3 Steps To Effectively Market Flowers (Even If You Have No Idea What You're Doing)

Ah, marketing. That pesky, confusing, no-one-wants-to-do-it thing that is essential for business success.

What does “marketing” mean anyways?

Marketing is the process of finding potential clients and making them aware of your products & services. It involves finding people who may be interested in what you do (hopefully, REALLY interested in what you do), and the activities you do to promote your business. This involves things like posting on social media, email marketing, advertisements, in-person pop-ups, promotions, brand awareness, etc.

Before you can have a successful marketing plan, you first must know exactly who you are marketing to (hint: it ain’t everyone).

If you’re in the business of selling cut flowers, you have got to decide how those flowers are going to benefit someone else or solve a problem for them. Only then can you develop an effective marketing strategy.

Here are the three steps you need to take in order to understand A.) Who you are marketing to. B.) How your products and services are designed to help THEM (and not just you). and C.) How to find them and tell them all about how you can help them.

First step:

Decide who your target audience will be. To make it easier, choose one person in particular.  This is a classic marketing exercise that sometimes feels a bit overused, but it’s invaluable.

In order to effectively market your flowers, you first need to get very, very clear on who you are selling to. You must know this person in order to align yourself as their perfect business. Think about your Ideal Customer Avatar (ICA):

Who is she?  What does she look like?  How old is she?  What does she value?  What does she love?  What are her biggest fears?  Worries?  What are her hobbies? What does she struggle with?  What does she want?  How does she want to FEEL *** (big one).  What are her problems?

Sit down and take some time to think about this.  Be sure to choose someone that you can genuinely connect with and that you understand.  You should clearly understand this persons wants, needs, challenges, hopes and dreams. You should also choose someone that you would theoretically enjoy hanging out with and working with all the time (because you will be). Choose a specific person in real life if you find that helpful - perhaps your best customer or someone you really adore that loves your flowers.  If you can’t think of a person in real life, make up an “avatar” as your imaginary ICA. Give your ICA a name like Becky.

If you find that you are thinking of multiple kinds of ICAs (a woman in her 20s getting married vs a 40 year old, married for 15 years with three kids…)- I URGE you to pick just one, or at the very least find some similarities across a couple of ICAs and focus on those.

Step 2:

Think about what you can produce that will help your ICA solve a problem or feel a specific way.  This is very important.  To have a successful business you MUST either A) Solve a problem or B) Make someone feel a very specific & compelling way. 

It’s easy to shrug this off and say “flowers don’t solve problems! They are a luxury item!” But that’s simply not true. For example, if you run A-La-Carte weddings as a major (or entire) part of your business, you are solving a very real problem by offering a cost-conscious couple with beautiful, professionally designed flowers without the full-service price tag.

Another example is if you sell flowers at a farmers market. Perhaps the one woman who buys from you every single week with the blonde hair is going through a divorce and the only thing that keeps her head up during the week are those gorgeous yellow sunflowers that make her smile.

In both these scenarios you are solving a problem or creating a real emotional response with your product.

You should be designing the products your business offers around what your ICA wants and needs most. What will help them or benefit them more than anything else?

Is your ICA a busy mom?   She’s over-worked and over-whelmed and frankly – just needs a break.  She needs some time to relax! What can you do to help her achieve that?  A peaceful night out at the farm to pick her own flowers and play with them would do the trick. Maybe try offering “pick your own” flower workshops.

Or maybe you have a 26 year old woman in mind, who is getting married for the first time and comes from a middle-class family.  She’s on a budget (because she’s got, like, $250k in student loan debt), but is passionate about sustainability and climate change.  Align as her perfect wedding vendor- offer affordable, organic seasonal flowers through an a-la-carte wedding service.  Use your own unique strengths and talents to make it the best thing EVER and make your offer irresistible.

You get the point. 

A key consideration here is to not copy other flower businesses you see (and admire). You are not like them: you are your own unique person with your own set of unique business goals, so don’t copy others and expect their marketing to work for you (spoiler: it won’t). Every business is unique, has it’s own special niche (yes, even if you sell through the same sales outlet as someone else)- and therefore everyone’s marketing and brand will be different.

Your job as a business is to create products that serve your ideal client first: help them solve problems, and live their best lives.  It’s that simple.

Step 3:

Find your ideal client (Heyyy Becky!) and let them know how you can help them.  Ask yourself these questions:  Where does your ICA hang out?  What does she read online – blogs?  The news? Does she read any magazines- which ones? What social media sites does she hang out on?  Does she go to craft shows, farmers markets, or maybe she’s more of a library buff? Does she love the class of wine or is she more of a casual beer drinker?  Find her in these places by hanging out there yourself – do pop-ups at craft shows, go to a farmers market, or do workshops through your local library.  Partner with like-minded businesses like a wine bar for your flower CSA, or a juice bar for a pop-up on mothers day.

Once you find people, find a way to keep in contact with them. Be consistent and show up in front of their faces regularly (in person, through an email list, or social media). Use language they recognize to talk to them (i.e. don’t use commercial flower farming jargon like saying flowers are “crops.” Just call them flowers!).

Now you’ve learned how to:

A). Find your Ideal Client Avatar (Hey Becky!). 

B). Develop products they can’t resist because they help them solve a problem or feel a certain way. 

C). Find your ICA, let them know about you, and how to keep in touch (to gain their trust and loyalty).

Those are the basics.  From here you can use your own unique strengths and talents to creatively market your business.  Over time you will get a feel for your own brand and can position your business in a way that makes sense in order to align you with your ideal client.

Do yourself a favor and please don’t try to do it ALL– you don’t want to confuse your clients (or drive yourself into the ground).  I made this mistake when I first started– “I do ALL the weddings: I’ll do full service weddings, A la carte, and bulk buckets!” By doing this I confused EVERYONE (including myself). Do I market to the high-end bride with a $5,000 budget?  Or to the budget bride with a $500 to spend?  Your language that you use to attract these two different people will differ VASTLY, so you can’t attract both types of people at once.  Don’t confuse people.  Clear marketing is successful marketing. 

Now go out into the world, find your ICA (‘Sup Becky!), and help them live their best life!! You’ll be rewarded greatly.