It's the Most Wonderful Time of The Year For the Floral Industry...Are YOU Ready?

At Bloomerang Solutions, we specialize in marketing strategies for florists and other small business owners. We focus on what is current as well as what’s “up and coming.” For most retailers, and especially retail florists, these next two months are critical to insure success and profitability. Here are a few tips and ideas to help you with a smooth and successful holiday season.

Preparation for the holidays; why market when you’re busy?

The biggest mistake many florists make is thinking they will have all the business they need during the holidays, so they don’t see the value of marketing. Unfortunately, that way of thinking does more harm than good.

You need to view this time of year as your time to shine! The world is sending flowers, so how will they find you? SEO (search engine optimization)? Sure. Combine PPC (Pay Per Click) marketing and you can increase sales as much as possibly imaginable! Statistically, only a small percentage of these customers will send flowers again in the summer and beyond, so the more orders you secure now, the better your chances are of organic home-grown business. The second order doesn't cost you and reduces the real value of the first order if you paid to secure it.

Offer what you have on hand

Now, more than ever, it’s critical to watch your offerings. The floral industry has changed DRASTICALLY in the past 5-7 years. There are very few "fill to value" orders out there anymore because everyone is looking at a picture SOMEWHERE. Fortunately, the deceptive gatherer Wesley Berry is gone and we are one step closer to an honest industry where what you see will be close to what you get with the understanding you have a product of nature and minor substitutions and variety's may occur.

Use discipline in what you place on your home page - that is where you secure interest. Be sure you have products you can create and DON'T make them so local that sending out of town may not be available. Be neutral on most offerings so your customers call you for all their orders. You would be surprised how many customers call local shops for local deliveries and a 1-800 number for out of town requests.

Over stuffing, a profit killer

Secure your profits. There is no question you believe in your designers to produce a quality product, the question is - are they adding a flower or two to make it "just a little nicer?"

Double checkout is your answer. I always used a double checkout system that was as simple as this: When a design is completed, have someone else double check it for consistency and value.

Why is this so important? Just $5 of overstuffing in a shop with 50 deliveries a day could cost you $250 A DAY if not more - this adds up quick. This system also helps to eliminate other mistakes that we may have missed. We all work so hard to offer add –ons, so we definitely don’t want to forget them on the delivery.

Rewards

Always start your day with the question, "Why should anyone shop with you?" More than just to buy flowers, but what is the hook? Just about every company today offers some sort of rewards program. From Dominos on up to Saks and Neiman Marcus, they all have incentives. You are not too big or too small to get in the game. Companies like Profit Point has systems and cards in place you can have set up to reward your customers and keep them coming back.

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, are you ready?

Plan ahead! The weekend after Thanksgiving is exhausting from the promotion angle. We have all our promos set for florists to be ready for, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and then Cyber Monday where we make app-only dea.

Turn 2

LAST, but certainly not least, don't just take one order when you can TURN 2. Most customers that order for Thanksgiving will most likely order for the holidays at some point. While finishing up the order, just suggest an incentive if a second order is placed. Contact us if you would like the script or click below for in instructional video.

#1) The Sales Call

#2) Turn 2 and Increase Revenue with Every Order

The Holiday season is truly one of the best times of the year, but it can also be stressful - that’s why we're here to help! We know you're busy this week and we're here to assist you in any way we can! Unfortunately, we can't be there to answer your phones or help make deliveries, but we can help with any issues you may run into on your website or social media. Drop us a line below or give us a call at (941) 806-1911. Good luck from Bloomerang Solutions and we hope you have a prosperous season!

Surviving Black Friday (and Small Business Saturday)

With Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday on the horizon, we're just a few short weeks away from the busiest shopping weekend of the year. For many retailers, the holiday shopping season can make or break the entire year so it’s important to remain focused on customer service and making sure that your customers have the best possible experience inside your store and on your website.

With such a high volume of foot traffic and phone/online orders that week, it’s sometimes difficult to give every customer the personal attention they desire, but don't forget that many customers who only shop for flowers once or twice a year may not give you a chance next time if your customer service is lacking this time around.

