Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching, and big floral holidays are the perfect time to increase your visibility by taking advantage of media opportunities. As a shop owner, you are the spokesperson for your business and the local flower expert in your community so it’s important to make sure you’re prepared to talk to the media. The Society of American Florists has a number of tools and resources for effective media relations planning.
Developing a successful relationship with the media creates value and solidifies your place as a reliable, professional resource. Preparation is key to building this relationship. Before any holiday or local event, spend time creating your “media strategy”. A well thought out plan will ensure you are ready to confidently promote your business in any type of interview.
Start by selecting three key messages you wish to communicate and then develop talking points to support each message. The best way to do this is to pretend you are talking to a new customer– how would you convey the unique benefits of Valentine’s Day flowers? What can your shop offer them? A good way to practice interviewing is by role playing with a colleague. Ask a co-worker to go through a list of potential questions to ensure you feel comfortable with your responses.
Use these examples as a starting point:
Message: Flowers are the perfect Valentine’s Day gift.
Talking Point: “Women want to receive flowers for Valentine’s Day – nothing says ‘I love you’ like a gift of flowers.”
Message: Roses come in a wide array of popular colors.
Talking Point: “Our customers love the rainbow of rose colors to choose from – from the classic red to pink, peach, yellow, lavender, coral, orange – we’ve got them all.”
Message: Valentine’s Day is not just for romance.
Talking Point: “We’re receiving more and more requests for flowers for mothers, daughters, sisters and friends. Valentine’s Day has become a time to express a variety of sweet sentiments in addition to romantic ones.”
Message: Flowers are a safe way to connect people during the pandemic.
Talking Point: “We offer contact-free delivery (or curbside pick-up) and have enhanced our cleaning programs in-store to help keep our team and our customers safe.”
To prepare further, visit SAF’s Valentine’s Day Resource Center, which has tips on mastering the interview process and ideas for generating media and consumer buzz.
Stephanie Brady is the Project Coordinator for the Society of American Florists.
