The team at Main Street Florist & Gifts in Carlinville, Illinois, drew a heart on the window in early January and invited customers to fill it with love notes to their partners — essentially putting their enclosure cards on display.
Feeling like you need to do something (fast!) to stand out on Valentine’s Day? Visual merchandising doesn’t require a ton of props, money or time. Sometimes, all you need is a pen and some post-its.
To transition the shop’s mood from “fa la la la la” to “doobie doobie doo,” the team at Main Street Florist & Gifts in Carlinville, Illinois, drew a heart on the window in early January and invited customers to fill it with love notes to their partners — essentially putting their enclosure cards on display.
The shop advertised its crowd-sourced display on Instagram, with the following post:
We’re decorating our window with local love notes for Valentine’s Day. We need your help. Stop in and leave a love letter, send us a message or comment and we will put it in the window (keep it G rated folks)
“We’ve had a great response, especially on social media,” said co-owner and creative director Sarah LoBue, AIFD, ICPF. At press time, the shop had more than 25 notes and the heart “was growing by the day.”
“We even had someone tell their significant other they loved them for the first time by writing a note and sending a photo of our window!” LoBue said.
Want more quick tips to get ready for the big day? Check out the Society of American Florists’ Valentine’s Day Resource Center, where you’ll find marketing ideas, pointers for earning publicity and working with the press, best practices for holiday hiring and deliveries, logistic strategies, free graphics and social media templates, and more.
Katie Hendrick Vincent is the Senior Contributing Writer and Editor for the Society of American Florists.
