"One of the things we've heard a lot from people over the last 10 years is, 'I'm looking for some wow factor.' Now, we are the 'Wow Factor' Contractor."
- Scott Cohen
Better yet, prospects can see how a pool design looks in their own neighbors’ backyard. The Green Scene website also features interactive maps of numerous neighborhoods across greater Los Angeles in which the design and build firm has had multiple clients. The map highlights The Green Scene’s completed, in progress, and upcoming projects and gives viewers the chance to see photos and videos showing before, during, and/or after the projects.
“We count on the fact that neighbors are a little nosy sometimes, and they want to see what their neighbors are up to,” said Cohen.
Seeing projects completed in a neighbor’s lot, which may be similar in size to their own, can help homeowners visualize the possibilities and motivate them to buy.
Turn to clients for inspiration
When it comes to marketing, creativity alone won’t sell. The most effective creative marketing ideas are inspired by a true client need. This is another reason why listening to clients has been important to Cohen.
Listening to clients gave The Green Scene its tagline.
“One of the things we’ve heard a lot from people over the last 10 years is, ‘I’m looking for some wow factor,’” said Cohen. “Now, we are the ‘Wow Factor’ ContractorTM. We trademarked it. In everything we do, all our videos, everything, that’s our marketing message. The Green Scene is the ‘Wow Factor’ Contractor.”
