Making Magic (and Marketing) Happen for the Holidays
Careful what you podcast about: one week after the "when it rains, it pours" episode, it was Vonda's turn — a dead garage door, a heaving sidewalk hiding a water line about to burst, a tree removal, and a stump grinding, all in one week. (All figure-outable.) But the real agenda this week is holiday marketing, because Lori's inbox tells the story: shops in Flower Clique's email program are planning open houses again after years of pulling back, and it's exactly the time of year to make a plan. The hosts' core message for nervous shop owners: the worst thing you can do is sit back, freeze up, and worry. Get with your team and get something on the calendar.
Tap into your team
Before any tactic, the hosts land on a first step with mandatory alliteration: tap into your team. Hold a round table. Long-tenured staff have seen it all — pre-pandemic, COVID, post-pandemic — and have ideas nobody's asked them for. Brand-new employees might have even better ones: they're out in the community, they may come from a different town or a different generation, and they see things you don't. And marketing doesn't have to cost much — with social media, you mostly have to be willing to put yourself out there. This is the year to make it a priority.
The DIY centerpiece kit
Lori's big pitch — offered with full awareness there may be naysayers — comes from her own life as a non-designer scrolling DIY centerpiece reels. She wants to say "look what I made" at Thanksgiving. But if she buys grocery-store flowers, she gets them home and has nothing: no foam, no container, no clue. Her idea: a centerpiece kit — the bundle of flowers, the foam, a simple container, chosen by color scheme rather than premium varieties — paired with a short, foolproof tutorial video on your Instagram or YouTube. "Poke, poke, poke" level simple. She'd buy it, make it, and brag to every Thanksgiving guest.
Vonda confirms the business case: priced correctly, it's absolutely profitable. Every stem in a kit is one sold out the door with less waste, so the markup doesn't even have to be as aggressive; foam that costs customers $4–5 a block elsewhere is margin for you; a simple design bowl can drop into the pretty bowl they already own. Shops like Todd Bussey's Bussey's Florist proved the pickup-plus-video model during COVID. Two cautions: offer one centerpiece in maybe two color schemes or sizes — too many options kills the profit — and remember this serves a different audience than classes: the busy mom who can't get a sitter, or the grab-and-go customer Lori admits she's become. It also pairs beautifully with a flower bar, which she loves but finds overwhelming without a little guidance. The kit can flex into wreaths, buffet pieces, or make-your-own boxwood trees at Christmas — again, just not all at once.
Bring in your own container
Vonda resurrects an old-school service worth marketing on purpose: bring in your container and let us design something special for your table. No big-box store can do that. It hit Lori immediately — she has vases that were her mother's, and imagined showing family "this was Grandma's vase" over the holidays. That's not shallow marketing; it's a tribute, and it's an experience, which is what all of retail is telling us customers want.
Handle the liability the way Vonda's shop did: look at the piece together, then use a liner that fits inside, or measure and make a hand-tied design that drops in — and whenever possible, send the precious container home with the customer and let them drop the finished piece in themselves. (There are horror stories: heirloom crystal cracking between a cold cooler and a 90-degree delivery van.) For marketing, photograph a lineup of six varied containers with designs in them and post it — people won't think of the service until you show them.
Classes: how to build a following from zero
Wreath classes, boxwood trees, cornucopias — classes are everywhere in holiday marketing, even though it's already the busy season. For the shop just starting out (like the northeast member in Shop Talk who promoted through social and the chamber of commerce and got three signups), the veterans' advice was to seed the following: one shop offered a free class to their dentist's office staff, took a ton of photos, posted everything — and word of mouth did the rest, starting with a bunco group that heard about it from the dental staff. Vonda's refinement: it doesn't have to be free — a 10-person minimum at something like $75 a head gives an office a great $750 party, staff go home with Christmas gifts, and you schedule it early in the week when the shop is quieter. Other proven audiences: nonprofits with small event budgets, garden clubs (who happily pay well for quality teaching), and kids' classes — fun, simple, just bring extra staff.
Charge for your bows
Lori is obsessed with ribbon tutorials on TikTok — she has genuinely attempted the ones that use your feet, to her husband Mark's bewilderment, and three bows on her tree prove it sort of worked. But her beautiful ribbon stash (some gifted by Derek Woodruff of Syndicate) mostly sits there, because her hands "were not made for bow making." Would she pay a flower shop $5 a bow to turn her own ribbon into elegant bows? "100%." The problem isn't the customer — it's the big-hearted shop owner. One member recently confessed she spent 30 minutes listening to a walk-in's life story and handed over five gorgeous bows as a sympathy gift. That customer would have happily paid $25. So put up a sign: bows made with your ribbon, $5 each (more for oversized); with our ribbon, the bow's included because the ribbon is priced by the yard. If someone on your team is fast and good at it, market the service. It's a skill — don't give it away.
Key takeaways
- Don't freeze up about the holidays — brainstorm with your whole team, veterans and newcomers alike, and pick ideas that fit your market.
- Sell DIY centerpiece kits (flowers, foam, container, plus a short foolproof video) for the "look what I made" customer who'll never attend a class.
- Market bring-your-own-container designs — use liners or drop-in hand-tieds to manage liability, and let heirlooms travel with the customer.
- Build a class following by seeding it: a low-cost office party class, nonprofits, and garden clubs turn into word-of-mouth bookings.
- Bow-making is a billable skill: post the price, charge for your-ribbon bows, and stop giving away 30 minutes of talent.