Interview with Jerome Raska AIFD: Successful Branding and Marketing Ideas for Everyday and Valentine's Day!
This week Vonda sits down with Jerome Raska AIFD, AAF, PFCI, MCF — co-owner, with Robin Yelvington, of Blumz...by JRDesigns' two retail floral and event operations in Metro Detroit, a Teleflora Education Specialist, and one of the most upbeat people in the industry. Michigan was among the first states to shut down completely, wiping out Easter and Admin Professionals Week for his shops. Jerome's take on it sets the tone for the whole conversation: "If it wasn't the COVID challenge, it would be just a different challenge" — and challenges are what force you into a better direction.
Free palms, blue ribbons, and pennies-on-the-dollar marketing
Locked out of selling anything, Blumz still marketed. For Palm Sunday, they set buckets of palms outside both locations — free to anyone — and posted "Easter is not canceled, it's just different." The likes, shares, and photos poured in. When Michigan rallied around first responders with blue ribbons on trees and mailboxes, the shops put out bolts of blue ribbon for the taking. Total cost: pennies. The lesson: community engagement keeps your shop in front of people even when your doors are closed.
The Mother's Day that changed everything
Blumz learned exactly two weeks before Mother's Day that they could reopen — curbside only, and with staffing gutted from nearly 50 employees down to 12. So they simplified radically. Early in the week, custom features moved out owned inventory of containers and vases. By the holiday itself, they stopped arranging entirely: hand-tied wrapped bouquets in buckets at $50, $75, and $100, plus blooming hanging baskets. Jerome struck a no-risk deal with a supplier sitting on unsold plants — bring a truckload, take back whatever doesn't sell — then turned his parking lot into a drive-through farmer's market with borrowed construction cones and hand-lettered cardboard signs. They sold 800 hanging baskets in one day (a normal Mother's Day moves 100–150) and were scraping the buckets by 5 p.m.
His biggest confession: "We're a victim of our own thing." He'd never have believed customers would pay $100 for a mixed wrapped bouquet — until they bought three, four, and five at a time. Those price points were so proven that they're the Valentine's plan too. And no, he doesn't worry about wrapped bouquets and longevity — flower-food packets and a little customer education handle that (and imprinted packets double as branding).
Your salespeople are the key — train them
Still at 12 employees, Jerome says the real engine isn't the design room, it's the phones. Salespeople have never gotten the kudos — or the training — they deserve. His team sells from the cooler in real time: "Today's Oriental lily day" becomes a striking $100–$150 wrapped bouquet with roses and wax flower. Selling wraps puts the value into flowers instead of containers ("they already have so many vases"), and inviting customers to drop off their own vase gets them into the store — where the gourmet truffles in the case do the rest.
Grassroots branding that brings them back
Jerome's rule: branding is anything you can put your logo on that brings people back. Imprinted ribbon is so cost-effective one corporate client now orders their own. Branding can even be a color palette — think of the little blue box, or the red sole. Every single package that leaves the building carries a marketing piece, currently a Valentine's reminder card ("slip it over on the husband's nightstand"). Wire-service deliveries especially: the recipient doesn't know you yet, so make it easy for them to call you next time. He also borrows ideas shamelessly — like a gift shop's raffle-ticket-size card with three coupons for February, March, and April — and uses online coupon codes to push orders to the website, where they're trackable and don't tie up holiday phone lines.
Valentine's Day: through the roof — and a few new policies
Forget the standard "Sunday holiday, plan 20–30% down" formula, Jerome says — sales have been strong all along, and this year is different. Promote Galentine's/Palentine's Day on Saturday the 13th to spread deliveries, and since nobody's in an office to envy the flowers, get them delivered early enough to show off on the Zoom call. His add-on winner is the Romance Package — themed tote with a plush animal, "passion petals" in a corsage bag, votive candles, Mylar balloon, and hand-dipped truffles at $29–$59 — sold the smart way: not "would you like to add one?" but "which romance package would you like to add?" And for the photo-before-delivery requests that eat staff time, he never says no; he says yes with conditions: happy to send a photo — that order goes out tomorrow afternoon. His parting advice: keep it simple, stay organized, and show appreciation to your staff — they're your best asset. Catch his full Teleflora program on YouTube.
Key takeaways
- Every challenge is just the next challenge — let it force you into a better direction, then keep what works as your new normal.
- Simplify to survive: limited menus of hand-tied bouquets at proven price points ($50/$75/$100) can outsell full-service design.
- Invest in sales training — the person answering the phone drives more revenue than one more designer.
- Put your logo (or signature color) on everything that leaves the building, and include a marketing piece in every package.
- Never say no — say yes with a price or a timeline, from Mother's Day weddings to photo-approval requests.
- Sell add-ons by choice, not permission: "which package would you like?"
Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist