If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that predicting the future is a foolish undertaking.

With that fact firmly established, I want to prove myself a fool by making some predictions about the upcoming year.

This will end well, I'm sure....

One unexpected outcome of the pandemic has been a broad increase in demand for home services. Landscape projects got moved to the forefront, and homeowners who have historically been unconcerned with their lawn and landscape were forced to really look at their properties. In many markets and for many companies, this drove a significant amount of new demand. 

The buying motivation seems to be “If we are going to be home anyway, we might as well make the place look nice.” As we have been saying for years, the landscape can be an outdoor living room (or classroom, or office, or escape from your family who is quarantined AGAIN…). In general, the focus on the home has been a good thing.

However, the money driving that demand didn’t just appear. Rather, it was reallocated from vacations, camps, and any number of other activities that had to be cancelled. By one estimate, the U.S. travel industry lost somewhere near 316 BILLION dollars in 2020 - and at least some of that revenue has made its way to the green industry, which is good news.

My prediction is honestly not a big jump: we will continue to see increased demand over the course of 2021, but by this time next year, pent up demand for travel and adventure will collide with a vaccinated population, and the demand for lawn and landscape services will wane somewhat as a result. 

As we move into the new year, I hope you can take advantage of heightened demand for however long it lasts, but I encourage you to continue your lead-generation marketing efforts. Every time the demand landscape shifts, it favors companies who market their services consistently and communicate well with their clients and prospects.