The Floral Hustle

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Hello
flower friends. This is Jen and you are listening to the Floral Hustle podcast and on this week's mini, so I wanna talk about how to stand out in the crowd of Flores in your market. And I think this is something that a lot of people struggle with, and really part of that is. Is digging into your, your niche.
Of course. Like if you have a niche, you're standing out in that. And that niche doesn't have to be something really big and dramatic. It can be smaller, but also it means doing a little work because I don't know many people who do ordinary work that get extraordinary results. So are you doing the bare minimum?
Are you literally just. Trying to have your business on autopilot, and it requires some driving right now for you to really get some momentum. So we're gonna talk about some things that really help businesses, floral businesses, stand out. If you are a flower farmer, I'm gonna talk about some of the things that also can stand out.
But one of the biggest things that I think is you need to show up in your business. In a big way, especially if you are at a point where you are trying to build momentum. Momentum comes from energy moving forward. And if there's no energy behind your movement forward, you're not going to, you're not going to stand out.
You're not going to grow. So how do you stand out like other than working your ass off? Well, to me, You know, uh, and a lot of floors, we'll say this, and actually this is really interesting to think about. Most floral education is visual is hands-on learning is teaching you how to make a centerpiece, but making pretty things is a small part of our floor, of our business in general.
And so, so much of our industry from a training perspective is only focused on you making pretty things. But you need to sell those pretty things. You need to sell yourself as a business owner that they want to work with. You need to sell everything that you're pitching to them. So how do you show work that?
Literally is going to attract your ideal client. So a lot of people will post, there's two strategies. I'm only gonna post the most curated, beautiful images that a photographer gave me, and that's it. Or somebody posts every single thing that they take on their shitty camera and with a bad background and just it's kind of bananas.
So there is a happy median. Between those two things, and I honestly, from in my floral business, probably only 30% of my posts are actual pictures of flowers because lots of people make pretty flowers. Lots of people don't show up in their business like I do. Lots of people don't show or add value to the people following them on social media.
So, My strategy for that is that I want to stand out with beautiful pictures, so I will post pictures that, for one, I would wanna do it again. For two, it doesn't look like Hobby Lobby or something super simple. I want it to be, um, I take a lot of the photos myself. Uh, I have some, um, you know, like photo boards that I use.
And with that, I literally, those are the things I'm normally posting. I will post like some bouquets, like, you know, all the bouquets kind of put together and I'm standing over them and have a little bit of cheese cloth, like on the actual board itself. So it has a little background color. So that's one thing that I'm posting, but I'm also posting like, because it is my jam and I want to attract installations, so I'm posting different various installations.
But the biggest thing is showing work. Cuz I think a lot of people will post things that they've done before but they don't want to be doing anymore. They're like, uh, like that doesn't inspire me. You should be posting what inspires you. And if it doesn't, don't post it. And if you don't have the content of what is inspiring, you need to go make it.
Go spend a hundred dollars, and I know it's a hundred dollars, but go spend a hundred dollars and take those flowers and create a bunch of different pieces of work that you are inspired. Have a little table set up. Do something. So you are really. Showing work that you want to create, then I want to show my businesses different because I want to help educate people.
So is your business delivering educational advice to your followers? And that could be in the form of hot wedding tips. Uh, that could be in the form of, um, three ways to save money on your wedding flowers that could be telling them how they do business with you. That could be talking about blue flowers.
What are blue flower options? You could go to the wholesaler, you could video every day, different blue flower, and then you could overlay it with you talking about them. Very simple. But very educational. Like some people don't know about Thistle, so maybe they'd love to see that and understand like what it looks like really on video, because where are they gonna find a video of Blue Thistle?
And it's very easy to do that content at your wholesaler in five minutes. I wanna do blue flowers, but I'm also gonna do purple cuz in a couple weeks I'm gonna do purple. Then you deliver that content. Like you give a shit, like you are so excited about flowers and you're showing that to your, to your clients.
I am so excited about flowers, and that shows up in my videos because I am excited to teach people. I'm excited to educate, but I am not just educating brides or couples. I am educating the whole wedding industry. So that could be because I have strategically followed. Wedding vendors that are people who deal with people getting married.
It's very novel. So I am going in front of all these people sharing educational content and that might be a dj, a photographer, a venue, a, another florist, and they will actually grab my content because it is. Educational and beneficial, and they need content to share in their stories so that gets shared in their stories.
Look at, um, green Goddess Laurel, drop in great advice on budgets. Uh, look at this new hot trend that Green Goddess Laurel's talking about. That happens all the time. I have like a library. I've screenshot it because it's so like, cool to me that that's happening and. Lots of flos actually do share my stuff.
It is amazing. But I am delivering value, which is showing, I stand out. I stand out from other flos because I show up in my business like no other florist does. But also I want to help people who are getting married. Like I have intention behind it. I have, um, good intentions, like, like heartfelt intention that I want to help people.
So do you have, what are your intentions like with your social media? One of my intentions with my social media is to educate. And if, if you are out there looking and you're scrolling social media and something stops you, I want you to take a co quick, hot second and go, what stopped me? What stood out right then?
Cuz maybe you can literally integrate that into your bus business. So we've talked about standing out on social media. But you get a couple up to your website, your website has to look like the work you want to attract, and so that standing out is, is really, especially on your website, is. Delivering what you want people to be creating.
You want people to be, um, wanting from you because then you are, when you have someone reach out and they're like, well, I really want this, and it's not your jam, then you can just move, move past it. But if you have shown work that this is the work I want to create because this is the work I'm presenting to you, and then you get the wrong fit, then that, that misalignment just happened by accident.
I've had, um, Flores that I've coached that this has continuously happened because they keep putting out work that they literally, the, the homepage image of their website isn't their favorite thing and they don't wanna make it anymore. So you need to be presenting what you want, because when you are presenting something that you love creating, you are going to stand up.
Then when they hit send on that inquiry, you need to stand out with your communication. You need to have concise communication. Um, you need to provide value. And if you listen to episode one, which literally I talk about how not to get ghosted anymore, this tactic of sending a brochure is going to make you stand out, sending a brochure that tells them about you, your process, and literally gives them pricing guidance.
You will stand. Eons above all the other people that just say, let's set up a consult and waste each other's F in time. Because to me, that's what it is. A lot of floors will jump straight to a consult. They don't ask any questions. I asked questions. I actually, the other day asked 12 questions to one email.
Reply, and the reason why is because I am not going to waste my time. That is with somebody that doesn't meet my minimum, that I'm not inspired by. That is a pain in the ass. Like I am not going to move forward with that. So I want to make sure that this is gonna be a wedding. I love that they are, they have money and that they understand my services.
And by doing those things, I am standing out because for one, I'm not looking desperate. For two, I'm actually asking questions, which I think people are afraid to ask questions. I am so not afraid, like I want to know as much as possible so I can deliver the best flowers that I possibly can do. If I, uh, I can't be in your head, but I wanna be in your head as much as I can.
Then when I finish everything, I stand out because I am delivering a visual proposal that is stunning, that is really showing them what they're going to get for their wedding flowers. Then I'm paying that off with even like offering levels. So if they want around Circle Arch, I can show them the asymmetrical vibe flowers.
I could show them a three quarters full arch and a full arch. So I'm showing them three levels. That they could potentially purchase from me. I am standing out because I am offering options and a beautifully curated proposal, and so many people are like, I don't wanna do proposals unless somebody gives me a deposit.
Do you go buy a car not knowing how much it costs? Do you go buy a car off of a theory of this is a car and it will do essentially what I want. I truly believe if you have pre-qualified somebody to get to that point of a proposal in a meeting, it is worth your 45 minutes to go invest. Those are my ideas on standing out.
That's how I stand out in my business, and I hope you get one little nugget to take away and implement in your business because I know. Any of these little things can really help you stand out in the sea of florist that so many people have concerns about that their market is saturated. You can stand out in that un, that saturated market supposedly, uh, just by doing a few of these things.
So if you do something, I would love to see if you show up on social media. I would love to see it. Tag me in in your stories or something cuz I would love to see, and I would love to support you because I know it's tough when, especially when you're doing something new. So I would love to give you a little virtual pet on the back.
Have a great day, flower friend, 📍 and thanks so much for listening.