Speak Your Message So They Can Hear It
Many of your customers and soon-to-be plant parents are actively listening to podcasts, watching YouTube videos, following along on audio books and engaging with other forms of audio content. It’s how they pass the time in the car from home to work, while they’re exercising, and even when they’re cooking. People are consciously opting for passive entertainment that doesn’t interfere with their daily chores so they can multitask through the day.
Passing the Time with Passive Entertainment
No acting experience required.
As I’ve mentioned before, it’s time to find your voice and start speaking directly to your garden center customers, on a medium they’re already tapped into. Going live on Facebook and Instagram is a noble tactic for social media and I strongly suggest that it be a weekly or monthly initiative. But I’m asking you to show more intent with your voice. It will help bridge the gap between where you stand in your garden center and where your customer sits in their home. When people hear and see you, they instantly have an idea of who you are and if they’re going to like your business.
It’s super judgy like the mean girls in junior high.
But it’s true.
First impressions matter online just as they do in-store. This is your opportunity for a digital hello.
What this means for Garden Centers:
Forgot the production values. If you’re the Georgia Peach that knows everything about roses, now’s the time to pull out your phone! Grab a blooming floribunda, some pruners and teach your customers firsthand how to maintain their fragrant flowers with video. While you’re offering an educational piece, you’re also breaking down the virtual wall that inhibits younger customers from entering your garden center. Show them your “pretty face”, how you talk with your hands and if an occasional swear word slips from your mouth, well, that’s just your brand talking.
The same passionate voice that coaches your customers how to trim a spent bloom to encourage more flowers, is the same entertaining tone that should come through in your podcasts. The blog posts you put so much effort into – thinking through the main points, breaking down the hows and whys, and writing the perfect happy ending – have more to offer. Take those efforts just one step further and record a podcast that puts your excitement, inflection, and sarcasm where your customers can hear it.
Think of it this way: When you’re working at your garden center to help your customers find the right plant for that dark area on the north side of the house; or while you’re coaching a new homeowner how to revive their birch tree in August, these are all teachable moments that you can take to the airwaves. The long game with this tactic is strong. Today’s customer wants to find you and your knowledge at their own passive pace. Tomorrow’s customer will see the effort you’ve invested into your brand and see it as a mark of expertise and thought leadership.
How DIG can help:
The partnership we have with our clients includes content planning to ensure they’re delivering their message in a timely way, and is developed with Google’s search algorithm in mind. Beyond that, we can help you transition your blog posts into podcasts and capture your how-to knowledge on video to reach today’s customers.
Previous articles regarding marketing trends for 2019:
Show Off Your Garden Center’s Personality
Put the Social Back in Social Media
“Siri, where’s the best garden center?” Are you ready?
