With most businesses seeing a decrease in sales over the last few years since the covid boom, we’ve been exploring the strategies to achieve sales increases during this financial year. 

In our earlier session we spoke about the importance of add–on sales, and finding products that you and your team passionately believe in and that can be suggested to customers as add on sales to increase the average sale. The next step on the journey to increase sales is the strategy of effective marketing. So, join Hilton & Tracy as we explore the topic of attracting customers to your business.

When we speak about marketing within a business there are two types of marketing that a business will do. Internal marketing and external marketing, so what do these two terms mean?

Internal Marketing is stimulating activity from those who are already your customers.

External Marketing is to attract the attention of those who are not yet your customers. This is a topic we will explore in our next session. 

The amount of resource and time you invest into these two categories of marketing is unique for every business and needs to align with the goals and plan that you have.

Today we are going to explore internal marketing and share ideas and affordable ways of attracting those customers who already know who you are.

Digital marketing has exploded in the last decade, allowing us to communicate with your existing customers in a more effective and affordable way than ever before. Social media and your businesses website are two of the greatest tools you can use to do this.

Social media is a topic that we are going to explore a lot more in-depth in future sessions, but today we are talking about simply engaging with people who currently like your page or follow you.

Facebook & Instagram are both incredible social media platforms where you can remind your customers that you exist. Posting unique, inspirational, entertaining and educational content will remind your customers that your business is there and is full of the experts and inspiration for their gardening needs. 

If you’ve just had a fresh delivery of plants that are full in flower and looking absolutely stunning, take a picture and put it on there. Did a regular customer just come in with their adorable dog? There’s another social media post.

When posting to those who already like your page or follow you, it’s important to be personal, unique, and consistent. People want to see your team, they want to be inspired, and they want to feel like they know you.

When you drive down a road regularly you get familiar to what you pass and after a while you don’t notice the signs and businesses that you pass anymore. This is where seasonal branding shines! Seasonal branding is an affordable way to create change in the look of the business within your store, your roadside, and on your digital platforms. Once again, when you make that change you remind those who are driving past your business that you exist. 

Email database marketing, or EDMs are the most effective way of communicating with your customers and to encourage a visit to your store. These are customers who have actively signed up and said, ‘I want to hear from you’. This is a great opportunity for you to communicate with your existing customers, to highlight your new delivery or plants and to inspire them to come down to your business. Through Gro, we send approximately 85,000 emails each week on behalf of our clients and have seen incredible success, with growing open rates and subscriber lists. 

Now for our biggest and most important tip when communicating and stimulating activity from your existing customers. The message. You work in one of the best industries, one full of diversity of life, freshness and colour that promotes good mental and physical health. That is a great message to share! As gardeners, we often focus on the hard work and practical disciplines of gardening. When we share this, it becomes off putting to your customers. So, whether on social media, your seasonal branding, or your email database. Remember to stay positive and focus on the exciting life and health benefits that gardening provides. 

There it is, our tips on how to stimulate sales and activity from your existing customers, make sure to join us next month as we look into attracting customers who currently don’t know who you are.