York Flowers in Annapolis, Maryland, and Washington D.C., created Petal It Forward stickers with its shop’s logo and signs with #petalitforward for recipients to carry. Pictured on right:SAF provides members with a downloadable 3”x3” Petal It Forward card which has instructions for recipients to share their experience.
Make it easy for the recipients of your Petal It Forward bouquets to share their experiences and promote your shop using cards or stickers printed with easy-to-follow instructions for tagging your social media channels and using the hashtag #petalitforward. The Society of American Florists provides members with a Flower Card Template as well as other resources and advice to Petal It Forward on Oct. 23 at safnow.org/pif.
Petal It Forward is a “random acts of kindness” type of flower giveaway, where consumers receive two flower bouquets (or flowers) — one to keep and one to share — to demonstrate the Rutgers University research that shows flowers make people happy.
Having the concept of Petal It Forward printed on cards to attach to bouquets will provide even more awareness throughout your community as the flowers are shared. Members can download the Petal It Forward Flower Card Template from SAF or print their own cards, using SAF’s verbiage as a guide.
Sandi Yoshihara-Sniff, AIFD, AAF, CPF, who runs Lafayette Florist in Lafayette, Colorado and its Good Samaritan Medical Center’s satellite store, said that their shops had custom cards created by their CEO Brian Wheat, AAF, PFCI. The cards provided information about the shops and how to petal it forward.
Marketing Director Anna Deriquito of York Flowers in Annapolis, Maryland, and Washington D.C., went a step further. In addition to using Petal It Forward stickers with the shop’s logo on each bouquet, she also printed little signs with #petalitforward and the York Flowers logo for people to carry after they received their bouquets. Messages on the signs included “Happiness is Contagious” and “Spread Happiness.”
Melissa Maas asks recipients to promote Petal It Forward, too, using communication on each bouquet.
“Every bouquet had our logo on it and the story on how to Petal it Forward. We also include for them to share their story with us and on social media,” said the owner of Bank of Flowers in Menomonee Falls and Pewaukee, Wisconsin.
Mike Whittle of K Mike Whittle Designs in Marietta, Georgia, used stickers with both SAF and his shop’s logos and his business cards on each bouquet. That along with heavy promotion had the crowds coming in droves.
“We promoted on social media, in shop and the newspaper and the word spread like wild fire,” he said.
SAF provides resources to help member florists Petal It Forward, including planning timelines, tips on where and when to stage a giveaway, talking points, T-shirt and flower card templates and more at safnow.org/pif.
Renee Houston Zemanski is a contributing writer for the Society of American Florists
