The upcoming holidays are some of the biggest months for florists. As a retail florist, it may seem difficult to compete with the online order gatherer giants.
The biggest advantage for customers finding you online is they can save a lot of money not going through a middleman.
The good news is changes to the internet are changing the way consumers buy products and now, more than ever, it may be easier than you thought to use online marketing to gather some of the business that used to go through OG’s.
One of the best strategies to use is to optimize your local listings.
Let’s say a client in San Francisco wants to send flowers for Thanksgiving to his mother in Baltimore. He probably isn’t going to call a local florist – he’s going to go to the internet and search for florists in Baltimore.
When he types in his search, does your company’s name appear?
A lot of people feel better doing business with companies that have received good reviews from their customers.
What kind of reviews will this person find about your company?
People like to know what they are buying. When someone spends $50, $75, or $100 on an arrangement, they’d like to have an idea what they are buying. One florist might be offering a small arrangement for that price whereas another’s could be large.
Are you using your website to convey what customers are buying?
Many people who send flowers like to speak with the person who will be creating their arrangement. It’s reassuring to know that a real person who cares about their work is putting together their order.
Is it easy for him to find your contact information?
Many customers buy flowers as a ritual
“It’s mom’s birthday, let’s send her some flowers”
“It’s our anniversary, better send my wife some flowers”
And, a lot of the time, they don’t keep a record of who they ordered from the previous year, so the next year, they will call a different florist.
Are you capturing this data and a way to reconnect with clients who do this?
These are a few of the things a local florist can do to capture more business from out-of-town buyers.
For more useful tips on marketing your florist shop, or to discuss your particular situation, please contact us.
You are actually inspiring me to find an affiliate program in florists business 🙂 it looks like a good opportunity from what you are describing.
The most important thing for florist businesses, apart from presence in social media, is an organic SEO traffic placement that allows them to be seen by everyone, and a site that has enough interactivity to engage clients in personalized relationships.
That is entirely true. Whatever business it may be, you need to start thinking about internet marketing. Having a presence online, shall greatly improve the chance of getting more orders.
Also like you had pointed out, you need to collect atleast an email address of your clients. You can then mail them customized messages to them, that shall help you make more sales and revenue.
A CRM-like program should be set up in these floral businesses. This program will also make it easier for the business to keep track of the customer’s orders. The data generated through the CRM will also help the businesses come up with programs and activities to retain these customers.
These are very good recommendations. Retail florists really should reach out to local businesses, organizations, and schools in order to gain and retain their community as customers. Creating a mailing list of potential clients and contacting them just prior to the holidays seems like a great way to add to your holiday sales.
I agree! Retail florists should learn to reach out and offer their services to everyone in their community! If they offer good prices and are helpful and ask nicely they will grow their business tenfold!
It all starts with going out of your comfort zone and trying to see how you can help the others. Putting yourself first is a bad strategy because you look like a fool and no one will want to work with you.
This is a good suggestion. Florists should bring themselves closer to their market. Enough for passive marketing initiatives.
I agree that the florist should do everything possible to reach the local market.
I count myself as one of those customers who prefers to work with a local florist online. When sending floral arrangements to out of town recipients I almost always will Google the name of the city + florist to find one that is locally owned. Now mind you I do a lot of online shopping with the major retailers and have done so for years, but I always prefer the local florists.
I’m sure I’m not alone in this kind of purchasing habit so I’m glad to see this article encouraging florists to think local.
I think also that the local florists can make use of Facebook and other social media to their advantage in reaching a local market. Perhaps some targeted Facebook ads would be helpful as well.