About 61% of businesses say lead generation is a top challenge. Without a strong marketing strategy in place, your flower shop won’t grow. Developing an effective marketing plan can help your business blossom.
Not sure where to start? Here are a few easy tips that can help you plan your marketing strategy for the year.
With these tips, you can gain brand visibility, attract potential customers, and watch your flower shop thrive! Start marketing with these tips today.
Gather Research
Before developing content for your marketing strategy, take the time to research your target audience. Understanding your customers will help you attract them to your flower shop. If you neglect to consider their needs and interests, they might turn away.
Gathering audience research will help you personalize your ads, imagery, and content.
In fact, 50% of consumers will spend more money on products if brands provide personally relevant content. Over 80% say being treated like a person is important to winning their business. Meanwhile, 74% get frustrated when brands fail to personalize communications.
Personalization now drives results. In fact, 90% of marketers report a lift in business results after personalizing content. Nearly 60% said the lift was over 10%.
Meanwhile, 98% of marketers say personalization advances customer relationships. Strong customer relationships will encourage people to return to your flower shop. You can start generating repeat sales to boost your ROI.
Personalization can encourage more people to shop from your flower store. Over 80% of consumers say they’re more likely to make a purchase when brands personalize experiences.
To start leveraging the benefits of personalization, define who your customers are. For example, you can consider demo- and psychographic details like:
- Location
- Gender
- Age
- Buying behaviors
- Online behaviors
- Interests
- Hobbies
- Pain points
- Salary
- Education
- Career
You might also segment customers based on their needs per holiday like Mother’s Day or special events like corporate conferences.
Use the data you gather to start creating buyer personas. Think of each persona as a real person. How would you communicate with that shopper if they were in your store?
As you gather research, consider talking to your existing customers. What do they like about your store? Why do they choose you over other florists?
The data you gather can help you make more informed marketing decisions.
Establish Goals
In order to develop an effective marketing strategy, it helps to outline distinct SMART goals. These goals are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Timely
Specifying your goals can give the rest of your marketing plan more direction. For example, it can help you determine which marketing channels to prioritize. It can also help you determine which tactics to use to accomplish your goals.
As you outline your SMART goals, consider:
- Generating brand awareness and recognition
- Establishing your credibility
- Generating website traffic
- Attracting more visitors to your flower shop
- Improving your search engine rankings
- Gaining more social media followers
- Encouraging engagement
- Gaining more email subscribers
- Increasing leads and sales
- Retaining customers
- Improving your ROI
Maybe you want to expand your business by tapping into the wedding flower market this year.
Once you outline your SMART goals, consider which marketing strategies will help you accomplish each goal on your list.
Build a Brand
A distinct brand can help your flower shop stand out from other local businesses. Otherwise, consumers might confuse your business with others in the area. When defining your brand, consider your:
- Mission statement
- Vision statement
- Voice
- Tone
- Personality
- Color palette
- Font styles
- Logo
- Photography/imagery style
Establish brand guidelines to keep your visual branding consistent across all marketing channels. Consistent branding can help more people become aware of your business. In time, they’ll begin to remember your flower shop by name.
Brand consistency can even increase revenue by 20%. The more people recognize and believe in your brand, the more they’ll start buying. In fact, 46% of consumers will pay more for brands they trust.
It can take as many as seven impressions for brand awareness to grow. Consider investing in quality branding to make a strong first impression. After all, you only have seven seconds to wow your customers.
As part of your brand strategy, consider investing in professional photography services. Eye-catching images of your flowers and bouquets can help your marketing materials stand out.
Design Your Website
A business website can function as the backbone of your entire digital marketing strategy. Without it, local consumers might struggle to find your flower store online. As part of your florist marketing strategy, your website will unite your:
- Content marketing
- Social media marketing
- Paid advertising
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Email marketing
For example, consumers who find you on social media can visit your website to discover the bouquets you’re selling. With eCommerce capabilities, you can even make sales online.
With flower shop SEO, you can improve your organic rankings on search engines to increase awareness and traffic.
Make sure your florist website is fast, mobile-optimized, secure, and user-friendly. Show off those stunning photos you’ve taken, too!
Create Helpful Content
Help more people find your website by creating unique, engaging website content. Diversify your content marketing strategy with:
- Blogs/articles
- Photos
- Videos
- Infographics
- eBooks
- Polls
- Quizzes
- Webinars
- Lists
Use keyword research to determine what questions your customers are asking about flowers while online. Then, create content that covers those topics to become a go-to resource in the industry.
Add EAT (expertise, authority, and trustworthiness) to your content to build brand trust. End each post with a strong call to action to generate leads or flower sales.
Use Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing (SEM) can help you expand your online visibility and reach. You can use SEO and paid advertising to get started.
For an effective flower shop SEO strategy, use your keyword and audience research to create personalized content. Then, add the target keyword to the:
- URL
- Page title
- H1 heading
- Opening and closing paragraphs
- Body text
- Image file name and alt text
- SEO title and description
Claim your Google Business listing as part of your local SEO strategy. Start guest blogging to generate backlinks, too.
You can use platforms like Google and Facebook Ads to advertise online.
Using Google Ads, you can create both text and display ads. Text ads appear on search engine result pages (SERPs). Display ads can appear on other websites.
With Facebook Ads, you can create display ads that will blend in among organic posts.
Use a strong call to action to encourage people to click on the ad, visit your website, and convert into a sale.
Stay Social
Social media marketing can help you engage consumers in real time. Start by sharing photos of your beautiful bouquets. Show shoppers how you can help enhance their local events, too.
Use interactive content like polls and quizzes to generate more engagement.
Once people start commenting on your posts, respond to let them know you’re available to help.
Try sharing more video content, too. Videos are becoming more popular on social media. For example, you can create a time-lapse video as you arrange a bouquet.
Keep track of the latest social media marketing trends to keep your content relevant. Otherwise, you could fall behind the competition.
As you begin posting on social media, try to avoid sales-heavy language. Instead, encourage engagement with fun or informative content.
You can also reformat your blog posts into engaging social media posts. Share a link to the blog post to strengthen your flower shop SEO strategy.
Email Often
Add a lead magnet on your website to encourage visitors to sign up for your email newsletter. For example, you can offer them a 10% off coupon on their first purchase. Once you build your email list, segment it (based on your audience research).
Segmenting your email lists will help you create personalized emails.
Use automation and drip email campaigns to continuously engage your audience. Email marketing can help you remain at the forefront of the consumer’s mind. Otherwise, they might forget about your business.
As part of your email marketing strategy, consider any events and holidays that are upcoming. Let shoppers know if you’re selling special bouquets or offering special deals during that time.
Gather Feedback
Ask your customers for feedback to start making improvements to your business. Encourage them to post their reviews on your Google Business profile, too. Positive reviews can strengthen your brand’s reputation, encouraging more people to give your business a try.
Don’t delete any negative reviews you receive, though. Instead, respond and try to offer a helpful solution. Consumers will recognize you care and want to fix the problem.
Review the analytics from your digital marketing campaigns, too. Then, make adjustments to your campaigns to generate better results in the future.
Watch Business Blossom: Create a Flower Shop Marketing Strategy
A strong flower shop marketing strategy will help your business thrive. Use these marketing tips to get started. Continue making adjustments to your strategy over time for better results.
Searching for a one-stop flower marketplace to expand your offerings? We can help.
Explore our shop and beautiful blossoms today to get started.
