By Gina Kellogg
Summertime and the living is easy—at least that’s how the saying goes. For a florist, summertime can actually be too easy—as in a lot less business to keep you busy. After all, weddings tend to drop off until fall, and there aren’t any major holidays to promote.
While you can take advantage of the down time to do some deep cleaning, reorganizing and planning your holiday offerings, you still need to ensure some money is coming in the door. So creating some extra promotions to encourage sales can be a necessity.
Some promotions may take a bit of marketing and upfront dollars. Others may cost you mostly your time in pushing the event out via social media. So find a balance between both in determining what works best for your shop. What are some ideas to get sales moving? No worries! We’ve got some clever and unique concepts to keep you from dipping into a summer sales slump.
Check out these suggestions from your FlowerChat newsletter editor:
We need your feedback! FlowerChat can’t fulfill its mission to help florists without your participation in the forums! So take a moment to add YOUR thoughts to this discussion! Don’t see any comments listed yet? Be the first to start the discussion and encourage others to join in.
About the author
Gina Kellogg is the community/social media manager for FlowerChat. She is also a floral journalist.
Summertime and the living is easy—at least that’s how the saying goes. For a florist, summertime can actually be too easy—as in a lot less business to keep you busy. After all, weddings tend to drop off until fall, and there aren’t any major holidays to promote.
While you can take advantage of the down time to do some deep cleaning, reorganizing and planning your holiday offerings, you still need to ensure some money is coming in the door. So creating some extra promotions to encourage sales can be a necessity.
Some promotions may take a bit of marketing and upfront dollars. Others may cost you mostly your time in pushing the event out via social media. So find a balance between both in determining what works best for your shop. What are some ideas to get sales moving? No worries! We’ve got some clever and unique concepts to keep you from dipping into a summer sales slump.
Check out these suggestions from your FlowerChat newsletter editor:
- National Blueberry Month. With blueberries in abundance, develop some creative designs using the fruit. Use them the same way you might use cranberries during the holidays. For example, fill a clear vase with berries and then insert a design of eryngium, delphinium , iris, hydrangea, scabiosa and statice. Wire some berries onto picks to insert into your designs. Float some berries and blooms in a low, shallow container of water. Cover pomanders with the berries and create some topiaries or hang them from ribbons.
- National Hot Dog Month. Set up a grill and offer free hotdogs to customers over a lunch hour during the week or on a Saturday afternoon. Create some doggie-themed floral arrangements. (You may hate ’em, but you know the customers love them!) Set up a craft table where kids can decorate carnations with dog faces. Promote the event on Facebook, your website, Twitter, Pinterest, your e-newsletter and your blog. (Repurpose this idea for National Hot Dog Day on July 23.)
- National Ice Cream Month. Follow a similar plan to the suggestions for National Hot Dog Month (above). Give out scoops and create some sundae-themed floral designs. With extra cones and carnations, set up a craft table for kids to create their own floral ice-cream confections with glue, sprinkles, floral spray and other extras. And, just like above, promote the event like crazy! (You could also use this idea to promote National Ice Cream Day on July 21 or Vanilla Ice Cream Day on July 23.)
- National Nude Day (July 14). Now, don’t worry—I’m not going to suggest that you and your staff shed some clothing for a marketing event! But you can promote some “naked flowers”! Create some designs of single “naked” stems in bud vases designed to be purchased as a group. Or create some ikebana-style designs using flower frogs that showcase stems standing on their own. These styles of designs show off the beauty of a single blossom with the foliage stripped off and the flower in all its glory!
- National Caviar Day (July 18). Create some high-end designs that incorporate some jars of the fancy fish eggs along with a bottle of bubbly. Contact a local spa or jewelry store to work together on a promotion where people can enter a contest and have their name drawn to win one of your arrangements along with a goodie from your co-sponsor. Require entrants to provide their email address , and then both of you can take advantage of having these new leads for future promotions.
- National Junk Food Day (July 21). If you offer gift baskets, then this holiday is a perfect excuse for your customers to show someone they care by sending them a sinful basket full of indulgent goodies. Offer several price points at different sizes. Then have a drawing among the names of those who order a basket and deliver another goodie basket to the winner.
- Cousins Day (July 24). Many people develop a bond with cousins that’s as strong as that with siblings. Encourage your customers to show their affection with these special family members by ordering a special bouquet designed just for this holiday. Focus on a seasonal favorite such as sunflowers that take up a lot of space in the design with minimal stem count.
- Aunt and Uncle Day (July 26). This holiday pairs well with Cousins Day on the 24th. Develop a promotion to honor extended family members and encourage bouquets for both cousins, aunts and uncles. You can create a bouquet designed specifically for aunts (make it extra feminine), another for uncles (more of a masculine leaning, obviously) and a third that would go to both.
- Parent’s Day (July 28). How can you set Parent’s Day apart from Mother’s Day or Father’s Day designs? Honestly, I’m stumped! But it’s another opportunity on which to focus a promotion this month, so I didn’t want to leave it out simply because I didn’t have a suggestion! So if you come up with a creative opportunity to take advantage of this holiday, send a note to me at [email protected] so I can share it with other FlowerChat readers!
- Father-in-Law Day (July 30). This is another one of those holidays that lend itself to an opportunity to make some cash if you can develop a unique way to set it apart from last month’s Father’s Day event. Again, let us know if you come up with some creative ways to market this holiday, and we’ll share them with others!
We need your feedback! FlowerChat can’t fulfill its mission to help florists without your participation in the forums! So take a moment to add YOUR thoughts to this discussion! Don’t see any comments listed yet? Be the first to start the discussion and encourage others to join in.
About the author
Gina Kellogg is the community/social media manager for FlowerChat. She is also a floral journalist.