Spring spray work gets booked in winter. By the time the first weeds come up, most growers already know who's flying their ground, and a new operator who starts marketing in April is mostly picking up leftovers. If you want a full calendar, November through February is when you earn it.

Here's the list we'd give a friend who asked how to start marketing a drone spraying business. None of it is fancy: co-ops, ag retailers, a Google Business Profile that's set up right, and showing people the drone in person.

1. Get your paperwork done first, then say so

Growers and retailers will ask whether you're legal before they ask your price. For-hire spraying you need an FAA Part 137 certificate (the FAA's agricultural aircraft operator certificate), a 44807 exemption (FAA permission to fly drones over 55 lb, which covers an Agras T100 or T25P), registered aircraft, and a commercial pesticide applicator license from your state.

The FAA asks you to file an exemption petition at least 120 days before you need it. If you want to spray in April, that petition should already be in by early December. Our FAA Part 137 Package handles that paperwork, and the state side is covered in our state license department guide.

Once it's done, put your Part 137 status, state license number and insurance on your quote sheet. Have a COI (certificate of insurance, the one-page proof of coverage a customer can keep on file) ready to email the same day someone asks.

2. Pick a lane before you print anything

"We spray anything" doesn't help a grower remember you. Lead with the work a drone does best in your area: wet fields a ground rig can't get into, tall corn, small or odd-shaped fields a plane won't bother with, pasture and ditch weeds, or spot treatments. You can still take other jobs.

3. Sit down with the local co-op or ag retailer

The agronomists (crop advisors who scout fields and write the product recommendations) at your co-op or farm supply store already talk to every grower you want to reach. They also know which fields their ground rigs and contracted planes can't get to on time.

Go in with a one-page sheet: what you fly, tank size, realistic acres per day, your service area and how to book. Ask them where they come up short in a wet spring or a tight fungicide window. Don't pitch yourself as competition. They sell the product and the recommendation. You're the application arm that keeps their customers covered.

4. Set up referrals the retailer can live with

Decide up front how a referred job works. Who supplies the product? Who bills the grower for it? Who keeps the application record? A simple written agreement, even a one-page email both sides reply to, prevents most arguments in June. Then do what you said. Call the grower within a day, spray inside the window, and send the retailer a short note when the job is done. Retailers keep sending work to applicators who make them look good.

5. Set up your Google Business Profile the right way

When a grower searches "drone spraying near me," your GBP (Google Business Profile, the free listing that shows on Google Maps and Search) is usually the first thing they see. A few rules from Google's own guidelines matter for applicators:

Use a service area. If customers don't come to your address, Google says to remove the address and list service areas instead. That's a service-area business (one that travels to customers). You can list up to 20 cities, ZIP codes or counties, and Google says the whole area shouldn't be much more than about 2 hours of driving from your base.
Use your real business name. "Jones Ag Drones" is fine. "Jones Ag Drones Crop Spraying Utah" is not, and Google says extra words in the name can get a profile suspended.
Pick as few categories as it takes, choosing the most specific one that describes your core business.
Use a local phone number that you control, and keep your hours accurate, including seasonal hours.
Add real photos: your rig at a field edge, the drone loading, a clean trailer setup. Ask before you post a photo that shows someone's farm.

6. Ask every customer for a review, the honest way

Reviews are what turn a search result into a phone call. Ask every customer after the job, and make it easy with the review link or QR code Google lets you create from your profile. Text it the evening you finish.

Keep it clean. Google prohibits offering discounts or free services in exchange for reviews. The FTC's consumer review rule (16 CFR Part 465) bans buying reviews that express a particular sentiment and bans fake reviews. Don't ask only your happiest customers, and reply to the critical ones calmly and briefly. A profile with a few honest four-star reviews reads as more real than a wall of perfect ones.

7. Run a field-day demo

Nothing sells a spray drone like watching one load and fly. Ask your co-op, retailer or county extension office if you can do a short demo at a field day or grower meeting, or host your own at a cooperating grower's field.

Keep it safe and legal:

Fly water only. Spraying a pesticide in front of a crowd turns a demo into an application, with the label, licensing and record requirements that come with it.
Your exemption still applies. A T100 or T25P is over 55 lb, so even a water demo is flown under your 44807 exemption and its conditions. Read them before the event.
Keep people out from under the drone. Part 107's rule on flying over people (107.39) is the baseline. Put up a rope line well outside your flight path and a spotter on the crowd.
Show the whole workflow, not just the flight. Mixing, loading, battery swaps and rinsing are what growers are curious about. If you run a 200 Gallon Drone Cone, set it up and do a full load-to-takeoff cycle so people see how fast a turn is.

Bring a sign-up sheet and leave with names and phone numbers.

8. Show up where growers already are in winter

Winter is meeting season: county extension meetings, commodity group meetings, farm shows and pesticide recertification classes. That last one is worth a look. In Utah, private applicators (growers licensed to apply restricted products on their own land) need 6 CEUs (continuing education units) per license period, and commercial applicators need 24. The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food posts approved CEU events on its continuing education calendar. Other states run similar programs. Those rooms are full of the exact people who buy spraying. Go, and talk to people at the breaks.

9. Call last year's customers before anyone else does

Your easiest spring jobs are repeat jobs. In January, call every customer from last season. Ask what they're planting, what weeds gave them trouble, and whether they want to get on your schedule. Write their fields and timing in your calendar the same day. If you're new and don't have past customers yet, do the same with every name you collected at demos and meetings.

10. Make it easy to book

Have a simple web page or GBP listing that says what you spray, your service area, how you price (per acre, minimums, or quote per job), and one phone number. Call back the same day and send quotes fast. A lot of spring jobs go to whoever responds first.

If you're still at the planning stage, start with our guide to starting your own spray drone business, then come back to this list once your paperwork is moving.

A simple winter schedule

November: Get your exemption and Part 137 paperwork in. Set up or clean up your Google Business Profile.
December: Meet your co-op and retailer agronomists. Make your one-page sheet.
January: Call last year's customers. Attend recertification and grower meetings.
February to March: Field-day demos as the weather allows. Confirm bookings and line up product with retailers.

Questions about equipment or setup?

If you're sorting out which drone, mixing setup or paperwork fits the business you want to build, we're glad to talk it through. Call 1-877-992-8279 (M–F 9–5 MT) or email sales@avarydrone.com.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Check your FAA exemption conditions, your state's pesticide rules and the product label before any flight or application.

Sources

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Marketing Your Spray Drone Business: 10 Ways to Fill Your Spring Calendar