Proven Winners’ Marshall Dirks contacted me a few weeks ago to let me know about a gamechanger in the company’s ability to help their Connect+ customers. Proven Winners has hundreds and hundreds of social media graphics they have created for IGCs to use; however, when catching up with IGCs during the summer months, the folks at Proven Winners found that IGCs didn’t have the staff nor the time to make the most of all that social content! Spring is busy! Sometimes you have to drop a task from the to-do list, and oftentimes social media becomes a “just throw something up there” job.

In an effort to make sure their social media assets were being used by Connect+ customers efficiently, Marshall found a company called PromoBoxx. PromoBoxx is a place where PW’s IGC customers can find their social media campaigns—complete with graphics—and set them to go. And it doesn’t cost the Connect+ customers anything additional. Nor does Proven Winners have access to the garden centers’ social media accounts so there’s no fear of them posting anything to the IGC’s pages.

This is how Marshall explained how it works:

“Once the retailer is registered with PromoBoxx, they can see all the campaigns we’ve built and then they can choose the campaigns they desire to be run in their immediate area (or in selected ZIP codes if desired if they’re rural and want to attract others). The retailer then has the option to fully customize the post to their liking, semi-customize the post (perhaps they didn’t have Supertunia Picasso, but wanted to show Supertunia Vista Bubblegum), or fully automate the campaign and go with what we established. This way the retailer is fully in control, and they can choose their preference for each campaign.”

The feedback Proven Winners has received from retailers is “wonderful so far,” Marshall said. It saves time and gets good information on their socials and in front of customers. But not only does PromoBoxx help Connect+ customers, it’s also of great use for Proven Winners in that it puts numbers behind how these campaigns are working. They had been lacking in some of their reporting analytics previously. With PromoBoxx, Marshall has a ton of numbers to ogle over and prove that these campaigns work. Here’s an example of some numbers from a week’s worth of campaigns that had run a few weeks ago.

What I like about this whole story is that IGCs don’t have to feel all alone when it comes to promoting their products. There’s help out there! PromoBoxx is Proven Winners’ way of offering that help. Take them up on it if you can and cross “create a social media campaign” off your to-do list.

Gardening is good for us, and in so many ways! We know that. Do people in general know that, though?

In an attempt to get the goodness of gardening into the public arena, the National Garden Bureau (NGB) is devoting 2023 to spreading the word via a series of articles, blogs, videos and webinars via a campaign aptly called the Goodness of Gardening.

In fact, a press release from NGB explaining how gardening benefits the body, mind and soul—the “Goodness of Gardening”—was picked up by a total of 1,031 news outlets and is estimated to have reached 157 million readers thus far. It has appeared in publications such as the L.A. Times and the Chicago Tribune and more to come.

How can you get involved? In a bunch of ways. This media release is on a Goodness of Gardening RESOURCE PAGE on the NGB site, which also includes blogs to repurpose, links to videos, articles, research and social media graphics. It’s all yours to use on your own sites and social posts (they only ask that you credit NGB when you do so!).

Another way you can get involved is to attend and promote the Goodness of Gardening webinar happening on Monday, April 24 at Noon Central. Register for the webinar HERE.

AmericanHort is offering a webinar in May that is kinda-sorta related to one of gardening’s goodnesses. On May 9 at 2 p.m. Eastern Lynn Kuhn will explain the concept of Conversation Gardens in the webinar, “5 Secrets to Creating Outdoor Spaces for Connection.” Lynn will suggest ways to draw clients into your business and elevate the social benefits of gardening with Conversation Gardens. These spaces are intentionally designed outdoor areas that are both physically and emotionally comfortable—where people feel happier, healthier and conversational.

In the webinar you will learn what physical elements are in a Conversation Garden, the five “trade secrets” needed to create one and strategies for explaining this concept and its benefits to your customers and design clients. You’ll also come to understand why face-to-face conversations are important in the first place—and why a garden is a great place to have these occur.

If you’re looking for landscaping tips for customers, a landscape designer looking for new spaces to create for your clients or someone who just wants to know more about another good thing about gardening, this webinar is for you. Register HERE. 

