The Floral Hustle

 

Hello, flower friends. This is Jen and you are listening to the Floral Hustle podcast on this, really this month. This whole month has been dedicated to if you are someone who is wanting to start your business or maybe you kind of started and things fizzled out. So this has been the month of launching your floral business or really like reigniting your floral business.

And on social media every day, if you have missed it, go hop on Instagram and you can see every day I have done an activity that helps me kind of reconnect with the foundations in my business and really understanding like And going through the motions of what I would do if I started my business over again.

And this week alone, I did, um, a bunch of fun things. I, like, investigated taxes to make sure that I was charging the correct sales tax. I did a mini brand photo shoot at a local photo studio. I went to a networking event. And so I'm kind of doing some short reels on each one of these activities just to get your juices flowing on how you can reconnect or Ignite your start of your business.

Then, today we're going to talk about social media because obviously this whole challenge has been on social media. And Florist often put a lot of weight in social media because it is a, especially with Instagram, it is a very visual platform and Weddings are very visual. Flowers are very visual. So, let's talk about a social media strategy for new florists, or if you have let your business fizzle out, how you can get reignited with social media.

And if this is you, and you want to be starting a business, if you want to get things on the right trajectory of, of creating a business that you're super excited about, that's making you that feels fulfilling. We're going to be having a five day challenge, and that is going to be like, really step by step.

We're going to just like talk about all the different things that are kind of stumbling blocks in your business and how to set your business up for success so that by the end of those five days, if you have not launched your business, you will be able to launch your business. But today we're going to talk about social.

Um. And with that, there's a free guide. If you have not Like put together or even have an inkling of what you want to do on social media Or if you just want to audit what you have been doing I have a free social media guide and that is at the floral hustle com forward slash Social. So this has like an audit page in there.

So you can go and audit your, your different social platforms. This has just all these resources that are just amazing. And it will really help you kind of see like, okay, I wasn't doing this right. Or I need to do these things. And then from there, onward and upward to growing your business into big things and having a strategy to do it.

So, my take on social media is that there are two people that I'm speaking to on social media. I am a wedding and event florist. If you do weddings and events, and you do like daily deliveries, and you do a bunch of workshops and things like that. That customer avatar or that ideal customer could change.

So I want to make sure that I am speaking to that correct person and I am saying something that makes them want to take the next step with me. My strategy is I'm speaking to potential couples and I am speaking to wedding professionals. Wedding professionals could be a photographer, could be a, um, planner, could be a DJ, could be another florist friend that is booked and then remembers me when somebody inquires and they're booked for a date.

So with that strategy, my couple strategy is I want to make sure that I am putting Pretty pictures in front of my ideal client. So I'm putting work that inspires me, speaks to me, that I want to be creating. I'm not just finding random images like that I did of cylinder vases with greenery and floating candles because that does not speak to my ideal client.

I want to post You know, beautiful, juicy color palettes. I want to post installations. I want to post like modern and fun, uh, like tablescapes. So like, I want to really portray like that my business can do bigger things, but I also have an a la carte flowers program that if for some reason that client doesn't.

You know, have a budget. They just want a few things, but they want beautiful work. Like I also make sure that I'm marketing to them my a la carte flowers program. So I want to make sure that that person thinks of me, especially if they're having like a colorful wedding or they're having something that is like a little bit out of the box.

I want them to go, Oh my God, I love that person's like, Feed because it's so colorful. It's exactly what I want for my wedding and on and on. So I want that message to resonate with them. But my second layer is I want wedding professionals to think of me when they have a client that needs wedding flowers.

I want that I actually, I want both of my clients. I want the wedding professionals and I want the, uh, couples that are following me to really understand who I am as a person, how they interact with me, how they can do business with me, what my service offerings are, all of that. So I make sure I have those foundational skills.

Things built in that I am educating. I'm sharing a little bit about myself. I'm, you know, showing them how that they send in an inquiry to me and things like that. So I'm, I'm putting like a roadmap of this is how you do business with me on my Instagram to make it really easy. I then with wedding professionals want them to know about my two service offerings, especially because if they do elopements, they likely are not at my minimum.

And so I want them to know, Hey. If you have a client and you want something easy peasy, like I have this great a la carte flowers program and you look like a hero because, you know, honestly, you can just go and find it online and you can buy it super easy, super fast, and that is normally very appealing to people because they're like, they want easy and fast and beautiful if they are having a courthouse wedding.

So I want to make sure that I am putting that out there on a consistent basis so that The, you know, planner that all of a sudden just booked an elopement periodically is going to see that showing up in my feed. Then I want them to understand like I can do bigger really badass things. So I'm posting installations I'm posting like those different types of things that really can speak to Who I am You know wanting to like really attract as a customer and how big I can do things I want to make sure they understand like my studio is Is something that could pull off the wedding of their dreams, or if you're a planner, I'm going to be able to pull off whatever you come up with from a design standpoint, and I want them to see, like, things that I've, I've done, obviously, I want to layer in.

Like, what my niches are, so I definitely have a cultural wedding niche, so I do a lot of cultural weddings, and I make sure that once a week, I layer in, and I'm taking the venue, because normally, those type of niches are heavy into certain venues. So we, they're usually, especially in the Indian wedding niche, uh, places that have open catering, because they want to bring Indian food in, and when there isn't open catering.

So, um, yeah. That makes it very hard for them to be able to, to have, um, you know, those catering options of authentic Indian food. And that is very important to that niche. So there are certain venues here in my market that have open catering. And so there is a lot of Indian weddings that go to those venues because of that, um, one key factor.

So I'm making sure I'm taking that venue because when somebody goes and is planning their wedding at that venue, I want to show up in the tags on Instagram on that venue's Instagram feed. So when you go and you're looking at the three kind of boxes, which is your regular feed, your Instagram reels, and then your, um, your tag, I want to make sure that then they're looking and then all of a sudden they're going to see this really beautiful, uh, like a mandap, which is what Hindu weddings get.

Married under like, I want to make sure that I'm showing up for that venue because right away they're going to be like, oh my God, look at that. That's in my venue. So they've worked there before and. Especially with weddings when they get bigger, familiarity with a venue is really important to that client because their weddings are on a bigger scale and therefore more complicated and take a certain level of understanding.

That doesn't mean that if you haven't done a wedding, a cultural wedding or some wedding that is a niche type that you can't figure it out. But there is something that when you have done that, a comfortability, especially with a bigger venue that maybe is like you're going in a loading, um, ramp and it's underneath the hotel and then you're having to go up all these different elevators to get to a ballroom.

And then there is, you're moving things from, um, you know, like one area to be reused somewhere else. And so there's just all these logistics as well. And with that, like you want to make sure that you are looking like, Hey, I've done this. That's confidence. I have more confidence when I have done an event at a wed a venue that that person is getting married at.

I layer in that into all the things. Like, in my email, Hey, just wanted to let you know I've done like half a dozen weddings at your venue so I'm very familiar with their processes and how things work. Then from there in the conversation, I'll even start talking about specific things, like I'll say, okay, when you're walking in the venue to the left, they usually have like two tables there.

Do you want anything on those tables? They're usually like stationary tables. One is usually used as a welcome table. Looks really great with a compote bowl on it. So I am positioning myself as an expert. And so I want to make sure that they see I am at their venue and that I am somebody that can do what they want at their venue.

Then from there, of course, I'm posting to that, but I also want wedding professionals to share my tips and tricks and things that I am sharing about like wedding flower planning in general. And I often will get vendors to share my contact, uh, my, my videos or whatever I'm, that I'm posting. If it's a bride tip, especially, or a couple tip, I'll talk about like.

For example, um, like fun, new trends of pin frogs. I'll talk about like making sure that you have taper candles that don't drip. Uh, I'll talk about like candle options that I have in my rental inventory that help really elevate your wedding. I have these new dishes that I call Lake dishes from Camilla supply that I use pin frogs in, and they're not like anything anybody has in my market.

So I'm sharing that. And I'm. Um, you know, sharing some fun and unique things. So like my pin frog bowl, uh, discussion and my pin frog lake dish video that got shared like by five different vendors because it was fun and different and out of the box content. I will talk about like three things to keep your, uh, wedding bouquets, uh, looking nice on the day of the wedding.

You know, whatever it is that like speaks to you, I have a note app called Evernote and I just go in and I plug things into that app and I say, okay, um, I had an idea cause somebody asked me a question and that made me think like this is really good content. So I do the same whenever I'm talking to a florist, I have a podcast ideas folder and I just go file that into my podcast ideas folder.

So you can easily do that, easily come up with fun content. That, you know, you do a minute and a half video and you post that on your social. Um, I am a person who, like, I like to look like I've done my makeup and all these things, like, before I get on social. So there is an app called Reveal. R E V E A L. I think it's 20 a year, but basically it can pre do the, like, some of those Instagram filters that just make you look like you're a little bit more polished, have a little bit more makeup.

Like it looks like I microbladed my brows and they look really on point. So I go to like the lowest setting of filter because I also don't want to look like Barbie. So it just like polishes my skin just a little bit and makes, really just makes my brows look a little bit more defined because I do have like kind of lighter eyebrows if you guys really want to know.

I'm just sharing it. So I love how it looks. I do all my videos in that. You can take up to a 15 minute video in there. Then they have a bunch of filters, like if the light isn't good, you can brighten it up. And in my experience, it's just hard to do with regular, if I just do the video on my phone. So I like to just look a little bit more bushy tailed if I can.

And so I do my videos in those, and so then they're all consistently looking the same as well. Then I want to make sure that if I am putting anything as part of my strategy, I'm using Instagram stories, and if I can connect Some user to the end result of where I want them to go by putting the link, I'm going to make sure that I'm also including that whenever I'm doing a stories.

So part of a beginner strategy would be create foundational, what I call evergreen. Which evergreen is it can be used at any time evergreen content that I just have in a folder in my phone and whenever I hop on Instagram, I can pick one of those evergreen, um, content pieces and I can post them. And when I do that, I can easily like put the link.

From my website, let's just say it's a la carte flowers. I'm saying, Hey, everybody, did you know about my a la carte flowers? And I have a picture of it. Well, I'm going to go and put that in there. And I'm going to put the link directly into that story caption. So somebody can click. Hey, we have 2024 availability left.

I'm going to click that and put the link to my contact us form in there. Have an about me one. That goes to your About Me page on your website. If you are a sustainable florist, have a sustainability page on your website and have a sustainability graphic that's going to click directly to that page on your website so they can learn more.

If you want to educate people how to do business with you, like just say, your process. Step one, step two, step three, contact us form. Then they kind of know this is what's going to happen when I hit the contact us form. Uh, let's just say that you do silk flower rentals, or you do cultural weddings, or you do some niche thing.

Have a link to wherever they could get more information about that exact thing. And when you do that, you are creating an end result that can actually be looked at. I know, especially with the Floral Hustle, um, Instagram, that I go and put direct links to my, you know, different free guides and my different resources and I will put the link and I can actually see on my website people coming and visiting because of it.

In, I'm in a bunch of florist Facebook groups, like, this is the easiest way to tie results is that you can see people actually are clicking on your things and visiting your website. Maybe you create a bridal, um, like, how to, like, make or pick or choose or whatever you want it to be on. your wedding flowers, or 10 tips for amazing wedding flowers, or like 13 things to consider when you're planning your wedding flowers.

Whatever it is, you could make a free guide in Canva and then host that with your website company. So that's what I do with all my free guides. I use Flowdesk. It's F L O D E S K. And you could create a like guide to, you know, like Your wedding flowers or how to pick beautiful wedding flowers or a flower seasonality for your market guide or a color guide or a look book of all the different fun rentals you have, whatever it is, you could create a guide for it.

And with that guide, you could send them so that they need to fill it out and you get their information and you can actually track that there was a conversion. Somebody came to your website and downloaded your thing, which. It's very hard to do on social media unless you have that endpoint. So that kind of wraps up what I wanted to talk about today.

Even just having, especially as a new business owner, some type of strategy that you can hold yourself accountable to. Because as a business owner, I keep the promises to myself and that is why my business is successful. If you just say, hey, I'm just going to post on social. You define no objective. That could mean once a month.

That could mean once a week, that could mean four times a week. You want to define clear objectives of what you want to do as your goal and hold yourself accountable to those metrics. If you don't, in three months you're going to be here. Wondering how to start your business or how to ramp up your business or wondering why the hell your business hasn't done something and I probably already know the answer because you aren't keeping the promises to yourself.

You aren't even making promises to yourself. You're having loosey goosey goals that are not going to get you to where you need to be. So let's start defining some objectives. Let's start like really wanting this. If you really want this, join my free challenge. And go to thefloralhustle. com forward slash challenge and that, that is going to be like your catalyst for change.

If you've been sitting and dreaming about starting this floral business for so long, like this is your opportunity to start making things happen. This is going to happen the second week in March. And I'm coming out with something super fun, super exciting that I'm launching in the be about the middle. I think it's like that Monday.

So the 18th of March that if you need extra help, I am going to, like, come out with this new tool that is going to be Like, everything you need to know about starting your floral business. So like all of these questions when I was, you know, kind of talking about all the different buckets in, in this week's earlier podcast, it's going to help you know how to do every single one of those items in those buckets.

And I want you to succeed. And I want you to just to launch your business. There are so many people that want to launch their business and aren't. And so I want you to. Feel and have the tools to at least get things moving, and it's free. We're going to have live training every day, and it is going to be so good.

You are going to be so invigorated, and I just know that these big things are going to happen once you start get going. Thank you so much for listening, flower friends, and you have an amazing flower filled week.