As a marketing agency specializing in the trades, Leadhub understands the unique challenges that home service companies face when it comes to advertising. One often overlooked factor that can significantly impact your marketing efforts is the presidential election cycle.
In this blog, we'll explore how election years can affect your paid ad channels and what you can do to maintain your marketing effectiveness.
The Election Year Ad Landscape
During presidential election years, the advertising landscape undergoes a dramatic shift. Political campaigns pour millions of dollars into various ad platforms, creating a ripple effect that impacts businesses across all sectors, including home services.
1. Increased Competition And Costs
With political ads flooding the market, competition for ad space intensifies. This increased demand often leads to higher costs per click (CPC) and costs per thousand impressions (CPM) across platforms like Google Ads, Facebook and YouTube.
For home service companies, this means your advertising budget may not stretch as far as it usually does. You might find yourself paying more for the same amount of visibility or reach.
2. Ad Inventory Scarcity
Many platforms have limited ad inventory, especially in key battleground states. As political campaigns snap up available slots, particularly for video and display ads, you may find it challenging to secure prime ad placements for your home service business.
3. Audience Attention Shift
During election seasons, consumer attention often shifts towards political content. This can lead to lower engagement rates for non-political ads, potentially affecting the performance of your home service marketing campaigns.
4. Platform Policy Changes
Ad platforms often implement stricter policies during election years to combat misinformation. While these policies primarily target political ads, they can sometimes inadvertently affect other advertisers. It's crucial to stay informed about any policy changes that might impact your ad strategies.
Strategies For Home Service Companies
Despite these challenges, there are several strategies that Leadhub uses for our home service companies to maintain effective marketing during election years:
- Plan ahead & budget wisely — Anticipate increased costs and allocate your budget accordingly. We may consider setting aside additional funds for the months leading up to the election when ad costs typically peak.
- Diversify your ad channels — Don't put all your eggs in one basket. We can help you explore a mix of digital advertising platforms, including search engines, social media and industry-specific sites. This can help mitigate the impact of cost increases on any single platform.
- Focus on local SEO — While paid ads might become more expensive, organic search remains a cost-effective channel. Invest in local SEO strategies to improve your visibility in local search results, which are crucial for home service businesses.
- Leverage email marketing — Email marketing is a direct channel to your audience that isn't affected by election ad saturation. Use this time to build and nurture your email list with valuable content and personalized offers.
- Emphasize remarketing — With potentially fewer new customers seeing your ads, focus on remarketing to previous website visitors and past customers. These warm leads are more likely to convert, even in a competitive ad environment.
- Optimize ad scheduling — Consider adjusting your ad schedules to avoid peak political advertising times. For example, we might reduce ad spend during evening hours when political ads are most prevalent on TV and increase daytime ads instead.
- Refine your targeting — Use precise targeting to reach your most valuable audience segments. This can help improve the efficiency of your ad spend in a more competitive landscape.
- Monitor & adjust — Keep a close eye on your ad performance metrics. Be prepared to make real-time adjustments to your campaigns based on performance data and cost fluctuations.
Beyond The Ballot: Securing Your Marketing Success
While election years can present unique challenges for home service companies’ marketing performance, they also offer opportunities for innovative strategies. By staying informed, planning ahead and remaining flexible, you can navigate these changes successfully.
At Leadhub, we specialize in helping home service companies adapt their marketing strategies to changing landscapes. We understand the nuances of election year advertising and can help you develop a robust plan to maintain your marketing effectiveness, regardless of the political climate.
Remember, while the election might be temporary, your business goals are long-term. With the right approach, you can turn these challenges into opportunities for growth and differentiation in your market. Take the lead, with Leadhub!
