In this age of technology, businesses are radically changing. Aside from retail shops, there’s now an entire world that you can reach with just a few clicks. The competition is now online, and you need to step up your game to stand out from the rest.

As a florist, you have more or less a good idea of what makes a good floral arrangement. With a healthy variety of flowers, you communicate different messages from the types of flowers in the bouquet to the very placement of the flowers. 

 What you want to achieve is the awareness of your brand. You need to look different, striking, and eye-catching to rake in these customers just like your floral arrangements. The question now is, how?

There are a ton of graphic design options available out there, just search on the Internet. The great thing about them is that you can go about it in many different ways, from DIY (Doing It Yourself) to hiring some professionals to design your shop’s look. But before everything else, you need to define your requirements.

 

Requirements

What do you need to be designed? For a field as varied and subjectively beautiful as design, you need to clearly delineate your requirements and express what you want to see in your design.

If you have a particular design in mind, clearly communicate this with your graphic designer.

The common way to do this is to find inspiration from the design work of other places. You can also do a rough sketch and present it to them. The idea here is that you explicitly told them of what you expect from them; this helps build a clear understanding of your end-goals.

 

Promotional materials

If you are hosting an event in your shop, like an Open House or Special Event, it’s great to tell everyone about it in a flashy way.

You can promote your events through print materials like banners and flyers. These are excellent for spreading the news across the local block. You need to tell your designer that they’ll be designing for print materials so that they can appropriately modify the size into what’s best for these kinds of designs.

However, the most common way to do this nowadays is to promote it online.

Social media platforms have a very broad reach to many people, and the word there gets passed on faster than offline. In this case, you need to tell your designer that the material will be used for the web. Sometimes, you can also ask for desktop and mobile versions of the design, or have specific versions for each famous social media platform.

For example, square posters work great on Instagram, while portrait images look great on either desktop and mobile. Understanding how far you want your scope will reach helps define the requirements for the job.

 

Branding services

If you are still starting up your shop, you will want to have an image, a feel of what you want your flower shop to be like. You can easily achieve this with a brand, an identity that’s unique to your business. However, getting branding service work is significantly different from promotional Materials.

While promotional materials deal with specific events, branding services deal with the entirety of your shop, the image of your shop that you want to convey to your customers. One common work under these services would be the logo.

The logo is the visual representation of your shop, aside from the brick-and-mortar store that you keep. It should convey your business and your visions as you conduct business. You also need to be unique and stand out from the crowd. Whether you go for a minimalist logo or an extravagant one, make sure that it catches eyes and is memorable when people look for a florist.

 

 

From the logo, a variety of marketing materials can then be derived and is usually part of the package of branding services. Calling cards, packaging design, letterheads, and even templates of posters are commonly part of the package.

Now that you know what you want, you would want to see that design come to life. Whether you do the grunt work yourself or you spend some money to hire a freelance designer, there are many options for you to choose from!

 

DIY Options

You should understand that doing the design yourself means more than just thinking of the design. You also need to know the technical skills required in using the tools and software needed to make the design.

If you are confident with your Photoshop skills, then these DIY options might be a great fit for you!

 

Logo and graphic designs makers

Earlier we mentioned the popular photo editing software, Adobe Photoshop,  but the user interface of the program can be overwhelming to first-time or inexperienced users. Thankfully, the Internet is bustling with easy graphic design makers.

Right off the bat, a quick Google search can give you Canva, Piktochart, Snappa, and all other similar websites that offer basically the same service: an easy graphic design maker that can produce professional-looking designs.

The upside of these sites is that they provide templates from which you can start building upon. There’s a huge array of choices available from their catalog, each designed for specific purposes and with modifiable text and/or images. These websites also provide extra graphics assets readily at your disposal. With a theme as flowers, you are sure to have a template or two ready to be edited!

The downside of these is that you have limited control over the assets; most of these websites do not have the full breadth and robust tools that something like Photoshop has. With a badly done design, this can be a disaster. However, you can do most of the work that you want to be done on these sites. Also, free members and guests might need to attribute the design to the website, with some watermark that you don’t want to have. These websites are great for simple work that can be done with a template, and they do it really well.

