GreenBranding's gBlog - Branding and marketing info for garden centers

Your Brand Is More than Just a Logo

2010-10-21T11:31:00.004-04:00

Let’s conduct a little experiment. If someone says “athletic shoes,” what’s the first product you think of? Now what pops to mind if they say “fast food?” And how about “soft drink?”

Granted, our individual answers might be slightly different, but most of you probably thought of Nike, McDonald’s, and Coca Cola (or Pepsi). Why? Because Nike, McDonald’s, and Coca Cola are the most powerful brands in their respective product categories.

Now let’s localize our thinking to the area where you do business. If someone says “garden center,” who do you think of? How about “landscaper?” Or “grower?” Now our collective answers will be completely different, but I’d bet the farm that you immediately thought of the best branded businesses in your local market—those that have made the strongest impression on you; those that have paid the most attention to their customers; those that have realized that a brand is more than just a logo, it’s a collection of thoughts, feelings, and emotions that you associate with a business. A brand is an unspoken promise a business makes to operate by a set of values that it consistently embraces and communicates for an extended period of time.

Creating a strong integrated brand can be a powerful business asset. It can create top-of-mind awareness in a consumer’s consciousness, just like Nike, McDonald’s, and Coca Cola. It can drive consumer preference, create distinct competitive advantages, and generate buyer loyalty. And all of that can help add to your bottom line.

Buyer Loyalty
Many people consider brands purely from the retail perspective, associating it with the product or the logomark. That’s brand identity. But a strategically planned, fully integrated brand goes much deeper than that. It cuts to the customer’s subconscious and plays on their emotions and memories. Done well, it creates loyal “I won’t buy from anyone else” fanatics.

For example, how many Apple fanatics does this country now have? How many people carry the new iPhone 4 in their pockets and brag their new apps every chance they get? Is it the best smart phone on the market? Maybe, maybe not—Android certainly doesn’t think so. Does it get the best coverage area? Verizon’s “Maps” campaign argues emphatically that it doesn’t. Is it the cheapest? Not by a long shot.

But although there are now a dozen choices for similar smartphones, millions of Americans won’t even consider them. Why? Simply because of brand loyalty. Apple customers are willing to look beyond higher cost and possible performance issues because of past experiences with the company and their products. They inherently trust Apple. They desire to own their products.

Wouldn’t you want the same loyalty for your green industry business? Your brand can help make that happen.

Owning Your Brand
Whether you realize it or not, your business already has its own brand. The question is whether you’ve embraced it and/or whether that brand is true to what you really want your business to stand for.

Try to take an objective look at your business from your customer’s point of view. What do they see? And more importantly, what do they feel? If someone asked them to think of a garden center (or landscaper, grower, or supplier), would yours be the first business that pops to their minds?

Consider your business’ brand touch points. There are myriad aspects that help define your brand position in your marketplace:

• logo
• fonts and colors
• slogan and tagline
• advertising and media messaging
• your unique selling proposition
• the quality of your products or services
• pricing strategy
• how your employees personally interact with customers
• how you answer the phone when they call
• reputation

The list is almost endless.

Are all these touch points consistent with what you envision your brand to be? Is your tagline modern and trendy when your products and/or services are not? Is your advertising messaging friendly and inviting, while your employees come across as cold and detached? Do you pride yourself in selling the newest products on the market, while your logo is the same as it’s been for the last 15 years?

Remember, a brand is a promise. If you promise one thing but deliver another, you’re suffering what’s known as “brand dissolve” and quickly diminishing any brand equity you’ve built.

Building Your Brand
So what do you do if you’ve taken a hard look at your current brand and you don’t like what you see? Or perhaps you want to change the image you have in the marketplace. (Top companies rebrand themselves every 5–10 years.)

Branding takes a real commitment on a business owner’s part: both in time and money. Even just updating your logo can take anywhere from three weeks to three months, so plan your brand identity rollout accordingly. And it’s a very important change, so hire a professional branding and design firm, and carve out some of your marketing budget specifically for brand development and—just as importantly—implementation. For a comprehensive brand development program including logo design, brand standards manual, color palette guidelines, tagline development and messaging strategy, you should expect a one-time outlay of $10,000 to $15,000. Implementation is the tricky part… at GreenBranding, we focus on the most obvious components first – logo application, facility colors, a signage program (in-store and road signs), employee uniforms, fleet graphics, web site, external advertising and internal brand training. Some of those components reach beyond just your marketing budget, but your brand investment for these items could be $30,000 to $50,000 and up over a one-to-two year period. The end result is a new – and better – you.

Start with your ownership and management team and work out from there. Every employee needs to understand and “live” your brand: the tone, the messaging, and the attitude. From the sales floor to the installation team to the stock room, if they can’t live it, they need to get off the bus, or the brand dissolves (weakens).

