Marketing Strategy of Flower Shops
Try thinking of any occasion where you need to bring someone a gift, and flowers are not an option. Pretty complicated to even attempt it, right? It goes with birthdays, weddings, graduation…anything. What is interesting and worth doing some research about, is the marketing aspect of flower shops. As they are so demanded, how do companies keep up with the industry and the immense competition? How do they make sure they stay relevant and get enough consumers? Well, in this blog, we are about to find out. We are going to take the examples of Salon des Fleurs, and Amelia’s Flower Truck to cover the basics.
Before all else, let us not be hesitant to approach the overall marketing strategies of most flower shops.
In other words, we are going to take a look at some tips and tricks.
First and foremost, any kind of business must take a few factors into consideration. Those are attracting a variety of consumers, creating brand visibility, and promoting products wisely.
A smart approach that most flower shops have is offering other gifts alongside customers’ purchases.
For example, even small but thoughtful presents such as calendars, and pens, still do the job perfectly. Those are items that come in handy in everyday life.
Then there are other offers that attract lots of people as well. For instance, when a company says that if you spend a certain amount of money, you will get a t-shirt in return. It also creates a more emotional memory associated with a certain place. Therefore, the potential of obtaining loyal consumers is very high.
Even if it turns out to be something one never wears and ends up in a crowded wardrobe, it is still worth it.
These small gifts are a perfect way to hide little but valuable messages. Information like business name, phone number, website address, and so on.
Among the most obvious things is the employees’ clothing. Having the logo of the company be drawn somewhere on their shirts creates a visual memory of the shop.
Collaborating with local businesses is another thing flower shops tend to do. This is actually something we are going to encounter later in this blog.
Working with hair or makeup salons, schools, cafes bring mutual advantage to both parties.
Being vocal about it on social media is just as important. Since we live in a more or less digital culture. The followers of the company the flower shop collaborates with will most definitely check out the page of the shop, and vice versa.
Finally, for a business like such, being on Yelp is crucially important. Customers tend to research products before buying them. Especially when it comes to something as valuable and multi-meaningful as flowers, people want to make the best choice. Thus, it makes logical sense from the business point of view, to seek Yelp.
To begin with, we are going to try to speak about the positioning strategy of Amelia’s Flower Truck.
This post is of a flower truck, which is pretty understandable since that is the whole branding of the business. It is a baby blue cozy color full of immensely gorgeous flowers. It looks almost as if they are organized in a way for their colors to be matching.
Reading the caption we also uncover some other things. This post is in collaboration with two companies.
The first one is Dose Nashville, a coffee shop. And the second one is Imogene + Willie, a clothing company.
On that particular day, this flower shop made stops near those two destinations and probably made the days of hundreds of people. It is the small and meaningful things in life that enable people to lead energy full of fascination.
Now, what does this post tell us?
Firstly, the overall simplicity is a huge hint. This company could obviously rent a physical shop in a stable location. It would earn loyal consumers that way that would always be aware of its spot. Yet, Amelia’s Flower Truck chose to be a moving shop. It went with having a simplistic approach, a truck, and decorated it with beauties of nature, flowers.
Secondly, it probably will sound just right to mention that something about this post screams childhood or nostalgia. Most people that are reading this, have most likely seen something similar when they were kids. Sometimes things are unexplainable, and this is one of those cases.
The overall calmness and positiveness of this post is another message. The chosen colors are all light. The clouds are bright, blue, and peaceful. And the scene is not crowded.
What more do you need to be persuaded that the archetype Amelia’s Flower Truck belongs to is The Innocent?
What do we know about it?
Desire: to experience paradise
Aim: to be happy
Strategy: do things right
These are the messaging levels of the archetype.
