Rethinking Mother's Day: Maintaining your brand and your sanity while planning your Mother's Day
Mother's Day is just weeks away, and this year it comes with a strange set of challenges: flower availability, staffing, and a patchwork of local guidelines. But the fact of the matter, as Vonda puts it, is that it's still Mother's Day and people are still going to buy flowers — which means you have to market your shop. To help, Vonda and Lori bring in Ellie LaFever, Flower Clique's Creative Director (and Lori's favorite brainstorming partner), who arrives with five marketing ideas you can execute right now.
Idea 1: Build a Mother's Day gift guide
All that spring giftware you ordered back in February is sitting in a shop with no walk-in traffic. Ellie's fix: package it. Pair giftware with a fresh arrangement into themed bundles — the active mom, the reader, the traveler, the foodie, the coffee lover — with one simple price (free delivery if you can swing it). Build simple graphics in Canva, announce the gift guide up front, then release one theme per day on social media so followers stay engaged in the run-up to the holiday. Lori adds a twist: invite comments on what basket you should create next, and let your audience steer. Vonda calls this her favorite of the five — it moves the merchandise you already bought while keeping the message emotional.
Idea 2: Collaborate with a local business
Team up with a massage studio, salon, coffee shop, or pizza place to create a mom-friendly package that promotes both businesses. Flower Clique members did this at Valentine's Day and it worked so well they're bringing it back — and right now, when every local business is struggling, cross-promotion is genuinely mutual support. This one is Lori's favorite: a restaurant advertising for the flower shop and the flower shop advertising for the restaurant is the kind of background story customers root for.
Idea 3: Host a "nominate mom" giveaway
Ask followers to submit stories — funny or emotional — about how their mom has kept the family sane through quarantine, then deliver flowers to one or three winners. The key detail: include a bounce-back offer with the delivery (a gift certificate, free delivery on the next order, or a free gift with purchase) so the free flowers turn into a future visit. Lori suggests filming the surprise delivery for a feel-good video, and Vonda extends the idea to schools: partner with teachers running online classes on a contest about great moms and teachers, and let the school spread the buzz for you. Ellie picks this as her favorite — everyone is emotionally heightened right now, and people want to talk about their moms.
Idea 4: Sell the bouquet-of-the-month club
Three months, six months, or a year of flowers is an easy sell when siblings split the cost — and it makes the last-minute buyer the family hero. Don't be shy: when someone calls wanting to spend $50 or $100 on mom, suggest the club by name and spell out exactly how it works.
Idea 5: Offer a virtual design class
Market a "design with me" class — perhaps to the husband buying for his wife and daughter — with everything delivered in advance: container, flowers, and a handout. The hosts hash out the logistics honestly: Vonda warns against scheduling it on Mother's Day Saturday when every shop is slammed, and suggests a pre-recorded YouTube option customers can watch anytime. Lori favors the live, together-on-Zoom version — the community is the fun, and designing "badly" alongside friends beats a tutorial you'll never finish. Vonda has even run a hybrid at Texas A&M with 23 people designing along to a video with live commentary.
Key takeaways
- Package your existing giftware with fresh flowers into a themed gift guide and drip it out daily on social media.
- Collaborate with local businesses on joint packages — cross-promotion doubles your reach and supports your community.
- Turn giveaways into future sales with bounce-back coupons, and lead every message with emotion — this is the year not to hold back on love.
- Mention safe delivery practices briefly, then move on; customers don't need paragraphs, they need to know you can get flowers to mom.
- Whatever you choose, shout it from the rooftops — social, email, pre-calling. Now is not the time to be timid.
Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist