Marketing your Landscape or Design/build Business Through an Economic Downturn
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Corey Halstead
Owner, HALSTEAD.
Our brains—as evolved as we’d like to think they are in this modern world—are really quite primal. Especially during trying times like these. The human brain tends to laser-in during a time of crisis. It becomes about survival—fight or flight status. But often what is lost in the narrowing of our vision is exactly what business owners need to pull through. The historic time we are living through with the coronavirus outbreak is a time for leadership, not panic. And great leaders must work to understand the entire picture, the good and the bad. The challenges and the opportunities.
Yes, this is a time for leaders to emerge. To stand up and operate their companies through this incredibly uncertain and difficult time. Whether that’s a $3M kitchen design/build firm, a $20M commercial landscape company, or a $60M manufacturing business, one thing remains true…it’s time for leadership to go to work. Time to go to work on behalf of our employees, on behalf of our vendors, and on behalf of our economy.
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Looking to history to understand downturns
The COVID-19 situation has been particularly challenging for business owners due to the confusion surrounding the rapidly changing stay-at-home orders and the speed at which the outbreak damaged the economy. But by looking to history, we know that every downturn is unique, each one different in the new unforeseen challenges it poses for owners. The speed at which things turn down, the industries it hits worst, the length of the challenge—these things all vary.
But there are also constants. During downturns, many consumer segments look to tighten the belt on spending. They look for signals in the media that may indicate how long the downturn will last, and react accordingly…they get scared. As a reactionary result, and also at least partially driven by fear, businesses start hacking away at costs, looking to find the hidden fat they can cut—getting closer to bone as time goes on.
Now let’s be clear. The current 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, devastatingly, has not allowed many businesses in many industries to even go through that cutting process at all. The restaurant industry, for instance, wrapped up dinner service one night and went to bed, only to wake up the next to a world they didn’t recognize. One that required most of them to close their doors seemingly overnight. Those hard-working men and women surely comprise a large percentage of the staggering, at the time of this writing, 6.6 million Americans who filed claims for unemployment benefits.
But for the large majority of the states across the country, the landscape and construction industries have been much more fortunate by comparison. I suppose in the face of this historical time, we could even say we should be thankful. Make no mistake, it is still an incredibly difficult time to navigate through. It’s a time when tough decisions need to be made quickly. A time when the market leaders of tomorrow are made. But in order to be on the good side of history—the side that clearly shows that those companies that continue to market and advertise through the downturn end up with impressive growth and increased market share coming out the other side—cuts need to be made carefully. As the saying goes, using a scalpel instead of a meat cleaver will position your business to not only make it through the downturn, but emerge out of the hole ahead of the competition.
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Understanding consumer changes
The typical advice businesses receive during downturns or challenging times is to make their marketing as lean and effective as possible. I must admit, that one gets me every time. Does that mean when times are good that marketing should deliver less ROI and be poorly targeted? At HALSTEAD, we simply don’t live in that world, whatever that world is. We work with small businesses—$1.5M to $50M annual revenue—that demand and expect actual results for their marketing spend. And we wouldn't have it any other way—whether we’re experiencing a recession, a pandemic, or economic prosperity.
What does happen during leaner times, however, is businesses sometimes need to cut marketing spend, even if there is no wasted spend. And this is where the scalpel is needed for precision. Every business needs a slightly different approach, depending on service offerings, company size, staff, and budget. But rather than just start hacking away at the spend arbitrarily, it’s critical to dive deep on how the behavior of your target consumer has changed as a result of the situation. What are they deeming important as they navigate the downturn? Where is their attention now?
This understanding—this new understanding of the same consumer you've likely been targeting—must go deeper than age, wealth, careers, values, geographical location, hobbies, and interests. You likely already had those areas well-defined anyway because without that understanding, your marketing would not prove successful no matter how much you spend. For downturn-related persona modeling, we need to look at how your ideal customer is handling the downturn. How has it changed their values and behaviors?
For the most part when it comes to the residential service offerings of the industry, the clients are high earners. This typically means they are not the group of consumers who stop all spending and siren the alarms at the first sign of economic stress. Past downturns indicate that the top 10% will continue to spend, just more selectively. So it’s our job to convince them, or perhaps incentivize them, that your service is worthy of the spend. We do this by connecting their current emotions and situation as a result of the economic shift, to the benefits or solutions you can deliver.
