Whether you’re a brand new business or you’ve been in the neighborhood for years, it can be tough to stand out from the competition. There are other local shops to contend with, on top of the increase in online floral businesses.
Here are nine business tips to help you get your name out there as a retail florist.
1) Have a noticeable online presence. You can get a customized website and make sure to develop some quality content. Use social media tools to your advantage by being visible on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, and participate in other groups in the floral industry.
2) Run special promotions to attract customers. Periodically offering coupons or discounts will generate new business and remind regular customers of your presence.
3) This probably goes without saying, but list your shop in all local business directories. Many people fail to take advantage of all of their area publications, especially the online editions, most of which offer free listings.
4) Ensure that people recognize and remember your brand by having a business name and/or logo that stands out. If you have a delivery van, use it to your advantage. A unique mobile advertising campaign could push you far ahead of your competition.
5) Focus on important events and holidays. Graduations, Mother’s Day, and several other holidays generate a tremendous amount of business for retail flower shops.
6) Send free (surprise) arrangements to local businesses. This is a great way to get word-of-mouth advertising and referrals, especially if you’re relatively new to the area.
7) Offer some freebies for certain events, such as a non-profit fundraiser. You’ll be “doing good” by supporting important causes and generating good PR for your business.
8) Create flyers, posters, and product guides that contain useful information for your customers. Establish yourself as the most knowledgeable and experienced florist in the area, while remaining accessible to the local community.
9) Most importantly, perfect your elevator pitch. From a recent Microsoft Business article:
The whole idea behind a great elevator pitch is to intrigue someone. It’s an ice-breaker and a marketing pitch — all rolled into one. Your elevator pitch must have a hook. “I own a flower shop downtown” doesn’t hold a candle to “I’m a specialty florist who deals in rare, South American tropical flowers that bloom in the winter.”
Once you have these strategies in place, contact us to find out more about SEO and ecommerce solutions for your florist business. We can help you expand your reach and achieve better online results.
I think you’ve covered quite a lot with the tips. One thing I noticed here with local businesses, is that they often aren’t even represented online or taking advantage of the possibilities of social media. Nowadays, more local businesses get a website, but that’s just one step.
I always give tips to (usually older) people that have a small business. Some just ignore it or say “oh boy that’s not for me that internet thing”. Others ask more about it. I hope more and more people will use it to their advantage.
You can start building your website, with focus on design and content, depending on what you want to showcase. Some businesses want a blog style type of website, not only mentioning their product, but their benefits and related subjects.
As for social media, you can start with what site makes you feel more comfortable. I started with Twitter and so far my sales strategies haven’t failed at all. I have a FB page but without much success.
In what way do you use Facebook then? Are you making changes to your Facebook strategy if you see it’s not giving much success?
This is all good advice, but one thing I’ve noticed with my local small businesses is that they can have websites that are difficult to navigate or aren’t updated so the information is out of date. Having a website is good advice, but making sure it’s easy to navigate and update should be equally important information.
this is always been a great tips and thanks for sharing.
This is wonderful advice for a floral business and any business for that matter. I have floral business clients that I do online media work for and just as this article states you really need to build a comfortable online presence. Whether you provide floral arrangements for weddings, graduations or valentines day, you need to carry out your distinct advantage in a unique way with freebies.
I’d like to zero in on tip #2. Promotions are really of great value to the company. As long as they are planned out wisely and executed excellently, promotions can really give your sales figures a huge boost. Just do pencil-pushing to make sure your returns will be significantly higher than the costs.
I have many friends that have used the floral business, for different events in their life. They are often trying to find the best business that they can simply call on, when these events come up. It’s best to introduce your floral business to them months in advance, so your business will come to mind when they need the service right away.
I especially liked tip number 6 – sending free (surprise) flower arrangements to any local business you can. Just imagine if you were on the receiving end of a great looking bouquet! Wouldn’t that make you want to spread word about such a company that brings free flowers to it’s potential customers?
I also agree that you need to make people recognize your brand whenever they see it. You need a catchy logo that people can easily remember and talk about with others.