The Floral CEO

 Hello, flower friends. This is Jen, and today I want to talk about branding, but not the fluffy Pinterest version of branding. Not logos, not fonts, and not color palettes, even though I love all of those things. Those things support a brand, but they are not the brand itself. A brand is the feeling when somebody interacts with your business.

It's the experience, the expectation, the identity people associate with you, and if you are trying to attract better clients, bigger budgets, and creating shit that inspires you, your brand needs to support that. So I wanna break down what I believe are three pillars of a strong brand. The first thing, when someone lands on your Instagram or website, they should be able to feel your design style almost immediately.

So I want you to go in and ask yourself, do my photos look cohesive? Do my designs look like they belong together? I sometimes look at somebody's Instagram and go, what the hell is going on? It looks like they took a tropical flower class and that Then they were out in their garden cutting some things and then they must have freelanced for somebody.

'cause they have some of those pictures on there. And then they did Mother's Day or Valentine's Day and it just was like. It looks like polka dots because if your feed has one rustic barn wedding, one tropical arrangement, one boho bouquet, and then one modern installation all mixed together, you don't actually have a brand.

You have a portfolio of random shit you guys and your aesthetic really becomes your design signature. I think I, I've done a couple episodes on brand obviously because we have the business bouquets and branding workshop coming up, and I, I really want you to. Guys to understand how important your brand is because if you do not have a brand and you are trying to build a business, you are going to have a hard time building a business with a, with no brand, and you're gonna have an even harder time building a business that actually is going to pay you what you want to make without a brand that supports that type of, design that type of income.

So. We need your deci design signature to really pop out because that signature is what attracts those, right? Perfect. Beautiful. Have money clients. So when you look at your Instagram, Facebook, is there cohesiveness? Does it look like you are all over the board? Does it look like you literally have randomness?

Is there really anything at all? Does somebody go to your, your Instagram and wonder if you are still in business? Because I have gone and done that with. Uh, various, ways as well. I've gone and looked and I'm like, I wonder if this person is still even a business because they haven't posted since.

Or I wonder if this person actually is like doing this really, or they're just half as in it because they've post like once in the last three months. Just because you posted once doesn't make it look like somebody who is interested. You, you, you're looking like you're not taking this seriously, and then you are disappointed and then you're beating yourself up because you don't understand why you're not attracting the right client.

It is because you're not doing the fucking work. You guys, you need to, to build something that I always call it like, and I actually was doing this after we, I just got done with the installation rockstar intensive workshop and afterwards I did an, a new concept of these hanging cal lilies.

Afterwards I was like, how could I make this better? How could I make this easier, faster? How could I make the, you guys the AC and the heat in there is a struggle in that venue. And I felt you know, the Cal Lilies got a little droopy. 'cause we use large cals, which are very thirsty. And so I just, you know, how can I make this better?

How can I make this easier? And I'm constantly doing that with everything in my business. And that's. To me, part of my, my identity as a business owner, because I not only want to hit the easy button for me, but I want to hit the easy button for my clients. So making sure that I'm put, putting out this brand of ease and making people know that it's easy to work with me, I'm calm, and that means putting myself out there obviously.

That this, I'm your florist if you want ideas. I'm your florist if you want, really an easy process to go through. Transparency and pricing, all those things like that is part of my brand. But my designs, I show a lot of color because I do, 90% of my weddings are color, and there's a reason because I, that's what I put out there.

My design signature is I put out a lot of color. I have a lot of fullness. I got published in the last Minnesota Bride magazine and a couple people who knew me, I was like, oh, did you se see my my shoot got published? And they were like, yeah, we knew right away it was yours right when we looked at it, because that's my design signature.

Like I, my stuff. Looks like me and my aesthetic comes across my Instagram and my portfolio on my website everywhere, in a way that people can start to tell I was the florist. So ask yourself, do you have that same effect? Are you creating continuity in your design portfolio that is uniquely and wonderfully you?

All right. Pillar number two that I wanna talk about is your voice. Your voice is how you communicate your value. This shows up in your Instagram captioned, your website copy, your inquiry process, your proposals, for example, like saying the affordable florist for your wedding creates a very. Different off the unhinged difference brand perception.

Then designing intentional floral experience for modern celebrations or lush garden, you know, inspired flowers. For your special day, you know, whatever your language signals, your positioning. When I see Floris talking about like budget and affordable and things like that, like you are shooting yourself in the foot.

You guys, and I know I, I have coached florist that they're happy to get any business. Inevitably, getting any business is not going to make you a six figure florist. You are. You don't have the capacity for low budget shit all the time for affordable all the time you will get burnt out. I am just telling you, you will get burnt out.

Your brand isn't just how things look. It is how working with you feels. So ask yourself, are you organized? Do you communicate clearly? Do planners enjoy working with you? Do clients feel confident in your leadership? Luxury clients want to feel safe investing in you. That means calm communication, clear processes and confidence in your work, your clients is, is what your client experience really is, is.

Really just setting the stage for that next time that they refer somebody to you. If you were a hot mess, which I know these floors I need, like the tornado coming through, is if you were a tornado. You cannot expect like calm, easy results if you are coming in there with all the excuses of why a million things happened.

You are creating that experience, and it is going to echo with anyone who talks about you, anybody who thinks about using you, because that is just going to bleed into their mind that this person is a tornado. This person is a hot mess. This person seemed inexperienced, this person. Was not a great communicator, whatever.

It's because suddenly people know what you do, and who you are and why they should trust you. Like all of those things can get thrown away after you've tried to build a brand. If you do not have clear processes and not have the things that really support a client experience that they're gonna wanna tell everybody about you, your brand becomes incredibly power powerful.

When your aesthetic, your voice, and your client experience comes together and aligns in a way that people are drawn to you, you are magnetic. And I actually, that was my word of the year, I think like three years ago. And it was kind of this point where I started to attract a lot higher in wedding or event.

And it was like all of a sudden people were, I just had this. Hey, you, you have to talk to Jenny from Green Goddess because she, does color all the time. She can do that big install. She can do, all of those things or, my confidence in my business is part of my brand. I straight up do positioning statements all the time about who I am, the value that I offer.

And what people can expect working with me because I am so confident in all of these things, in the work that I can produce in who I am as a florist and a designer, and who I am as a business owner. Even like setting the tone for, I don't do evening appointments or weekend appointments you guys, unless it is a, so.

Like crazy circumstance that I am accommodating somebody who is a doctor or you know, like a wedding planner or something. I've done like one evening consult in the last year. That is part of my brand. You guys, like I straight up tell people that I try to meet during the day because my children are so important to me and.

I want to be with them at night when they're home from school. So I will tell somebody, Hey, you know what I, I try to do my appointments during business, daytime hours that are already in my scheduling link that I sent you. I understand that might be tricky. As a mom and a business owner, I try to balance and be available for my children when school is out because it's really important me for me to be there as their mom.

And if somebody isn't in alignment with that and starts pushing me, they might not be my client. They, they're. Their brand. My brand might not be in alignment with their self-entitlement or their, if somebody's kind and nice about and say, you know what, I completely respect that. I just can't do that because.

I, I'm gonna respect that. Instead of saying, well, I think it's crappy that you don't offer evening appointments, whatever. It's I think it's crappy that you can't respect that my being a mom is like my most important job in the world. So f off, you know, like I have done that before. If somebody's gonna be bougie.

Or just not get it. Not get who I am. That is fine. They are not for me. And everybody can have those, those boundaries and you are the one that dictates them. You do not need to bend. A million different things to accommodate someone if they are not in alignment with the values and the voice and the client experience that you have set in your business.

You are the CEO we. We no longer need to let customers run our businesses and dictate what happens in our businesses. I'm the boss, not them. I will help them and I will. Create a great client experience and I will make sure that they're well taken care of. But I am not here to run my business out of an alignment of what is important to me, and one of those things is my children.

One of those things are dealing with people who are, reasonable, kind human beings that respect and don't expect the world when. They are entitled to nothing and we often will go and let them dictate the experience. I lead the experience, I lead the conversation. I am the CEO. And so are you. So what does your brand say about you?

What would you want to change? And. All of these reasons is why I created the Business Bouquets and Branding workshop because many florists are like incredible designers, but either don't know how to run a business, or they don't have a brand that supports the level of business that they want, but also don't have a budget to go and just magically do that.

So inside this workshop we talk about building a brand identity. We talk about elevating your portfolio, attracting the right clients, and positioning yourself and your business for growth. Plus portfolios are expensive. You guys, they are just flat out, like doing a styled shoot for one is a huge pain in the ass, but for two, it is a ton of.

Of like money. It is just a ton of money buying all those flowers, getting linens there. If you don't have a linen company that will donate or participate in the styled shoot, sometimes you gotta pay models. Sometimes I mean, like the list goes on, on how this. You know, just gets to be so expensive and this experience, and especially right now, you guys, early bird pricing is going away like next week.

So like at the end of this week, early bird pricing is going away for this workshop. And so if you want to take advantage, go check out floral ceo.com/workshop. It's gonna be in the show notes as well. But this is such a opportunity for you to get a portfolio. 'cause you're getting a mini branding session.

You are being part of a style shoot, so you can see how that works. You're being a part of creating installation, so you're seeing what that's all about. Your being around a bunch of badass, amazing florists and so you're, you're. Creating this opportunity to not feel alone. You're able to ask me any business question that you want.

Come here to the farm, relax a bit. You know what there, there's this workshop is such a value that I just don't want you to miss out because it's also getting close to full you guys. So not only is early bird pricing gonna go away, but it's going to sell out. It's an amazing opportunity and I don't want you to miss it.

So. Ask yourself, does your brand reflect the business you have today or the business you want to build? Thanks for listening, flower friends, and you have an amazing flower filled day.