The upcoming holiday weekend will be busy and it may be stressful at times, but with the right attitude and proper preparation, you can make this holiday season one to remember.

What's important to keep in mind when your store gets busy:

1) Remember to smile - The busier you get, the easier it is to get distracted or overwhelmed. While some customers may be sympathetic and understanding, others may be tired and cranky after waking up early and fighting traffic and crowds. Regardless, all customers deserve and expect a pleasant shopping experience. If they enjoy shopping with you, they are more likely to become repeat customers.

2) Focus on individual experiences - Some customers know exactly what they want before even reaching your shop, but many customers are relying on you for knowledge and inspiration. Let them hold any pre-made arrangement or gift item that they are interested in while you close the sale. Remember that customers are much more likely to purchase an item that they are physically touching or holding.

3) Don’t forget finishing touches - Customers are looking for ways to make their loved ones feel special and appreciated this week, so many will be open to ideas in addition to flowers. Let them know about products that will enhance their gift. If you don’t ask, they may not even realize they have additional options.

4) Build your marketing list - This week may be the busiest week for your shop which makes it an excellent opportunity to build your marketing list by collecting email address from new customers. Offering to email a receipt is an effective way to build your customer database.

5) Use the Turn 2 technique to secure additional orders - Thanksgiving is the perfect time to try to capture Christmas orders by using the Turn 2 technique. It's simple and best of all, it works!

6) We're here to help - We know you're busy this week and we're here to help you out in any way we can! Unfortunately, we can't be there to answer your phones or help make deliveries, but we can help with any issues you may run into on your website or social media. Contact us here or give us a call at (941) 806-1911. Good luck from Bloomerang Solutions and we hope you have a prosperous week!

Simply Listening: A Surefire Way to Grow Your Sales and Business

Listen... Florists ask me all the time what my secret was for turning a small Sarasota flower shop into a top-50 florist in the nation. The answer is almost too simple to be believable, but here it is: I listened!

That’s right, hearing the voice of my customer was one of the greatest tools I ever had, and I can’t believe that so many businesses neglect to do this, even with all the resources available to help them.

Most owners think they know what their customer likes, but do they really know? Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to sit down and visit with each customer face-to-face to discuss their thoughts, feelings, and concerns about their shopping experience as well as their overall impression of our business?

Of course, that isn’t possible, so in many circumstances, our only real feedback comes from one of two of two places – upset customers who are extremely dissatisfied, or the opposite end of the spectrum where longtime loyal customers think we can do no wrong.

Both groups provide valuable input and deserve our attention. However, if we only listen to them we’re missing out on a vast majority of our customers. It’s easy to sit back and think we have all our bases covered by making our most vocal customers happy, but our perception isn’t always as accurate as we imagine.

All you have to do is ask

Business owners should not only value customer feedback but depend on it as an essential part of their day-to-day operations. However, trends change fast, and today’s hot seller may be an outdated fad in a month or two. Your impeccable sense of style and design doesn’t help your business if customers don’t share your vision.

Differences in styles and attitudes are also evident in different parts of the country, and even in different areas of town. A concept or design that works well in Arizona may not be popular in Florida. Ultimately, there are no universally correct answers – all situations and circumstances are unique.

The only way to get the most accurate pulse of your business is by listening to your customers. Surveys are a perfect way to find out how they’re feeling, and an outstanding way to identify areas for improvement. Many people won’t offer feedback unless you ask, and those are often the customers with the most beneficial feedback.

Next time you stay at a Ritz, rent a car from Hertz, or dine in any reasonable establishment, rest assured if they have your email address, they run surveys. It's the ONLY way to keep up with their clients in a changing industry.

Surveying customers is a substantial undertaking. Busy business owners don’t have the time, nor the resources needed to manage it properly. Fortunately, we’re here to help! Customer Survey Management from Bloomerang is the easiest and most efficient way to monitor customer feedback. Let us create a custom survey for your shop today and leave the guesswork out of your business strategy. Give us a call today at (941) 806-1911 or drop us a line below to let us know how we can help your business bloom!

