As Garden Retailers, you have so much to share to everyone, even to those who are not aware of it. Have you ever considered your Center being a JOY Center? Here's a few thoughts of alternate names for describing your Center:
My “body guy” (body shop, not gym) has not had such a good year this year. With commuting and shopping trips down overall, there are fewer accidents, especially deer hits that tend to happen more during commuting hours. This means his business and his family hasn’t been spending as much locally or otherwise. Same for his employees, suppliers, and their employees.
While this writing is heading down a not-so-positive path, it is for a good purpose, so please hang in here with me. Every cloud has a silver lining, even 2020. Our industry has been the silver lining as compared to many others. There’s a tendency to revel in glory and a good year, no matter how it happens, is certainly to be appreciated and celebrated. From what I’ve seen and heard, you don’t need more encouragement to do that.
Consumers have been flooding into garden centers to soothe their case of RGS - Restless Gardening Syndrome, a craving desire for all things related to plants.
The important thing is not only that people are consuming our industry’s products and services with such vengeance. More important is WHY they are doing this. Pay attention to the reasons people are interested and focus your communications to promote these six major opportunities and you cannot go wrong.
[Danny Summers: I asked Robert Hendrickson, "What's the right message for most of our centers to be considering." Here's his response..."The same words they should always use...Gardening hasn't changed just because a bunch of governors tried to stop it. - Fun, relaxing, personally rewarding and a great family activity. Don't try to overcomplicate things. Once the “all clear” siren sounds the only difference should be come out swinging and keep swinging with a strong marketing plan and the right words that haven't changed." Robert then shared a couple sample radio ads he has recently worked on with clients as examples. Details follow.]
These two radio spots are built around a common theme... connecting Dr. Sacks (mentioned in an earlier GROUPtalk article) and his research on the emotional power of gardening... to local garden centers.
Recently I participated in a webinar covering a collection of "trends" across the globe. It was produced by an international company in the business of collecting a tremendous amount of data and trying to put a sense of order to what they see. At first glance, it appeared to be all over the board. Of course, there were lots of modern, high tech gadgets and activities and some trends you recognize as "way-out-there," but one observation began to appear throughout that we should appreciate and leverage in your business. The first comment that led me into this path of thought was:
Wow! That, in the middle of a bunch of high-tech, "way-out-there" trends, grabs you and brings you right back down to earth. As you see so many weird new trends, this type of very basic statement brings a sense of grounding. It's a very organic statement if you think about it.