Does your business’s marketing have what it takes to win $5,000?
There are two weeks left to enter the Society of American Florists’ 30th annual Marketer of the Year contest, which recognizes innovative and successful marketing campaigns. The contest is open to floral businesses in any segment of the industry that have executed a successful campaign in the past five years.
Thinking about entering? Past judges share what they look for in a winning campaign. (Instructions to apply can be found here. The deadline to enter is May 31.)
Show the Appeal
Whether you’re a grower, importer, wholesaler, manufacturer, retailer, or studio florist, show how your campaign could be adopted by other businesses in the industry. “Identify what makes work relevant to the entire industry and lead with that,” says past judge Dani Mackey, of Dani Mackey Communications.
Make It Credible
Past winner and 2023 judge Ryan Black of Jet Fresh Flower Distributors urges contestants to include as much supporting information as possible. “Original and creative ideas are amazing, but without success behind them, they may fall short against the competition,” he says. Data, which could be anything from website traffic and social media impressions to sales numbers, needs to clearly show success to convince judges that a campaign was successful.
Get Visual
Visuals, including charts, photos, graphs, social media screen shots, web pages, print assets, video, etc., can go a long way to help the judges understand your campaign. Be sure to include descriptions of what’s happening in the visuals you provide, and how it fits into the campaign. “Show as many visuals as possible that help tell the story of the campaign and its successes,” advises past judge Jessica Kegerreis, creative director at Syndicate Sales. It can also be helpful to show year-over-year data to highlight the campaign’s effectiveness, says another past judge, Erin Bruno, AAF, of McNamara Florist in Indianapolis. “I love a good bar chart,” she says.
Show Your Cards
Write about the challenge that led to your marketing campaign. What deficiency did you need to correct, such as low web traffic, a decrease of walk-in sales, or a poor performing product? “Campaigns are more impressive when the judges know that you identified a specific problem, then solved it,” says past judge Chris Drummond, AAF, PFCI of Penny’s by Plaza Flowers in Philadelphia.
Map It Out
Lay out your plan, and then explain how you executed the plan. Did things go astray? Include that, too! “Good marketers are nimble and dynamic,” says Drummond. “Many factors can cause you to change your plan. As judges, we love that. Tell us what happened, even if your plan was flawed — those are some of the best stories!” Share your roadblocks and what you did to overcome them.
Give Context
It’s important for the judges to know what it took to get results. “Explain your end goal and how you achieved it, and show the numbers,” says past judge Sahid Nahim of the floral marketing consultancy New Blooms Solutions. “What was your investment and ROI?” Investments might include more than the financial cost — it can be the time it took to see success or the investment of building partnerships. The same for the ROI; success can be measured in many ways, but entries must be able to document the ROI.
Read about past winning campaigns here.
Amanda Jedlinsky is the senior director of content and communications for the Society of American Florists.