With your employees, look at what you’re currently known for—the actions and attitudes that your managers and employees elicit, and what that says about you as a company. Then ask yourself what you want to be known for. If you could create, from nothing, the perfect company, what would it stand for?

Once you know where you’re going internally, the best way to make the change externally is with your visual identity, the core association your customers have with you. If you want to change their perception, put on a new face, and update your logo.

Strong brand visuals start with an iconic logomark: a graphic that presents a core meaning about your business to your customers (and to your employees). Generally, good logos are easily recognized and understood, convey essentially the same meaning to all target audiences, and evoke positive feelings.

Consider what would be appropriate styles, graphics, colors, and fonts for your business. Don’t get trapped in the expected—that won’t differentiate your brand. In the Green Industry, green, brown, and tan have been overused, so if you develop a unique color palette, customers are more likely to remember you. GreenBranding has developed logos for garden centers using blues and reds as the main color. Webb’s, a popular English garden center, uses purple, and they pull it off beautifully.

Internally, your logo should represent an image and a core idea that your team can get behind. Have you seen the arrow in the FedEx logo? Their employees all know it’s there, and they know what it means: always moving. Conversely, just because you’re a nursery, does the silhouette of a green tree really say something unique about you? Or is it confused with the tree trimming business down the road?

Externally, your logo should give new customers a visual clue as to what to expect from your brand experience, and it should give current customers a strong reminder of positive brand associations. Now that you’ve noticed the FedEx arrow, you won’t help but see it pop out at you every time you pass one of the company’s delivery trucks.

Next, take a look at another critical brand touch point: your tagline. If your logo sets the pace for all of your marketing materials, your tagline sets the tone. In a few well-crafted words—“The King of Beers” or “The World On Time”—you’ll define your brand and lay the foundation for all of its messaging. Start by making a list of words, thoughts and feelings that you want customers to associate with your business. Steer clear of hackneyed terms like “quality,” “solution,” “value,” and “service.” They are so overused, they no longer have real meaning or truth in consumer’s minds. Start to put together three to six word combinations. Say them out loud. Think creatively about what you’re trying to communicate to your customers. Eventually the right tagline will evolve. Just do it.

With an updated logo and new focused tagline, your brand can hit the ground running. But remember to think strategically about implementing your new brand. Every piece of marketing communications, sales collateral, and external imagery should be a reflection of your brand’s core image and message. So make a plan. Include adopting the new brand visual and characteristics into all facets of your marketing—retail or yard signage, vehicles, sales flyers and service brochures, advertising visual layouts and messaging, your web site, your social media “personality,” sales staff training, and so on.

Once the brand is set internally, roll your brand out to the community with a media blitz. Pay for appropriate, targeted advertising, use your blog and social media, and search out PR opportunities. But make sure all of your external communications speak your brand through visuals, words and tone. Be consistent. Good brands change only slightly over time. Consistency is the key to brand awareness, recall, and penetration in the marketplace. If your customers don’t know what to expect from your brand because of inconsistency, they can’t form a solid brand association with your business.

And most of all, be passionate. Brands can actually take on familiar human characteristics, like love (Hallmark), sophistication (Rolex), or trustworthiness (Volvo). Develop real personality, emotion, and excitement in your brand. Use words and images that evoke strong positive feelings. Make what is truly unique to your Green Industry business the driving force that guides your brand, builds top-of-mind awareness, and creates loyal, enthusiastic fanatics.

Learn more about garden center branding and marketing for the green industry on our web site GardenCenterMakeOver.com

2011 Today's Garden Center Market Outlook

2010-10-06T15:30:00.002-04:00

Every summer, the editors and business staff of Today’s Garden Center magazine gather for a day of intense market discussion regarding the trends, challenges and opportunities facing the market. They ponder and debate the forces shaping the market and their implications on retailers, growers and the suppliers serving those businesses. What emerges helps them craft the following year’s strategic plan and major content coverage areas for Today's Garden Center.

Given the challenges we are all facing, they want to share their perspective with you in the hope that their insights can help your team with its planning for 2011.

Download the 2011 Today's Garden Center Market Outlook Report here

Learn more about garden center branding and marketing for the green industry on our web site GardenCenterMakeOver.com

A new Garden Center brand in progress

2010-09-28T13:12:00.001-04:00

GreenBranding has recently completed development of logo designs and visual branding elements for Herbein's Garden Center.

We first reviewed the property to gain an understanding of the location and "feeling" of the Garden Center. We then used images from the geographic location to develop a color palette and also used local PA Dutch hex signs as inspiration to develop the brand visuals. Lastly, we wanted to add a greater level of sophistication, so we reviewed some higher-end shops for typography options.

Let us know what you think.

View our portfolio of other client work on our web site holbergdesign.com

Green Marketing

2010-09-26T17:01:00.002-04:00

Real sustainability initiatives or "greenwash"?

