Valentine Roses for January Prices? Maximize Revenue by Encouraging Early Ordering

By now, you’ve heard the radio ads. FTD and 1-800-Flowers are offering “Early Valentine’s Day Specials,” and just like every year they’re trying harder – and taking action earlier – to secure as many orders as possible.

Most of the major floral retailers now offer discounts with price breaks for early shoppers – sound familiar? The national gatherers are securing orders fast, and with those orders they build relationships with the florists.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), the average customer in 2020 spent almost $200 each on Valentine’s Day in 2020, which was up over 20% from the previous year. Valentine’s week is NOT a time to take up prime display space with cheap, low-cost gifts. The difference between displaying more $200 gifts versus taking up valuable space with gifts costing less than $100 can make or break the bank in 2021. This strategy will be even more important in 2021 because Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday.

 The customers are out there – and they have the money to spend – but the market is crowded.

Online-only retailers have resources that the small local flower shops simply can’t compete against. Since we are unable to go toe-to-toe with national companies and their large budgets, we must focus our marketing efforts, target new customers with the tools we have available and offer a personalized service.

Valentine’s Day is a reason to order flowers…

Orders are a reason to grow your business…

Every order is an opportunity!

We’re so quick to complain about order-gatherers taking our business, but can we blame them? If we aren’t willing to provide our customers the service they need, then the answer is no.

Just because we can’t take a customer’s order doesn’t mean that they’re going to skip sending flowers to their Valentine – it means they’re going to move to the next name on their Google search and order from them instead.

This time of year, the pond is stocked full of potential new customer relationships. It is our responsibility to cast our lines and catch those fish before someone else does. Choosing not to do so does not only lower your revenue for Valentine’s Day, it lowers it for the whole year! If a customer has a good experience, they are going to go back to your competitor.

What can you do now to be fully prepared to maximize revenue for Valentine’s Day? Here are 3 easy steps to help you prepare for Valentine’s Day

1. Update your website categories. Make sure that all of your offerings are active and easy to find on your website. If your website is attractive and easy to navigate, customers are more likely to place an order with you.

2. Promote Valentine’s Day offerings in local newspapers and on social media. Utilize media outlets to promote your business and remind potential customers that they have a full-service local florist available to take care of their floral needs – in town and anywhere across the country.

3. Gather orders as early as possible. Offering specials like “Valentine’s Roses at January Prices” is a great way to generate orders, but it’s also important to offer incentives to keep the orders coming in early. People have a tendency to put tasks off until later, but by doing so, they often limit their own options and cause you unneeded stress and frustration.

P.S. – This is the last week for Valentine’s Roses at January Prices. Be sure to use our banners and get the word out to secure orders! And remember, your Bloomerang team is here for you! Call us today.

Repetitive Emails to Customers Do More Harm Than Good

Email is an incredibly valuable marketing tool that makes it easier than ever to keep in touch with customers. But too much of a good thing can be very detrimental to your marketing efforts. Customers cite an increase in spam emails as their main hesitation for sharing their email address, but many can be easily persuaded to give that information up as long as they are receiving perceived value in return.

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The key here is value. As long as your customers consider your email “valuable” because of a coupon or special offer, they won’t mind receiving them occasionally. On the other hand, if your emails offer little or no value to the reader, they will simply start ignoring them.

Once the emails become a burden, they will likely unsubscribe which means they are required to be removed from your email list permanently. You run the risk of this happening with every email you send out, so it is extremely important to know exactly what you’re sending out to customers, and more importantly, how often you are sending it.

If the events of the past few weeks taught us anything, it is that most of us rely way too much on 3rd party platforms to run our businesses and the social media reputations we work so hard to build can be taken away in an instant if the owners of the platform decide your ideas do not align with their own.

This is why Bloomerang Solutions is taking a very forward initiative to help you BUILD and OWN the future of your business communication by building email lists and campaigns that NOBODY can take away from you.

Unless you own your own website (which you do not), you are allowing a 3rd party company (and also a competitor) access to the most precious digital collateral you own, which is YOUR EMAIL LIST!

Stop the insanity!

If you allow anyone to send messages to YOUR CUSTOMERS on your behalf without 100% control, then you are being reckless with your equity, especially if the emails are unwelcome by your customers. To allow emails being sent every two or three days is absurd and to not know your results (and how many people opt-out permanently) after EVERY EMAIL, is once again, a reckless practice.

How can you allow messages being spoken to your customers that you do not control? If you think it is not a big deal, why are you sending it? Email is a VERY powerful tool that (for now) still converts EVEN BETTER than GOOGLE Pay Per Click.

Sending email should be thought out with a conversion expectation. What is the message you wish to present, and how will it come to fruition?

Do you have any idea how many of YOUR CUSTOMERS are waiting the week of a holiday for the first attractive email and offer to place their order?

If they do not receive one, then they may still order with you. But for a simple offer, why not secure the order NOW?

All this for just $300 a month? Your email, your SPECIAL offers and YOUR RESULTS! This is MONEY in the bank for YOU. This is why you NEED to collect email. Now is the time to SECURE and BE RESPONSIBLE for your mailing list.

It's YOURS, no one has the right to use it but you and whomever you allow to use it on your behalf with YOUR APPROVAL. Now more than ever, TAKE CONTROL and NEVER allow anyone to send an email without your approval. IF YOU DON'T you risk OPT OUTS – otherwise known as customers you may never get back again. The cost is just $300 a month. What are you waiting for?

What is the Value of Upgrading Your Website?

As a small business owner, your website is THE most important marketing tool you have. Unfortunately, most websites are not kept up-to-date and can turn into a liability when they fail to serve the needs of your business and your customers. Is it time to upgrade your website?

Investing in a website for your business is similar to buying a vehicle. There are many different options available, so choosing the right one depends depends on the needs of your business.

