Open Register

Social networks—they’re not just for kids anymore

Based on conversations I’ve had with retailers recently, more garden centers are turning to social networks to connect with their customers. Most stores are adopting this strategy to reach Gen X and the leading edge of Gen Y consumers. Funny thing is, they’re probably reaching a goodly amount of Baby Boomers with their efforts.

Adweek recently reported on the findings of a Harris Poll showing more adults are using online social networks. When asked whether they have a Facebook or MySpace account, 41 percent of 45-54-year-olds and 24 percent of those 55-plus said they do. So did 47 percent of the 35-44s and 74 percent of the 18-34s.

Ten percent of the 45-54s and 3 percent of those 55-plus said they update those accounts at least once a day. Twenty-nine percent of the 18-34s and 17 percent of the 35-44s said the same.

Hmmm. Maybe the time spent creating and maintaining that fan site on Facebook isn’t such a bad idea after all.

-- Sarah

Mother’s Day is almost here. How’s it shaping up in your world?

I just stumbled across this article in USA Today that’s talking about projected spending at florists for Mother’s Day. Teleflora has pulled out all the stops in its quest to grab market share. The company began airing a TV ad last week and paid programming on cable's HSN on Tuesday. The three 30-minute segments on HSN, which reaches 90 million homes, feature a Teleflora florist. Meanwhile, FTD has unveiled a new Web site and line of premium, high-end flower arrangements.

I hope these ventures pay off for everyone involved. The National Retail Federation is projecting that spending for Mother’s Day will drop 10 percent to $14 billion this year. But the organization also predicts flowers and plants will be popular.

How are things looking in your world? Are you expecting good crowds at your store for Mother’s Day?

-- Sarah

Marketing 101, er, XX

I don’t drink beer, pretty much at all. But if I did, I would prefer Dos Equis. I would, because I love the marketing campaign that has manifested in some of the better television and radio ads around. You probably know them, too; they focus on “The Most Interesting Man in the World,” who has all sorts of clever attributes that set him apart. For example: He has never lost a sock … The police often question him just because they find him interesting … His charm is so contagious, vaccines have been invented for it … Alien abductors have asked him to probe them … If he ever disagrees with you, it is because you are wrong …

Yes, I am a fan of good marketing, which is why I tip my virtual hat today to the campaign for the STEPABLES Tough Ten, a project that has rallied growers, retailers and the public for the production and sale of 10 great plants – not to mention plenty of buzz.

Frances A. Hopkins, president of Under A Foot Plant Company (which produces STEPABLES) notes that the campaign is a hit already this spring. “The growers really took to the idea and have a much more secure feeling in keeping these ten plants in crop rotation at all times,” Hopkins says. “The retailers love it, as they know which plants now to overstock for larger volume sales. But by far, the biggest winners are the consumers.”

The campaign drives sales at garden centers with a new sign and new bench tape. Also, a new STEPABLES garden center newsletter has gone out to the company’s current garden center customers to help all of the retailers understand the attributes of the Tough Ten plants so they can help consumers make the right choice for them.

STEPABLES finishes the push me-pull me marketing – and puts its own spin on what Hopkins calls “follow thru marketing,” adding the Tough Ten campaign to the company Web site. All the Tough Ten plants are profiled on the home page, where there’s a link to a new video showing off the plants’ versatility. Finally, Hopkins and company have produced a new consumer newsletter to put the same message straight into the customer’s home computer.

So how’s the campaign working? Hopkins says well over 60 percent of the company’s orders online include at least one of the Tough Ten plants.

That’s not quite, “Stay thirsty, my friends,” but it’s pretty darned close.

-- Yale

Proven winners, indeed

Today, we offer a laurel – and hardy handshake – to the great Marshall Dirks and to Proven Winners for the company’s hands-on national beautification effort. The program, which runs until May, uses radio marketing to promote the benefits of gardening across the country.

Here are a couple of samples of how this thing works:

In Massachusetts, Lisa Roach and Kendra Hijjar of the top-rated morning show “Matty in the Morning” will ask more than 1 million listeners to vote for the best Proven Winners garden – planted, tended and cared for by each radio personality herself.

Meanwhile, in Illinois, Proven Winners is partnering with WGN radio to sponsor the Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers series at Miller Park over Mother’s Day weekend. In addition to on-air endorsements beginning two days prior to the series, Proven Winners’ exclusive sponsorship will be recognized during both the top and bottom halves of each inning of every game. On Mother’s Day, Proven Winners will reward one lucky Mom with a garden valued at $5,000, as well as a party for 14 at WGN’s skybox at Wrigley Field for a 2009 Cubs game.

There are other, equally exciting projects in the works, all designed to promote gardening. “Our goal is to encourage women of all ages to enjoy the benefits of gardening, utilizing quality products that are easy, fun and deeply rewarding,” notes Dirks, who is Proven Winners’ director of marketing. “We also seek to support the efforts of local garden centers by promoting the gardening experience to a large audience.”

This is clearly a grand project. And, we would add, a great one!

-- Yale

Feedback from Proven Winners campaign indicates strong spring

Early results from Proven Winners’ consumer outreach campaign show signs of a strong spring ahead. Requests for the brand’s Gardener’s Idea Book have jumped significantly from last year. In 2008, Proven Winners received almost 7,300 literature requests from Jan. 1 to Feb. 13. This year, more than 21,000 requests have been processed during the same time period. Feedback from a consumer survey issued by Proven Winners is also promising. Approximately 56% of respondents said they’re planning to buy more plants this year. And almost 40% of consumers surveyed said they’d buy the same amount as last year.

-- Sarah

Information, please

So, you’ve got all manner of “new” and “improved” that you’re planning to spring this spring. You’re excited, and you want your customers to be excited, too. What do you do to make sure that happens?