In 2005 Holberg Design Inc. completed a retail rebrand for one of the top 20 Garden Centers in the US – Stauffers of Kissel Hill. We developed several strategic relationships with green industry consultants during that project - Ian Baldwin being one of them - and identified a strong need across the industry for effective, professional branding, marketing and advertising services for garden centers, nurseries, landscapers and growers. We developed a vertical niche business to aggressively meet those needs… and GreenBranding was born. (GardenCenterMakeOver.com) Due to our involvement in this vertical niche we deal with garden center retailers who stock a bevy of “green” products on their shelves and promote a host of green initiatives. It is my experience that many of these products are, indeed, valid attempts to sell environmentally friendly, sustainable products… they are not “greenwash”. “Legitimate green marketing efforts must minimally accomplish two objectives: improve environmental quality and satisfy customers.” However, the industry recognizes that not all green marketing claims are legitimate – “For several years now, “going green” has been the hottest ticket in town. Companies large and small have been touting their eco-friendly initiatives. Some have been little more than costly public relations campaigns. Others have introduced genuine change while also benefitting the bottom line.”   (http://www.gardencentermagazine.com/gcm_1009_cover_sustaining_profits.aspx)

From a retail perspective, garden centers (and now also the big box stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot) are on the forefront of promoting products for consumers that are “green” or eco-friendly. I say the “forefront” because if the gardening and outdoor lifestyle industry doesn’t support green and sustainable initiatives, the future of these initiatives is doomed. This industry, above almost any other, should support the progress of sustainable lifestyles because many of their products are placed in or on the ground and their products dramatically impact the earth – from plastic ground covers and planting pots to herbicides and pesticides. One industry professional stated, “I think that our customers already expect us to be environmentally and socially responsible via our green industry and our reputation.” (gardencentermagazine.com)

Many of these garden center stores stake their reputations on the products they sell performing as stated. And the products do perform as indicated.

A good example of a garden center/grower living by the sustainable green initiatives they espouse is Tagawa Gardens. Tagawa Gardens is the first retail-grower and garden center in the United States to be certified sustainable by VeriFlora, a certification program for fresh cut flowers and potted plants. This certification means the company’s plants have been “grown sustainably with respect for the environment, employees, community and business practices.” (gardencentermagazine.com)

The question for this essay, and for the significance of green industry initiatives in the marketplace is… do customers understand the significance of the VeriFlora certification… and, for that matter, the significance of many green initiatives in general? “Some customers, those especially tuned into Certified Organic and OMRI [Organic Materials Review Institute] products, do get it easily and understand the significance,” stated a Tagawa spokesperson. (gardencentermagazine.com) “But most don’t notice or have to ask about it. The certification helps us quantify and make official what we hope our customers trust we are already doing.” Tagawa Gardens’ strategy is to continuously remind customers that they are—and have been—engaging in eco-friendly practices.” (gardencentermagazine.com)

Tagawa Gardens, and many other “green industry” businesses are practicing what they preach. Other notable gardening industry products that hold true to green characteristics are natural herbicides and pesticides that work just as well (or sometimes even better) than their man-made chemical alternatives. Usage and application may be different that what consumers are used to… but effectiveness is tantamount in the mind of someone trying to correct a problem in their garden. I heard Will McDonough speak in 2008 about his “Cradle to Cradle” concept of sustainable manufacturing and architecture and I have been a proponent ever since. His theories play directly to the believability and effectiveness of green initiatives… and how green marketing poses those initiatives to consumers. Many initiatives are misguidedly labeled as “greenwash” simply because of consumer misunderstanding.

The problem with “green” products is cost. While these products are “natural” they are in limited supply and more difficult to produce or manufacture. Similar to Tagawa’s problem of consumer understanding, consumers have to understand the cost factor of green products and be willing to pay a bit more for these natural alternatives. Some consumers are… many are not. Until there is a vast, concerted movement toward “green” initiatives – like that which is currently taking place throughout much of Europe - green marketing will continue to be caught in the price/effectiveness conundrum. US consumers desire the qualities of being “green”… yet are unwilling to pay for it.

The rise in the fervor over organic food production and the concept of “food miles” is another green initiative that has caught legitimate fire in the US. Vegetable gardening rose 20 – 30% in 2009 and another 19% in 2010. (http://www.preen.com/articles/veggie-gardening-on-rise) Garden centers have benefited from this rise in acceptability and awareness. Their green marketing messaging is making an impact. And I have a friend who works in sales for a major international manufacturer in the solar industry and he claims that the industry has “caught fire” over the past 6 months… to the point where he can barely keep up. These examples indicate to me that green marketing – the media arm of real working green initiatives – is a viable force for environmental change in our world… and certainly not “greenwash.”