Level One: a desire for purity, goodness, and simplicity
Level Two: childlike simplicity, naive, dependent, obedient, trusting, idyllic
Level Three: renewal, positive, reinventing, reframing, cleansing, reentering the Promised Land
Level Four: an almost mystical sense of oneness, whereby Innocence comes from values and integrity, not outer experience, being, not doing
The Innocent provides a good identity for brands that:
- give a comparatively uncomplicated solution to an identifiable difficulty
- are connected with goodness, morality, simplicity, nostalgia, or childhood
- have duties linked to purity, health, or virtue-and that are unbelievably replicable
- are priced average to low
- are produced by a business with straight-arrow core values
- desire to distinguish from a product with a tarnished concept
Furthermore, we are going to unravel the segment that Amelia’s Flower Truck has chosen to target.
Once again, we are going to analyze an Instagram post.
The post is of two women posing in front of the flower truck. This post is still in collaboration with the same brands that we touched on while discussing this company’s archetype. The woman on the right, in the photo, is an Instagram blogger with over two thousand followers. Her account is also pretty aesthetically pleasing, so the balance between her style and the company’s style is very valid.
The first thing we need to talk about is the location of the brand. It is a small shop, traveling in the same country, thus it is safe to consider it local. The presumable segment enjoys buying from local brands.
The idea that you could get out of your apartment, simply go through the neighborhood and find a flower shop is another thing we should point out. This segment enjoys being out and about in its own surroundings. Thus, making a purchase or two here and there can occur.
If you could count flower-giving or flower purchasing to be a traditional value, then it can be considered as another hint.
What does this all mean?
The segment that Amelia’s Flower Truck has chosen to target is Nesters.
What do we know about them?
Lifestyle and values.
The most important thing in this segment’s life is family. They try to always arrange their time in a way to find time for their loved ones. Spending quality time is important, and how they contribute to it is through cooking.
Nesters are pretty traditionalistic. Their values and mindsets are like that.
Faith is another important factor in their life. It goes out to relationships as well. When this segment gets into a romantic relationship, you best believe it is going to be long-term.
As Nesters treat others perfectly well, they expect the same behavior back towards them.
Nesters go with the flow in life. They do not go out of their ways to set new goals. Rather, they follow a routine they already know. This segment prefers to have a stable job rather than to strive for something new or better.
When it comes to the way they dress, all nesters care about is comfort. Style is really not that important.
Attitude towards shopping:
Most of the time Nesters shop from local brands. They care more about affordability. Whenever they can find good deals, they are all for it.
They like to be productive with their time devoted to shopping. Hence why this segment plans its shopping plans ahead.
This segment does not even consider brands. All that matters is staple outfit pieces that they can wear with most things.
Even when shopping Nesters try to involve their families. Especially if it is grocery shopping. As supermarket shopping is mostly for household items, this approach makes sense.
Other interesting facts:
Nesters
- Fix everything themselves
- Buy accessories for own use
- Garden, and it is their pride and joy
- They might grow their own food
- Might watch a big movie with the family here and there
- Don’t read
- Don’t exercise
- Like riding a bike in the neighborhood
- Are daily and magazine readers on political issues and family-related matters
- Barely use the internet
- Watch TV when alone, which is pretty rare
- Are above-average radio consumers
Moreover, we are going to get to the next company, Salon des Fleurs.
Likewise, take a look at this Instagram post.
The photo is of a woman holding a bouquet. In this case, she is inside a store, which is quite luxurious looking. We can clearly see that this company does a lot more than selling flowers. That, by itself, is already a beautiful occupation. Imagine adding up so much to that. This store also offers decorating services.
We can make sure of that while reading the caption. It is pretty much explaining how on any occasion, this company is one call away. Imagine throwing a bridal shower. All of that is already big stress. Having people come over to your celebration space and delicately perfect it is a significant help.
Without even doing research, some things become easily apparent.
The first point that we are going to bring up, is that judging by the photo only, this is a luxurious brand. The products it offers are probably higher-priced.
The interior of the store is highly elegant. Everything seems to go perfectly well together. The flowers are the center of attention but the beautiful decorations hanging from different places act as the cherry on top.
Lastly, flowers are widely associated with beauty. And it is not just the flowers that convey beauty through this post. It is everything else that we just stated.
So what can we infer?
The archetype that Salon des Fleurs belongs to is The Lover.
What do we need to know about it?
