A daily deal promotion helped the ladies of Madeline’s Flowers expose residents in Edmond, Oklahoma to the range of gift options available at the shop.
Eager to end the year on a high note, the ladies behind Madeline’s Flowers in Edmond, Oklahoma — Barbara, Lenzee and Lacee Bilke — decided to host a “super sale” stretched over two weeks, tying the promotion in with a popular Christmas carol.
Between December 1 and December 14, they advertised on Facebook and Instagram a specific gift with a steep discount, available for one day only. The goal? To encourage people to check out the shop’s social media accounts regularly, to highlight a range of gift options and to clear out holiday items before the ball drops in Times Square.
For previous holidays — including Valentine’s Day, Women’s Day, Mother’s Day and Halloween — the Bilkes have hosted themed design classes, with great success. This time, however, they wanted to try “a different take” to pique customers’ interest and keep enthusiasm strong throughout the season, Barbara Bilke explained.
The inaugural “Twelve Days of Christmas Super Sale,” was a success, Bilke said, and something the shop plans to do again, with slight tweaks to make it work for non-yuletide occasions. For other florists eager to replicate it, she offered these tips:
- Include a photo. “Seeing the actual product promotes it so much better,” Bilke said.
- Feature a variety. To create an element of surprise throughout the sale, the Bilkes advertised different types of products and styles, such as candy, mugs, wine glasses, candles, poinsettias and designs in keepsake holiday containers. This also helped sell down their inventory, introduce customers to products they may not have known existed and appealed to clients’ diverse tastes and needs. When they ran out of overtly Christmas items, all it took was a little creativity to spruce up some Celfie vases with greens to create the perfect hostess gift.
- Be consistent. If you post your first deal in the evening, follow through for the duration. It makes your promotion more cohesive and helps your audience know when to tune in.
- Show some personality. Customers can tell whether or not you’re having fun or simply going through the motions. Lenzee and Lacee announced the deals during Facebook Live videos (“with plenty of advanced practice,” their mother joked). They dressed the part for the videos, wearing festive sweaters adorned with reindeers, penguins, Christmas trees and a giraffe in a Santa hat, and hammed it up with their best impressions of Home Shopping Network saleswomen.
