Every Plant Has a Story!

by Danny Summers

This is not the typical message you find me sharing here in GROUPtalk. This is...

A Call to Breeders, Growers... and Retailers!

Telling Your Story has been a standard emphasis here in The Group for decades. It began with Robert Hendrickson pushing each Center to tell their story to their audience. For Robert, the idea was to make the connection to the customer and build upon that for years. You could say... life-long relationships.

What's Your Therapy?

by Danny Summers

Four weeks ago... you were REALY BUSY! It was the first full week of May, and just 3 days away from Mother's Day. That's why I believe most of you have not seen what I am about to share.

It was on Thursday, May 8th and our May GROUPtalk LIVE session. Nicholas Staddon shared an important message titled "What's Your Therapy."

A World of Workshops

by Danny Summers

One area I am always watching as I receive many of your enews is new ideas or topics for workshops or events. Our Centers are creating some amazing events these days. I wish you would share more across The Group. We should develop a regular sharing in our Marketing eList for each of your unique events... SO PLEASE SHARE!

Here's one topic I bet you don't have on your list (except for Down to Earth)... many of you have Pumpkin Carving events... but how about:

The Search for an Oasis

by Danny Summers

Everyone needs some form of an Oasis. It's a place to escape the day-to-day activities, routines, and stresses. For some, it may be exercise or sports. For others, it could be curling up with a good book. There are a number of ways to find or create an Oasis.

Years ago, an industry effort called The Garden Council had a number of program themes they promoted for everyone to use. They produced text and graphics, as well as some POP. This was well before any social media or internet options.

ReThink Marketing: Part 3 – Selling More

by Sid Raisch

Last time, I ended with this:

"Next time, I’m going to share with you exactly how to wrap this commitment up and tie it off with a bow—to do something so simple and so critically important. That’s right, it's to SELL MORE of the only thing we measure that really matters to the people who buy it—our products and services."

The Homegrown Advantage

by Danny Summers

With all the news today about imports, exports and tariffs, it becomes natural to think about what our Centers offer today. The great Trees, Shrubs, Perennials and Annuals you sell are certainly grown close to you or at the very least in the same region or country. Some of you are actually growing some of them in-house. There may be some imported components, whether it is peat or peat substitutes, bamboo stakes, etc., but the majority of what a customer takes home could be considered Homegrown.

Even our great non-plant suppliers, the majority of them produce their products domestically. Just take a look at what you have in your Center today and think about where it is being made. I'm confident the majority of what you see is Homegrown. OK, saying a non-plant item is Homegrown sounds somewhat strange, but you get the point.

Wellness = People + Plants

by Danny Summers

Our industry devotes a tremendous amount of effort to Plant Health (or Plant Wellness). Offering a healthy plant is at the core of what we do. If it is not healthy, it just doesn't sell.

What we don't spend much time on is the Wellness of People. Obviously, each of us is very concerned about our overall health and the health of everyone around us. But, there is a growing movement on a connection between the two, hence the subject today... Wellness = People + Plants.

Sign Up! – Make the Most of Your In-store Signage

[Originally presented at The Fall Event 2024 - CLICK HERE to download a PDF version]

by Tom Kegley

Sometimes underestimated and overlooked, in-store signage is one of the most valuable tools in your marketing toolbox. Signs come in all shapes, sizes, and substrates. They have multiple purposes– directing, educating, motivating, connecting, storytelling, brand building, and more. 

America Needs a Break!

by Danny Summers

If you are subscribed to The Group's Marketing eList, you may have seen the message shared last Thursday by Tom Kegley, The Group's Brand Guru. Tom shared a review of this year's Super Bowl Ads, produced by Kantar, one of the world’s leading marketing data and analytics business and brand partners to the world’s top companies, including 96 of the world’s 100 biggest advertisers.

When Does Spring Begin?

by Danny Summers

The answer to that question varies by who you ask, where their Garden Center is located, and of course... the weather!

For a technical answer, we can turn to the Old Farmers Almanac, which says the answer is:

Connecting - with Heart

by Danny Summers

If you have been in The Group Experience for some time now, you know how much we have talked about the dynamic shift needed in the way our Centers connect to your audience. While there were some changes identified and discussed pre-COVID, beginning in the spring of 2020, the need for shifting seemed to get kicked into overdrive.

Let's back up a minute here... Our founder, Robert Hendrickson, was way ahead of the curve, as far back as the beginning of The Group itself. Everyone remembers how much Robert pushed you to "tell your story." He pushed to shift from a promotional message (plants or products with a price) to a connection to an experience. The was the first push The Group had to make an emotional connection.

