Eastern Floral in Grand Rapids, Michigan has partnered with the Mental Health Foundation for the last five years to help pass out flowers for Petal it Forward.
With three months until the Society of American Florists’ annual Petal It Forward flower giveaway, there’s plenty of time to start planning so you get the most out of this marketing opportunity. The event, Oct. 18, is a national goodwill initiative that asks floral businesses to give away two bouquets — one for the recipient to keep and one for them to give away. To maximize planning time, past participants suggest focusing on manpower, location and product.
Staff It Up
Petal It Forward can be pulled off in a variety of ways, with entire teams hitting the streets to give away flowers, or doing the giveaway at your location. Forming partnerships can ensure a successful event.
Eastern Floral in Grand Rapids, Michigan has partnered with the Mental Health Foundation for the last five years to pass out flowers for Petal it Forward and use its substantial social media presence to promote the event.
“Not only is it always a great opportunity to partner with such an amazing foundation, but it also helps to create awareness of what we’re doing and gives us more manpower to be able to hand out more bouquets around Grand Rapids,” says Brenda Sterk, Eastern Floral’s business analyst and production supervisor. The partnership also highlights the influence flowers have on mental health, she says.
For the last four years, Mike Whittle of K. Mike Whittle Designs in Marietta, Georgia has partnered with local garden clubs that have provided volunteers to help create and distribute bouquets.
“We involve a different garden club each year by having them help put the bouquets together and tag them, and we have the president that year help hand them out,” Whittle says. “It also helps to spread the word on the actual day it happens.”
Choose a Location
Location, location, location is not just a mantra for real estate — it’s also part of the formula for a successful Petal It Forward. Stephanie Navas of Flowers on Broadway in Rocky Point, New York says she chooses a location based on the amount of exposure the shop is likely to get. She’s opted for heavy foot traffic retail locations such as Kohl’s, Planet Fitness, and Marshalls.
“You really have to pick an area where you have the most exposure,” she says. “We’re in a small suburban town, so I picked Kohl’s because it’s very close to the schools, and parents were always stopping in there either before they picked their kids up or after they picked them up. We’d also go to the gym because that’s where all the moms were going once they get their kids on the bus. We were trying to be strategic on where we thought the most traffic would be during different parts of the day.”
Control Costs
Cost is always an important consideration — especially in today’s economy.
George Clements of George’s Flowers in Roanoke, Virginia manages the costs of participating in Petal It Forward enlisting his wholesaler, who provides a healthy discount on flowers for the event, as well as volunteers.
“If you pay your bills on time, you’re a good customer, you always go to them, and you have standing orders with this wholesaler, talk to them,” Clements says. “Say, ‘Hey, this is an opportunity to promote flowers to a larger audience, and in order to do that, we all need to not worry about making any profit that day. There doesn’t need to be any markup on them.’”
Kenya McCullum is a contributing writer for the Society of American Florists.
