Growing your greenhouse business means attracting more clients and selling more plants and tools. Your greenhouse can do both using these simple, fun, and effective ways to engage and educate your customers. Providing relevant, engaging information that your target audience needs leads to more sales; online advertising leads to 76 times more sales to the most engaged audiences.
Table of Contents
1. Start Blogging About Plants and Plant Care
Greenhouse customers want to learn how to properly care for the plants they purchase. These novice gardeners turn to the source of their plants to learn about topics like:
- The best gardening tools
- Plant care
- When to plant
- How to plant
- How to make the ideal garden mulch for their soil.
Offering a free blog that provides this original, engaging content attracts current clients and new customers to your greenhouse business website.
Using search engine optimized (SEO) content on your blog typically results in raising your website’s search engine results rank in about six months. This organic approach to building a blog following attracts both local readers and those in other locations. Both sets of readers can turn into helpful social media influencers over time.
2. Hold Live and Online Gardening Events
Gardeners do battle with 10,000 species of plant-eating insects to help their food crops and flowers survive. Hold live and online gardening events that show novice gardeners how to deal with insects and other pests most effectively. At these events, whether on Zoom or at your greenhouse, you can interact with your customers and potential clients while helping them make their gardens grow.
3. Gardening Tool Recommendations and How Tos
Provide gardening tool recommendations and how-to blogs or set up an online store on your website that offers the same tools that you sell in your greenhouse shop. For example, those new to gardening typically don’t know the best way to prune a plant or the best tools for it. Pruning during a plant’s dormant phase helps it recover more easily, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
Your greenhouse can increase its sales and help its customers with these tool recommendations. Consider creating reviews for the best rake, pruning shears, wheelbarrows, etc. Print signs that match the recommended tool logo used on your website to identify the best tools in the implements area of your greenhouse to make it easier for your customers to find the best options.
4. Educational Booths at Conventions, Conferences, and Fairs
Offer an educational booth at local, county, and state fairs. Also, attend gardening conventions and conferences. At these events, distribute booklets or pamphlets, plus play video how-tos to grab attendees’ attention.
Host at least one game at your booth, such as a raffle or a themed bean bag toss. You’ll need something that requires little room but maximizes interactions and offers potential customers with a reason to share their contact information with you. Offer each player the opportunity for an extra turn if they bring someone to the booth who also shares their contact information.
Creating Edutainment Offers Fun Ways to Engage Your Customers
Educating your greenhouse customers doesn’t have to feel boring. The blog you create can include articles, videos, podcasts, reviews, and much more. Offering tool recommendations provides another way to help gardening customers and engage them with your website or blog.
Instead of stopping at these four options, ask your customers what they want. You might have suggestions for a gardening club or online group. Some gardeners might want to read a newspaper column or have you contribute to the local gardening club newsletter. Provide what you can that they request to offer the engagement they want.
