Running a flower shop business might be something you’ve been dreaming of for quite some time. However, even with a passion for floral arrangements and hard-work, attracting new customers doesn’t come that easily. To create more exposure around your small business and build a clientele base that allows you to reach the profits you desire, you should pay attention to a few important aspects.
Marketing becomes critical even on a local scale, and a few other relevant actions will help you create the reputation you desire as a florist. While each business is different and various approaches could work, the following pointers are promising regardless of scenario. Here’s what you need to know as a local florist trying to drive more interest to your shop:
Have A Specific Business Model
The other critical consideration that you will want to make as a floral business is how you will be generating money. In other words, you will need to give careful thought and choose a business model that best suits your business – one that’s specific!
Now, there are several types of business models that flower businesses can choose from. However, the retailer and the subscription model are by far the most commonly used business models, at least as far as successful floral companies are concerned.
Mostly convenient for people who order blooms regularly for occasions, personal décor, and gifting, the flower subscription model has become quite popular these days. This occasionally so for generating more revenue and profit compared to pay-as-you-go flower retail sales.
Most importantly, you will want to consider several crucial factors before deciding on a business model for your floral venture. Some of these include but are not limited to the following:
- Your target market
- The costs involved
- Scalability
- Customer experience
Build a brand image
When people start seeing you as an actual brand, fostering loyalty will become possible. Even if you have just a small shop, treat your business as if it was part of a franchise and put in the necessary effort into branding. That means creating a logo that perfectly represents your business’ motto, and using it whenever you have the opportunity to. Print some business cards with that logo and hand them out to customers. Display the logo in a prominent manner outside your as well shop, using posters, banners or traditional signage, take up on any opportunity you get to make your log visible to passer-by’s. Building a brand image will help you build a group of loyal customers, customers who will keep choosing you over other florists just because you inspire trust.
Accessorize your arrangements and make them unique
One of the first things you should be focusing on is improving your service and creating arrangements that benefit from uniqueness and appeal. Because you want to boost exposure on a local scale solely, you should determine your current customers to spread the word around and the best way to do that is by providing them with floral arrangements that actually wow.
Regardless of what flowers you usually work with, and what your style is, you should try and make your arrangements have a particular touch, one that is representative for you as a florist. Nowadays, you have so many inspirational resources online that it won’t be hard to expand your range of floral creations and give all of your arrangements a unique twist. The right accessories will also help you here. Add to your arrangement high quality florist ribbon, wire, colourful tape, pearl pins, glass glitter, and any other decoration supply that can help you beautify your bouquets. Small details can make a big difference, and if your customers are pleased with your work, they’ll certainly recommend you to their friends and family, and you know how much referrals matter for a small local business. Make sure to partner up with the right supplier to make sure your arrangements are always gorgeous. Ensuring a constant flow of wholesale flower boxes for floral shops, at peak times, in particular, is essential. A reliable provider will also help you access a wider range of flowers and even send you the desired supplies overnight if that’s what your business requires to keep customers satisfied.
Establish a connection with your customers
As mentioned above, local flower shops rely quite a lot on recommendations, so what you should do is establish a personal connection to your customers. Seeing that you are attentive to their needs, you go the extra mile to ensure their satisfaction will certainly determine any customer to return or at least talk about your shop to someone else.
You can do a few things to foster that type of relationship with customers:
- Be honest and sincere
- Offer a discount on larger orders
- Send a thank-you email to customers who’ve made an order
- Have an ‘early-bird’ sale for loyal customers firs
- Use your customers’ data to find out their birthday, send out a ‘Happy birthday’ email and offer them a percentage off
Focus on shop aesthetics
When it comes to flower shops, aesthetics do matter. Getting a simple passer-by to come in and get a closer look at what you have available for them means working with visuals. If the exterior and interior of your shop haven’t been refined, and your general décor lacks appeal, people won’t feel tempted to walk inside, and you could lose important business.
Invest some of your existing budget into making any necessary changes. By painting the shop’s walls in a pleasant colour, or adding a few interesting decorations around, you can boost the visuals of the place and make customers want to enter your shop. The way the place looks like will indicate to prospective customers how your floral arrangements might turn out as well. Decorate your outside with flowers as well and let everyone walking on the street know what you have to offer and excite people to actually stop in.
Use social media
Social media has become incredibly powerful in terms of marketing over the last few years, and you already know that. Boosting your success on a local scale can happen faster if you know how to ‘sell’ yourself on Instagram and Facebook. Set up an account and become active. Take photos of your best arrangements and share them on these channels. If people see your work online and like your arrangements and bouquets, they might be persuaded to visit your shop in person. With a powerful online presence, you can increase your local visibility and increase sales.
Hold events
One last thing you can also do is hosting events at your flower shop. People enjoy partaking in local gatherings, where they can socialize and meet new people, and holding your own event at your flower shop will work great in boosting awareness around your business. Think of a theme that goes hand in hand with the type of business you are running, and use the opportunity to show the people attending the event what you have to offer.
Whether you’ve been running your flower shop for a while now and simply want to bring in more customers, or you’ve just opened it and are looking for some suggestions on local advertising, these insights will help you go in the right direction. Regardless of the level of competition you’re facing, the tips highlighted above will help you establish a great reputation for your flower shop and boost your sales and collaborations. Keep in mind these recommendations and use them to your advantage.
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