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Read MoreOnline purchases of flowers are increasing every year and in-store purchases are declining. This means having a great digital marketing strategy is more important than ever for any florist. But this new frontier can seem daunting at first. And it's hard to know where to get started. So we've put together this video of the 6 Digital Marketing Tips every florist can use. If you can't watch right now then you can read the transcript below.
Online flower purchases are increasing every year. This makes having a great digital marketing strategy more important than ever for any
florist.
But this new frontier can seem daunting at first. And it's hard to know where to start. That's why we've created a video to take you through the digital marketing essentials every florist should consider. If you can't watch the video right now we've also transcribed a written version below.
1. Leveraging Social Media
As a florist you need to be on Instagram & Pinterest. This is a no-brainer. Flowers are such a visually arresting product and both of these channels are primarily visual. So they really allow you to display your merchandise.
Besides being the right medium, the demographics are also perfect. Between 70 - 80% of all flower purchases are made by women and both of these platforms are mostly used by women.
The best way to get started is to get inspiration from some of the best floral Instagram and Pinterest pages on the web.
Click here to view a list of our favourite Florist Instagram accounts.
2. Improved flower Photography
At first this doesn't seem like a digital marketing tip but it absolutely is. Improving your photography skills might be the most important thing you can do for your digital marketing as a florist. You probably don’t have the budget to be hiring a professional photographer every time you want to display a new product catalogue and stock images aren’t going to do anything to display your talent and your passion.
If you haven’t already, consider picking up a lighting tent, you can find them on eBay starting at around $15. These days with phone cameras being as powerful as they are you can probably get some great floral photography without having to invest in a high end camera, and that option is always there if you’re unhappy with the quality you’re getting from your phone or you just want to take things to the next level.
3. Local listings in Google
When it comes to search engines, being a florist is all about ranking in local listings. And in this article we’re going to talk specifically about ranking in the Google 3-Pack.
For a florist, location is everything. So you need to make sure you have a Google My Business Account and the information on that account is up to date. It’s really important that you fill out as much information as you possibly can, if you’re missing important attributes like your business opening hours google will penalise you for this in the rankings.
A good way to boost your ranking is to make sure you’re getting reviews from your customers. A recent Zendesk survey found that 90% of consumers said that reviews affected their purchasing decisions. Encourage your customers to leave a review by sending an email after any online purchase with a link straight to your Google My Business Page. Also be sure to monitor these reviews to make sure that the good work you do is being reflected. If someone makes a legitimate complaint in a review be sure to respond to it and take steps to rectify it if possible.
Another way to boost your ranking is to make sure everything you do in your online presence contains references to your location. Use location tags in all your social media posts, your blogs, use photos on google that demonstrate exactly where your storefront is. This is far more important for florists than it is for a business like ours for example.
4. Creating quality content
If you want any sort of visibility online, you’re going to need to be getting traffic to your site. Creating quality content is the best way to do that. The good news is that as a florist, your content needs to be very visual as well. This means that you can take your instagram and Pinterest posts and easily repurpose them into a blog article. Maybe take all of your posts that have included Gerberas and write a short article demonstrating your unique knowledge about that particular flower.
Other ideas would be to blog about the day to day running of a flower shop and some interesting aspects the average consumer might not be aware of.
Also remember, when a client asks you for a piece of advice and you deliver, chances are other clients are wondering the same thing. You can easily take that question and turn it into a blog post.
If you need more inspiration click here to find an article about some great flower related blogs.
5. Assessing your website
Your website needs to be an extension of your physical store. There’s no point curating a beautiful business location if your first point of contact with most of your customers is a disappointing website.
Customers will go elsewhere for a better web experience before they ever get a chance to see your beautiful store. Having a good website is also going to help you rank better on Google. The merits of a good website can be a little subjective, so if you're unsure you can ask yourself the following questions:
- Is my website quick to respond to commands?
- Does it display correctly on Mobile and Ipad?
- Is it easy to navigate?
- Is the information up to date with all of my services listed?
- (And probably the most important question) Are you proud of it?
If you’re not sure how to answer these questions you can always google other florists in your area and see how your own page stacks up.
6. Using data to your advantage
Every year more and more flower purchases occur online and this trend doesn’t show any sign of slowing. This actually represents a huge opportunity for florists.
For example, by collecting some data about your customers purchasing trends you can use digital marketing to really boost your annual revenue.
One good example of this is flowers that are bought for a special occasion like an anniversary. If you can collect that information from a customer through a simple online form you can send a message to the customer every year in the lead up to the same date. It ensures that a bouquet of your flowers will be the first idea in their mind when they’re trying to find a gift and allows you to offer special promotions to entice them to use your service a second year in a row. How cool would it be if your customer got a message that said “You bought your partner a bouquet of a half dozen roses last year, outdo yourself with a bouquet of a full dozen this year for the same price!”
Another simple strategy is to include some type of delivery confirmation email system into your service. By letting customers know they can
opt to receive an automatic text message or email upon delivery of their order you can give your customers peace of mind when they’re
sending flowers to someone online.
Conclusion
Hopefully now you’re feeling a bit more confident about the world of digital marketing. If you’d like to learn more about how the Oncord platform can help you implement all of these strategies, click the features button below.
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