I’m confused, how about you?

On the one hand there is actually a GF (gluten free) movement. It must be true because it has its own magazine. So when I was driving around town I passed my local garden center that had a sandwich board sign announcing it had Corn Gluten. Corn Gluten? Wasn’t that a bad thing?

I have to admit that I had no idea what Corn Gluten was. So my wife Ann says, rather matter of factly, “oh yeah, corn gluten is a natural approach to suppressing weed seed in your lawn.”

How did you know that? “Well,” she explained, “when you proof as many newsletters as I do, you learn a lot.” She went on to say how much she learns from the Natureworks (Northford, CT) newsletter. Sure enough, I had to look over a website post from Stringer’s (Memphis, TN) and found another reference to Corn Gluten.

I still am not really clear on what CG (not GF) is and how it works. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable, so if I haven’t heard more about it, how many of your customers are confused as well. Not to confuse the issue, but confusion is not my point.

The point is there are some really good newsletters (both traditional and virtual) out there and they have quite a following. I can tell you statistically that the Natureworks newsletter averages over 35% for opens, and has a 25% click through rate. Nancy DuBrule, the owner and spiritual leader of the cult that is Natureworks, has a very loyal following built over the years by her ability to connect with her customers.

I can tell you with some certainty that the Natureworks customers know CG from GF.

Just another example of how “content is (still) King”. So, with that said I thought I might suggest a few (e) newsletters for you to subscribe to:

www.naturework.com

www.stringersgardencenters.com

www.forestlakegreenhouses.com

www.mostardi.com

This is not a judgment of what is good or bad, (all are managed through Sunrise Marketing), but rather a suggestion that you subscribe to as many newsletters as you can. This will give you a good feel for what you like (and don’t like). Notice I said newsletter. Despite the fact that e-newsletters are a hot topic, Natureworks paper newsletter has twice as many subscribers.

Care to share? I encourage you to post your thoughts, whether it is on Corn Gluten, great sites, or great newsletters you’ve found along the way.

That Tomato Lady

First of all, a very happy Easter to all; May your spring be wet, but not too wet… warm, but not too hot. We could all use a good spring and the prospects for many more to come. Visiting with my daughters this weekend I had an interesting exchange with Cara, our daughter studying Journalism at University of Missouri.

First of all, you have nothing to complain about weather-wise compared to those poor folks in Missouri. This past week they had over twelve inches of rain! Makes those rain barrels seem silly, doesn’t it?

Well, we picked up the rental car in Phoenix and started the long trek back to the desert. We started talking, and believe it or not, she didn’t know that dear old dad writes a weekly blog. So we got to talking about blogs. It turns out I didn’t know that she wrote a blog. She was a little more reluctant to have me read hers than the opposite.

All that set aside for another day, we had an interesting talk about life beyond college. The conversation ranged wildly, but for the sake of this post I will confine it to communes. (I guess it was because Woodstock was playing on the radio). It wasn’t that she was necessarily enamored with the sixties, but rather a sense of finding peace in a simple lifestyle.

“I want to grow my own vegetables, have a few chickens and sell excess produce at the farmer’s market. I want to be ‘that tomato lady’. You know,” she explained, “that lady that grows those killer tomatoes.”

Which led us to Fritz; Fritz was my grandfather and her great-grandfather who, in true German fashion, had a rather prolific vegetable and fruit garden in the backyard of his 1950’s tract home in California. Fritz and Anna were from the old country. The backyard featured blackberries, raspberries, tangerines, climbing roses, pole beans, plums, apples and ‘killer’ tomatoes (and much more).

In a scene right out of the Godfather - the first one, where Marlon Brando keels over in his veggie garden after chasing his grandson around with an orange peel grin – I have memories of a six year old tied to those summers growing up in Sunnyvale (true story). It was in that sunny garden that I was exposed to grafting fruit trees (his friends included a rather talented Swiss arborist), drying fruit and of course growing tomatoes. It was there that I learned an ‘organic’ approach to pest control – a sharp knife applied to those giant green tomato worms.

As we fast-forward to the rental car, I wondered what would inspire the next generation to value a simpler time where you ate tomatoes still warm from the sun, and squeezed lemons into a juice glass.

You see, I think Cara’s fascination is not necessarily horticultural, but rather the sense of community that comes from those that share similar interests. Isn’t that the whole appeal of blogging, facebooks and Bonnaroo?

Of course I have a tendency to generalizing, but I am starting to form an opinion that the garden center of the future is going to be formed more by the ‘kindly and knowledgeable’ garden guy/gal than by branded pots. At the risk of dumping just another buzz word on you, advertisers are now enamored with ‘authenticity’. Whether it is an experience, a relationship, or in this case a tomato, people can tell the difference between the real deal and a poser (sorry).

Building on last week’s post – inspiration – I would like to stress the importance of distinguishing yourself from the competition (it is easier to think of it as a box-store for now) with inspiration and information. You might shudder at the thought, but your presence in the marketplace might be enhanced with your presence in the marketplace.

In a complicated world, people continue to seek peace and quiet wherever they can find it. Maybe the seeds for that future tomato garden can find their start at your local, authentic, grass roots, tree-hugging, green loving, inspirational garden center.

Here’s a hint – you can’t connect unless you’re out there (virtually or otherwise) talking with your customers.

Green, it's the new pink!

When I came up with the idea for the 'Grow Green' marketing campaign I wanted to help retailers get in front of the environmental movement that is sweeping through the media these days. The irony is that for many green industry retailers the 'green' movement is finally catching up to their life long passion for nature. However, communicating all this can really be a challenge. Where do you start?

The short answer is to lead by example. Now more than ever you have the opportunity to really connect with your community. Whether you are initiating a neighborhood recycling effort, or organizing a tree planting project at the local grade school, this is the time to educate and inspire.

Your marketing and advertising needs to present you and your business as a resource for your community. Your years of experience and community connections should help you position your business in a very positive light.

Easter is next week. It is a time of rebirth where hope, literally, springs eternal. With April comes the first day of spring, as well as Earth Day and Arbor Day. You should schedule promotions that connect with the community. For the next generation of customers you and your business might be the only chance for them to learn such basic skills as planting a tree or clipping a hedge.

That's the message that needs to be in front of your customers... and all those who should be your customers. Document the events and use your marketing tools, such as your website, or maybe even a blog to spread the word.

One person can make a difference and each decision you make has an impact.

This past week Ann and I took our 'carbon footprint' from a size 14 to a more manageable size 9. That's right we swapped our SUV for a hybrid. Going from 12 mpg to over 50 makes a lot of sense (and cents)! Like your customers how we shop is in some ways a statement. So when we tool around in our Prius we can feel good about using our Whole Foods shopping totes to pick up some organically grown apples. True story. But a good picture is worth a thousand words:


That's right - Toyota Prius, Whole Foods Shopping Bag and 'Keep the Hive Alive' t-shirt. It's part of the Haagen Daz - HD for HB promotion calling attention to the challenges being faced by honey bee populations. Hey, we're consumers just like your customers. Help your customers feel good about shopping you and your business. With any luck they might spread the word about you on their blog!

Content is still King

Whether you know it or not, you are in the content business. Wrong, you say, we sell plants. Wrong! Supermarkets sell plants, box stores sell plants - plants have become a commodity. So if you are still selling plants, you are missing the bigger picture. You see the reason why people come to you is (I know, you've heard it before) to either solve a problem, a seek escape. Either way they need your help. Your help is the years of experience, plant knowledge, design ideas, etc. that make you different from your competition.

OK, you say, but where are the ten things that will make my website better?

I am getting to that...

The experience you possess doesn't amount to anything unless you are able to share it. However years of patterned behavior (newspaper ads) has put too great a distance between you and your customers. You see advertising and marketing is the process of telling your story. I know we all get caught up in the 'story' part, but the 'story' is an encapsulation of what your business is all about. Unless you are encouraging a response from your customer (what ad does that?) you are just talking to yourself.

Alright already... what does that have to do with my website?

Here's what it has to do with it. Websites are one of those rare opportunities to create a marketing message that 'interacts' with the audience. You publish information on your website and people can point and click, mouse and move, email and better yet even buy stuff.

So if your website is still being managed by that friend of a friend, or buddy, or best customer or whatever, it is time for you to get involved. What separates a good website from a 'so-so' one? You guessed it - content!

So without any further ado... first the soft stuff:

1) Content. The reason why people will come to (and come back) to your website is how fresh it is. Is it current? Up to date? Does it have information, or access to information, that might be helpful? Use your site to establish yourself as the expert. Think about contributing an article or editorial to your site. Think of it this way - you can talk to one person at a time, or you can put it out there for tens of thousands to read.

2) Interactivity. Does your website create opportunities for visitors to interact with you? Can they ask questions? Get directions? Make yourself easy to contact. In many respects you are your business. Initiate an "ask your name here". Respond quickly to questions. Add a sign up form for follow up e-mails.

3) Images. Let's face it - a picture is worth a thousand words, but a great image is priceless. Websites need a careful blend of information and eye candy. People are inspired by beautiful photos of beautiful gardens. How do they get there? See answer number 2. With the number of stock photo websites it is easier than ever to get access to great imagery and graphics. Check out links on the Sunrise Marketing site.

4) Fast. People might read blogs (well, you are), but scan websites. They see with their mouse. Careful use of bullet points, bold fonts, color, but be careful with underlining (can be confused with links), can help your readers get to the good stuff. Keep your visitor moving, make the navigation simple and easy to understand.

