A Simple Guide to Taking Outstanding Photographs with Your Phone

The holiday season is upon us and now is the perfect time to get some outstanding photographs of your shop in action while its looking its very best for Christmas! Having high-quality photos on your social media pages is one of the most important things you can do to make your business stand out from the crowd. But, as a business owner, you have a lot of responsibilities and likely don’t have a ton of time to get professional-looking pictures for social media.

Most of us have cameras in our phones that are more than adequate for taking spectacular photographs of floral designs, food, or anything else that tells the story of your business. In fact, our smartphones make it easier than ever for anyone to get great shots as long as they follow these four tips to help you achieve high-quality smartphone photos, quick and easy!

Background

Plain white or gray backgrounds will make your photographs look clean and professional, but that doesn't mean that all your photographs should be shot with a plain background. If you are trying to sell a particular floral design on your website, background objects tend to be distracting and won’t keep your customers focused on the flower arrangement so you'll want to avoid backgrounds or settings that distract from the main focus, the flowers.

But rules are meant to be broken, and flowers in real-life settings are typically preferred for social media. Your followers want to see more than just the flowers - they want to imagine what they would look like in real-world settings, so make sure to keep your audience in mind when selecting the shot.

Lighting

Lighting is an important aspect in capturing quality photographs. For still-life shots, we suggest shooting next to a window so there is plenty of natural light. The natural light combined with the white backdrop will really make your flowers stand out. Also, remove any surrounding objects to make sure that there are no shadows in your shot. This will ensure higher quality photographs.

Lifestyle shots, on the other hand - the kind you want for social media, will still require good lighting - and natural light is preferred - so you may need to take that into consideration, especially if your shop or business isn't brightly lit.

Angle

For still-life photos, position your camera vertically and directly in front of the flower arrangement or object you would like to photograph. Shooting straight-on shots are the best angle to display your flower arrangements; just make sure you're standing far enough away to capture the whole arrangement. The best way to get the whole product in the picture is to leave a little bit of white space around the edges.

Throw those rules out the window when it comes to social media photos and get creative! Some of the most interesting pictures you'll find are of everyday objects viewed from a different angle. The more creative you can get, the better - and the better your photos are, the better your reach will be.

Accessories

There are several budget-friendly accessories you can purchase to help you achieve high-quality photographs.

Tripod

Mounting your phone on a tripod is a great way to avoid blurry pictures. Instead of trying to hold your hand steady, simply clip your phone to a stand. There are several different tripod options for various types of phones. You can find extremely flexible and versatile tripods for less than $10 on Amazon and the beautiful photos will be well worth the investment.

Clip-on LensAdding an external lens to your smartphone will enhance the camera’s perspective. If you have smaller products that require you to zoom in to take pictures the external lens will be able to focus on the product without becoming blurry. A decent lens or set of lenses typically costs anywhere between $20-$99 on Amazon and can be customized based on your needs.

Remember, this holiday season, a picture is worth a thousand words and these outstanding pictures will be great to share on your social media platforms as well. If you need any help or advice on shooting better pictures, give Bloomerang Solutions a call or drop us a line below.

Make this December One to Remember

December is finally here and all signs point to a positive holiday season for retailers. That's great news but it doesn't mean we can just sit back and wait for customers to call or walk through the door. If we want more business, we have to ask for it, and now is the time to do so.

If you haven’t already started calling on your corporate clients for their orders, it should be one of your top priorities this week. I have found that longtime corporate accounts who order every year will usually repeat their order this year as well. But instead of just offering “the usual,” take this opportunity to see if their needs have changed and be sure to suggest any new products or services that may be of use to your client, or even their clients.

Businesses are extremely busy this time of year and people are constantly looking for ways to save time, so most will just settle for a repeat of last year’s order. Taking time to suggest some exciting new products may open the door to larger orders, but you’ll never know if you don’t ask.

This time of year is also perfect for gaining new corporate clients. Are there new restaurants or offices in your area? Most businesses will at least put up a tree or adorn the lobby with some sort of holiday décor. Show them how much valuable time you can save them by letting your shop handle their needs.

Take some time out of your schedule to stop by a few local businesses every day. Even if shops don’t use your services, you never know when they may send a referral your way simply because you stopped in to say ‘hi.’ Like I said, if you want more business, you have to ask for it!

Don't price yourself out of business

You probably can’t compete with your local grocery or big box store on price, so don’t slash your profit margins trying to do so. The one area you can beat them on, though, is service! People love to shop for bargains, but there are plenty of consumers who are more than happy to sacrifice a few dollars for exceptional service – those are the consumers you need to target. 

You’d be surprised at how many people have either heard the name of your shop or just think all you do is sell flowers. To them, you just appear to be a flower shop instead of a full-service florist. How many other businesses hand-deliver their products across town or across the country? Play to your strengths, and never let anyone beat you in the customer service department.

Motivate your employees

It’s so easy to get distracted this time of year, especially with holiday planning, travel, holiday parties, kids out of school, etc. Part time or seasonal workers are especially susceptible since they may be looking elsewhere for more permanent employment once the holidays are over. Make work fun for everyone by coming up with sales incentives or bonuses for selling add-ons or gift items. There are many ways to accomplish this without breaking the bank. Lottery tickets have always been popular with my employees in the past, as were ‘paid’ lunches and breaks.

Happy employees make for happy customers, and happy customers tend to spend more money. Let’s make this December one to remember! Make sure your website is up-to-date and your social media listings are current. Always aim to exceed their expectations with exceptional service, and most importantly, keep in mind that if you want more business, you have to ask for it!

-Art

Your friends at Bloomerang Solutions are here to help – you just have to ask (see how that works). Give us a call or send us an email and let us know what we can do for you. Good luck this holiday season, I hope it’s your best ever!

Is Anybody There? Don't Expect a Big Audience If You Don't Boost Your Facebook Posts

Facebook defines organic reach as “how many people you can reach for free on Facebook by posting to your page.” The key word here is “free,” because for many of the 1.62 billion people who use Facebook every day, keeping in touch with friends and sharing selfies doesn’t cost a dime.

When Facebook launched “Fan Pages” in 2007, anyone could create a business page, start attracting fans, and post an unlimited amount of free content that could be seen by everyone. Those days, however, are long gone.

By 2012, organic reach had dropped considerably and only a fraction of Facebook fans – about 16 percent – were seeing the organic posts in their news feeds. By March of 2014, that percentage dropped to 6.5% and even as low as 2% for pages with over 500,000 likes - but it didn’t stop there.

Facebook adjusted its algorithm once again in 2016 to prioritize content from family and friends over Pages which meant that organic reach had dropped even further to where it currently stands - now 1% to 2%. In other words, only one or two out of every hundred followers you have will see your organic (non-boosted) posts on their News Feed.

Why is this happening?

Facebook is a for-profit business, and just like any other publicly-traded corporation the ultimate goal is to make money - but that’s not the only reason for the decline in organic reach.

Facebook has grown so large and has so many users that the amount of content is simply too large to show everything to everyone. If a user is bombarded with every post published by every page they like, their News Feed would be filled with nothing but ads.

By restricting - and eventually eliminating -organic reach, Facebook can show users content that is relevant to them and in turn filter out most of the junk that would otherwise overwhelm their pages. Let’s face it; nobody wants to spend hours sifting through the sheer volume of content to see a few relevant posts. The truth is that Facebook has to do this in order to stay viable.

What can we do about it?

Businesses wishing to reach a larger percentage of their audience can accomplish this by “boosting” their posts, which requires paying to increase their reach. The amount of money required to boost each post depends on several factors, but basically boils down to this – the more followers you wish to reach, the more it’s going to cost you.

On the surface, this may seem like a giant cash-grab by Facebook, but the reality is that it’s just another form of advertising like newspapers or billboards – and nobody expects to appear there for free.

In fact, advertising on Facebook provides distinct advantages over traditional forms of advertising. First of all, businesses can target ads to reach a very specific set of demographics - which allows them greater control over how their ad budget is spent.

Facebook also provides an amazing amount of data which is invaluable to marketers by showing exactly what’s effective and what’s not – thus creating a greater ROI. It’s also relatively inexpensive to advertise on Facebook compared to many other traditional forms of advertising, although those costs are rising rapidly.

Despite all of the changes that Facebook continues to make, it is still one of the most effective ways for many businesses to reach their audience. There are still over 2 billion active Facebook users and they spend, on average, about an hour each day on the platform. You can still reach those customers, but now you’ll have to pay more in order to do so.

The most important thing businesses can do is stop obsessing over organic reach and start embracing Facebook as a results-focused advertising platform with the ability to market directly to specific audience - we can help you do just that! If you have any questions, or would like to know more, please comment below or call us anytime at (941) 806-1911 request a consultation.

Engage Your Team with the "10-20-30" Customer Incentive Program

Your customer service team is (hopefully) a very efficient group of people who not only handle many sensitive situations all day long but also manage a large volume of orders along with responsibility for resolutions involving refunds and exchanging. How these are handled is the difference between an average company and an exceptional company.

To recognize those who excel in this department, Bloomerang has created a little extra thanks program called "10-20-30."

