Marketing
From FloristWiki
FTD Mercury gives you several marketing options:
- FTD Mercury provides you with standard marketing letters that you can use to market to sending florists, customers, and recipients.
- You can assign marketing categories to your customers so that you can better target them when printing marketing letters.
- The Mercury Marketing module, an optional upgrade, allows you to create direct mail and email marketing campaigns using professionally designed email templates, as well as Microsoft Word templates formatted for letters or postcards.
Marketing Ideas
Looking for some marketing ideas? The following list of marketing ideas was compiled by fellow member florists. Try some of these methods to see which ones work best in your area.
- Send direct mail to parents of college freshman who are members of sororities. If you obtain the address list from the college, you can take the data to the post office and the post office will create the mailer and handle the mailing as well. Obtaining the parents’ addresses may be a challenge, but the pay off is well worth it. The students will belong to the sorority all four years of college.
- Magnets are a great giveaway. Popular magnet giveaways are either the business card size or ruler size. The business card type can even have coupons attached. Take the business card information, add coupons to the bottom, and attach a magnetic strip to the back side.
- Your neighborhood Welcome Wagon receives approximately 35 to 40 new names monthly. Inquire about advertising options with the Welcome Wagon. For example, you can give new home owners a packet that contains a letter, magnet, and a coupon for 10% off their first purchase. You can also contact your local Chamber of Commerce for similar marketing opportunities.
- Consider offering a VIP frequent purchase card. The frequent purchase card can be used to track purchases, offer a discount or a free item after so many purchases, etc. You can also provide the customer with a sleeve to store the VIP card. The sleeve is a great place to advertise your products and services.
- Work with schools and organizations to help raise money. For example, you can sell a coupon card for free flowers or coupons to use towards a purchase.
- Place a changeable copy sign outside in front of your shop. Place special advertisements on the sign, such as “Receive a free flower for stopping in on your birthday,” or “Receive a free flower if your name is ----.” Change the sign frequently.
- Send a rolodex card and welcome letter to new customers.
- Work with the Susan G. Komen Foundation as a Valentine’s Day promotion. For example, sorority sisters from a local college (or any group of volunteers) can deliver flowers on Valentine’s Day and pass out pamphlets regarding breast cancer awareness. You can then donate the $7.00 delivery charge for each delivery to the Komen foundation. Volunteers from a local chapter of the Susan G. Komen foundation may also work in your store and donate funds based on the hours worked.
- Send reminder cards for birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc. Most florists find that the returns are great for this type of marketing.
- Send a postcard to customers who have not purchased in a while saying that “we miss you.”
- Meet with local funeral directors to discuss products and services that you offer. Provide them with pictures, prices of your work, or the FTD Selection Guide. You can make commission arrangements with the funeral director. For example, if the funeral director refers a customer to the shop, they can receive a commission of 5%. If the funeral director handles the entire order, they can receive a 10% commission.
- Advertise in the local newspaper on the Obituary page.
- When advertising in the newspaper, select an appropriate section for your ad based on your message.
- If your local newspaper is available online, create a link to your Web site through the Obituary page. Newspapers normally charge a monthly fee for this service.
- Partner with a local restaurant. Provide them coupons for a discount or free bouquets that they can pass out to their regular customers as a thank you. Reverse the same courtesy to the restaurant; include with monthly statements a coupon for a free drink, etc. from the restaurant as a thank you. Locally owned restaurants are usually more willing to form this type of partnership (vs.chain restaurants).
- Use column ads or bold listings in the yellow pages. Most florists find that the bold listings are successful. If you use the yellow pages, show product arrangements, prices, etc. Customers already have a need to buy!
- Billboards are relatively inexpensive given the passers by.
NOTE: Be careful if advertising on a billboard for a specific holiday. If your contract is up and the bill board has not been resold, your holiday message may still be there after the holiday. - Send the recipients of your product a thank you postcard combined with a self survey. They can rate you on your performance, quality, etc. and detach the postcard, which can be sent back to the sender of the flowers as a thank you.
- Pick a charity and be their florist. Most big charities have fund raising events that need flowers. Offer to donate the floral decorations in return for advertising and mentions in programs and all media notices.
- Delivers your “non-saleable” bouquets from your cooler to local hospitals, the Chamber of Commerce, City Hall, etc. with your card on it. If you are concerned that the arrangement is not a true representation of the quality of product from your store, perhaps a card included could indicate the product is past its prime.
- Run a monthly floral drawing where customers must enter to win.
- You can offer discounted flowers delivered to patients in hospitals and nursing homes on a specific holiday. For example for Christmas, you can use poinsettias that are left over from your or your grower’s inventory. You can sell these for a reduced rate, but your customers pay you $5.00 for example to make the delivery. This way you get your customers involved in sending flowers to patients—it’s a win-win for all.
