– March 2015www.australianflowerindustry.com.au28

The realities of marketing for !orists

Marketing is something that a lot of small business people,

including !orists, do not fully understand, enjoy or feel

con#dent in. It can (but does not need to) get expensive,

doesn’t always work and requires an input of time and

energy when these particular resources are already stretched

to their limit.

And there’s the whole Internet thing...

However, despite the challenges, there are still !orists out there

kicking marketing goals, online and o$ine, and opportunities

exist for any pro-active !orist to successfully grow their business

with good marketing.

Admittedly, I am not a !orist, but I do work in the !oral industry

and I also run my own small business. Disclaimer over with, here’s

what I would do about marketing if I was a !orist!

Tip One: Get clarity

Before you do anything, get clear about some fundamentals.

Firstly: what is marketing exactly? I like this de#nition from

Wikipedia: Marketing is communicating the value of a product or

service to customers, for the purpose of selling that product or

service. Pretty simple stu& and certainly nothing to be scared of!

Secondly: Who are your ideal customers? What problem do they

have that you intend to solve? How do you solve it? Where are

these people? How can you reach them? Why should they choose

you over your competition? Who are your direct competitors?

Who are your indirect competitors?

Knowing the answer to questions like these makes your

marketing e&orts going forward much easier because you do not

need to re-invent your message every time you do something;

Seamus Anthony

Feature

Image courtesy of Michelle Van Eimeren

– March 2015www.australianflowerindustry.com.au 29

you just need to tailor it to suit whatever medium you are

experimenting with.

Tip Two: Write a simple plan

If you hate the idea of writing plans, then just keep it really simple.

Google “super simple marketing plan for !orists” and check out

my short (and, I like to think, funny) instructions and download a

free template from the Tesselaar Flowers website. Get creative and

make it fun. If you don’t like detailed writing or spreadsheets (does

anyone?) then do it visually, using whatever arty medium you

enjoy. (Hmmm …. wonder if anyone could make a !orist

marketing plan in actual !owers?)

If you’re busy, try to schedule in one or two small actions every

day to keep the marketing ball rolling.

Tip Three: Focus on what works for you

Don’t assume that just because everyone is banging on about

Pinterest or Instagram or whatever, that you should focus on this.

The truth is, many !orists out there have thriving businesses

despite the fact that they all but ignore the web. Your best bet

to get busier might be to get out there and connect with real

people in your community. If you resonate with all things

Internety, then by all means use it; but if you’d rather scratch your

eyes out than stay up late clicking away, then get out into the real

world and talk to people.

This might mean running some workshops, building referral

networks (with other wedding vendors for example), public

speaking, attending or running networking events, or just plain

getting involved with your local community via sports clubs,

school, your church, etc.

Tip Four: Understand that everything you do is marketing

I believe it is a mistake to see marketing as something you just

tack on after you’ve made your product; you know, a website,

some ads, a free or cheap o&er. It’s not actually that simple.

Marketing, at least the way I see it, is not a separate compartment

distinct from sales, ful#lment and all the other operational facets

of your business. In fact, marketing is inherent in every touch

point with your prospects and customers.

This actually makes it really hard (I absolutely struggle with this

myself ). Because what it means is that every time you or your

people answer the phone to a customer, every time you deliver a

service or product, every time you invoice a client, all of these

events and even the more minor touch points along the way,

they all either support or undermine your marketing e&orts.

Some might call this branding, and they’d be right, but to me it’s

all marketing.

Tip Five: What to do about the Internet

Firstly, try not to think of ‘online marketing’ as being something

particularly distinct from marketing in general.

Think about it this way: when we talk about televisions, we now

assume that by ‘TV’ we mean ‘colour TV’; pointing out the colour

feature would seem a little obvious. Same goes for ‘online

marketing’. The Internet has become so integral to business life

that any general discussion of marketing, by default, involves

online elements.

Now, what to do about the Internet...

Over the last ten years, small businesses, including !orists, have

watched the rise of the Internet with a mixture of bewilderment,

excitement and horror. Those who were quick to exploit the new

opportunity that the web provided did well, mainly because the

cost of entry was reasonable and the competition was relatively

low. But the bad news is that those who have lagged behind for

whatever reason now face a hyper-competitive online

marketing landscape.

Google’s Adwords ads, which used to be a powerful and

inexpensive means of reaching a targeted audience, now cost a

bomb. Google’s free search engine listings are highly competitive

and somewhat dominated in the !oral industry by big players

and order-gatherers. Essentially this adds a cost to entry, as

amateur search engine optimisation (SEO) e&orts are unlikely to

suddenly knock the incumbent Google darlings from their perch.

Facebook is a #ne way of reaching people, but users there are not

generally receptive to hard sell and of course, in one of the #nest

bait-n-switch manoeuvres of all time, Facebook now makes page

administrators pay to reach the majority of their own fans with

any given post.

So here’s what I see the best !orists doing that’s working:

own domain. Use a real designer unless you are con#dent in

your own abilities. Use Wordpress. Make your contact details

easy to #nd. Be clear about what it is you do, who you serve

and where.

(yes, show your face!), your work, your customers looking

happy, your workspace. Hip, professional visuals sell.

Again, use a professional to make it.

especially to be sure you appear for local search results; i.e.

when people search Google for “!orist Richmond” or whatever.

miracles from it though. If you can a&ord to spend a little on

Facebook ads every week, all the better, but be sure to target

them wisely.

do so, but again, don’t expect miracles.

Above all, through all of your marketing e&orts, tell a story. Make it

a real, authentic story. Make it a story that your customer wants to

hear, one that they are already telling themselves. Get clear on

what your ideal customer wants to hear and just keep on telling

them that, over and over again.

Seamus Anthony is Tesselaar Flowers’ digital marketing manager.

www.tesselaar!owers.com.au