This program puts every customer service resolution into a drawing where those who can creatively resolve problems with the least amount of refunds will have the best chance for the highest valued prize. If there was more than one person working on the problem the last person in scratch will be the winner.

There may be more creative prizes and values as the program continues. So the more problems your agents resolve, the more they can win!

Here's how it works:

• Instruct your agents to fill out their adjustment log as usual

• The order numbers will be entered into a drawing

• Entries must be turned in each Monday

• At the end of the month, four (4) numbers will be chosen (If the month ends during the middle of the week, your most current entries will carry over to the next month)

The drawing will be held during the 1st week of every month and will result in the following prizes:

$30 - If the order does not result in a refund given out by the shop

$20 - If a partial refund is required through your shop (online voucher, gift certificate, or partial credit

$10 - If your shop had to give a full refund on that order

That's all there is to it! It's easy, fun, and is very effecting in getting the employees involved. If you would like some help implementing this sales contest - or one similar for your shop - your friends at Bloomerang Solutions are here to help. Drop us a line here or give us a call at (941) 806-1911 and we can help get you started.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of The Year For the Floral Industry...Are YOU Ready?

At Bloomerang Solutions, we specialize in marketing strategies for florists and other small business owners. We focus on what is current as well as what’s “up and coming.” For most retailers, and especially retail florists, these next two months are critical to insure success and profitability. Here are a few tips and ideas to help you with a smooth and successful holiday season.

Preparation for the holidays; why market when you’re busy?

The biggest mistake many florists make is thinking they will have all the business they need during the holidays, so they don’t see the value of marketing. Unfortunately, that way of thinking does more harm than good.

You need to view this time of year as your time to shine! The world is sending flowers, so how will they find you? SEO (search engine optimization)? Sure. Combine PPC (Pay Per Click) marketing and you can increase sales as much as possibly imaginable! Statistically, only a small percentage of these customers will send flowers again in the summer and beyond, so the more orders you secure now, the better your chances are of organic home-grown business. The second order doesn't cost you and reduces the real value of the first order if you paid to secure it.

Offer what you have on hand

Now, more than ever, it’s critical to watch your offerings. The floral industry has changed DRASTICALLY in the past 5-7 years. There are very few "fill to value" orders out there anymore because everyone is looking at a picture SOMEWHERE. Fortunately, the deceptive gatherer Wesley Berry is gone and we are one step closer to an honest industry where what you see will be close to what you get with the understanding you have a product of nature and minor substitutions and variety's may occur.

Use discipline in what you place on your home page - that is where you secure interest. Be sure you have products you can create and DON'T make them so local that sending out of town may not be available. Be neutral on most offerings so your customers call you for all their orders. You would be surprised how many customers call local shops for local deliveries and a 1-800 number for out of town requests.

Over stuffing, a profit killer

Secure your profits. There is no question you believe in your designers to produce a quality product, the question is - are they adding a flower or two to make it "just a little nicer?"

Double checkout is your answer. I always used a double checkout system that was as simple as this: When a design is completed, have someone else double check it for consistency and value.

Why is this so important? Just $5 of overstuffing in a shop with 50 deliveries a day could cost you $250 A DAY if not more - this adds up quick. This system also helps to eliminate other mistakes that we may have missed. We all work so hard to offer add –ons, so we definitely don’t want to forget them on the delivery.

Rewards

Always start your day with the question, "Why should anyone shop with you?" More than just to buy flowers, but what is the hook? Just about every company today offers some sort of rewards program. From Dominos on up to Saks and Neiman Marcus, they all have incentives. You are not too big or too small to get in the game. Companies like Profit Point has systems and cards in place you can have set up to reward your customers and keep them coming back.

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, are you ready?

Plan ahead! The weekend after Thanksgiving is exhausting from the promotion angle. We have all our promos set for florists to be ready for, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and then Cyber Monday where we make app-only dea.

Turn 2

LAST, but certainly not least, don't just take one order when you can TURN 2. Most customers that order for Thanksgiving will most likely order for the holidays at some point. While finishing up the order, just suggest an incentive if a second order is placed. Contact us if you would like the script or click below for in instructional video.

#1) The Sales Call

#2) Turn 2 and Increase Revenue with Every Order

The Holiday season is truly one of the best times of the year, but it can also be stressful - that’s why we're here to help! We know you're busy this week and we're here to assist you in any way we can! Unfortunately, we can't be there to answer your phones or help make deliveries, but we can help with any issues you may run into on your website or social media. Drop us a line below or give us a call at (941) 806-1911. Good luck from Bloomerang Solutions and we hope you have a prosperous season!