These websites usually offer these services in memberships, likely in two tiers, a free one and a premium one. Needless to say, free members get limited access to templates and assets, while premium members can access their entire library and even ask for professional help in the website.

 

Editable graphic designs from design sites

If you are confident with your editing skills, you probably wouldn’t be here. However, if you are willing to expand your skill set, you can take a swing at learning Photoshop or Illustrator (a ‘similar’ program, used to open most assets from design sites). You can actually get decent work done after a few YouTube tutorials or so.

Of course, Starting from scratch is a monumental task. You can take a look at several graphic design sites like Freepik and Creative Market and see some templates that you can modify. Graphical assets like icons are also readily available in these sites. You can download these files and modify them in the program, making it into the design you want.

This can be the most taxing option available, because of the nature of these programs that are aimed at professionals. Plus, just like the maker websites, you will need a premium membership to access all their assets. This option is certainly not for quick jobs, but if you want to really do it yourself, then you can just make it yourself.

 

Hiring professionals

In all honesty, we don’t have the luxury of time to actually do the design ourselves. Plus, the design can easily go horribly wrong in the hands of inexperienced users. Hiring professionals for graphic design services can be quite the number in your financial account, but for the sake of exposure and gaining customers, this can be a worthy exchange.

 

Freelance graphic designers

The easiest way to hire professionals is to go to a freelance website and scroll from the long list of freelancers willing to do your bidding in a heartbeat’s notice.

Freelance platforms like Upwork and Fiverr have a healthy population of freelance graphic designers that would jump at your job posting. The positive thing about hiring freelance graphic designers is that the price can be relatively cheap, and you can state that they do not hold any rights to the work done.

However, revisions with freelancers are usually also paid, unless stated otherwise beforehand. You need to talk with your freelancer before getting the job done.

The first thing to look for in a freelancer is their portfolio. Freelancers usually have them posted in their profile, and you can also ask for samples during the interview phase. This helps you identify the right freelance graphic designer whose style that you prefer, although most professional designers should be able to do what you want to be done.

Because freelancers work in contracts, hiring them is great for designing quick things like posters for an upcoming promo. Turnaround times are also good because the competition in the market is rather tight. 

Graphic design services from design teams

This is as professional as professional design can get. Most professional graphic designers create teams to work under one name that rakes in work. These teams offer packaged deals in graphic design, like getting a logo, poster templates, and business cards done for one payment. These deals are also usually very flexible, like letting you order just a logo, or letterheads and business cards. They also allow revisions of the design, in case you didn’t like the first designs.

Out of all the options presented, this one is the one that you can get the most professional designs from. With design teams, one person may be doing the design, but then passed on to another for quality checking in order to maintain a standard set by the team internally.

Well-established teams also have great customer support, in order to create a positive reputation around themselves. Having a design team make your creative works also makes any design to be done, with little to no effort at your side. Of course, this convenience may come at a high price. 

Design teams usually have a dedicated website, and you can easily scroll their portfolio to see if they are a great fit to your job. They are great for having work done about your brand, and they can produce design materials like templates that you can use for the future. Plus, you hold all rights of the designs, so you need not to worry about copyright. 

 

Letting people around be aware of you makes you relevant to the current times. Florists, what are some ways you use graphic design in your business and what options do you use? Please post your comments below!

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Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

 

Halloween is one of the top holidays for business retailers, with sales outperforming every holiday other than Christmas.

An ever-increasing number of individuals share in this fun occasion by spending millions of dollars per year on sweets, home decor, costumes, and more. Couldn’t florists take advantage of Halloween?

Is it because of lack of inspiration or interest, or is Halloween outside the brand? Not everything needs to be in black and white…or purple and orange!

Instagram is a great source of inspiration for some frightening floral arrangements that can generate some interest with customers while helping you stay true to your brand and style.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Florists, are you selling Halloween arrangements at your flower shop? Are you seeing an influx in sales during this holiday? Share your comments below!

 

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Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Add some Tricks and Treats to your flower sales with these spell-binding tips!