The answer is the proverbial “(D), all of the above,” according to a recent Marketing Profs’ “Get to the Point” newsletter. The newsletter item focuses on electronic news your customers can use, but the message extends to communication in general. And, in general, you can’t over-communicate.

Citing the Service Untitled blog, the “Get to the Point” missive notes that there are a variety of ways you do/can interact with your favorite shoppers. You should use all of them to get the word out about changes at the store.

On the broader scale, if that means advertising, use advertisements. If you have a newsletter or e-letter, start cranking out a new edition. If your Web site is a regular part of the marketing process, make sure you update the site to include any/all new news. For your techno-savvy customers, a text-message would likely be appreciated.

It wouldn’t hurt, either, to paste the store with reminders your customers can see every time they walk in the doors. And don’t forget to get your staff jazzed about what’s upcoming – and don’t forget to encourage said staffers to play said jazz as often as possible.

“Communication almost always results in questions," says the Service Untitled blog. And everyone loves getting the right answers – customers included ...

 And, maybe, even, especially.

-- Yale

Bartlett's Ocean View Farm wins perennial marketing contest

Bartlett's Ocean View Farm in Nantucket, Mass., won the 2008 Perennials Marketing Contest sponsored by Plant Publicity Holland and the Perennial Plant Association.

The store's award-winning entry, "The Buck Doesn't Stop Here," showcased seaside and deer-resistant plant material.

-- Sarah 

Landscape Ontario introduces consumer campaign

Landscape Ontario introduced a new consumer campaign, “Green for Life,” earlier this month. Outreach will include a consumer Web site launching in spring 2009. The site will highlight award-winning landscape designs to inspire consumers to better use outdoor living spaces. Other elements of the program are promotional signs for trucks, store signs and banners for garden centers and public relations activities.

-- Sarah

Don’t write off the Starbucks strategy

Just a few short years ago, Starbucks’ business model was held up as something garden retailers should emulate. The Seattle-based company took a basic commodity—coffee—and transformed it into an upscale product that warranted a premium price. How they accomplished this provided fodder for dozens of case studies. Clever marketing and merchandising helped Starbucks create a feeling of exclusivity. Picking up a cup of coffee became an event. Even a status symbol, if you will.

But now the company has fallen on hard times. A recent article in Advertising Age (registration required) noted that Starbucks 4Q profits were down 97%, with same-store sales down 8%. The merchant is working to reinvent itself through a massive restructuring effort.

Despite these discouraging numbers, I don’t think we should write off the Starbucks strategy. The company became a victim of its own success. Its explosive growth made it lose sight of what made the company unique. These mistakes will keep analysts busy writing case studies for years to come.

What did they do wrong? Some company-wide changes, which seemed minor at the time, proved to have a huge impact. Like the decision to quit grinding coffee in the store. This labor-saving measure changed the entire ambiance of locations. Customers—consciously or not—missed the smell of freshly ground beans.

Then there were the bigger gaffes. Like the decision to invest enormous resources in the recording industry. Instead of touting coffee, Starbucks turned to promoting exclusive CDs found only in its stores.

Garden centers can learn a lot from what Starbucks did wrong:

1. Think twice before you sacrifice ambiance. When you’re beginning to wonder if the costs to maintain your display gardens and curb plantings are worth it, think about the coffee behemoth. They learned the hard way that customers put a lot of stock in their surroundings.

2. Focus on what you do best. Yeah, there are plenty of garden centers that are doing a great job selling jewelry, apparel and gifts. But if that’s not your thing, don’t force the issue.

3. Have a sustainable growth plan. Granted, you’re not grappling with 100 new-store openings each quarter, like Starbucks. But you should make sure that expansion plans include provisions to keep your core identity intact.

-- Sarah

A grand idea or two …

This go-round, we offer kudos to friend and green industry “playa” Gina McCauley, who has crafted a great idea to boost business during slack times at local garden centers. Some of you might know Gina for her work as a principal with the Washington State Nursery and Landscape Association. Others might have tapped her expertise as she served as a consultant for hort industry folk in the Great Northwest. Now, the owner/president/CEO of Creative Endeavors has a new project and new way to market it.

First, the former: Gina introduced Snooter-doots to the national market about a year ago. The whimsical, felted stuffed toys have a growing following, not to mention a Web site that helps ensure the following grows some more.

But that’s not the only point of this missive. Gina also has conceived a marketing strategy that could work practically anywhere. Here is a description, in her own words:

Retail nurseries could get on the “buy local”—“farmers market” bandwagon by holding their own version of a farmers market on a smaller scale. Events like this would help differentiate them from the box stores and potentially bring in customers that may not usually shop there.

If a retail nursery scheduled a well-promoted event once a month or quarter (or around the big gift-giving holidays), they could offer their customers a unique, fun, different experience that would help connect ornamental plants with this ever-expanding, and hugely popular, concept of buying local, fresh (even organic if you must), and direct from the producers.

The nursery could invite local agricultural producers and/or artisans to set up booths or tabletops on the nursery grounds (these vendors would LOVE anything inside, especially during the winter season). The nursery could charge a small booth fee, or collect a commission (both of which occur at the larger markets). All they would have to provide is the space and the promotion. A local coffee shop in West Seattle has done this several times with great success! The retailer could offer a new and diverse product mix without having to stock/inventory a thing; the vendors would bring and remove it all, including their own display paraphernalia!

As my grandfather Don used to say, “Sounds like a plan, Stan.” Why he called me Stan, I’ll never know. I do know this, though: He would have jumped at the chance to get his business marketed the way Gina is suggesting. I do suspect this, also: You would, too.

 -- Yale