Love is in the air – that’s right, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and it is, without a doubt, one of the busiest times for the floristry industry. But going beyond a dozen red roses and distinctively designed bouquets, are there any other clever ways to really help your flower sales bloom? We asked BFA Partners, Queen Bee, for their top marketing tips to ensure YOUR Valentine’s Day sales soar! Here’s what they had to say.
Valentine’s Day is one of those occasions where you probably need to aim your Cupid’s arrow a little wider, with marketing tactics that attract shoppers who may not be your regular customers.
One way to do this is through collaborations.
Collaborations are when two or more businesses work together to promote each other’s products or services, reaching new audiences and boosting sales through combined efforts. Coupling up in this way creates mutually beneficial pairings that can drive awareness, boost sales and have a long term impact on your floristry business. From last minute gift-givers to those looking for inspiration, cover all your bases with clever partnerships that will promote your business to new audiences and make sure you show up at every turn.
Wondering who? Here are 6 bloomin’ brilliant partners you might want to cosy up with!
1. Chocolatiers: Sweets for Your Sweetheart
Chocolate and flowers are the hallmarks of Valentine’s Day gift giving so, why not opt for a creative collab that celebrates love in a tasty way? Join forces with your local chocolatier or patisserie (or your chocolate stockist) and create a joint giveaway that you both can promote on your socials, tagging each other’s businesses.
You may have heard of ‘collaborative posts’ on Instagram – this is a single post that appears in two different accounts’ feeds and features two users as the post’s author. When you use this feature with another business, you’re accessing your collaborator’s audience (and, in turn, your collaborator is accessing your audience). It’s a mutually beneficial relationship: both parties increase their overall reach. And it’s not just a wider audience: it’s a NEW audience. A collaboration post will result in fresh eyes on your products, resulting in an opportunity to introduce more people to your floristry business. Want to see how it’s done – check out this how-to video on our Instagram.
2. Craft Breweries or Wine Shops: Raise a Glass to Romance
Wine, bubbly or beer, having a tipple on Valentine’s Day is a popular gift choice for every relationship stage. Raise your floral gift game by perfectly pairing your bouquet choices with a nice bottle of something extra special.
Work with a local brewery or wine shop and get the experts’ heads together to create some breath-taking bundles that’ll appeal to everyone’s tastebuds – from a bouquet of velvety red roses with a delicious smooth rich Malbec or botanical-inspired artisan beers with matching bold bouquet. Club together to design a collaborative flyer to promote these to each other’s customers. With sommelier top choices and florists’ faves, these irresistible gifts will be the perfect accompaniment to a romantic evening!
3. Local Restaurants & Cafes: Love in Every Bite
Whether it’s a local restaurant or cosy café, if they’re dialling up the romance this Valentine’s Day why not help them make it extra dreamy? Create a collaborative offer at the restaurant – when customers book a table, they are also offered the chance to pre-order a bouquet for their loved one to be given during the meal. With lots of cross promotion from both businesses and two or three bouquets designed to accommodate budgets, it adds a new spin on very special Valentine’s flowers. From big gestures to little love tokens, it’s a super sweet way to add some marketing magic to your blooms and introduce your floral talent to a new audience.
4. Jewellery Stores: Love is Precious
Consider pitching an affiliate arrangement with a jewellery store. This is a type of partnership where one party promotes another’s products or services and earns a commission for generating sales or leads through their referrals – it might be a percentage of the sale, or a fixed amount agreed upon in advance. For example, you’d agree exclusive offers on your floral arrangements alongside select jewellery pieces which you would both promote. Your partner store would provide a unique code or link for these special offers, which you would share via your marketing channels. When someone uses a code or link to buy the flower/jewellery offer from your partner store, you’d receive a thank-you commission for bringing them together. It’s a win-win: your customers get your beautiful blooms and stunning jewellery, and you make a sale and earn a kick back!
5. Fitness Club or Spa: Nurturing Love
Fitness clubs and spas are well-known for offering Valentine’s packages for couples (or BFFs – think Galentine’s!) that want to take some time out together. From beauty treatments, couples’ massages or even mani-pedis, Valentine’s Day is a fab time to rejuvenate and unwind together. What better opportunity to tap into this serene mindset than by creating a stunning reception display, ready to greet this audience. But don’t forget to seize the opportunity with some branded point of sale too, and even some flyers with your Valentine’s offers – these customers are feeling relaxed and open to indulge in life’s luxuries! (You may even win over the spa manager and find yourself a new corporate customer…)
6. Gift Shop: Wrap up Love with Extra Special Gifts
There’s one in every town. The little gift shop crammed full of cards, trinkets and treasures – a one-stop shop for a Valentine’s shopper. Why not team up to cross promote your products? You could both agree to throw in a promotional flyer into shopper gift bags with every purchase in January and February. It’s a super way to expand your reach and awareness to a new customer base, especially if your flyers are bespoke and perhaps include a little incentive!
Don’t go it alone this Valentine’s Day. Think about where YOUR customers might be shopping this year and make some smart marketing matches to double your sales reach, double your awareness and double your audience appeal. What’s not to love?
Queen Bee x
