Growing & Retaining Your Customer Base

Participation in outdoor recreation continues to increase after the explosion in new recreationists during the pandemic. So how can your business reach new customers and retain existing customers? Here’s what the research says.

KNOW YOUR POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS

59% of Arizonans participate in an outdoor recreation activity (source), meanwhile national parks like Grand Canyon drive millions of out-of-state and international recreationists to visit our state too (source). 

But who is recreating in Arizona? What activities are they participating in?

Along with the popularity of outdoor recreation comes diversity, among both interests and demographics. Let’s break down the findings of the latest Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) Participation Trends report, released just this week, and data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis to help you find your potential customers:

POPULAR ACTIVITES

Nationally, hiking is the most popular outdoor activity while people who run did so more often than those who participated in other outdoor activities. They are also the fastest growing activities. Meanwhile, camping continues to grow rapidly while bicycling and fishing round out the other top five outdoor activities.

Part of that sustained growth for trail running and hiking is their overall accessibility compared to other activities that require more equipment and time. However, it’s also coming from increased participation of women and families who overwhelmingly list trail running and hiking as their preferred activities.  

In Arizona specifically, the data is a little bit different since it only tracks the total economic value added by an activity rather than the level of participation but we can still draw some interesting conclusions. Arizona’s data shows a slightly different trend: fishing and snow activities are declining in economic value added while hiking, biking, and other more accessible activities are increasing in popularity (source).

DEMOGRAPHICS

The growth of outdoor participation is overwhelmingly being driven by younger participants and BIPOC participants nationally. However, people 55+ are also becoming more active and are now 1 in every 5 outdoor participants!

Quick Stats:

  • Average age of an outdoor recreation participant: 37.4 years old

  • Families with young children are much more likely to participate in outdoor recreation than families with older children or non-LGBTQIA+ adults without children

  • While there’s continued growth in outdoor recreationists, the number of outings per participant is declining, which continues a trend that started in 2013 – meaning more folks are getting outdoors in total, but each individual is getting out less

KNOW THE MARKET TRENDS

GROWTH OF OUTDOOR RECREATION IN AZ

Arizona’s National Parks and Monuments are a huge driver of potential customers to your business. Several metro areas, like Phoenix and Tucson, see a big boost in international and national tourists due to nearby outdoor recreation opportunities (source). 

One key indicator of Arizona’s growth is that our state’s outdoor recreation and tourism industries continue to bounce back much faster than other states’ after the pandemic shutdown (source). In addition, many of those visitors - even international visitors - end up being repeat travelers to Arizona and many contribute their return to Arizona’s many unique outdoor activities and offerings, which offers them a new trip with every visit. Watch our webinar with Arizona’s Office of Tourism to learn more about this incredible dynamic.

However, tourists aren’t the only ones who enjoy outdoor recreation in Arizona. Many of your customers will also come from your local community – as stated above, 59% of Arizonans participate in outdoor recreation! Meanwhile, 63% of Arizonans consider themselves to be conservationists and 86% support more protection for public lands (source). Your customers care about the places they recreate in, and your business should too. 

Retaining customers, especially local ones, is cheaper than trying to attract new ones, like tourists, and that trend holds true for all industries (source). Therefore, our advice below should help you tap into your local community to create relationships via a shared love of Arizona’s public lands – a relationship with your community that will turn them into loyal customers – while still attracting those outdoor rec. visitors.

Therefore, small businesses who may not be able to compete on price or online presence can carve out a distinct and sustainable competitive advantage by tuning into what their community is valuing and aligning their brand with that. Good news to GO AZ members: polls show that protecting our unique public lands is a near universal value in Arizona with 82% of Arizonians supporting it (source). Being loud and proud about being a GO AZ member and working hard to protect beloved places like the Grand Canyon region can work in your favor in the current consumer market.

TWO IMPORTANT DATA POINTS APPEARING IN NATIONAL MARKET TRENDS

  • Lack of overall racial diversity in outdoor recreation and the slower pace of growth of non-white outdoor participants could mean long term trouble for businesses dependent on outdoor recreation customers

Outdoor recreation remains an activity with predominantly white participants. However, the country will be majority-minority by 2040. In Arizona, that shift will happen even sooner as many counties are already predominantly non-white (source). That means it’s crucial for businesses and organizations to work together to make outdoor recreation more accessible and inclusive if we want our state’s outdoor industry and public lands to continue to thrive. 

Fortunately, after sustained industry efforts to make outdoor recreation more inclusive, young BIPOC took more interest in outdoor activities and are a big part of the growth of participation this past year. 

  • The number of “core” outdoor recreationists is declining while casual and moderate outdoor recreationists are increasing.

This trend is only a problem for the outfitters and shops that cater to core recreationists (those who participate in outdoor activities at least once a week) who traditionally have been the ones buying the most technical, expensive gear – the top mountain bike, the expedition tent, etc.  These recreators have been declining since 2013 and the trend shows no signs of reversing. However, if appealed to, casual and moderate recreation could easily make up for the loss of purchasing power among the core recreationists. 

WHAT ARE CUSTOMERS CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR IN A BUSINESS?

Increasingly customers are looking to spend their money with brands that are more than just their profit. An astounding 81% of millennials (the overall largest consumer block in the country and the largest bloc of outdoor recreationists; those currently between 25 - 40 years old) will spend more money with brands that align with their values and skip over businesses that do not lead with their values (source). It’s a bigger driver for their purchasing decisions than the price of a product. In addition, they are more likely to purchase from brands that have a strong online presence rather than those who rely heavily on their brick and mortar presence (source). 

However, it’s not just millennials who prefer brands that are loud in their values – it’s the majority at every age range. 55% of consumers 55+, 66% 35-54, and 76% 18-34 years old all prefer business owners to be transparent and speak out about their values (source). In fact, Baby Boomers (consumers 57-75 years old) and those older are the only consumer blocs that still prefer a bargain or a good price over having values alignment with the brand they are purchasing from.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO INCREASE YOUR BOTTOM LINE

CREATING AN ATTRACTIVE BUSINESS

The best way to retain your customers and find new ones? Know them and the market so well that you know what they want before they do. A big part of that is being a part of your local community and the outdoor recreation community as a whole.

In addition, we touched on it above, but leading with your community and social values is a big attraction to most potential customers. To learn how to do that, check out a recording from a GO AZ member meeting with the Las Cruces Green Chamber of Commerce on how businesses in Las Cruces, NM are able to use nearby Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument to attract potential customers.

Want to support a National Monument that’ll bring more potential recreationists to support Arizona businesses? Or, want to show customers your business values public lands? Learn more about the effort to create the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument:

REACHING CUSTOMERS ONLINE

Small, local businesses typically don’t have the big advertising budgets or teams of national companies but you can still reach your customers online a number of ways:

  • Ask your customers for reviews on Google

Google is one of the top ways people find your business – whether using Google Maps or Google Search itself. Put a sign up near the register or as folks are leaving asking for reviews. They elevate your business on Google and give you the chance to build a community around your brand as you respond to the feedback on the platform (that requires you to own/claim your business on Google, learn how to do that here). While Yelp, Travel Advisor, and other review platforms can be pay-to-play, Google reviews is still community-driven so we recommend focusing there.

  • Work with local influencers

Don’t have the time to grow a big following for your business? Work with those who already have large followings. Arizona outdoor influencers like Wild Gina, Darwin OnTheTrail, GO AZ member Dialed In Hunter, The AZ Hikeaholics, WildJoyExperiences, SouthwestSampler,  Aiesha Beasley, and nizhonifulme. You can form relationships with them, invite them to your space, work with them to raise your brand awareness, or simply re-share their high performing posts to help your page’s other posts do well. While we link to their Instagram accounts above, do a bit more research on the influencers you want to work with – some are more popular on YouTube while others are more popular on TikTok or Facebook. 

  • Post on social and let GO AZ post on social about your business

On top of getting influencers to post about your business on social media, you can post about your business on social media too! Let your employees take it over and feature them during their work shifts, post about your events, post about your products, etc. Pick one or two platforms and just focus on those – no need to be everywhere. Or, let GO AZ post about you! Take our member survey and we’ll write and promote a profile about your business on social media. It shows potential customers where your values are, motivating them to shop with you, and takes the work of raising your brand awareness off of your plate and putting it on us.

CUSTOMER SERVICE & ENGAGEMENT

Last, but definitely not least: once you have found your customers, retain them with good customer service. Building and then retaining a loyal customer base can increase your revenue and is cheaper than trying to gain new customers for every purchase. 80% of customers reported that they were likely to patronize a business again when they received value during a customer service experience (source). That includes customers of service-oriented businesses, like outfitters and guides, but every business should center service and customer engagement.

You can do that with some of the same methods mentioned above: getting involved in your local community, engaging with customers online, asking them for their feedback, and being a helpful resource for them in their Arizona adventures.

FURTHER READING