My Euro trendspotter friend Stacy Sirk sent along a vendor and a product that she feels everyone should know about! The company is Nutscene, a manufacturer of twine, situated just outside of Dundee, Scotland. “Quite rural and wonderful!” Stacy said of the place.  

“How exciting can twine be?” you are probably wondering. Very! Here’s what Stacy had to say about Nutscene.

“The company is owned by the very charming and dynamic Shona Young! If you look at the company’s history, you will see the factory in the early days was manned by women, and women have been at the helm in the last 10 years, too. Shona opened a brick-and-mortar store, very successfully, during the pandemic, just to ‘do something good for the town’ while continuing to run the ancient American-made spinning machines on the factory floor with a very limited staff.”

“The twine,” Stacy continues, “although PERFECT for gardeners, both in natural jute and dark green, has evolved into the crafting and home decor markets. They have neon and brights and candy cane twists, and lots of other innovation.  See Pinterest, a big following for amazing things made of twine from this vendor—macrame, crochet, knit, woven, etc.”

If you’re interested in their products from a trade perspective, they have a TRADE ONLY site you can take a look at for more information. What I like about Stacy’s pick is that this company has a really interesting and compelling STORY. And I hear the owner, Shona, is a story unto herself!

I want to mention one last thing about the Camp Monrovia tour of their Cairo, Georgia, facilities—an idea that you could use in your own store. Bringing those social media influencers to see how Monrovia makes the springtime magic happen has resulted in many impressions on social media—they are reposting most of them so follow along @MonroviaPlants on all the social channels to see what influencers are saying. That was a pretty smart idea on Monrovia’s part, wasn’t it?

You can do it, too. Identify the Instagrammers, TikTokkers, vloggers and other social stars in your area and invite them for a behind-the-scenes tour before your store’s opening hours. That’ll give these folks plenty of time to grab pics and reels and information about the good things your store does—without those pesky customers photobombing their shots. And, as you know, it’s the best time of day for the most complimentary lighting for both them and your benches of beautiful blooms.

Besides the lovely photo ops and maybe a free plant at the end of the day, these social media influencers really are quite engaged when they visit. It’s not all about the flowers, but about how they can help their followers be better gardeners and expand their knowledge. Just listen to what Claudia Weekes, a.k.a. The Organized Homemaker, had to say about her time at Camp Monrovia:

“My visit to Monrovia was the opportunity of a lifetime. I have always dreamt of going on a nursery tour to see the behind-the-scenes workings of the flower-growing industry.  I was highly impressed with their commitment to quality, efficiency, their use of automation and their commitment to the environment. I now consider it an honor to plant Monrovia plants in my garden as I know the care and time that their craftsmen put into growing their plants.”

Claudia Weekes, a.k.a. The Organized Homemaker, taking a selfie in the heucheras.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have the local social media savvy influencers spreading the good news about your store? And if you have tried this before, how’d it go for you? Drop me a note about it HERE.

The American Floral Endowment (AFE) has a trove of Educational Grants to help fund wide-reaching industry learning programs and educational opportunities of all kinds—even grants for national industry conventions, event programs or virtual events! AFE’s funding helps current industry members, students and young professionals expand their educational opportunities and professional development.

What kind of Educational Grants does AFE have? As an example, their newest grant is the Meinders Retail Florist Education Grant established in 2021. This grant specifically supports reduced or free registration fees for floral industry events for retail florists by providing grants or scholarships to nonprofit floral industry organizations.

AFE awarded nearly $80,000 to support educational programs during 2022-2023. Wow! But you can’t just “take AFE’s money” like I jokingly mentioned in the headline. You have to apply! The deadline for submitting your applications for the 2023-2024 grants is June 1. Find more information about the available grants HERE.

While that headline sounds like the name of a hipster plant shop (maybe it is, I haven’t checked!), it’s actually a reminder that April contains both Earth Day and Arbor Day. I’d like to know your plans for celebrating and honoring both. TELL ME about your strategy and I’ll share the news here next week.

This is also to let you know that tomorrow, Friday the 14^th, happens to be National Gardening Day! That snuck up on me, and hopefully you’re more aware than I am. Tell the world—or at least your customers—to come on in and celebrate with you.