#137 HOW DO WE ADVERTISE?

For most, spending money on advertising is, for the most part, a crap shoot

The effect of your commercial advertising for your garden store is an elusive game that really has no answer.

How can I tell if my advertising is working?

Where do I spend my money to get the most bang?

Oh sure, there are statistics and ratings. But ad salespeople are experts at twisting and turning these numbers to make their company look very good for you. They will move the floor with every question leaving you absolutely bewildered and at their mercy. Most garden store owners toss a little here and a little there depending on how they feel that day. Maybe it is just a matter of how attractive the advertising salesperson is in front of them! At green garden gates, we have developed a strategy for our advertising dollars that has served us well.

Who are we trying to reach?

Our company, like nearly all in the retail garden store industry, are after three groups of customers, the baby boomers, generation X and perhaps generation Y in this order. We allocate a percentage of advertising dollars to each group according to their history of shopping with us. If boomers are perceived to be 60% of our sales, nearly that percentage is devoted to reaching out to them in the communities.

How much shall we spend on commercial advertising?

Generally, the rule is one percent to three percent of the total sales of the store. We have chosen the three percent category.

How are the kinds of advertising outlets selected for each of our communities?

We, of course, examine all the available listener/reader statistics and ratings for the region. We use a focus group composed of each of the generations we want to attract to green garden gates. With the statistical data and the responses from our focus group, we are able to determine where our money needs to be spent.

Do we change or alter our advertising formulas often?

Yes, very often. Customers are a moving river, changing and adapting all the time, responding to different needs and desires. We are absolutely on top of these changes.. We pride ourselves in being near the first into new and different presentations that have caught the eye of our customers. Likewise, we waste no time in moving away from types of advertising that have run their course.

What is our “advertising image?”

Too often, garden store owners scatter around a bunch of images, often conflicting images, in their advertising selections and presentations Shoppers become confused. They may see you promoting expensive teak furniture in a slick air brushed high end local magazine. The next time they may see you pushing junipers in a cheap paper that lands on their front door. Work hard to find out what your store image is to the buying public and stick with it!

At green garden gates, we know who we are and it becomes easy to find and hold our customer’s attention. We are a fast paced, grab and go flower market, every changing, always moving business devoted to gardening. Our best plants are the ones that are leaving our stores in our customers’ trunks! We want our customers to feel immediacy of it all, get it fast or it will be gone.

Types of advertising outlets

1. Printed Newspapers

I am afraid the once emperor of all advertising has lost the crown. It is over for print newspapers. The only real audience left for newspapers are the baby boomers and even that generation is moving away rapidly. Gen X and Gen Y shoppers generally never read printed newspapers. However, the internet presentation of local and regional newspapers is quite another thing which we discuss later.

We do keep a small presence in printed newspapers at green garden gates. We place small display ads in the gardening sections during the season, with a panel of about four super hot specials for a two week cycle. It is quite simply a “shout out” billboard to catch our customers’ eye. We pay extra money to be “placed” in the same location in the paper all during the season. We negotiate a seasonal contract with the newspaper for these ads. We reject any other promotional advertising in printed newspapers.

2. Radio

Radio can be highly effective for garden stores in their local communities. Radio presentations are economical and can hit the targeted shopper if specific times are purchased rather than the cheaper “run of the station” spots that can waste money with your ads when no one is listening. We advertise on radio in several ways.

We look for a local radio program in our communities. We would like to advertise on a live morning drive time news/talk program with a local radio personality as the host. This station may also have a “gardening program” with call in questions, where we will buy some spots on a regular basis.

Some garden stores are invested heavily in this gardening call in shows. A person from the store, generally the owner, answers questions from the call in audience each week, either by paying for this time or given to the store at little or minimal cost. At green garden gates, we do not believe that the time and effort invested in these programs are the best use of our resources and/ or advertising money. Our philosophy is to hit our presentation to our customers hard and fast and not linger, losing their attention.

We use almost exclusively 30 second commercials. We also prefer a 15 second presentation if the radio station permits this. We never use a 60 second commercial as we are convinced that we “lose” our listeners.

We believe that each of our stores need to have a recognizable “gardening personality”. We look for that potential in our store managers or his or her assistant. Otherwise, we groom one of employees as the personality or find a member of the community.

We remember Joe Garcione, “The Green Grocer”

Joe Garcione, owned and operated an import/export produce business in the Golden Gate Produce Terminal in South San Francisco. His hugely popular radio and television commercials were produced right at the terminal with Joe right into his produce, choosing, educating the listeners and offering advice in his world of carrots, cabbage and cauliflower.

Using the “The Green Grocer” style, our personality may be standing in back of a just arrived truck calling into the station for a “live” presentation of the plants that are being unloaded. We tape spots of plants and products that work well in the local garden and how to plant and care for them. All the commercials have immediacy and relate to what gardeners are doing in their gardens in the local market area. Our personality paints the picture of color and texture and beauty of the plants available at our stores. At times our personality, “drops by” the station, takes a live microphone for several minutes and banters with the talk show host about local gardening and community happenings that relate to gardening.

This local show is great for the boomers, but we would miss the X’ers and Y’s completely. For them we use the same formula of presentation with some changes. We use a Gen X or Y for the personality and look for a station that will find them, rock, hiphop, or even rap!

3. Printed mass mailers, targeted mailers and pre-printed coupons

Mass mailings have been used often by garden stores. Valpak, the largest coupon based mass mailing company, provides a modern approach to this advertising. They provide reliable statistical data which can “prove out” their effectiveness in the areas they serve. The results can be quite satisfying for garden stores. If the decision is to provide a mass mailing, a national company, such as Valpak, should be used rather than a local company. This is one of the very few instances that we would discourage local companies.

At green garden gates, we do not use printed mass mailers of any kind. We believe that the small segment of shoppers (usually the same shoppers) does not warrant the cost of the outreach. Additionally, the timeliness is a factor. We want more immediacy than a mass mailing can provide. We do use the mass mailing concept, but we make the presentations digitally through our computer systems.

Targeted printed mailers

Often a garden center owner may want to reach, for example, a new home buyer. A produced personal targeted mailing to those potential clients may be useful. It is vital that the mailing be truly personal in nature, directed to the customer by name and hand signed by the owner or manager.

We have chosen to approach this direct advertising appeal in other ways rather than a targeted massed mailing. We believe that there is just too much advertising material arriving in the mailboxes of the homeowner. Our presentation can and probably will easily be discarded.

We do encourage our “garden guides” salespeople to drop a card to their customers occasionally with a personal thank you for their purchases as well as alert them of special hot sales that are available to them during the season. A tasteful personal post card from our company employee to his or her customer is highly effective.

Pre-Printed Coupons

Pre-printed Coupons, in general, have been a traditional method to drive sales in garden stores. They are economical to produce for either in store use and/or including them in printed advertising. They can provide a great tracking mechanism for the types and numbers of customers and the products they purchase.

A word about the mechanics of coupons……..always include the statements “offer subject to stock on hand” and “coupon offer expires at a determined date”. These words will save a lot of headaches and arguments.

We do not use printed coupons in any form. We have found that the same customers take advantage of the offers, generating no real increase in additional purchases of other products other than the coupon offer and no new customers we want to reach. However, we are not willing to completely let go of the “coupon clippers”. We offer coupons regularly on our website tailored for each of our store locality. Customers can print the coupons themselves and present them at our stores.