Running a successful plant nursery often requires knowledge that goes beyond your expertise in the growing and gardening world. If you want to earn a profit in today’s competitive marketplace, you need to know how you can attract retail customers.
Often, great marketing campaigns for horticultural companies require a combination of offline and online methods for promotion. For instance, while you might have your own social media channel where you share tips and gardening advice, you could also encourage your customers to stay up-to-date on what’s happening with your brand with a direct mail newsletter.
To help you start your journey towards better marketing for your products, here are just a few suggestions you can keep in mind.
1. Competitions are A Great Way to Drive Brand Awareness
If you want to encourage customers to engage with your company more frequently, there are few solutions more effective than running a competition where your clients will have a chance to win something from your brand. A gardening competition is an obvious choice for your nursery, and you could advertise it in everything from printed promotional flyers to hashtags on social media.
Ask your entrants to share their submissions on your social media pages, then add offline media to the mix by announcing the winners through a direct mail newsletter. Alternatively, you could always use direct-mail coupons for the winner to convince them to spend more time in your store.
2. Use Direct Mail and Flyers to Attract Local Customers
While digital marketing is a powerful way for many companies to expand their brand reach and attract new customers from across the country, a nursery will want to focus almost exclusively on “local” clients. With direct mail newsletters and flyers, you can connect with your customers with beautiful correspondence that won’t simply go straight into their junk inbox.
Make sure that whatever you create offers some value to your target audience. For instance, your newsletter might include a coupon to use instore, or some information about an event that you’ll be hosting in the coming months.
3. Use Labels and Packaging to Connect Online and Offline Campaigns
As mentioned above, some of the best marketing campaigns for nurseries are the ones that know how to connect online and offline strategies. Your packaging and plant labels can be a great way for you to encourage customers to find out more about your brand online. For instance, you could put your website address on a pot wrap, along with FAQ information about growing the plant in question.
Alternatively, there are a few high-tech options for nurseries who want to make the most out of their plant labels. For instance, you could include a QR code that a user can scan to download a company app or get a discount on their next purchase, or even a “snapchat” account code that customers can use to follow you on social media.
Connecting the online and offline world in this way will help you to generate powerful word of mouth advertising campaigns that make your garden centre more memorable.
To find out more about cleverways to improve your marketing strategies contact us directly on 1300 848 672
