Avoid the Slow-Season Cash Flow Slump: A Proven Strategy for Landscape Contractors and Pool Builders
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The Content Team,
HALSTEAD.
Originally published on June 2, 2015. Updated on September 10, 2022.
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You’ve finished a profitable warm-weather season, and a sense of foreboding washes over you as you think about the uncertainty ahead. If you live in an area with snow, welcome to the slow-season cash flow slump. Many people think it’s an inevitable part of running a landscaping or pool building business, but is it?
It’s possible to enjoy cash flow stability despite the weather when you’re strategic in marketing all year round. If you tend to neglect marketing when things are going well and then scramble to find customers when things slow down, you need a new strategy to avoid the anxiety and actually look forward to a continued season of growth.
Wasting Opportunities for Cash Flow: A Common Mistake Landscapers and Pool Builders Make
When you’re consumed by wrapping up fall projects and wondering how to get through winter—and decide to put off marketing efforts until spring—you’re setting yourself up to miss high revenue-producing projects and eliminate the opportunity for cash flow from December to February. Since the buying cycle starts anywhere from November to July (for areas where the spring season begins in early March), much of the customer journey is complete before the warm season begins and at least eight weeks before prospects initially contact you.
Knowing this, top landscaping and pool companies have been implementing marketing strategies, whether it’s the slow or busy season, so they’re not scrambling to do so when business is in a slump. These companies go into the spring season with projects in the pipeline and are ready to begin at the first sign of spring, which means they receive down payments during the first, second, and third snowfalls when many contractors are struggling to stay afloat. The result is a stabilized cash flow and less anxiety about what the spring season will hold since there are no unknowns.
Want to Know the Secret to a Stable Cash Flow All Year Round?
Successful firms know that staying in front of their target audience is critical to stabilizing cash flow throughout the year. By getting more prospects into the sales funnel at the right times, this highly effective solution cuts most of the uncertainty of the slow season and helps bring cash in sooner.
Familiarity builds trust, and trust is the foundation for making the sale. You won't get the sale if potential customers aren’t familiar with your brand. When your business is out of sight, it’s out of mind—your company won’t be getting that big outdoor kitchen or luxury poolscape project someone has been planning for if they don’t know that your company exists. The solution to this common challenge is one your competitors may already use and one you need to get on board with as soon as possible—always-on marketing.
What Is Always-On Marketing for Landscapers and Pool Builders?
Always-on marketing involves continuous inbound digital marketing activities that run at all times, intending to reach as many people in your target audience as possible through the customer journey and introduce them to your sales funnel. It means producing content that serves a need at every stage—from awareness and consideration to conversion and beyond.
This ongoing digital marketing strategy is proactive rather than reactive. While traditional marketing involves burst campaigns, always-on marketing is a steady drip of helpful information via content. It is year-round marketing that helps keep your business top of mind. Many firms implementing always-on marketing find their sales funnel full of more work than they can take on—allowing them to be much more selective in their project commitments.
How to Use Always-On Content Marketing to Show Up for Your Target Audience
There are two non-negotiables of an always-on content marketing approach: quality and consistency. 60% of marketers create at least one piece of content daily, adding up to a significant amount of content over time—which is essential for making the most out of SEO and showing up at the top of search engine results pages. But there is one thing that’s more important than quantity: quality.
The quality of content is the number one factor that adds credibility to a blog. SEO efforts are essential, but the reader must be first in mind when creating content and writing for an algorithm second. Establishing thought leadership in the industry with quality content will help customers build trust. But what makes quality content?
Expert Advice for How Landscapers and Pool Builders Can Create Quality Content
Keep these four attributes in mind to create quality content that will guide a potential customer through the buyer’s journey and eventually lead to conversion.
Helpful: Quality content must be specific and touch on a particular pain point for your target customer. It should be useful and informational. For example, a residential lawn care company could create a blog post titled “How to Care for Your Lawn During a Drought,” which would include helpful information about how to ensure lawn health and end with a call to action to contact your company for professional lawn care help.
Engaging: You have eight seconds to capture a reader’s attention, a statistic that has shrunk 25% within a few years. Content needs to be interesting and easy to read. You can achieve this visually and structurally throughout your content, by including graphics to break up the text, using headings, and keeping sentences and paragraphs short.
Goal-oriented: Don’t create content for the sake of creating content, but strategically plan and implement to meet a specific goal. For each piece of content, consider where the customer is in the buyer journey. In addition, consider which keywords you’re hoping to rank. Use analytics to determine what’s working and what isn’t, and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Timely: Landscape contractors and pool builders that do content marketing well are those who keep their content up to date. Periodically, you will need to do a content audit to ensure content is timely and applicable. This strategy also shows Google that your website is active.
Harnessing the Power of Automation for the Always-On Content Strategy
Getting the most out of your content means distributing it effectively, and automation is key. For example, say you are a pool and spa builder and create a blog post titled “Stand-Alone Custom Inground Spas for Style and Enjoyment.” A potential customer may be looking for a luxurious stand-alone spa and come upon your blog when researching. In another scenario, you’ve scheduled a Facebook post to share the post. Even though this particular post was published five years ago, the content is still relevant and serves the purpose of always-on marketing.
The content on your website has now filled in as a front-line sales team and has likely pre-qualified the reader. The prospect reading the post clicks on your link to get more information, fills out your contact form, and schedules a call. This places the person in your sales funnel, automatically adds them to your customer relationship management (CRM) system and schedules a phone call on your calendar.
You can establish a connection with a customer through an automated process and always-on content marketing. Once a contact is in your CRM, you can add them to an email campaign targeted to customers looking for stand-alone spas. These emails are automatically sent and personalized to the customer, working to keep your business top of mind.
How Always-On Marketing Helps Landscape and Pool Contractors Scale Their Businesses
A steady flow of prospects all year round allows you to keep momentum rather than operating in seasonal cycles of ebbs and flows. While creating content takes time and effort, it’s an investment that continues to build upon itself.
The result of content creation combined with automation is the ability to scale beyond your sales team and offer an experience that seems high-touch for the customer but requires minimal effort on your end. You can show up for the customer where your customer is and at any time of day. For example, this strategy allows the ER doctor, who is dreaming of an outdoor living area, to get the information he needs at 3 a.m. when he has a moment to do so—rather than wait for your operating business hours.
The benefits of always-on marketing extend beyond making sales. For example, many companies are strategic about content that helps recruit potential employees. Tactically, this may look like sharing content that highlights your company's culture on Facebook or LinkedIn. This regular drip of information helps potential recruits become familiar with your company and highlight what you have to offer. This way, you’re recruiting all year round and have a long list of candidates ready in your ATS when you need to add to your workforce—yet another way you can automate and scale your business.