Ponds Done Wrong, Customers Served Wrong

Ponds Done Right, Customers Served Right has been Aquascape and our Certified Aquascape Contractor motto forever. Unfortunately, not every contractor adheres to that motto, and worse yet, most consumers don’t know what lies ahead when they hire a typical contractor to build their “dream water feature.” We’ve been working to train contractors on the proper way to install water features for 20 years while educating consumers as well. We’ve done a better job at doing just that than anyone, but we are far from there and far from satisfied.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about living through this election campaign it’s the power of negative advertising. For the last two decades Aquascape has been pumping out more beautiful pond photos, magazines, books, videos, and communication on “Living the Lifestyle” than literally the rest of the water feature industry combined. And yet, if you see what most contractors install, and consumers buy, it’s obvious the message still isn’t being heard. Do you agree?! That’s where we need your help. This winter we are creating a link on our website dedicated to the horrors of poorly designed and built water features. In many ways doing this is sacrilegious to me personally. But, hopefully by pointing out the negative in doing it wrong, people will see the positive in doing it right! What do you think?

Here’s what I do know for sure. What our website doesn’t need is the same thing our Facebook page, Friday videos, or catalog doesn’t need more of. Beautiful Ponds Done Right is not the problem. We’ve got a plethora of photos, videos, and text dedicated exclusively to the topic of doing it right. What we lack, thank you very much Obama and Romney, is a full frontal assault for consumers, contractors and retailers showing the pitfalls of doing it wrong! From over-complicated systems that don’t work with Mother Nature to illustrations of what happens when you don’t follow a step by step approach or cut corners we need to showcase what’s done wrong to get people to see what’s right in how Certified Aquascape Contractors are doing things. And, speaking of CACs if there’s one thing this site is going to scream it’s the Russian roulette consumers play when they don’t hire a CAC to do their water feature.

Now this is where you come in. If you agree with this new approach of “negative advertising” then help us build the site the right way and not the wrong way. This is a slippery slope we are on together here promoting the negative to accomplish the positive. The last thing Aquascape, you, or me want or need is to turn people off to an industry and hobby we love.  I have given my team the direction to create a campaign, and a site, that consumers will find (hopefully before they install their water feature) that graphically illustrates in picture text and video Ponds Done Wrong. We want your before and after pictures and the stories of how those water feature owners found nirvana with the water feature your company created for them. We want this site to be organic and not just postings of pictures of the pitfalls but also giving people the opportunity to know where to proceed next to get what they want by showing definitely what they don’t.

The majority of water features installed today, which in itself speaks volumes, are done wrong. And just so there is no confusion on how Aquascape defines a pond or water feature done right, here it is. A water feature “done right” is beautiful, low maintenance and profitable! And unfortunately for all of us, even those whose majority of their business comes from retrofitting and upgrading water features done wrong; most water features installed don’t fit that bill. They don’t pass the beauty and maintenance test for the consumer and/or the profitability for the contractor. And, that in a nutshell is the biggest reason less water features are being installed now, economy be damned.

If you agree with what I’m saying here we want to hear from you. Send us your pictures, your stories and ideas on how to make this site and our entire campaign on “Ponds Done Wrong, Consumers Done Wrong” succeed. We will be linking this site to aquascapeinc.com which is a good start as it is the number one site by ranking in the world for decorative water features. But, we plan on fully displaying our marketing resources with our YouTube channel (aquascape4), Facebook pages and even printed literature to promote the Ponds Done Right, Customers Served Right mantra.

In many ways what we are trying to do is a Herculean task to reach and impact the masses to reverse the negative perceptions by ironically promoting the negatives we all see every day. Aquascape is willing to do our part by reaching out as we have been to historically non-Aquascape dealers, associates and networks. We invite anyone to share ways with us, competitors or not, to add to this campaign. And finally for you, our acquaintances, customers and friends to share your photos, stories and ideas directly with us for the good of an industry and the consumers who rely on us to get it right.

Carpe Diem