Halloween has gained serious recognition among business retailers and no wonder why, as adults look forward and partake in this fun holiday and are spending millions on the holiday.

It is said that Halloween sales surpass every holiday except Christmas. So why aren’t Florists cashing in on Halloween?  In this blog, we want to help floral businesses cash in on Halloween profits and establish long lasting  patrons.

 

Make A Ghoulish Flower Arrangement

Make a few creative, spine – chilling, Halloween flower arrangements and donate them to your local busy eateries, pubs, hair salons, and so on.

Think large crowds and make sure your business card is displayed and visible.

Many florists have participated in donating arrangements and it has paid off big time. The purpose here is to bring recognition to your flower shop business.

Tip: Donate an arrangement to the main office of your high school. Kids love these and will remember your flower shop when prom comes around. 

 

Spooktacular Window Display

First impressions count! Be sure to make your window display or front entrance stand out and ooze with creativity. Getting patrons into your flower shop is key in increasing your profits.

Tip: Adding an enticing sign to your entrance will help bring traffic into your store, remember, everyone loves bargains incorporate these signs in the Halloween decor.

 

Sell Halloween Hair – Raising Items

Think of carrying a few Halloween specific items in your store. Patrons flock for candles, Halloween baskets, soaps, lotions, and jewelry. Make a small display, preferably at the front counter near cash drawer. Create designer pumpkins with ribbon, wheat, and other fall items to create a centerpiece that will last through the fall season.

Tip: It’s great to include mums, hay, and pumpkins for sale, at your shop.  These items will allow your patrons to buy all they need from one location. 

 

Be A Sales Warlock

Cold calling still works, if you are located near hotels, corporate businesses, and busy restaurants, pick up the phone and give them a ring.  Ask them if they would like a jaw-dropping Halloween arrangement for their lobby or front entrance, you will be surprised how great this works.

 

Host a Spellbinding Flower Workshop

These are all the rage and create fun exciting pass times for your patrons. Remember the theme is Halloween. You can teach anything from a fun Halloween arrangement, like adding flowers to a pumpkin or even decorating a Halloween wreath.

These are buzz worthy, don’t forget to post on social media!

 

Thrill Customers On Your Website 

Make sure to update your floral website. Do not skip over Halloween, make sure to add some beautiful Halloween arrangements and items for sale.

How about also writing a Halloween blog? Offering your readers some creative tips for this festive holiday. This will help increase your SEO and make your eCommerce store recognizable across the internet. Be sure to add enough content and images. Remember,  Dia De Los Muertos is November 1st.

 

Flowers Mystify The Media

Involving the media is a sure way to get you and your flower shop recognized. There are many things you can offer on Halloween to get you recognized in the media.

If you are close to your local news channel, send them a beautiful creative flower arrangement.  Make sure to offer the arrangement to all the anchors and thank them for a job well done.  You are sure to get your flower shop and creative arrangements on the news.

Another way is get your schools involved, offer free arrangements for students who write the best essays, these can include why Halloween is their favorite holiday, someone they admire and so on.

 

Enchanted Costumes = Flower Sales 

If you are open on Halloween have everyone dress up. This may sound far-fetched, however, you will see an increase traffic into your store if everyone is participating. Have one of your  best -dressed employees stand out front your store throughout the  day preferably holding an enticing  sign.

Offer special discounts on single stem or bunched flowers for costumes or accessories for customer Halloween costumes.

 

These are just a few suggestions on how florists can tie Halloween into marketing and sales.  We would love to hear about your Halloween marketing and sales tips, please share with our readers below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Florists, were you surprised by the results? How do you get your floral shop ready for the holidays? Please share your recommendations, feedback, or questions below in the comment section. 

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Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Mother’s Day is just around the corner, is your business ready for this busy floral holiday?

Having a decent plan in place to make the most revenue during Mother’s Day is fundamental in receiving every one of the rewards of this bustling blossoming occasion. In this blog, we will go over an agenda to help you during this Mother’s Day holiday.

1. Promote Your Floral Business!

Begin by using your Floral Website and Social Media sites to start marketing your floral arrangements and your business.

Images & Products

• • Post high-quality photos of your work or any specials you are offering during Mother’s Day on your website or Social Media platforms.
  • Don’t forget to link your social media posts to your website!
  • Mother’s Day products should be prominently displayed and easily accessible throughout your website.

Hours & Policies

• Clearly post your shop’s business hours on your website and social media.
• Having clear policies and return/substitution policy will alleviate any headaches for you and your customers.

Promotions & Discounts

• Increase traffic to your store by offering deals or discounts on pickups rather than deliveries.
• List special Promotions. This is a great way to encourage customers to shop early before Mother’s Day week.
• Don’t forget to update your product pricing to cover your costs.

Note: Promoting does not always have to mean discounts. Remind customers why they should order flowers through your business.

2. Staffing, Scheduling and Duties, Oh My!

Making sure you have enough coverage can be overwhelming during the holiday rush. Not to worry, take a deep breath and follow these great tips!

Hiring

• If hiring extra help, offer them a day to come in before Mother’s Day week to go over job responsibilities and training.
• If hiring extra drivers, discuss with them if you require them to use their own vehicle.
• If you can, keep a standby driver at the shop to handle new orders for delivery.

Employees

• Have an employee meeting and discuss what is expected of them during Mother’s Day
• Make sure to explain how important everyone shows up and does what is expected of them.
• Encourage and Praise your employees and floral designers. Its always better to be positive than negative.

Scheduling & Duties

• Have your Mother’s Day week schedule out two weeks in advance. That way there are no surprises to your staff and you have time to make adjustments.
• Go over job descriptions with employees as its always nice to have a reminder of what everyone’s responsibilities are.
• Assign sections for the delivery drivers in specific areas. Add finished flower arrangements to this area with the date of delivery that is bold and clear.

 

3. Don’t Forget your Flowers & Supplies

Making sure you have enough flowers and supplies to get through the holiday is important.

Supplies

• Start looking around for supplies, containers, baskets and vases weeks before Mother’s Day.
• Visit your local supplier. However, don’t forget to visit discount home stores and dollar stores. You can find some great unique items.
• Don’t settle! Shop around for the best deals on supplies and florals.

Flowers

• Start ordering your Mother’s Day flowers early to get the best value.
• Don’t forget to shop around if you buy from multiple wholesalers.
• If you are comfortable, get your flowers through a floral auction. A great opportunity to get some discounts when purchasing in large quantities.
• Make sure to order flowering plants, orchids, and dish gardens. These are big sellers and require very little work.

Note: if you are new to the floral industry, Mother’s Day spans for a week, not a day. So order enough flowers!

4. Start Prepping & Showcasing your Flowers!

Stay ahead of the game with these prepping and showcasing tips during the busy holiday rush.

Prepping

• Prep your flowers when they arrive.
• Teach your front of store staff how to wire flowers to help cut down the time.
• Cut any ribbon and make bows ahead of time
• Green any vases, baskets or containers.
• No wastefulness! With the abundant supplies and flowers in the shop, it is easy to get sidetracked and be super wasteful. Everything thrown on the floor that can be used should be. Wasting or throwing out even a good pin or wire is considered money out of your pocket. Please be sure to express this to your employees.

Showcasing

• Gather up all your add-ons and gift items and display them prominently in the store.
• Make sure you re-stock your impulse buys on your front counter to sell in addition to flower arrangements.
• Make sure your flower shop and displays are clean and have an inviting atmosphere.
• Remember if Employees have time to lean, they have time to clean!

Work Ahead

• Work a day ahead. Fill any orders for next day the day before. Working a day or two ahead will allow you flexibility just in case there are any last minute orders.
• Place pre-made orders in a cooler, well tagged with date of pick-up or delivery.
• Mark any time sensitive orders and bring those to the front of your cooler.

Note: It helps to have a system that works best for you. However, working on orders per day can feel overwhelming, so staying ahead of the game is always best.

5. Take Care of Yourself

It is important to take care of yourself during this busy Mother’s Day week.

