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Seize the Occasion
Say it with flowers |
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Written by Michelle Brisebois
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Flowers are all about the occasion and it’s great when the occasion comes to us. Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Christmas – they all are nicely scheduled at the same time every year with lots of media coverage to help prime the pump. These big events are only part of the opportunity, however. More personal consumer occasions are just as big when added all together; it’s just that they happen all of the time instead of in one mad rush.
That also makes them harder to market to because you don’t have the benefit of lots of media coverage elsewhere and one key date to focus on. Targeting those birthdays, anniversaries new babies and corporate events is a bit like herding cats. Is there an effective way to do it?
There are a number of good reasons the special occasion sector is worth addressing.
Because these occasions occur across a wide spectrum of dates, they help smooth out the peaks and valleys caused by the seasonality of events like Mother’s Day and Easter. That’s good for stabilizing cash flow. They also give us a chance to touch the consumer at life’s major turning points and offer a chance to make more of an emotional, memorable statement. The special occasion is often more about life event marketing and therefore offers the floral industry a chance to provide a more personal message than one crafted during the mass hysteria of other major holidays. The challenge is around how to target them effectively. After all, you’re still chief marketer in addition to all of your other responsibilities and it’s time consuming to be constantly sending out messaging. The good news is that some of the most impactful marketing strategies can be easily woven into your day-to-day business activities. It’s about being focused and purposeful.
Claire Rose Ihasz of Ladybug Florist in Toronto noticed that floral deliveries often were directed to an intermediary prior to being given to the recipient. “When a neighbour or receptionist receives a delivery on behalf of someone, we give them a card that says ‘thanks for being a good neighbour,’ which in turn gives them a small discount off of their next order with us. People would see the bouquet and think initially it was for them so giving them a bit of a reward for ensuring it gets to the right person seems to be well received.” Tactics such as this help build awareness so that the next time these people need to order flowers for their own special occasion, you’ll be top of mind.
Weddings are big business and they’re also a great opportunity to capture the next (hopefully) 50 anniversaries. Train these young couples early by getting them accustomed to sending flowers each anniversary or other special occasion. You have the wedding date on file so figuring out when the first anniversary is should be a breeze. Two weeks prior to the first anniversary, send a reminder e-mail or post card to congratulate them on their anniversary and to let them know that the traditional flower for that year is the carnation. If it goes to both the bride and groom, either may send the other flowers . . . or leave the postcard out as a very big hint. Debbie Thomson of Jean’s Flower Shop in Hamilton, Ont., sees lots of parents sending anniversary bouquets to their kids, so you may want to tuck a 10 per cent off coupon for that bouquet into an envelope to go with the corsage box for the mothers of the bride and groom.
Bouquets to celebrate new babies are worth focusing on because the children of the baby boomers will be starting families themselves over the next 10 years. Watch for this sector to grow. “I’m seeing a lot of new baby bouquets go out on Saturdays,” confirms Thomson. People starting families often purchase bigger homes, so, to target this sector, why not start there? Susan Bober who owns Blossoms Flower Shop in Burlington, Ont., along with Debbie Dukeshire, partners with real estate agents to place arrangements in homes the agents are showing. This gets their work noticed. “We customize the arrangements to really suit the home being shown,” she says. “We make sure they’re freshened often to look their best.”
The occasion formally known as Secretary’s Day has been rebranded “Administrative Professionals Day.” The days of the steno pool à la Mad Men are long gone and along with them the administrative assistant’s role. It may be that the notion of thanking co-workers can be broadened to encompass a wider group. “Over our 13 years in business, sales for Administrative Professionals Day have remained steady, but low,” says Ihasz. “We see more people sending corporate gifts and not just at holiday time as it used to be. We are now sending out floral gifts all year round. These gifts are often thank-yous for good business referrals, or are gifts to good clients. I think people realize today that it is important to recognize your business colleagues. We feature a section on our website that is for business gifts specifically. Planter baskets are very popular.” Thomson elected to initiate a fax campaign to remind companies that Administrative Professionals Day was close at hand. “We sent the faxes one week before Administrative Professionals Day and found that response this year was strong,” she says.
The more personal the message, the more likely the recipient is to remember the floral gift, so these occasions give us a wonderful touch-point for our marketing efforts. Ihasz leverages snapshots of herself and team members in candid family moments as part of a Mother’s Day mail campaign designed to connect with customers. This same approach could work for other special occasions. “At Ladybug Florist, we have a very successful email and post card campaign that we use for the floral holidays. For Mother’s Day, I like to use personal images and, if possible, personal images from the store, and staff at the store. For instance, three years ago we had a picture of me and my daughter Natasha. Another popular one was a picture from one of my staff’s childhood. These images are really meaningful, on-topic and fun to have as part of our campaign. People can relate to them and they are fun to share with our customers.”
That’s a great way to sum up the sector: special occasions are personal, often joyous, and above all, much more fun with flowers! All we have to do is earmark those opportunities to touch customers just prior to these life events.
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