Learn more about green marketing and branding - especially garden center branding - on our web site GardenCenterMakeOver.com

A Trade Show Makeover

2009-12-13T13:25:00.001-05:00

Brand new "PANTS"

PANTS (Penn Atlantic Nursery Trade Show), the Summer's largest horticultural trade show held on the East Coast, was looking for a way to increase their attendees and exhibitors. PANTS attendance had been on a steady decline over the past few years and needed help to turn the show around. PANTS decided to move the physical location of the show and looked to holberg design to help renew the visual brand, main message and feel of the show.

We wanted to create a core brand icon that could be inserted into the show’s signage… so a colorful “helping hand” was designed for the logo mark. Since this trade show is not known as a strong selling show, the new messaging stressed the importance of meeting vendors, making new connections, staying in front of current clients and seeing the latest products by attending the largest show on the East Coast.

We then helped to strategically market the new brand to current and potential attendees and exhibitors.

The result... Attendance was up over 15% (in a year of recession) and exhibitor space was completely sold out for the first time in three years.

View our portfolio of other client work on our web site holbergdesign.com

In retail garden centers, image shapes perception

2008-04-24T15:44:00.003-04:00

Taking your Garden Center brand to the next level

How does your Garden Center image affect your brand? Take a look at the above simple shop signs. Now in which store would you expect to pay less? In which place would you expect to find a better quality product? Which sign design "fits" the name of the shop?

Your garden center image creates perceptions in your customers' minds and their perception should match your offerings and services. If they don't, then you're marketing to the wrong customers

With increased value you can increase your prices to match. How do you increase the value you supply to your customers? By focusing on what you do differently and changing their perception of your business... by matching your image with this unique value.

Make your business look special and inviting. Brighten your colors. Create a sense of style. Develop a garden center signage program that fits your brand and creates mood. Create marketing materials that tell a story and have emotional appeal. Show the value you have and showcase why they should shop with you.

And learn more about Garden Center branding and marketing at GreenBranding.holbergdesign.com. The site was completely revamped after the 2008 Management Clinic. Let me know what you think...

How much should I spend on garden center marketing?

2008-04-24T15:40:00.002-04:00

Get the most impact from your garden center budget!

Most garden centers that have a well defined marketing budget follow the percent-of-sales approach, devoting some percentage of their revenue to the marketing function. The amount they spent ranged from 2% on the low end to 12% or more on the high end (new start-up companies sometimes invest 20%). How much do you, or should you spend? That depends on a few factors, like the size of your garden center business and what you are looking for in terms of financial return.

If your garden center business is doing great and you're looking to simply maintain your current sales level, you need to budget the minimum amount... to keep your name and brand in the community. This will help when times change (and they will - so be prepared) or when competition moves in. Already having a well established brand in place helps to fend off new competition and hard times.

For an example, let's say that you plan to achieve $750,000 in sales next year and you are looking for minimal sales growth. Your yearly budget should be approximately $15,000 to $30,000. Let's take the same $750,000 projection and plan to grow the business and increase it's sales volume. Your yearly budget should now be between approximately $75,000 and $90,000 - the higher end representing 12% of your sales projection..

For those garden centers or nurseries that have never created a marketing budget, this can seem a little overwhelming. However, most companies know that branding and marketing is just part of doing business. One of the first questions start-up consulting firms and organizations ask their clients is how much they have planed towards marketing... it's that important.

Almost every garden center, nursery or landscaping business can benefit from branding and marketing. Even if your brand is a utilitarian, back-to-basics shopping experience, you still need to get that message out to your target audience. Having a strong brand does not mean that you need to have an expensive look. It means that your message is consistent and your sales experience matches this message. Marketing is about getting this message to your target audience.

Branding and marketing are proven garden center business tools.
If you're looking to get more traffic and sales conversions in your retail garden center... or to simply keep the customers you currently have, you should set up a budget that will allow you to implement an effective branding and marketing program.

And learn more about Garden Center branding and marketing at GreenBranding.holbergdesign.com. The site was completely revamped after the 2008 Management Clinic. Let me know what you think...

Get to know your garden center customers

2008-04-24T15:38:00.002-04:00

Create a focus group... and be in their shoes

Professionally run focus groups can be many things... eye-opening, incredibly valuable, brand focusing, possibly showing the potential for new services and offerings... and expensive to host. Every garden center, nursery or landscape business should hold a focus group every other year... at least. However, if your budget does not allow you to hire a professional marketing firm to conduct a focus group, do the next best thing... host one yourself.

Gather some friends, current customers, and non-customers of your garden center. You're looking for a good mix of people in your target audience (age group, spending range and location). It's best if they are not too personally attached to the business or employees. It's even better if they don't know the business that is hosting the focus group (just a generic idea)... the less attachment the better. Set aside at least a half-day and find a room that everyone can be comfortable in - preferably off site.

Below are some quick guidelines and tips in running a successful focus group session.
Develop a plan. What are you looking to get out of the session? Develop questions that will help you see if your garden center brand is apparent to the group, without leading them. Also, see what they are looking for in a garden center? What places do they frequently shop, and why? What do they like about these places and what could be better (people are usually more passionate in saying what they don't like about a place, more so than what they do like).