• Wear comfortable clothes and shoes.It’s best not to wear open toe shoes as this can be an insurance liability in some areas.
• Make sure you eat! Breakfast, Lunch, and dinner are important—don’t skip meals!
• Get enough sleep. No one is at their best with lack of sleep.
• Take mandatory breaks.
• Do not sweat the small stuff. Regardless of how hard you try, there may be a complaint here or there. Do not let this get you down. It’s the nature of the business. The world can’t survive without florists!
• Try to enjoy Mother’s Day week by keeping a journal of all the funny things that happen or mishaps that take place to reflect on for next year.

Tip: Bring in extra shoes and store them in your cooler to remedy those aching feet. 

 

We would like to wish all florist a very successful Mother’s Day!

Florists, do you have any great Mother’s Days tips to share with our readers? Please post any of your Mother’s Day tips or feedback below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Vanity emails go a long way in branding your floral business.

But are they necessary? If you are still using AOL, Gmail or Yahoo as your business email you are missing out on opportunities to present your brand—as many opportunities as there are emails you send, in fact.

What is a Vanity Email?

Simply put, a vanity email is an email that includes your floral business/domain name. Generally, if you have a website domain name, you want to use your domain name in your vanity email, for example sales@flowershop.com instead of flowershop@yahoo.com. The typical structure is name@businessname.com.

You can set up a vanity email through your domain registrar.

Why Vanity Emails are a Crucial Addition to Your Flower Business

All your shop’s public personality feeds into your brand, and using a vanity email can help connect the dots from your website to your business communications. Your logo and website are important, but so is the way you project your brand with every communication.

1. Vanity emails help make your business memorable!

A vanity/business email helps to ingrain your business name with these recipients. Creating your email identity making you recognizable. Compare flowershop134@yahoo.com with owner@flowershop.com: which is more engaging, which is easier to remember? Every impression counts, even through email.

2. Vanity emails create assurance and trust!

Anyone can create a free email account, which can leave email recipients feeling vulnerable. Having a business vanity email helps in solidifying you as a professional business owner giving you/your flower business credibility. As a customer, you can be sure that the owner@flowershop.com address was created by the same people who control the flowershop.com website, and all messages you receive from that address are coming from a shop employee.

3. Vanity emails keeps emails organized!

The beauty of vanity emails is that you can create emails for different departments, such as sales@flowershop.com and info@flowershop.com. This will help give a clear direction to your customers on who handles specific email content. You will still have access to all these departments, but it will establish an organized response system.

4. Vanity emails are reasonably priced!

Besides these other important benefits, the cost of setting up a vanity email is almost negligible. Marketing/branding for your floral business comes in a lot of shapes and some options are very costly, but having a vanity email is worth every penny you spend. It is also easy to set up through your current domain provider.

 

Florists, do you have a vanity email? How have vanity emails changed your floral business? Please share your feedback and questions in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

If you don’t understand how secure websites work, you are not alone.

So what are HTTP and HTTPS websites? HTTP is short for hypertext transfer protocol, and HTTPS adds an S for secure: secure hypertext transfer protocol. Is your eCommerce website HTTP or HTTPS? And if you don’t know, how can you tell?

HTTPS uses a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) to encrypt data transmitted over your website. SSL provides a coded encryption which scrambles the information into a series of random characters and once that information arrives at its destination—the other computer—it will unscramble itself and be readable again. The coded encryption is what keeps hackers from stealing sensitive information.

How Can You Tell if Your Floral Website is HTTPS?

When browsing the internet pay close attention to the websites you view and notice if they start with “http://” or “https://”. Click the information icon and it will show you a message just like in the image below.

The image below is taken from a secured website. It has https:// in its URL, and if you’re using the Chrome browser you’ll also see the word Secure next to the padlock icon.

Why HTTPS is a Must for Your Floral Website

Besides the security of customer data entered into your flower website, it is becoming mandatory on search engines.

• Security of Data. When you have an SSL certificate on your website, all information passed between the user’s browser and the website including passwords and credit cards can potentially be intercepted. HTTPS protects customer data.
• Customer confidence. With version 56 of Google Chrome released in 2017 any websites that require visitors to enter sensitive information will be marked as “Not Secure.” This is something your customers will notice immediately and can lower their confidence in ordering from your website.
• SEO. Studies have shown that secured websites have higher search engine rankings. 
• Website Load Times. HTTPS websites load faster, which also benefits your SEO.

Some unsecured websites that are HTTP look like this:

However, for some they already appear this way. This new warning is part of the long-term plan to distinguish pages from HTTP and let visitors know they are “Not secure.”

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No doubt about it, HTTPS is and will be a requirement on all websites. Your customers deserve to shop with confidence and you owe it to your floral eCommerce to have a website that allows you to reach your fullest potential on search engines. Find out if your website is HTTP or HTTPS.

Florists, do you have any feedback or questions regarding HTTP and HTTPS websites? Please share in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

 

Have you worked hard to provide quality blooms and care to all your customers, only to be forced to compete with a floral order gatherer?

It can be frustrating and discouraging for florists who invest serious sweat equity into running a flower business only to see an eCommerce company to move in and pass themselves off as local florists.

There are many different kinds of floral order gathers, from the larger, well-known wire services to ones that take over search engines. We will focus on the floral order gatherers who run search engine ads that knowingly deceive their consumers, and offer you ways to maximize your sales and eCommerce legibility without worrying over order gatherers’ paid ads to lure customers into shopping with them under false pretenses.

Image via Shutterstock

What are Floral Order Gatherers?

Order gatherers—in this case, floral order gatherers—are virtual businesses that have no intention of filling the order purchased by its customers. What order gatherers essentially do is harvest the customer’s information and payment details and then look for real local florists to fulfill the order.

Order gatherers can benefit themselves and the filling flower shop alike, right? Well, yes and no. Order gatherers only pass along a fraction of the customer’s payment, and the customer gets less of what they actually paid for.

Floral order gatherers know that they profit by sending orders to a real local florist, while you the actual florist pay for mortgage/rent, utilities, employees, and product.

Another concern is that some order gatherers are passing themselves off as local florists when in actuality they do not run a flower shop or design flowers. You likely have seen their paid ads on search engines.

Below is an order gatherer’s paid ad on Google. (We covered the name of the order gatherer as well as their website address.) If you look at this ad you can see how easily a customers could believe this is a genuine San Diego florist. There is no indication that this company has nothing to do with fulfilling their order.

Image provided by Google

A Step in the Right Direction: There have been several lawsuits filed by florists to stop these order gatherers from blatantly falsifying information on their ads regarding their location.

Image via Shutterstock

How to Beat Floral Order Gatherers

So what can you do to stand apart from floral order gathers that are taking over your area with paid ads on search engines? Unfortunately, there is no surefire way to stop them other than educating your consumers and marketing your floral business in a way in which it is not affected.

We understand that is easier said than done, however there are a few points working in your favor: floral order gatherers’ time is limited, there are more and more articles out to help consumers identify order gatherers, and consumers are wary of paying more for something only to get less.

Take these actions to brand yourself and increase your visibility as a legitimate local florist in your area, that will offer customers exactly what they paid for.

1. Use a blog. If you have an option to add a blog to your floral website, do so and take an action on educating customers on what a real local florist offers versus a floral order gatherer. An article on your website on this topic will reach more people than visitors that just land on your web page. Besides discrediting order gatherers, this strategy will bolster consumer confidence in your floral eCommerce.
2. Add content and write-ups. Add a gallery and write-ups of your flower business’s staff to your website to showcase you as a local florist.
3. Consider your marketing. The advantage you have as a real local florist is that you do not have to spend a small fortune on ads that fundamentally deceive your customers you’re trying to attract. Market your flower business on social media consistently and be sure to ask satisfied customers to review your shop on Google and Yelp. The best way to do this is having links on your floral website to allow customers to easily click and review you.
4. Use store promotions and offers. Floral order gathers offer many enticing promotions to entice customers to click and shop—refer to the search engine add above, offering 45% savings. We do not want you to give your flower arrangements away from free, however, consider running some enticing offers to get customers to click on your website. This is a great option for gaining new customers as well.
5. Don’t forget about SEO. Your search engine optimization should be on point to compete with online businesses like order gatherers. Work with your floral website provider to make sure you are listing on the first page on search engines. Make sure your Google business page is set up and work on adding images and getting reviews. This all helpful in raising your site’s ranking on search engines.
6. Try a Google ad. Thanks to the internet, marketing is so different today than it has been in the past. That isn’t to say that mailers don’t work, but placing a Google AdWords ad can be helpful in building your brand visibility. Start off with a lower budget, see how your conversions go, and build up from there.

