Find Design, Build, or Maintenance Employees with Facebook and Instagram Ads

Over 90% of design/builds we speak with have an enormous problem with attracting, finding, and keeping labor. Whether it’s the H2B visa problems or finding local employees - this is one of the biggest pain-points. With Facebook and Instagram - you can get a little help with finding labor this year. While we can’t promise you that the employees you may find on these two platforms will always show up Mondays and completely transform your workforce problems, they may provide a little help.

Social Media, Business OperationsHalstead Media GroupFebruary 21, 2019Facebook, Instagram, LaborComment

Case Study: Website Design for a Design/Build Company in Aurora, Il

Halstead Media completely transformed the website to a less text heavy, image forward design. A layout that appeals to all the different customer audiences that GoldLeaf wants to attract. The homepage includes a rotating banner, a review section for peace of mind, as well as call-out to a financing program. See the new website

Case Study: Facebook Ads for Cleveland, Ohio Company ($6 per FB lead)

This design/build company reached out to Halstead to help improve their Facebook Advertising performance and generate leads. They had already been doing their own Facebook advertising for a couple of year, but were looking for some professional advertising help from someone who understood their design/build industry.

Inbound Marketing, Social MediaHalstead Media GroupFebruary 12, 2019Case Study, Facebook

Case Study: Northern Lights Landscaping in New Hampshire

After presenting a Unilock Authorized Contractor Seminar, we met Northern Lights Landscaping. Since then, our relationship with them has allowed us to redesign their website, increase their search rankings, and help find qualified leads with Facebook Ads.

Case Study: Facebook Ads for NY Landscape Lighting Company

A landscape lighting company based out of Fishkill, NY, was a brand-new entity that lacked a social media presence. Previously part of an established landscape design and build company, this lighting company was spun out to become a separate division with its own distinct brand. As part of this effort, a new website and Facebook presence were a must. However, while the landscape design and build parent company was known for installing outdoor lighting for years, the newly branded business was new to the space and had no community branding. The company needed to assert itself with homeowners in the region, to generate leads for high-end outdoor lighting projects.

Inbound Marketing, Social MediaHalstead Media GroupJanuary 23, 2019Case Study, Facebook

Concerns About The H-2B Visa: How The Landscape Industry Is Handling It

For the 2018 FY, the cap for the first half was met on December 15, 2017 and the cap for the second half was met on February 28, 2018. This is the earliest these caps have ever been reached by a significant number of days, demonstrating the high demand for seasonal laborers. Prior to 2016, workers who had previously been employed via the H-2B Visa were exempt from this cap, but when the federal budget bill recently expired, the cap exemption expired as well.

Make Your Event Go Further With Social Media: Before, During, and After

So, your company is hosting or participating in a design-build event. You’ve selected the perfect time for such an endeavor; homeowners are out and about, looking for contractors just like you at their local fairs and home shows, or scoping out new design-build professionals to help fulfill their needs. Social media is one of the best ways to promote your event beforehand, populate it during, and capitalize on it after. We’ve laid out the schedule from beginning to end, highlighting which social media resources to incorporate throughout, as well as which work best for the design-build industry. Check it out.

Episode 21: Are Building Product Manufacturers ready for AI?

What happens when you take something that seems (ok, it is) so complex and apply it towards your specific business? Or perhaps even towards your line of work? Today, Corey will talk about predictive analytics - to deeply understand your current and potential customers. How does it fit in?

Episode 20: Make your events go further with social media

Want your events to last longer? The power is in your hands. In this intro-to-the-topic video, we introduce spreading the wildfire event approach with widgets that encourage people to take photos, using branded items, and share them on their social media. The return? People are posting images of themselves, happy, with your brand. Magic. Watch for more and tell us how you've done it!

Episode 18: Looking beyond just location & demographics in Facebook targeting

Everyone knows that you can choose location, age, family, income - and other demographics when it comes to creating a Facebook audience for targeting your posts and dark ads. But what about interests and behaviors? Does every high income wife with children that is age 42 want a service you install or a product you sell?! NO!! So don't stop there. Make sure your Facebook audiences include interests and/or behaviors. Watch here for more:

Episode 14: What exactly does it mean to advertise on YELP?

Yelp is a powerful website and app. As the 10th most popular website - it gets a lot of action from visitors. Surely, you've used it to read reviews and maybe you have your free profile setup on there. Does this mean you should be spending money on this platform - as a landscape design build company (or anyone really!)? Watch now.

Case Study: New Portfolio Driven Website for PA Interior Design and Landscape Company

Using Blackwood Group's inspiration website, Halstead created a highly image driven website. The new look placed each project into a separate case study - into what developed to be a true, high-end elegant digital portfolio. The projects are all accessible via the homepage - but city as well as by category. Awards and about the company are accessible via the menu.

Case Study: Hummel's Landscape in Pennsylvania gets a new digital look

Done with poor quality leads from home and garden shows and increasingly getting more leads from word of mouth and through their old website, Hummel's Landscape in Harrisburg, PA was ready for a new, sophisticated website that reflected their extremely high-end landscape work.

Case Study: New website for a high-end landscape design & build firm on Long Island, NY

Capturing elements that were important to Gary Duff Designs in their new website and making sure the new website represented the brand, the new website offers a perfect combination of classic sophistication and company info.

The Evolution of Design-Build Marketing [with Infographic]

As long as landscapers have been landscaping and hardscapers have been hardscaping, we have also been, in our own ways, marketing. Over the last score of years, however, the introduction into the “age of technology” has vastly warped design-build marketing. Businesses, regardless of industry, can barely function on simple word-of-mouth anymore. To show our design-build pros just how far we’ve come in the last decade-and-a-half, and our predictions of the next few years, we’ve developed an “evolution of design-build marketing” timeline.

4 Positions It's Worth It to Outsource

As a design build professional, there is probably a specific skill set or passion you had that led you to start a business around it. But along the way, we know it’s easy to get swept up in all the other aspects of the business – probably the aspects you don’t know how to manage and aren’t very interested in. STOP TRYING TO DO IT ALL. Outsourcing is a great way to free up your time and produce quality work. Here's a list of some position that are totally worth it to outsource.

HalsteadTVEp10: Reaching a customer audience over age 50 (hint: not with that yellow book!)

Put that thing down! Don't do it! Don't you please still use the analytics from five - or even three years ago! People over the age of 50 aren't as non-web savvy as you think. Almost 3 out of 4 of them are on Facebook. That's just Facebook - think about how many of them search online (even on their smartphones!). Things have REALLY changed with marketing effectively to this age group. So don't get suckered into outdated traditional marketing techniques and then wonder why they're not working!

Before You Consider Digital Marketing...

…you need to read this. Cutting-edge web design, excellent SEO, and an active social media presence will do very little for your business if there is no foundation for these strategies to build upon. You need professional etiquette, marketing basics, and conceptual ideas before you can dive into digital marketing.

HalsteadTVEp6: Snapchat or Facebook for a Design/Build?

In any business, regardless of the industry, companies need to be where there potential customers are. Would a toy company be at a local home show? I sure hope not! And while on that topic, not many people should be at a home show ;-). Back to digital marketing, should design/builds be on Snapchat? Is all the hype about it really better than Facebook for the design/build industry? Find out.

HalsteadTVEp4: What Does it Mean To Get a Referral, Today?

Anna talks about how to apply the still-very-true approach of growing your design/build business with referrals - except this means to expand your definition of what a referral really is today. And it's not just people sharing your info with one another while they're visiting someone's home. Referrals are indeed - online reviews! So stop skipping this part. ASK FOR REVIEWS!