Have someone run the group that is not too emotionally attached to you. People pick up on emotions and will hold back some comments if they feel you will be hurt or angry.

Have only one person in the room that is from "your side", hosting the focus group. If you have more than one person, people tend to not be as comfortable in their answers. It's OK to have others behind a one-way mirror looking on. Out-of-sight, out-of-mind.

Keep the group size manageable (about 8-14 people). Ask a few more than you really want. There are usually one or two people that decide not to attend.

Make them comfortable. Provide some food and drinks. The more comfortable they are the more they will open up. Caffeine is a good idea.

Get the group started with some easy questions. Give them time to warm up and get the “jitters” out of the room.

Ask open-ended questions; never make comments... especially emotional comments. Listen deeply and develop new questions instead of providing your own answers.

Don't let one person in the group dominate the session. It's natural for some people to step up and take the lead while others will sit in the background. Get the non-speakers to open up by asking them what they think.

Do not dismiss any answer as being non-important. However, do not let people rant too long on one topic. It's OK to repeat an answer that someone passionately gives, but do not agree with them or make your own comment. If you repeat to them their comment, they understand that you heard them, which usually satisfies their need to voice their opinion.

Tape your session. It's hard to keep detailed notes and you will want to share the session with your strategic marketing partners and design team.

Stick to your outline. Time can go by very fast and although tangents will contain some great information, you need to have some control over them. If a focus group participant starts off on a long tangent, that you feel is not important, stop it quickly by telling the group that it's a good idea and write it down. Then, get back on track by telling the group that if there is enough time we will talk more about this at the end of the session and move on to your next question.

Give them something in return. A gift certificate to a nice restaurant... but not your garden center. Again, you want to be disconnected from your store, so the group will be more open and honest.

Of course there are many more techniques and issues that will help to make your focus group more enlightening. However, this is a good way to get started. Remember, if you don't know how your garden center customers feel about your brand, you can’t adjust it to be more appealing to them.

If you need any help in conducting focus groups, CONTACT US

And learn more about Garden Center branding and marketing at GreenBranding.holbergdesign.com. The site was completely revamped after the 2008 Management Clinic. Let me know what you think...

Internal branding: What do your garden center employees say off-hours?

2008-04-24T15:35:00.000-04:00

Why you need to know how your employees feel about their work at your garden center.

How your employees feel about their work environment can have an effect on your garden center sales. Your employees talk about their day... to their families... to their friends... to the public. Awareness of this is part of what is considered to be internal branding.

Let's look at two different conversations your employees might have at the end of their day.

One: "MY DAY WAS AWFUL! MANAGEMENT JUST DOESN'T UNDERSTAND MY PROBLEMS... AND THE CUSTOMERS WERE SUCH A PAIN!"

Two: "IT WAS A LONG DAY... I GAVE A LECTURE TO THE TEAM ON HOW WE CAN IMPROVE CUSTOMER SATISIFICATION. YES, ME... I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE TO START... BUT THE MANAGEMENT TEAM GUIDED ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION."

Which one would attract more customers? Which quote would attract quality employees? What do your employees usually say off hours?

OK... so how do we share your vision with the rest of the company?

The first thing is to define what your brand is. What do you stand for? What do you want to be known for and be the best at? By first defining a mission statement, you will be able to help narrow your focus.

Do you have a mission statement? Do your employees know it? If they do, do they care? Is your mission statement inspiring... or generic? Let's take a look at the following mission statement..."ROB'S GARDEN CENTER IS DEDICATED TO PROVIDING OUR CUSTOMERS WITH THE BEST SERVICE POSSIBLE. AND, OFFER THEM THE BEST QUALITY AT THE LOWEST PRICE ". Although this mission statement may seemingly be inspiring, it's power is lost to the employees and customers. Why? Because this type of message has been overused and oversold. You can walk into any store in any city in the US and see this kind of message posted on their walls. We have become numb to the meaning behind the message. To wake people up and inspire them we need to create something different and the more shocking the better.

Let's try reworking the previous mission statement to... "ROB'S GARDEN CENTER. WE ARE OUT TO KICK THE DIRTY PANTS OFF OF OUR COMPETITION IN JUST ONE THING... MAKING YOU SMILE." This statement is direct, focused and different. It means something to customers and employees alike. And, because it's different it will get noticed and be remembered.

Now that your mission is defined, start to develop a branding plan and stick with it. Your garden center or nursery employees will test you and how serious you are about changes. Let them know that the company values are here to stay by consistently sticking to your plan.

Yes, there will be times that all your best efforts will seem like they were in vain. And, there are those employees that will always see the negative side of it (I bet you can name them right now). Remember, that in the long-term, it does not matter if your one effort did or did not work. The important thing is consistency... keep trying to create a positive environment of learning and growing This is one of the top benefits that quality employees usually look for in a work environment.

