Innovative Retail MarketingJanuary 12, 2011

Tina Mast Homewood Nursery

Prioritize Your Marketing EffortsWebsiteEmail NewslettersFacebookBlogTwitterGroupon

WebsiteEasily navigated, attractive, important info is easy to findSnap Pages – cheap, easy, professional-looking. Good features like

PayPal, blog, calendar, document storage & more.Mailing list sign-up box so you can continue to reach customersFacebook sign-up for the same reasonUpdate regularly to keep the site looking fresh and information

currentGet other websites (i.e. vendors) to link to your website.Add a Share This button to every page of the site to visitors can share.Try to get it optimized for keywords. You can buy services that will boost your Search Engine Optimization

(SEO)Link your website to Google Analytics so you can track the traffic

going into and throughout your site. Plenty of information about this on the Google Analytics website.

Email NewslettersStill an excellent, effective, and inexpensive way to reach

customers who are already interested in your products and services.

Ways to collect customer email addresses: raffle box at events, at checkout, at key traffic points, on your website, in your postal mailings or catalogs, targeted email services you can buy to get going.

Constant Contact: inexpensive, easy-to-use, includes report functions

Don’t email too oftenPictures are great sellersNo time? Have department heads write for each section.Add a Share This button to each email.

FacebookHave website and email before attempting social mediaLess about selling more about engagement, having relationships“Like” (become fans of) other businesses both similar and

different to yours and see how they engage their fans.You will likely have to experiment some to find the types of posts

that your fans are most interested in and responsive to.Train employees to report customer comments about FB posts Ways to engage: special discounts for your FB fans, post

sales/events, links to items of interest, helpful tips/info, PRETTY pictures (always popular), your emails/blog posts, have contests, be creative

Facebook ads – FB has a lot of user data and can help you reach people likely to use your service in your geographic area.

Cadmus, PostRank, and Yahoo Pipes for curated content.

BlogsCheap and one way to stay in front of customersEmbed it on your website so it can double as a way to talk

about what’s newDidn’t work well for Homewood but wasn’t embedded. We

currently use a What’s New page on our website.Make sure to work “keywords” (search terms that potential

customers might use) into posts and titles but don’t overdo it or Google might lower your search rankings.

Link to other blogs who will hopefully return the favorUpdate weeklyRead other blogs and comments on themCopyblogger: excellent newsletter on writing for blogs and

getting them readWordPress and Blogger: free, easy-to-use blog services

TwitterFor small brick and mortar businesses like

garden centers, not enough return on investment.Only 6% of Americans are using Twitter

according to Pew Research Center.Garden writer/former nurseryman Doug Green

says the cost per customer is too high.Some professional networking perks plus a good

way to get ideas and follow trends but don’t throw everything at it.

Connect it to your Facebook page so they can be updated simultaneously.

GrouponEmail coupon sent daily for really good deals

on goods and services. Coupon is activated by pre-set number of people who must buy it in order for it to be valid.

Might be a good way to get new customers.Groupon takes half of each groupon bought.

Make sure you do the math on your margins and set realistic parameters.

We don’t feel that it will be profitable for us but not everyone agrees.

Similar to Groupon: Twongo, Living Social

Future OptionsText message marketingAdvertising on relevant online forums. Google AdWordsFacebook Ads

Good Sources of More Info Mashable.com Copyblogger Social Media Examiner Seattle Girl blog Socialnomics – Social Media Blog Techipedia blog Slideshow by Ellen Wells of Buzz for GreenProfit: Using Social Media as

Marketing Tools http://www.slideshare.net/ellenwells/social-media-as-marketing-tools-110310

Open Insight Social Media Guide:http://cdn.vitrue.com/vitrue/amex/downloads/OPEN_PDF_for_download.pdf

3 Ways Small Businesses can Measure Social Media ROI and PROVE resultshttp://inside919.ning.com/forum/topics/3-ways-small-businesses-can

6 Steps to Social Media Success for Garden Centershttp://blog.douggreensgarden.com/6-steps-to-social-media-success-for-garden-centers/