You've just finished a busy holiday season. Maybe this year you are exhausted from the surge of weddings. You look around and can't begin to think about next year. January is typically a slow month for florists, so take advantage of some well-deserved down time. Take the next couple of weeks to unwind and while your mind is clear, think about improvements you can make to boost your business this year.
Here are 5 things you can do to help your business now:
1. Perform some shop TLC. Whether you have a retail space or work from a studio, re-paint, spruce up, get more organized, change displays around to keep your space looking fresh. It will give you a fresh outlook for the start of the new year. Go through your shop, reorganize, get rid of your clutter and cleanse what you want to get rid of. Have a fire sale to bring customers in. Even if you don't have a lot of store traffic these days, you can always use the internet to put items on sale through Facebook Marketplace, Let Go, or other on-line communities.
2. Offer a new service. Let's face it, customers can buy flowers just about anywhere these days, but they buy from you because of your design and how you make them feel when they shop with you. Customers want superior service and they'll keep coming back if you know how to do it right. Think about what you can offer customers when business it slow - maybe it's a fun class, a monthly flower subscription, a bridal reference service with caterers, photographers and venues, sending a flower arrangement to new businesses in town, a reminder service for men for their wives' birthdays, anniversaries, etc. The more services you can provide, the more customers will think of you for their floral needs.
3. Connect with customers. It's important to stay connected with customers to keep your name top of mind. Email is an easy way to connect with customers - to wish them well, tell them about your shop , offer a product or service. You already have a database of customers and probably have a fair number of email addresses. You can easily create a monthly email campaign through Constant Contact or Mailchimp. You will be surprised how easy and inexpensive they are to use.
4. Re-vamp your website. For those of us who are older than 50, social media platforms can be intimidating, but these days you can Google anything to find out how to do something. Make sure your website is up to date and stands out from the crowd. It's always good to refresh your site every few years. You don' need to re-invent the wheel. You can change the look of your website with fonts, background colors and new photos. There are many platforms like Squarespace, Wix, Weebly and Shopify that teach you how to create a simple website. Almost all offer standard designs, which you can customize to make your own. These programs also offer email marketing you can create from your website.
5. Up your Instagram game. Instagram is a natural platform for florists, because it's a visual medium. It's quick, so to get eyes on your posts, you need to grab attention through your photographs. If you don't have an account - don't waste another minute. It's easy to use and it will take you just a few minutes a few times a week to create posts. It takes time to build followers on Instagram and get customers, but the more you do, the more followers you will get. Stories get viewed more than posts and reels - so up your stories each week.
Even if you do one of these five things, your business will improve. January is a great time to take a breath and re-think the future.
"Succeeding in business is all about making connections"
Richard Branson
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