During this time you get to see those employees that share your vision of the company. Let's say that you are striving to be the best in customer satisfaction... the best in the area, heck maybe the world. You set up programs to help your company achieve this satisfaction-brand and everyone seems excited... but for a few people who are grumbling under their breaths. This is a good sign that these people do not share the same vision as you. It does not mean that they are bad workers... It just means that in order to achieve your goal, of being the best in satisfaction, they might not be the right people to take your company there. This can be very eye-opening.

Also, if you have your branding plans in place, it helps new employees to understand what is expected out of them from day one. It's much harder to instill new company values to a senior employee than to a new one.

If you need any help in defining your mission or creating a powerful internal brand, CONTACT US today.

And learn more about Garden Center branding and marketing at GreenBranding.holbergdesign.com. The site was completely revamped after the 2008 Management Clinic. Let me know what you think...

Developing strong brand touchpoints in your retail garden center

2008-04-24T15:32:00.000-04:00

How to determine whether what you say... is what you mean.

Visual identity. Logos, colors, signage, employee uniforms, your storefront, advertisements, and conversations about your garden center or nursery are all brand touchpoints. Whenever anyone sees or hears about your company and its products/services they are conveyed a message. However, there are underlying feelings passed on as well. Quality vs. utiliterian, price vs. getting the best, great service vs. helping yourself... these perceptions are all developed by the message given, and how it is given. Some of these feelings are expressed loud and clear while others are more subtle.

Let's take a look at the following examples, two different brand touchpoints and how customers perceive the message.

Brand touchpoint 01: Your advertising message...

Headline 01: BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE!

Headline 02: GO AHEAD, MAKE YOUR NEIGHBORS GARDEN-VIOUS!

Headline 01 conveys rock-bottom pricing. There is nothing wrong with having this as a sales strategy for your retail garden center. However, you will attract customers that expect inexpensive products and services (and this market is savvy), so you must fulfill this brand promise and provide them with better pricing than your competitors.

Headline 02 has more of a unique feel. This will attract customers who are looking to get something that's "more-than-average", and are willing to spend a little extra to get it. Again, you must fulfill the promise and provide higher quality products (that they can see and appreciate), than they can get at less-expensive stores.

Brand touchpoint 02: A conversation from your customer to their friends...

Quote 01: "...I went to Tom's garden center. I got what I needed and was out the door in 3 minutes."

Quote 02: "We spent the entire afternoon at Toms. They have this great new organic coffee bar. We got some fantastic plants... you just can't get ones like these around here... but be prepared to pay for them... "

The underlying message in Quote 01 is that Tom's garden center is very utilitarian in nature. I get the mental picture of a bare-bones store that has just the basics and is set-up to get me in, get what I need, and get out.

Quote 02's message is that I can expect the best. I get a mental picture of a store that inspires me with unique displays and a relaxing afternoon of shopping. I'm thinking about planning a trip with my family next week. The "expect to pay for them" comment does worry me... however, it also prepares me that it's going to cost more to shop there.

So which conversation would you like to see your customers have? Neither one is right or wrong, but you do have the ability to control how your customers feel about your store. Take a fresh look at your garden center brand and what you really are to your customers. Then, make adjustments to the way you do business with them... to increase the value in their minds, and reap the benefits of having strong brand touchpoints.

And learn more about Garden Center branding and marketing at GreenBranding.holbergdesign.com. This site was completely revamped after the 2008 Management Clinic. Let me know what you think...

Retail branding: Your garden center in-store experience

2008-04-24T15:26:00.000-04:00

Inspire them with creativity!

Increasing the number of items sold to each person is a strategy used by most successful shops and stores worldwide. Some stores (think national leading convenience stores) spend a very large percentage of their marketing dollars on just how to increase items-per-sale. How could you increase items-per-customer?

Utilize your stores' zones to their fullest.

Your garden center is made up of several zones and your customers act differently in each zone. Play to each zone's strength and lead your customers through your store.

Find your "hot areas" and play to them. Take time to look at your garden center and nursery floorplan and watch to see where your customers go. Here's a recent Garden Center magazine article we contributed to on HOT ZONES.

Inspire your customers with creativity.

Most of your customers have a hard time picturing your garden center products in their environments. Inspire them with creative displays. Tell a story with your displays. Make your displays look like someone just stepped out of the scene and will be right back. What was the person doing in your display? Kick up the creative juices in your clients' minds.

Create a remembered experience.

Give them something to talk about. Create a new experience that they have not had before. Create an organic tea bar in your garden center. Have a relaxation garden that gives them an opportunity to sit down. Create a unique employee attitude marker to set your Garden Center store experience apart from the other stores. Make them want to come back by giving them a positive shopping experience.

And learn more about Garden Center branding and marketing at GreenBranding.holbergdesign.com. The site was completely revamped after the 2008 Management Clinic. Let me know what you think...