And just like a vehicle, a website must be optimally maintained in order to keep performing. The more you take care of it, the longer it will (likely) keep serving your needs.

But just like that trusty old vehicle, time will eventually take its toll on even the most meticulously kept websites. Performance will lag, features will become obsolete and the bloat from years of data and heavy use will make visiting your site a frustrating experience for impatient customers.

After years of service and depreciating value, the day will eventually come when you need to consider a website upgrade. It is not an easy decision to make because of the cost involved, but the value a new website provides to the future of your business may be worth the investment now.

How do I know if it is time to upgrade?

  • Is all the information on your website up-to-date and accurate?

  • Do you (or your customers) find your website hard to use and navigate?

  • Is your site tidy and well organized?

  • Does your site lack essential functionality that customers expect?

  • Are you able to interact with customers in real time on your site?

  • Does your site make it difficult for customers to make orders and complete transactions?

  • Is your site expandable in order to seamlessly grow and scale with your company?

  • Most importantly, does your website accurately represent your business?

If any of these symptoms describe the current state of your website, it is time to consider upgrading. But instead of focusing on cost, consider the value it will bring to your business as you prepare for your future.

A great website is the backbone of any successful business. It not only gives customers (and potential customers) a place to gather information and learn about your business, but it also provides you a medium to show the world what your business is all about and what it can do for your customers.

An optimal new website can also do wonders for your SEO, which helps you rank higher in Google and other search inquiries. In addition to sharing social media with customers and employees alike, a new site can also let you interact with customers in real time, allowing you to resolve conflicts and keep customers informed of in-store events and specials while customers can read and leave online reviews directly on your website.

Are you frustrated with your current website? Bloomerang can find a solution for you! Whether you want power or performance, we can help! Let us take a look at your site for a free evaluation or give us a call today at (941) 544-5000 to get started right now!

Why You Need to Secure A Cutting Edge Website

As a business owner, your website is the most important marketing tool you have. Visitors from anywhere in the world can view your site 24 hours a day to learn more about your business and decide whether or not you’ve earned theirs.

That is why simply having a website presence in 2021 is not enough. There is just too much competition out there - you must present the best version of yourself and make your site appealing if you don’t want people to leave.

What do I mean?

Check out Alux.com and you will be surprised to see just how many DIY wedding event coordinators are getting into our market. Sites like this make it so easy that almost anyone can set up a terrific looking site in minutes.

What is their formula? They start with the following:

Next, they realize they can make floral designs - check out The Yes Girls

Now these DIY coordinators take it one step further, get a Shopify account, and now sell flowers. Out of town requests? They search Google and place the order for their clients.

While the traditional retail florist continues to pay the wire services fees to maintain membership, the millennials are coming and they are using CS, COMMON SENSE.

They are NOT STUCK in 'This is how we always did it". This new blood is saying, "This is how we do it today." Why? Because we have an UNREGULATED industry, which means anyone can be a florist and/or a wedding planner just because they said they can.

Where Does Our Industry Go From Here?

What do we do? SECURE relations and stop treating brides like a regular customer. They are considering choosing YOU to handle the most important event in their life and they deserve a custom website experience from YOUR event division at YOUR business. I can help you set that up.

Change now and use your experience to secure business. OR, continue to not see this train is coming and wake up one day and realize, what happened to our event and wedding business? You see, once the wedding florists earn the trust of the bride, they are becoming their florist as they trust them with everyday work.

This is happening, YOUR future is up to YOU!

Take a look at your wedding website through the eyes of an excited bride to be. Is it something you’re proud of? Does it make the bride-to-be excited to choose you? Is it what you would feel is a “specialist” or does it look like something you do as well?

We need to be specialists because we are special. Each one of us has something to offer that sets us apart from the crowd. It’s up to us to make sure potential customers can find it.

2021 is the start of a brand new year and the perfect time to re-evaluate your marketing efforts beginning with your website. It is also a great time to start planning for more event work which should increase substantially with all the cancellations from 2020 being rescheduled. A new wedding and special event website is the perfect solution to capture those clients! Call me, I can help get you set up with a new site today!

Ring in 2021 with a New Custom Wedding Website from Bloomerang

2020 was a record-setting year for event cancellations and the wedding industry was hit particularly hard. Due to all the postponements, 2021 is shaping up to be a record-setting year for weddings and special events! That means the time is NOW to start promoting your wedding flowers with a new custom wedding website from Bloomerang Solutions.

Weddings are florists really shine, but many shops have sub-par wedding sites (or perhaps just an extra page on their website) that do not showcase all their beautiful work! That's why we created Bloomerang Weddings & Events, a custom interactive website built on a URL that will direct all orders and transactions directly to your site.

Best of all, your new website features your images of your flowers from your weddings!

Your custom wedding website will compliment your current site with reciprocal lining strategies that will increase page ranking and Google placement. It will include modules for vendors, galleries, wedding packages, rentals, and award/badge management, along with the following features:

  • Creation of your own wedding website featuring your weddings in your area

  • Your wedding site will be a stand alone for SEO and customer images that you own and control

  • Receive a unique URL that focuses on attracting wedding requests in your area

  • Wedding flower keyword strategy

  • Provide images for us to showcase in a gallery with keywords and taglines.

  • Draw attention to your products by name, flower type and sentiment

A deluxe custom wedding website is also available. In addition to the features listed above, the deluxe version also includes:

  • Content creation for blogs and web pages that reflect your flowers in your local community

  • Press release module

  • Interactive communications (live chat, file transfer module, etc.)

Let's get started today! We just need an email that reads, YES! You work on your weddings and let us work on your website. Click on the button below to make 2021 the most successful wedding season you've ever had with a new wedding website from Bloomerang Solutions!