What’s a holiday season without wreath workshops in our design room — or centerpiece classes in your showroom? For many florists around the country, this year’s very COVID Christmas means rethinking these festive holiday marketing staples.
In the October issue of Floral Management, editors talked to a variety of florists from around the country about how they are planning those tweaks and adjustments this year.
Brenda Sterk, Eastern Floral
One idea? Try a digital approach. Virtual workshops and classes have been a boon these past seven months for many members of the floral industry, especially retail florists and event designers, and offer an ideal way to connect with customers in the holiday season.
In San Diego, Carma White of Four Seasons Flowers plans to run seasonal virtual workshops for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and she’s using the approach not only to attract customers but also to keep them coming back.
The Halloween workshop, for instance, centers on a sleek, modern design that incorporates a white pumpkin container from Teleflora. “It’s not your traditional black and orange, spooky Halloween design, but then again, this isn’t a traditional Halloween,” she said. Customers who attend that event are encouraged to come back to the shop’s online space for a Thanksgiving session, which will reincorporate the same container, a move that streamlines costs and materials and taps into the reuse/reduce sensibility of White’s customers.
Eastern Floral in the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area has resumed its in-person workshops at half capacity to allow for social distancing, said Brenda Sterk, Eastern’s production, delivery and inventory control manager. She said they’re also experimenting with virtual design classes.
“We plan to give a link to a video and deliver all of the supplies ahead of time,” she explained, adding at press time that the team was solidifying the branding behind the concept and double-checking costs to ensure profitability.
Carma White, Four Seasons Flowers
Read about how other florists, including Helen Olivia Flowers in Alexandria, Virginia, have created virtual events, along with advice on how to choose a platform for your class and tips on tools and resources to feel more comfortable presenting in digital environments. Sheila, this is a more online for October, which I don’t see posted it yet – I want it to link the Snapshot that we had in a recent issue feature Vonda LaFever and the BOD featuring Helen Olivia – both ran in the past 6 months. Thanks!)
Check out more tips for how to get ready for Christmas in the October issue of Floral Management.
PLUS, register for Countdown to Christmas, a virtual event centered on prepping florists for a successful holiday season Friday Oct. 23 from 3 to 5 ET. The event includes a panel discussion, breakout sessions for roundtable conversations and a Happy Hour and design demonstration on some of the season’s biggest color trends. It’s free for SAF members! Find out more and register today.
Mary Westbrook is the editor in chief of Floral Management magazine.