Picture this: Seattle on a hot summer day. Blue sky and sunshine lighting up the cityscape. Mt. Rainier off in the distance, sailboats plying the waters of Lake Union. Not a soul thinking about the rainy, wintry holiday season that will take hold of the Emerald City in just a few short months.
Except, maybe, a florist like Jean Louise Paquin Allen.
The founder and creative director at Seattle’s Juniper Flowers, Allen is usually already prepping for the busy holiday rush, nudging customers to start thinking about seasonal decor for the office, end-of-year company gifts and floral subscriptions for the new year.
“I’d say it’s usually about August, if not earlier,” says Allen, who started Juniper Flowers 23 years ago. “It’s always kind of funny to send a newsletter or email then saying, ‘Hey, it’s time to start thinking about the holidays,’ but there’s definitely an advantage to getting orders in as early as you can.”
The holidays are indeed a busy time of year for florists—and one worth getting an early jump on. They are also an ideal opportunity to cultivate new and returning customers. Companies often turn to florists for year-end thank-you gifts, as well as holiday parties and office decorations. And the run-up to the holidays can also be a promising window for marketing floral subscriptions that can add a festive air to offices, restaurants, hotels and other settings during the holidays and throughout the entire year.
The nice thing about the holidays, too, is that they happen every year, so if a florist does a great job one year, there’s a good chance they’ll be invited back again. “It’s great to have repeat customers,” Allen says, “and it often just kind of branches out from there.”
‘Tis the Season
Lorraine Cooper, AIFD, is the owner and creative director at Brady’s Floral Gallery in the prestigious Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. While she doesn’t necessarily offer subscriptions, she does do weekly installations for several local restaurants and businesses, refreshing with new flowers every Friday.
As the seasons change, so do the floral offerings in her weekly installations; think warm fall colors, followed by the reds, greens and whites that come closer to Christmas. But Cooper says she’s found it’s better to be more seasonal focused than tied to any specific holiday.
“We like to say holiday so that it covers every aspect and every celebration of people,” she says. “If someone says, ‘I don’t want it to look like Christmas,’ what we do is not necessarily a Christmas design. When it has holly and berries in it, it’ just a seasonal floral design and that makes people happy.”
While much of Brady’s Floral Gallery’s business is tied to the resort—they do lots of corporate events and weddings, as well as the seasonal flowers in the hotel’s lobby, spa and other spaces—the company does get regular referrals from customers who’ve seen their holiday flower installations in restaurants and other establishments nearby. The business has also built itself a solid reputation over the 25 years that Cooper has owned it—key to earning the business of repeat customers every holiday season.
Brady’s also runs a strong corporate gift business, with regular clients including the Phoenix Cardinals football team. “At the holidays, we send out poinsettias to a lot of the company, the executive committee and other employees,” Cooper says.
Allen is similarly busy during the holidays with seasonal corporate orders. She fulfills large gift requests from business clients, realtors and other professionals. Being flexible—both in product offerings and delivery—allows her customers to tailor corporate gifts to their specific needs.
For example, Allen can do small gift crates that contain everything from wine and candles to a seasonal flower arrangement. The customers can either have these kinds of gifts delivered to individuals separately or, if they choose, they can all be delivered to one company office and distributed from there.
In addition to corporate gifts and a weekly corporate flower service that includes seasonal offerings, Juniper Flowers also has a unique holiday lighting option. Through it, companies and individuals can order designer Christmas trees—fresh for residential, artificial for corporate clients—that are delivered, set up and decked out with lights by Juniper staff.
Special Delivery
While there’s not a guaranteed recipe for building successful holiday gift, subscription and floral decor programs, there are some steps that can make a big difference. For starters, simply delivering well for customers and meeting their expectations.
Zoë Gallina, AAF, is creative director for Botanica International Design and Decor Studio in Tampa, Fla. She says a business client came to her a few years ago looking for a new company to do flowers, event planning, linens and other services for their annual holiday party, held for about 350 people at a Tampa hotel. The Botanica team knocked it out of the park, and now they’re on track to do the party for the third time later this year.
“We’re very structured and focused on the customer service that we give to our clients,” Gallina says. “I just feel like focusing on the customer service and the products that you provide is just the best marketing tool that you can do for yourself.”
Touching base regularly with customers throughout the year also helps keep your name top-of-mind when the holidays roll back around. Gallina says Botanica follows up with their holiday party customer soon after the event to see what worked, what didn’t and to start planting the seeds for next year’s event.
Allen says Juniper uses a digital marketing program to contact customers at a reasonable cadence throughout the year for various promotions and specials, including as the holidays approach. And, as she says, getting an early start and mapping out the holidays is good for both her and her customers.
“There are often discounts for ordering bigger quantities earlier,” Allen says. “Really, it’s all just good planning—starting in August so you’re ready when people start ordering in October.”