5) Links. Just as important as sites that you link to are the sites that are linked to your site. Take an inventory of suppliers that feature a 'find a retailer' locator and make sure you are listed with website address and email information. When you are able to cross link within your site it helps your standings with search engines. A word or two about internal links. Links to your pages establish a level of relevancy to the value of your site. So, create as many links (that make sense) to other pages on your site as possible. Another simple way to link back to your site is through the 'signature' on your email. These are the name and details that you can add through your email system. Don't overlook a link back to your website.

OK, here are some of the techy stuff...

6) Keywords. Create a list of words and phrases important to your site. The best way to find out which words are important you can take a look at the source code of sites you like (on your browser go to 'view'; 'page source'. Within the first paragraph or two will be a listing of keywords, descriptions and meta tags. Take your list and then run them through a tool such as WordTracker, the Google keyword tool or Yahoo Overture Keyword Selector Tool to see what the volume of search activity is and find alternative phrasing to add to your list.

7) Searchability. Key words are important in tags, but the important part is to make sure that the keywords you select are represented in the content of your page. That means the title of the page; plants.html rather than annuals.html; (nobody searches for 'annuals', they want 'plants.' They should also appear in the headlines (specified headlines) of the page and of course in the content of the page. You can also increase the relevance to keywords by titling your images - echinacea_plants.jpg rather than per_18.jpg. Alt tags - photos and graphic descriptive terms (another code item).

8) Structure. Make sure your site is easy to navigate. Think like a visitor to your site. Just as you would lay out your store to make it easy to shop, you should build your site so it is easy to use. Another point out structure: create as many pages as possible (within reason). An example would be to have 'plants', but also individual pages for 'perennial plants', annuals, flowering shrubs, trees, shrubs, etc. You can also establish pages for specific plants like 'Endless Summer', 'Knockout' roses. Getting to them leads to...

9) Blog. This is one to think about down the road. You see spam filters are going to continue to impact deliverability. The answer is rss (reader subscriber service) feeds. Ultimately people can 'subscribe' to feeds that will automatically update them when you publish a post to your blog. Of course you can also post video feeds, audio tracks, etc. When you think about it you can create your own tv and radio ads directly to your customers. You have to think about building visitors and readership now! This will create the most important way for you to reach your customers in the future (not that far off). Look for the little 'subscribe to posts' link on the lower right hand column.

10) E-Mail Newsletters. A monthly email using a tool such as Constant Contact will keep your customers in the know about your latest business news and will drive traffic to your website and blog. More about blogs at another time. Make sure you create as many opportunities for readers to link back to your site.

Of course, there are probably a hundred other ideas that you could come up with. Of course one of the benefits of a blog such as this is I can hear from you. What do you think?

One of the those 2 AM moments

First, I would like to say that I am not making this up. This evening we had dinner at Chili's. In the middle of the meal Ann (my wife) turned and said "you'll never guess what I woke up thinking about the other night." OK, I give.

"I was thinking about the future of garden centers."

The rest I will have to paraphrase. In the nutshell her concern was how customers were going to relate to shopping at a typical garden center. You know, tables all lined up with plants by category, pots on pallets; everything all lined up in a row.

"How do they expect people to figure it all out?"

She went on to describe what she thought a garden center should look like. More of a showroom with display beds designed and set up for customers to get a better idea of how there home landscape 'could' look. The old concept might of worked for people who saw gardening as a hobby, like building model airplanes, but what about the rest of us?

Then there was a dooooo, doooo, dooo, doooot (substitute the Twilight Zone theme music) moment.

You see I spent Wednesday and Thursday with a group of landscape professionals at a meeting sponsored by Willoway Nursery. One of the other speakers was an old friend Kip Creel from Standpoint Marketing. I have known Kip for a few years now and I felt fortunate to be able to sit in on his talk.

Brilliant stuff - but the thing I kept hearing was a shift from gardening to landscaping; and the fact that the next generation was less likely to become 'gardeners', but rather they saw the landscape as an extension of the home. He went on to describe the shifting market and the opportunity that the future held. Then comes the spooky part - he went on to describe that the garden center of the future would be more like a showroom with the garden center moving towards helping customers with design solutions. (OK, maybe I added that part)

So with that I scrapped the original blog story and went with this one. Landscapers are going to find stiff competition in the future and they might be surprised at where it might come from. It could be that local landscape design center. Will that be your business, or a new player in the market?

I'll keep saying it - stop selling plants, sell design. People want to buy the result of a beautiful landscape. They want the peace and quiet, the increased value to their property and a place to get together with friends and family. They don't want to have to learn latin to understand plants, they will shop where someone can make it a fun, creative experience to landscape their future.