Valentine's Day Marketing and More
Once a month, Vonda and Lori host "Shop Talk" — a members-only Zoom (owners only, no employees, by design) where flower shop owners from across the country, Hawaii included, bring their questions and Lori fills a virtual whiteboard until they've tackled every one. This month's sessions were packed, and nearly everything came back to Valentine's Day. The meetings themselves aren't recorded, but the hosts pulled the four most-asked questions so every florist can start the season with a leg up.
1. What's everyone's gut feeling for Valentine's Day?
Unanimously good. A Sunday Valentine's Day would normally mean a down holiday — no office deliveries — but with so few offices open anyway, that penalty disappears. People aren't traveling or dining out much; flowers to the home are the perfect gift. Not one owner in either session predicted a slow holiday, and many expect something like last year's blockbuster Mother's Day — this time with a chance to prepare. The hosts' buying advice: order what you did last year, and maybe a little more.
2. What marketing ideas actually work?
The standout comes from Denise of Flower Gallery in Indiana, Pennsylvania — a town of about 13,000. She partnered with five local businesses — an upscale pizza restaurant, a jewelry store, a massage studio, a nail salon, and a chocolate-covered-strawberry maker — to sell tiered Valentine's packages named the Queen, Princess, and Duchess (yes, inspired by The Crown). Partners either cross-promote or give her a percentage of sales, and the restaurant loves it because Denise delivers everything to the table before the reservation — because delivery is the thing florists do better than anyone. She also ran an adopt-a-grandparent promotion with a local assisted-living home: a $20 donation buys an adorable balloon buddy delivered to a resident, coordinated through the activities director — and every buyer just discovered her shop. Her engagement special: a giant balloon filled with tiny ones, popped one by one until the ring appears.
Simpler incentives that came up: free chocolates or discounted delivery for early orders, and one member's favorite — pre-order deliveries to two recipients (wife and mom, say) and pay just one delivery fee. It's an easy upsell at order time ("who else do you need to send to?") that costs little but carries big perceived value. The common thread in all of it: pre-sell. Go back to last year's customers and remind them you're ready.
Then there's signage. Christy of Alice's Country Rose in Washington has printed poster-size boards of her Valentine's specials for three years — clear photos, prices, and names — in the window and around the store, so customers walk in already decided. Her husband's advice after admiring the cute names: just number them, because most men will order "number two" before they'll say "the Princess Grace, please." (Do both.) Shops limiting foot traffic are pairing the signs with drive-up or table-out-front service: show the menu of premade specials, grab number three from the cooler, done. On that note, the group's consensus was to retire pick-your-own cooler browsing this year — premade designs are faster, and customers have been happily flexible since Mother's Day. Just frame it right: "the designers just finished these" makes a cooler pull feel special.
3. How do I handle the holiday rush with limited (and part-time) staff?
On part-timers who announce their days off rather than ask: set the agreement up front. If you're guaranteeing hours, they're guaranteeing availability — and any schedule change means trading with another part-timer, not leaving you short. Better still, declare blackout dates at hiring: the two weeks before Valentine's Day and Mother's Day week, part-time becomes full-time and nobody takes off. (As Lori notes, no one asks off Christmas Eve at a high-end restaurant.) Employees who feel genuinely valued are also far less likely to vanish. And for the shops hiring very green help just to get through — many are onboarding them with Flower Prep School because there's simply no time to train from scratch right now.
4. What if COVID shuts us down before the holiday?
Several shops have already watched one exposure quarantine an entire staff, so the fear is real. The advice: hold a meeting now and ask everyone to limit where they go from February 1 on — masks and distancing in the shop, caution outside it — because a shutdown the week of Valentine's Day doesn't just disappoint customers, it can cost the business and every job in it. One shop found a creative middle ground with a fearful employee: she designs at a work table in her own garage, the shop drops off flowers, and the driver picks up finished arrangements for delivery. That's an owner and an employee working with each other.
Next week the marketing conversation continues with guest Jerome Raska, Michigan shop owner and Teleflora education specialist.
Key takeaways
- Plan for a strong Sunday Valentine's Day — buy at last year's level or slightly above.
- Partner with local businesses on tiered gift packages; you bring the delivery muscle they don't have.
- Pre-sell hard: early-order perks, multi-delivery deals, and calls to last year's customers.
- Post three clearly numbered, pre-priced specials in your window and cooler — and skip the pick-your-own cooler browsing this year.
- Set staffing blackout dates at hiring, and use structured onboarding for green employees.
- Protect the holiday: ask staff to hunker down starting February 1, and get creative with remote design setups if needed.
Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist