The customer as "garden celebrity"

I receive Green Profit Magazine, published by Ball Publishing. It's a trade journal for people involved in the garden businesses. The last issue contained a article titled, "Get to Know the Garden Celebrities" in which we are introduced to 6 "personalities". According to Green Profit, "Knowing these garden gurus appearing on television, online, and in books and magazines can help you serve your customers and better meet their needs. Green Profit asked a few for their take on gardening and how the garden centers and gardening personalities can work together."

P. Allen Smith, "garden and lifestyle expert..."sums up the point of the article when asked what retailers can do to harness these personalities powerful brand. " The first step to bridge the gap is for retailers to carry the products and plants that personalities are using and endorsing. Manufacturers and breeders have national marketing programs that retailers can tap into. This gives the retailer the benefit of having a better idea of what is going to be promoted. For instance, my Platinum Collection of plants with Proven Winners is being promoted 24/7 through all of our media platforms."

Interestingly enough an article was written for the same publication in February of this year. Written by Merrideth  Jiles, general manager of The Great Outdoors in Austin Texas it's titled, "The New Trendsetters". In that post Merrideth say's, "Step back five or more years. Close to 100% of the trends in gardening were being set by our industry. National trends were presented on television by the Marthas, Jamies and P. Allens, or maybe an inspired set designed for a TV or movie studio. You could also see them in the latest issue of 'Better Southern Home & Fine Garden Living.'”

He continues, "Today, with tablet ownership estimated at 25% and sometimes even higher (I’m sure it’s higher for our target demographic!), garden trends are coming from all over the place. Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, the list grows every day. And don’t forget all the Garden Bloggers. The biggest difference? It’s not Martha or Jamie or P. Allen out there trending. It’s artists, homemakers and many of the afore-mentioned screwballs that are sharing their ideas and creations for the home and garden with an online community."

So I ask the folks at Green Profit,  which advice do we follow? Follow and do as the "personalities" tell us, or follow and do as our "customers" tell us?

Far Out!

Check out this cool blog from San Francisco, titled "Far Out Flora". Megan And Matti write the blog from their home near Ocean Beach. The blog is a visual delight, filled with photographs of plants that grow in the frost free climate.  Megan tells me that investing a few years ago in a decent SLR camera made a big difference in the quality of the photography. The colors really do jump out. It makes me want to use more photographs in my own blog. What's  cool is the two work for different garden shops. Matti works for Flora Grubb Gardens while Megan works for Annie's Annuals. Both garden centers know about, and encourage their blogging. Flora Grubb recently posted about Matti's mounted staghorn ferns  that are for sale at the shop. It's a win-win for everyone involved.

It's been cold and rainy here in Norcal the last few days. I think I'll head over to their latest post titled, "Driftwood Insanity in the Sunset".  You'll feel like you're walking down  The Great Highway on a sunny day, enjoying the show.

Why do we make social media so complicated?

I want to share a post done by one of the members of our IGC&N (Independent Garden Centers & Nurseries Group.) By the way, our group now has 287 members, and is growing every day! Ian Barclay, owner of The Desert Northwest and author of a blog by the same name wrote a great post on how not to use social media for your garden center or nursery. He writes about one garden center where he posted on their Facebook page, only to find his post's deleted, twice. Now if the garden center in question found a post that was derogatory or demeaning then I certainly could understand it being removed. His post's we're not, and when a garden center does that it shows they are not very open to having a conversation with people, but rather they are trying to control the message. These day's that doesn't work, but some garden centers, nurseries, and garden media continue with the illusion. I am concerned that some horticultural enterprises, who are jumping into the social media bandwagon, are following the wrong advice. Often this advice comes from the very people who tout them selves as social media experts.

There are no social media experts! Just people who have figured out how to use the various platforms available. Sure someone can tell you to push this or that button, or here is how to turn on this or that feature with Facebook or Twitter. But social media experts? I'm not a social media expert. I am a garden center owner that has figured out how to use some of the platforms available to get the word out.  What you do with  it after that is up to you. Do I need someone to tell me how to start conversation? No.

Simply being a IGC (Independent Garden Center) does not make you better than the local box stores. There a plenty of IGC's that don't get it, as Ian in his post points out. Why wouldn't an honest nursery, with honest advice not want to start a dialog about what they are recommending with Ian? Because they are trying to control the message. It doesn't work that way anymore. If your garden center or nursery that's get "it", and you want to hang with others that do, we have a community of like minded people here. Come join us.