It is critical when doing this digging exercise to better understand the current snapshot of your customer, to remember that downturns or pandemic-created recessions are most-often relatively short periods of your overall business’s life. Taking drastic measures to change your market position, the services you offer, or who you service is risky. You risk alienating your existing customer base and reducing the value of the brand you have worked so hard to develop. Staying true to your brand and the customer segment you service will propel you past the competition in the long run.
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Changing the message
It is critical to be extra sensitive in all your communications including messaging and visuals in your paid social ads, Instagram and Facebook posts, email blasts, and even one-on-one customer communications. Think about how each piece of copy relates to the current situation and ensure that it can’t be taken as insensitive or off-color.
In line with every marketing campaign’s goals, paid ads must work to connect with your existing customers and potential customers. In times of economic uncertainty, this almost always means being more human—more real. The viewer should feel like your business understands their current reality. So, creative and copywriting should focus on emotion, rather than hard sales. You are working to have your services—whether it’s the design and installation of that new poolscape or the continuation of your concierge maintenance offering—make the cut when consumers are tightening the belt. The goal must be increased trust in you to deliver and increased confidence that they are making the right choice with their money during this time. So it’s not "We are the best installers of pools,” it’s more “Connect with your family better than ever, right in your own backyard.”
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Take action
Challenging economic times means adverse conditions for operating businesses—this requires strong, swift leadership rather than panic. Overreacting to the short-term conditions without concern for the long-term strategy will put the company at increased risk and reduce the chances of coming out of the downturn successfully. Numerous studies show that brands that continue to advertise and market during downturns experience exponential growth during the period following. Here a few key components that have proven successful for businesses in past times:
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Prioritize your people
Your team is your number one asset. Do all you can to keep them employed and working during challenging times—you will most certainly need them when things start to build again.
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Access opportunities for products and services
Shifting economic times and social conditions often means new opportunities. How are customers spending their time now? What products or services are they requesting now that didn't seem popular before? How can you pivot or adapt your offerings to better align to the current situation and the ones that will follow? For instance, during this COVID-19 pandemic, many design/builds have increased their remote meetings and design sessions. Is this something that the consumer will continue to appreciate moving forward? Is there an opportunity for you to own that niche during and following the downturn?
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Sell out of it
During crises, consumers categorize expenses into categories—essential, things they can cut completely, things they will look to reduce, etc. It must be your goal to sell and market your services into the category of things that will remain important enough in the consumer’s eyes not to cut.
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pass the competition
At a time when some companies are choosing to cut advertising and marketing spends, others are seeing the opportunity and are dialing-in for the win. Record-breaking social media usage and declining ad spend costs due to reduced big brand budgets for the newsfeed, combined with many homeowners being forced to face the reality of a less than spectacular outdoor living space while being stuck at home, means an opportunity to reach people and connect with them around what you do. For stable landscape and design/build firms thinking longer term than a few months, this means increasing marketing and ad spends, not decreasing.
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Simplify and Clarify
Many studies show that consumers become less patient during downturns. Messages and offerings need to be dialed-in and communicated clearly to break through their mindset. Drill in on your core services and trim fat from your service offerings. Complicated or broad strokes chew up marketing budgets, and do not connect strongly enough to the goals of the consumer during challenging economic times.
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Consider an offshoot brand
If the need to offer a lower price point becomes too strong to ignore, address it without damaging your core company. Rather than slashing prices or delivering reduced quality, launch a separate company to serve that market. This will allow you to address the new demands without changing the course of your company's history post downturn. For instance, during unprecedented times like the COVID-19 outbreak, luxury design/build firms could offshoot a company that delivers fire pit kits to families looking for things to do while trapped at home. Come up with a marketing insert that explains how to make their new space more permanent once times get better. How about you include a s'mores kit subscription service as an add-on? Landscape firms that typically design and install softscapes can create indoor planters to bring some life and energy into clients’ homes during this time. You can fulfill these “indoor-scapes” via contactless delivery.
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Do more with less
Moving ad spends from less measurable strategies such as TV, print, or billboards to more data-driven methods like digital is a proven way to drive ROI with less. There’s a reason that during the 2008 crisis, ad spends in the US dropped 13% overall, and digital only took a 2% hit. During the same period, radio saw 22% declines and magazines 18%. This simply proves, and it’s true now more than ever, that digital delivers the best return during downturns. But what’s interesting is that the same is true during healthy times as well—companies just aren’t as concerned then.
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This too shall pass
Through challenging times, business owners and leadership must keep the long-term plan in sight. You are operating your landscape or design/build business for the next 40 years, not the next two months. Take advantage of the new opportunities the time brings, stay positive, stay healthy, and stay in control rather than making emotional decisions. It’s time to operate.
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