Image via Shutterstock

Floral order gatherers do not play fair. There is no way to stop them completely, however, florists do have the upper hand as floral order gatherers need filling florists to make their business possible. Partner up with other real local florists and stand up to the floral order gatherers by educating your consumers. We are not saying that no florist should ever fill a floral order gatherer’s order, but it’s about time that florists get compensated appropriately for their services. Do not hesitate to ask for more money if you are filling a gatherer’s order. Florists, your expertise and resources are needed to keep floral order gatherers in business—remember that.

 

 

Florists, how have floral order gatherers impacted your flower business? Please share your feedback in the comment section below. If you have any questions please post below as well!

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Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

So you have a knack for arranging blooms. With a deep appreciation for flowers, floral design is a fun and exciting endeavor.

Many florists start their careers after years of daydreaming about venturing into the world of floral design. Florists are like miracle workers, bringing endless smiles and emotional well-being to recipients. It’s a no-brainer, if you love floral design, then become a florist!

Before starting your journey, there are a few things you should consider. Floral designing is an art, and however effortless a good florist makes their work appear, trust us when we say it is not. Even the hand-gathered whimsical bouquets that look like they were plucked from a garden are carefully constructed using the principles of floral design.

Floral design is about so much more than creatively arranging flowers. We want to be encouraging to newcomers to the floral world, but we also want to be helpful. Here are four tips to keep in mind as you work to become a professional floral designer.

1. Learn and Polish Your Floral Design Skills

It is always beneficial to study the art of floral design in a class setting, or learning directly from a mentor. There are so many facets to arranging blooms that it is impossible to be an expert right from the beginning. Besides floral design, you must be educated on prepping flowers and have a clear understanding of the basic principles of arranging flowers. Remember your floral arrangements are only as good as the care you take when prepping them—flowers are perishable and good prepping makes for long-lasting arrangements.

To learn more, consider:

• Taking a floral class
• Working with a mentor
• Volunteering at a local flower shop
• Getting comfortable with the sharp tools you will be using
• Learning how to make ribbons and work with wire

2. Consider the Other Work Florists Do

By now you’re already aware that being a florist requires hard work. Besides prepping flowers, expect to lift heavy containers, spend long hours at work on your feet, and get few holidays off. Being a florist is rewarding, but there are a few other skills a good florist needs:

• Time management is essential.
• Good communication with your customers is a must.
• Be flexible with your work schedule (you won’t be able to make other plans for floral holidays like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day).
• Customer service skills—you will have some customers who are bereaved or going through turbulent times. The compassion and empathy you show them can make a world of difference.

3. Explore Your Floral Design Style

It’s important to develop a signature style. Although we discussed the basic principles of arranging flowers, expert florists have their own flair that distinguishes their arrangements from the next florist’s. Think about what your style lends itself to and work on crafting a unique style.

• Be focused and pay attention to detail.
• Be creative!
• Perfect your skills, so you can make what you see in your mind’s eye a reality.
• Appreciate different flowers and greens and understand how they are used.
• Remember that you are an artist, the flowers and containers are your canvas.

4. Set Goals

So far we have discussed becoming a floral designer. However, you may already be working as a designer and have a higher goal, such as opening a flower shop, working from home on wedding and event florals, or find employment with a local flower shop. Whatever your floral design short-term or long-term goal is it is good to work towards that by networking through marketing and building relationships in your area.

• If you are looking for floral design work at flower shop and consider yourself an expert, call around to local flower shops.
• If you are a novice to floral design, look for employment as a helper and look for mentorship opportunities.

If your goal is to run your own floral business, think about how you’ll market your floral design business.