Why Personalized Content is King on Social Media

Facebook is pretty fickle when deciding what content to show in a user's newsfeed. It’s based off multiple factors including (but not limited to) who you follow, where you comment, and where you spend the most time on Facebook.

Another factor to take into consideration is Facebook’s algorithm analyzes each image posted by a page to determine the quality and who to show it to. One of the main points it looks at is if it's an image taken by an individual randomly or a stock photo that’s on many sites.

We always try our best to make sure we can get custom images from florists because we know that it works much better when posting to Facebook but some either just don't find the time or don't believe it’s an important aspect of social media.

Below are just a few examples of the difference between seven shops that send us consistent photos of arrangements, classes, and everyday scenes inside their shops and seven shops that don’t send us any.

Both of these examples have close to the same amount of followers and times content is posted per week. The difference is the kind of content being posted. The more personal, original images do exceedingly better than ones we have to pull from a catalog, florists website, or a stock image library.

On the left is the total engagements for the seven shops that send us great content and images on a consistent basis. It’s almost eight times the engagement of the shops that don’t, over on the right.

This is the total impressions for both sets of shops. Impressions aren't as important as engagement but this still gives you an idea of how many eyes have been on your images. On the left is little to no images sent to us and on the right is consistent images. Another thing you can notice here is that we paid for a very similar amount of impressions but the shops that sent us personalized images did much better organically and with their virility.

We always try our best to stress the importance of providing this content to have the best reach and engagement across your social platforms and hopefully this look inside the numbers gives you a little more information on why it’s crucial on social media.

Do you need help with your social media accounts? Trust the experts at Bloomerang Solutions to keep your accounts optimized while you turn your attention to the holidays. Give us a call today at (941) 806-1911 or drop us a line below to let us know how we can help your business bloom!

Numbers Don't Tell The Entire Story About Pay-Per-Click Marketing

I’m a true believer in online pay-per-click marketing. As someone who has actively spent the past 30-some years marketing my business, I can honestly say that it is by far the effective method I've ever encountered and the best part is - it's only getting stronger.

Not long ago, the most efficient and cost-effective forms of marketing were print-based in outlets such as phone books and newspapers - then the internet came along and changed everything! Sure, the Yellow Pages and newspapers still exist today, but for the most part, our potential customers are no longer utilizing them as a primary way to find the goods and services they want.

That's important to realize because as marketers, our success depends on us being where our customers are looking. It's so much easier to stick with methods that traditionally worked well for us than it is to risk investing in something we've never tried before, but in instances such as this one, going back to the old way is not a viable option.

That's why I'm always eager to talk about pay-per-click advertising. I just want people to understand exactly how it works and learn why it's such a terrific method of marketing.

Questions about conversions

A lot of business owners I talk to question the conversion rates on pay-per-click advertising, namely the validity of those numbers and just how important they are. Sometimes that can be a bit frustrating for me because knowing what I have experienced looking at phone conversion data, it's hard for me to feel empathetic when I consistently see conversions of calls over the phone that most shop owners cannot realize.

In many cases, when you're only looking at the results on a website, you usually only see 1/3 of the true results and that's why I can see a shop break even in sales and feel it's okay to spend. The truth is, customers will call over the phone and ask for everything - from wanting to know when you're open to how much a specialty design may cost - and then they order. Just because you can't track it doesn't mean it shouldn't be factored in.

The report below was an $80 day for the florist. All they could see was $256 in sales, but out of 36 clicks, I would wonder how many calls, and how many orders? The answer is here, the only problem is that many florists don't have the luxury of Floral Prodigy so we need to do a little assuming. I like to see concrete results.

The secret to getting ahead today is online digital marketing with reporting to help bring you as close to your results as possible. Pay-per-click is so much better than any traditional advertising because when it's slow, the clicks cost go down and when you're busy, costs go up. It may sound confusing, but I promise it's not as intimidating as it looks - so long as you know what you're doing. And if you don't? We're just a phone call away and ready to help get you started.

-Art

Do you need help with pay-per-click marketing, or have questions about how to start? If so, give us a call anytime or drop us a line and we'll be happy to explain things in terms you can understand and show you real results.