Desire: attain intimacy and experience sensual pleasure
Aim: being in a relationship with the people, the work, the experiences, the surroundings they love
Strategy: become more and more attractive – physically, emotionally, and in every other way
These are the messaging levels of the archetype.
Level One: infatuation, seduction, falling in love (with a person, an idea, a cause, work, a product)
Level Two: seeking great sex and/or great romance
Level Three: following your bliss and committing to whom and what you love
Level Four: spiritual love, self-acceptance, and the experience of ecstasy
The Lover archetype provides a good identity for brands:
- whose use encourages people to gain affection or friendship
- whose use cultivates beauty, communication, or closeness between people or is connected with passion or romance
- with pricing that can be average to high
- if it is offered or marketed by a company with an intimate, luxurious organizational culture, as opposed to a huge Ruler hierarchy
- that needs to distinguish itself positively from lower-priced brands
Last but not least, we are going to uncover the segment that Salon des Fleurs has chosen to target.
We promise that this is the last Instagram post of today.
The photo is of two people, sitting together, in front of a table, having breakfast. But they are more in the background because the photo is a zoom-in shot of the table in the front. On which we can see a mouth-watering dessert along with a cup of coffee. And, of course, you can not forget the flowers.
The caption of the post is in Spanish. It wishes the page’s followers a good morning, suggesting to have a piece of cake and a cup of tea. What better way to start a Wednesday morning?
If we assume that the people sitting in the back are a couple, we can see the presence of family. Again, quality time with family is important. Especially when people work, and get home late, mornings are a perfect opportunity for quality time.
But still, utilizing brands like this speak about the chosen segment’s willingness to spend extra money. Whether it is something absolutely necessary or a simple treat, we only live once.
Then on, the fact that they eat food and buy flowers from the same place hints at their practicality. Even if they choose not to purchase flowers in the end, being in a heartwarming and beautiful environment like that is more than enough.
At this point, it is easy to guess that the segment Salon des Fleurs has chosen to target is Actualizers.
Lifestyle and values:
Actualizers are those people that have a plan they proudly follow. They are perfectionists and know exactly what they are doing.
Even though this segment is willing to take risks, it is highly unlikely to be something stupid.
Work is so much more than just a job. It is enjoyment, a way of earning money, and simply a means of having a good time.
Still, regardless of how hectic this segment’s life is, they find time for family. No achievement will be made at the price of family-time reduction. Actualizers pay special attention to kids, bringing them up in a way that they turn out both physically and mentally healthy.
This segment is modern but it does not take away from their interest in arts, music, and foreign cultures.
Of course, Actualizers keep up with technology. They use it as a source of entertainment and information.
This segment manages its money wisely. They will surely buy premium products when they want. But if it is something useless, or an item that does not necessarily have to be expensive to serve its purpose, Actualizers will save up.
Actualizers, like Nesters, also dress for comfort, rather than style.
Brand usage:
Actualizers mostly use luxurious brands. They care for the quality of their purchased items a lot.
Every once in a while, this segment will treat itself with something it is not in absolute need of.
Whenever a new product comes out, who better to run to the store, or the internet-based websites these days than Actualizers?
But still, Actualizers are perfectionists even here. They like to be productive with their time. So, when they know they need to go shopping, it better all be done in one store or a nearby one.
This segment also gives local stores a big chance.
Other interesting facts:
Actualizers
- Feel very stable at home included in family activities
- They are engaged in arts, music, books, movies
- Regularly attending theater, cinema, dance, concerts, exhibitions
- Going for trips in nature
- Enjoy eating in a restaurant
- Don’t do sports but like reading about and watching them
- Read to stay in touch with what’s happening everywhere
- Watch TV typically for particular programs of interest, and would rarely switch it on when they are occupied with other stuff
- Are above-average radio consumers
To sum up, in this blog we talked about two flower companies. We did a deeper dive into their marketing strategies by unraveling the archetypes they belong to and the segments they target. If you liked this, please make sure to visit our main website. We quite often post something new about various brands. Until then, stay beautiful, and elegant like these flowers.
