The holiday season can be one of the busiest times of the year for florists. Between designing arrangements, fulfilling orders, deliveries, and tending to customers, finding the time to market your shop can become difficult, especially during the holiday season. Getting a head start on your digital marketing can help you stay connected with customers even when your schedule starts filling up. You don’t have to have every post, reel, and email finished months in advance. A little preparation now can make marketing your flower shop feel much easier once the holiday rush begins!
Start Planning Your Holiday Content
Start by looking ahead at the holidays and occasions that are important to you and your shop. Along with major holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, think about holiday parties, family gatherings, decorating, shop events, and other reasons your customers may need flowers. Create a simple content calendar to plan out what you want to share each week and keep your shoppers informed about upcoming events. You can plan posts about holiday arrangements, order cutoffs, gift ideas, ordering reminders, delivery deadlines, decorating inspiration, and more! You don’t need to write every caption right away. Just knowing what you plan to talk about gives you a place to start when it’s time to post.
When your shop gets busy, stopping to create social media content may be the last thing on your mind. Start collecting photos and videos as soon as holiday products and designs begin appearing in your shop. Take pictures of seasonal arrangements, fun holiday gifts, and your shop decorated for the season. Save everything, even if you don’t have an immediate plan for it. A short video or a few good pictures can give you plenty of content to work with later when you need it most!
Update Your Online Information
Your social media may catch someone’s attention, but your website is often where they’ll go when they’re ready to learn more or place an order. Before the season gets busy, look through your website and make sure your products, photos, descriptions, pricing, delivery information, and other details are up to date. Make sure customers can easily find your holiday offerings and understand how to order. Preparing these details early means fewer things to worry about when orders start picking up.
Also, before holiday shoppers begin searching for flowers, take a few minutes to make sure your business information is correct everywhere customers may find you. Check your website, social media profiles, and Google Business Profile for your current hours, phone number, address, website links, and other important information. As the holidays get closer, remember to update any special holiday hours, last day delivery, and order cutoffs as well. Look at your online presence from a customer’s point of view. Can they quickly figure out where you’re located and how to order from you? Making that information easy to find can make the ordering process simpler for everyone.
Stay Flexible
Planning ahead doesn’t mean everything has to be scheduled. Leave room to share what’s happening in your shop throughout the season, like social media trends and unique orders you want to show off. Those everyday unexpected moments can make great social media content that feels real. Having planned content ready gives you something to rely on while still allowing your shop’s personality to come through as the season goes by.
Start In September!
You don’t need to completely change your marketing strategy for the holidays. Start by making a plan, checking your online information, collecting content, and deciding what you want your customers to know! Taking care of a few things ahead of time can help you spend less time wondering what to post and more time focusing on your customers and your shop during one of the busiest and best times of the year!