While it often seems that predicting what will happen in the future has taken a bumpy road the last 18 months, the good news is that marketing trends continue to be strong and give good insight into what businesses should focus on in the coming year no matter what the market brings. We know that consumers are focused on their lives, their homes, their families, their health, and their jobs. So whether your customers are at residential or commercial sites, the green industry is poised to continue marketing in 2022 to people who need/want better landscapes and outdoor spaces. Below are 5 items to focus your marketing on for the upcoming year based upon these trends.
1: Video Marketing
A trend widely seen in 2021 and predicted to continue into 2022 and beyond is the use of video in marketing. A large reason for this trend is because videos can convey a considerable amount of information in a quick few seconds. Videos have the ability to help your company reach new audiences, tell a detailed story, and build trust. When customers can “see you in action” they feel more confident in hiring you. They begin to feel like they know you before you ever meet in person, and this motivates them to want to work with you. Many businesses are seeing the enormous benefits of adding video content to their online presence. It’s easy and it’s worth it! According to Top Floor Tech:
- 97% of marketers claim that videos help their customers better understand products
- 81% of businesses are now using video as a part of their digital marketing strategy
- 90% of consumers claim a video will help them when making a purchasing decision
For Tips to Easily Create and Share Video Content for Your Business visit www.centraltis.com/videomarketing.
2: Focus on Social Media
Want to start trending in the green industry in your local markets? Predictions for next year indicate this could get even harder with more and more businesses focusing on these same market trends and solutions. You don’t want to do all this work and have your marketing efforts end up as something people just scroll quickly past on their way to other content. This is where well-designed partnerships can play an important role heading into 2022. When you tag or mention someone in your communications who has a more widely known audience, either online or in their local community, your business will grow! Consider partnerships with a local charity, or a green industry subject matter expert to increase your visibility.
It has been noted by inc.com “More and more, consumers are looking to support companies that have a mission or give back in some way. This trend is only going to increase, and a well-rounded marketing plan should take part in this development by partnering with nonprofits. This partnership opportunity has the potential to not only grow your business, but also align you with philanthropic missions that are important to you. Expanding your brand and reach while engaging in advocacy for a nonprofit is a win-win. However, your marketing plan shouldn’t end at simply expressing support for a charitable organization. It should include effective goals such as product placement, affiliate marketing, percentage of sales donations, or corporate sponsorship.”
Also stay up on new social media trends that previously emerged and are predicted to continue to stick around in 2022, like Instagram Reels. Introduced in August 2020 to the Instagram platform, these quick videos can be as short as 3 seconds or up to 60 seconds long and can bring your brand to life. And based off the algorithms created on the Instagram platform, it is now widely known that consumers are more likely to have Reels pushed higher on their newsfeed than photos. Don’t be afraid to jump into social media marketing for 2022 if you haven’t already. It is easy and can generate a high volume of job leads. As popular as social media has been, the user numbers have surged even greater in the past 12 months, with 520 million new users joining social media in 2021.
According to Instagram, brands and creators should post Reels that:
- Are entertaining and fun (i.e. delights people, grabs their attention, makes them laugh, or has a fun surprise or twist)
- Are inspiring (i.e. starts a trend that others can easily participate in)
- Use creative tools like text, filter, or camera effects
- Use vertical video
- Use music from the Instagram music library and/or original audio you create or find on Reels
- Are experimental! Try something new, be yourself, and see what works for you
On the flipside, Instagram advises that brands and creators should not post Reels that:
- Are blurry due to low-resolution
- Are visibly recycled from other apps (i.e, contains logos or watermarks)
- Are uploaded with a border around them
- Have the majority of the image covered by text
- Do not meet Instagram’s Community Guidelines
3: Continued Focus on Marketing Specifically Related to a Crisis/Pandemic
When we look ahead into marketing for 2022 there is a hyper awareness that the pandemic will continue to effect businesses in a myriad of ways. Continued issues with supply chains, costs, availability of labor, and health concerns will create the need to continue to focus on this in your marketing strategies. There will remain the need to address customer concerns on pricing, availability of products, ability to complete jobs in timely manners, and setting manageable expectations. For example, don’t market a product to your email list promising a price and item to only later find out the item isn’t available. You might feel confident at first that you secured many purchase orders and payments, but you will loose trust and eventually customers in the long run if you take their money and then tell them for months the items is “coming”. Customers don’t want the supply chain issues to be their problem, they want the brunt of the problem to be handled by you and your team. Thus, you should focus on creating smart marketing that avoids these pit-falls in 2022.
- Pre-purchase items you know will be popular based upon green industry trends and expert advice so you have them available to install as soon as you sell them
- Be honest about installation timing and job site scheduling
- Continued awareness and incorporation on contactless technology as customer comfort of in-person experiences continue to fluctuate
4: Personalization Through a Lifecycle Lens: Relationship Marketing
Relationship marketing is defined as “a facet of customer relationship management (CRM) that focuses on customer loyalty and long-term customer engagement rather than shorter-term goals like customer acquisition and individual sales. The goal of relationship marketing (or customer relationship marketing) is to create strong, even emotional, customer connections to a brand that can lead to ongoing business, free word-of-mouth promotion and information from customers that can generate leads.” –Techtarget.com
This means focusing your marketing content, products, emails, printed materials, and job quotes to align with who your customer is, and where they are in their current lifecycle. For example: new young homeowners may be looking to rip out old bushes from previous homeowners and install high-end automated sprinkler systems, while commercial job site managers may be looking for for the best price to soften their budgets and bottom lines going into 2022.
One way to focus on success in Relationship Marketing is to improve your email personalization through the concept of R.A.C.E. To Your Goal (Reach, Act, Convert, Engage) Email Planning.
- Reach: Viral and influencer emails. Reach as many people as you can with general company information, branding, and visibility.
- Act: Send emails with lead generation possibilities and website click through opportunities. Also focus on social media ad targeting.
- Convert: Create and send an inviting email, and follow up with a specific sequence of emails based upon the client (nurture emails, e-newsletters, and a re-engagement email). Create multiple email lists so customers are only receiving focused information for their needs, with CTA (call to action) buttons and click through options.
- Engage: Customer welcome email, strategy for onboarding emails, customer e-newsletter, satisfaction review, re-commitment options. Anticipate a customer’s ongoing needs and build the relationship so they continue to stay engaged with you.
5: Create a Marketing Budget To Stay On Track
Planning will be the key to success in 2022. Keeping track of your spending on marketing will serve dual purposes for this planned success. First, it will ensure you are dedicated to making marketing a central component of your business strategy. When you spend money on something it creates an inherent value in your overall mission, because you don’t want that money to be wasted. And secondly, creating a marketing budget will ensure you don’t forget about this critical customer piece of your business when things get hectic during the busy season. In addition, create a matching Marketing Calendar to coincide with the spending. Read here on Central TIS tips for creating and using a marketing calendar.
These budgets can be as simple as designating how much you have to spend in 2022 on Marketing and then dividing it into categories with percentages such as:
- Website 20%
- Social Media 20%
- Partnerships 10%
- Events 10%
- Email 10%
- Paid Digital Ads 10%
- SEO 10%
- Charities 10%
Finally
Whether it’s Marketing and Design Support, access to Subject Matter Experts, or investing in Early Order Programs, Central is the right partner for your business. Our highly experienced teams have decades of experience to help you identify best-practices and implement initiatives that deliver results. We’re ready to help you grow!