Fall Traditions & Group Synergies

by Danny Summers

Having the opportunity to see many of our Garden Centers' messaging throughout the year offers a chance to see unique local and regional differences (as well as similarities) across the country. What I see in Spring seems to be more similarities with only differences in timing based on your location... Southern-most Centers getting kicked off earlier, and other markets follow as spring rolls out. But overall, the message of a beautiful spring ahead seems pretty consistent. And especially with The Group Centers where we have been sharing ideas on the benefits of plants and gardening.

Fall seems to have some differences or at least some areas of uniqueness. Here are some examples...

Connecting for a Cause

by Danny Summers

One of the major messages we learned at The Fall Event 2022 in Kansas City when Hallmark's Darren Abbott presented to The Group was how important it is to create an emotional connection with your audience. Studying Hallmark's patterns for leveraging emotions gave us ideas on how Garden Centers can create an emotional connection with their audience, not just for plants and gardening, but also for the Garden Center itself.

Consistently sharing the values of the Garden Center throughout its messaging can certainly help. You may remember back in April I shared a blog message titled "Founded with a Purpose" where I told the story of Mayorga Coffee, and supported the message with details of Mostardi Nursery, and Meadows Farms, as well as Renee's Garden, one of our new Fall Event Sponsors this year.

ReThink Marketing - Part 2 - Media Going Wrong

by Sid Raisch

Media Going Wrong
In the bigger picture marketing is much more than advertising. It is more than social media. What is it? Marketing is communication with a specific chosen group of people in language they understand and empowering them to act to support their interests, not ours.

The Marketplace Mantra: “It is the marketer’s responsibility to communicate to our marketplace information to make them want to buy.”

A Surprise Inside!

by Danny Summers

Growing up as a kid, one of my favorite treats was Cracker Jack. That savory combination of caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts was certainly the draw, but there was something more... A Surprise Inside!

A Surprise Inside was never anything really valuable. It wasn't like finding a winning lottery ticket inside or even a coupon for a free box of Cracker Jack. More importantly for me, it had something inside to make me read and think. Often it was something that sparked curiosity and rallied my imagination.

A Feeling of Fall

by Danny Summers

We all live in different parts of the country, and I know for some, there may be one season that is dominant over the others. Areas in the farther parts of either north or south, you certainly can have much more extremes in either winter or summer months.

Karen and I have lived in North Georgia since the Fall of 1989. We moved from Central Florida and even today, we can remember so vividly our trip to Atlanta to look for a home. It was October, and what we were about to see was so different than what we were used to.

Celebrating with Signs!

by Tom Kegley

Signage in your Garden Center can be one of the most effective, efficient, and timely marketing tools in the toolbox. This year marks the 50th year of business for Fairview Greenhouses and Garden Center in Raleigh, NC. As part of the commemoration, I was proud and pleased to work with Fairview’s Heather Rollins to create a set of large format banners honoring Fairview founder, Jo Ann Dewar and the 3-generation tradition of the ‘Fairview Family’ she has dedicated her working life to (and still does to this day!)

In addition to banners featuring Jo Ann and family, we took the opportunity to update a series of banners used as backdrops to the shade perennials section of the garden center and entrance to the large greenhouse shopping area. Finally, a 50th-anniversary logo was created to enhance various messages throughout the year of celebration.

ReThink Marketing - Degradation

by Sid Raisch

Marketing Degradation - Marketing has become degraded to an undisciplined practice of rapid-fire social media posts with messages covering dozens if not hundreds of topics to the point that - there is no real net message, or benefit of creating them.

Let’s begin with the end in mind. The end in marketing is a purchase. I will come back to that notion.

Crafting Opportunities

by Danny Summers

One of the earliest forms of what we might call a craft today is Paper Mache. The image of the bee above is an example. A quick search reveals Paper Mache's beginning can be traced back to the 1300's. Today, we could quickly envision a piñata to represent Paper Mache, or an elementary school project. I can remember our girls using Paper Mache to building a volcano for one of their projects (and no kitchen or dining room tables were damaged by eruptions).

I am thinking for Garden Retailing, the idea for Crafting Opportunities could be focused toward both plants and product categories as well as activities outside of the typical spring season.

Incredible Shrinking Transactions, and What to Do - Part 4

by Sid Raisch

Part 4 - Sell What THEY Want to Buy - The CHEESE
[Continued from Part 3 - Click HERE to read from Group Blog]

We’ve covered a lot of ground so far in Parts 1, 2, and 3 of this article series. Be sure to click on the link above to review Part 3 or to catch up if you haven’t been following along with each part.