PR for Garden Centers: Two tips to immediately increase your garden center store traffic

2008-04-24T14:55:00.000-04:00

So your garden center sales have slumped a little over the past week. Or, you're set for growth and ready to handle the extra customers. Now it's time to get people into your store. Listed below are just a few tips on how you can get an immediate increase in the volume of people through your door.

Ideas to increase traffic... to increase sales... to harvest growth

PR - Create something different in your garden center, a unique shopping experience or add a new service or product. Then get FREE advertising by getting your unique story in the newspaper or local TV news. How to do this can be a little tricky depending on the media you are trying to get your story to. There is a correct format to use for any Press Release. Keep your message short and sweet (under 150 words). Create a great headline... Instead of "LOCAL GARDEN CENTER OPENS NEW KIDS AREA" try "THIS WEEKEND! CHILDREN, GARDENS AND GAMES! " If your target audience is families, this would be a great traffic driver for your store and people tend to pay attention to media articles over advertisements.

Events - Try hosting a themed event at your garden center r creating a carnival weekend. By creating an event you will become a destination store for that period of time. People will stay longer and enjoy their shopping experience more. Also, this will create an upcoming date that people will remember and mark on their calendars to visit your garden center or nursery. Party and small carnival equipment are much easier to rent today than it was in the past, just check your local rental stores.

Team-up with local (or online) nature artists for a "Color in Nature" event, which can showcase the natural beauty of plants through art. Don't forget to keep 5-20% of fees for all artwork sold... that's a normal art studio fee. And, remember to get your free advertising through effective PR.

You will also want to increase advertisements and TV and radio spots to help increase your chances of having a successful program.

Host an environmental run-off planting. Water run-off from parking lots is a major environmental concern making national headline news. Conduct a program that donates plants and advice on how to create a parking lot run-off area. Post a sign about your garden center run-off program while the area is being worked on. This will help you to get noticed in the community, and help the planet at the same time... not a bad trade-off.

If you are not utilizing PR and Events in your yearly garden center marketing plan it's time to start. These can be powerful tools - however they need the proper resources to work (time and effort). Increasing traffic can be a positive and fun experience... are you ready to handle the increase in customers?

And learn more about Garden Center branding and marketing at GreenBranding.holbergdesign.com. The site was completely revamped after the 2008 Management Clinic. Let me know what you think...

Google AdWords: Get the most out of your Garden Center advertising budget.

2008-03-12T21:08:00.000-04:00

"I've been in marketing and advertising for almost 20 years and Google AdWords is the most effective ad medium I've ever seen... bar none!" ~ Rick Holberg

Listen to our AdWords Podcast or download our AdWords Overview (pdf)

With Google AdWords™, you’ll be able to reach your potential Garden Center customers at the precise moment they’re looking for your products or services. When users search on Google, they’re demonstrating which products they’re interested in. With AdWords ads, your customers will see your Garden Center ad next to relevant search results they’ve requested. In addition, your ads could also appear on relevant search and content sites within the Google Network. With Google’s precise targeting and your ability to control how much you’re willing to pay per click, the end result is a higher return on investment (ROI) for your advertising budget.

Create the ad.
It all starts with your ad. Tell the audience what you have. Highlight the benefits of getting it – and getting it from you. AdWords text ads can be live on Google in minutes.

Show it to people who want what you have.
With Google AdWords, you only reach people interested in your Garden Center products and services. That’s because your ad only gets displayed to people seeking information related to the keywords chosen. So instead of looking for an audience, you’ve got an audience that’s looking for you.

Show it to a lot of those people.
Your ads can appear on Google.com search results as well as the Google Network of search and content sites, which includes AOL, Amazon and The New York Times. The Google Network reaches more than 80% of Internet users worldwide. Whether you need to make contact with countless thousands or a select few, Google AdWords can reach them on a neighborhood, city, state, national or global level. AdWords even allows you to create your own customized target area by designating a geographic radius or boundary... ie, 50 miles from your Garden Center.

Only pay Google when people click through to your site.
One reason AdWords ads have such incredible ROI (return on investment) is that your “I” is so little. You decide what you’re willing to pay for each click on your Garden Center ad, and you place a limit on what you’d like to spend each day (there’s no minimum spending requirement). Here’s the best part – no matter how many times your ad appears in search results, you only pay Google when people click on your ad. That means you’re investing in definite leads, not hit-or-miss ads. And the brand value of repeated name exposure at no cost is a huge program benefit.

01. There are three easy steps to getting started on this sure-fire advertising program:

Listen to our AdWords Podcast (mp3)
Download our AdWords Overview document (pdf)
Call Rick Holberg at GreenBranding for more details and to find out specifically how AdWords can work for your Garden Center: 717.843.4048 or rick@holbergdesign.com or IM: holdes@mac.com

GreenBranding is a full-service branding and advertising agency specializing in garden centers, nurseries, greenhouses and landscaping businesses. We customize our online advertising services to each retail garden center or nursery need and match up the right solutions for the intended goals of your green industry business. Google AdWords is one of those strategies. To get started contact us for a quote.