• Consider your floral business name carefully
• Purchase a domain name
• Create business cards
• Create a website so that you can start building your brand visibility on the internet
• Start on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
• Cultivate relationships with local business owners, funeral directors, bridal shops, restaurant owners, churches, etc.

 

Florists, do you have any advice for our readers aspiring to become floral designers? Please share your feedback, tips or any floral design-related questions in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Once thought of as a fad, social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter has certainly proven naysayers wrong.

Floral business owners have taken advantage of the growth possibilities that social media has to offer.  Beyond that social media, communities have led to an influx of new floral enthusiasts. In other words, social media is helping floral designers get the respect and credibility that has been long overdue.

If you are using Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for your floral business, this blog will help in maximizing your knowledge by revealing the best Facebook, Instagram and Twitter secrets.

 

Twitter Secrets Revealed:

Twitter & Google Are Lovers – Or perhaps only friends with awesome marketing benefits. Twitter and Google work hand in hand. Meaning all your Twitter content does get indexed by Google, be it your tweets and even your bio. This will ultimately help people find you on Google which is a win, win for sales on your floral eCommerce.  Make sure to use relevant keywords in your bio and same for tweets, use hashtags that have to do with your floral business.

Embed Tweets On Your Website or Blog – Embedding tweets on your website is a great way to show your tweets to your visitors who are not on Twitter. The best part is if they click the link and it will take them to your Twitter page.

Tip: To Embed your Tweet: Once you have tweeted something click on the drop-down arrow in the upright-handed corner located within the Tweet. Select Embed Tweet, copy and paste the code to your blog or website. 

Add More Images To Tweets – Did you know you can add more than one image to your tweets? A total of 4 to be exact, it is so simple to do after you add your image click on the photo icon and add another image.

Instagram Secrets Revealed:

See The Return Key – When adding a caption on Instagram you may find that you cannot use the return key. Using the return key allows having better-organized captions on Instagram. So how do you return on Instagram?

Tip:When typing in your caption look below to the left-hand side if you click on 123 the return key appears. 

The Art Of #Hashtagging – We get it, hashtags are not a secret, however, hashtags need to be mention as this is a priceless business marketing tool. When adding an image think about the hashtag you are using. The key here is to get them seen, picking ones that are too common may get your post lost. Be sure to be specific, relevant and look at other tags in the same genre.

Search Posts By Location – Why is this so great for marketing? You can view and follow posts in your specific area.

Tip: On the bottom of your home screen click the magnifying glass, click the search bar and “Places” appears.  Type in the search the place and you will see all top recent posts. 

Pin Your Instagram Post On Pinterest – Unfortunately, when adding posts to on Instagram there is not direct share to Pinterest. However, this can be done fairly easily and when posting on Instagram it is always best to share the images on Instagram as well.

Tip: Find the post you want to pin on Pinterest, tap on the 3 dot icon.  Select “Copy Link“, open your Pinterest and tap on person icon > then plus sign > click below “Copied Link” pick your Pinterest board and Valhalla,  you have now shared a post on Pinterest.

 

Facebook Secrets Revealed:

View Messages You May Not Know About –  You may have some messages in your inbox from people you are currently not friends with. These messages could get quite interesting.  

Tip: To view these click on the icon for messages, (circle with lighting bolt) click on “Message Requests” and if you see “See Filtered Requests” click that you have now discovered you hidden Facebook inbox. 

Facebook Mobile Phone Look Up –  There are many reasons why you may need to look someone up on Facebook by just using their mobile phone number. All you have to do is  type the mobile number in the search field  on Facebook be sure to add  country code or area code.

Upload Your Email List  – What a great way to reach your potential and existing  customers by uploading your email list to Facebook. This will allow you to market to all emails that are associated with Facebook.

Tip: Go to Audiences tab in Ads Manager. Click the “Create Audience button”, select Customer Audience and  then “Customer List”. Upload your CSV or TXT file or drag and drop the file

Florists do you have Facebook, Instagram & Twitter secret or tip you would like to share? Please share your feedback in the comment section below. If you have any questions please post below as well!____________

Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.