Please contribute your ideas in the comments below! Or email to [email protected]. Know that you are not in this alone!
Keep Your Social Media Fresh and Post Often
Make sure your social media presence is refreshed. Best practices recommend posting about once a day, so that you remain in your customers’ minds but do not annoy them by posting too much. Alternate posting something relating to your business with a post relating to gardening/planting/benefits of being outdoors. Social media post ideas here.
Local - Buy Colorado!
Emphasize LOCAL and tell your story, including asking for your customer’s help in keeping your businesses going. Citizens want to help. Let them see the real faces and hear the real story behind your business
Many local businesses have had success keeping a steady stream of business by telling their story - “We are a local business. This is our history. This is how many employees we have. This is how we are trying to stay in business, and keep paying our employees. This is how we are keeping our employees safe. This is how we are keeping our customers safe.”
General Marketing Ideas and Links
Some great “Marketing Munchies from Dr. Bridget Behe” from GreenProfit (Ball Publishing), including:
Get a "take out" menu together. Focus on 3 choices for each of the following categories:
- Food: tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and other popular items. Can you make a “bundle” for salsa, pasta sauce, etc. that contains 3-5 plants?
- Pretty containers for sunny locations, shady locations. What are some of your more popular baskets or containers that are centered on a specific color (e.g. yellow, pink, white, etc.).
- What do you have for them to plant or help grow? Sunflowers come quickly to mind.
- The keys to success would be to integrate material (use the bundle approach to encourage multiple unit sales) and come up with just 3 price points. Think “good” “better” and “best” so customers don’t face choice overload.
Victory Gardens for 2020
Join the Victory Garden 2.0 movement and promote it to your customers! Let them know how you can help them with what they need!
Go Virtual!
Show your customers what you have in the store via a video. If you do a Facebook live, that video stays up and is available for people to peruse, or you can create a special video. This would also be a great project if you have employees who may have computer skills and additional time on their hands if business has slowed down.
Examples: Kuekenhof Gardens in Holland
Expand Supply to Grocery Stores
Consumers are still going to grocery stores, and many are more familiar with grocery stores as places to buy flowers, plants, and bedding plants. If you are a current supplier to grocery stores, make sure to visit with them about their ordering levels for this spring, and ensure their stock of live plants is up to date. Check if they have room for expansion of live plant sales!