And learn more about Garden Center branding and marketing at GreenBranding.holbergdesign.com. The site was completely revamped after the 2008 Management Clinic. Let me know what you think...

Yes, you own a brand! Growing your garden center through strategic branding and marketing.

2008-03-11T19:57:00.000-04:00

Get the most out of your marketing and advertising budget

Branding your garden center is more than creating a logo or designing a website from a template. A good branding campaign increases your perceived value in your customers' minds. Increased value means increased sales, increased price points, increased customer satisfaction, increased referrals, and creating customers for life.

Strategic branding starts with defining who you are, narrowing your focus and having the will to create something special. Define your nursery customers' perceptions by showcasing what unique points you currently have and what can you create that is different than anyone else. Create more value for your customers by solving their problems and adding key features... displays that inspire... garden center signs that enhance as well as inform. Then, create a plan on how to rollout your new/updated brand... which should first start with your staff getting behind the new brand message. You can do this with a good internal branding campaign.

With your employees behind the new brand, you can now focus on getting your message to your target audience. By developing a marketing plan, you can reach your audience within a set budget. Now build your marketing materials focusing on your brand message and goals.

Like watering a sapling, once your new brand saturates your target market, you will begin to experience new growth. How much growth depends on how quickly and aggressively you advertise and get your message out.

If you need any help in defining your mission or creating a powerful internal brand, CONTACT US today.

And learn more about Garden Center branding and marketing at GreenBranding.holbergdesign.com. The site was completely revamped after the 2008 Management Clinic. Let me know what you think...

Urban Outfitters TERRAIN: What's it mean for the retail garden center industry?

2008-02-21T16:33:00.001-05:00

The first whisper I heard of Urban Outfitters (UO) creating an entity that would impact the garden center industry was at a 2007 ANLA Management Clinic session conducted by Ian Baldwin (Nursery Business Consultants) and Kip Creel (Standpoint Marketing). At that time, there were no specific details, just a... "watch what Urban Outfitters has up their sleeve..." kind of mention.

Then in May of 2007 the whole picture became much clearer with an Urban Outfitters press release... "Today's headlines about Urban Outfitters' new TERRAIN brand are hardly news to the company's close observers. The real scoop today is what the new brand's all about, and who it's targeting: rich people with green thumbs.

No surprise here -- as with all its other chains, Urban Outfitters is aiming for affluent customers with its new concept. Like previous hit Anthropologie, it'll presumably target 30-to-45-year-old shoppers; unlike Anthropoligie, it'll welcome male and female shoppers alike.

In the press announcement, Chairman and President Richard Hayne said the new concept will be inspired by "the greenhouse," offering home and garden products, live plants and flowers, and oddly enough, antiques. The new concept will launch its first large, free-standing sites early next year."

Well, TERRAIN is about to become a reality... On January 19, 2008 UO announced the purchase of J. Franklin Styer Nurseries Inc., a well-known garden center on Baltimore Pike in Concordville, near Chadds Ford, PA.

The new brand concept, the company promises, will "transform the local garden center into an experience that celebrates the beauty and abundance of nature while offering an eclectic mix of garden-inspired products tailored for the contemporary customer."

BTW... UO sells short skirts, baby-doll dresses and strappy shoes to the college crowd, and also operates Anthropologie, which offers high-end soaps, $1,300 distressed-iron-and-brass beds and fashionable flowered cardigans to their mothers.

So it seems to me that this new brand targets the exact Gen Y demo that's been nearly impossible for the independent garden center retailer to reach. What was the latest figure, Kip... only 17% of Gen Y is even aware that IGC's exist.

Then my question is... will it work?

My guess is... yes, it probably will. UO already understands how to translate a hip retail experience to the Young Up-and-Comer. And they certainly have the marketing budget to launch this new brand in style. And I'm sure they'll take full advantage of the brand equity that exists for both the UO and Anthropologie brands. I'll bet they'll have an ultra-cool, easy to find, Web 2.0 laden web site. Since 2 out of 3 Gen Y'ers go to the web before any other media to research new brands... they'll trounce 95% of the IGC's right from the start.

But it could also be a good thing for the IGC's, raising awareness of the fact that this industry even exists. The key will be figuring out how to play off the TERRAIN brand... while fending off the brand competition.

There's my rant... What do you think? How will TERRAIN impact the garden center industry? So is this new TERRAIN brand concept, in Ian's vernacular... "Jolly Good!" or "Oh, Bloody Hell!"... Blog in now!

And learn more about Garden Center branding and marketing at GreenBranding.holbergdesign.com. The site was completely revamped after the 2008 Management Clinic. Let me know what you think...