Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.
I am so excited to share that I’m a guest on The Flower Podcast this week! Scott and I have talked a few times before (you can find all of my past episodes HERE!) and this week we’re talking to floral designers and farmer-florists who want to add weddings into their current business model. Click below to listen or head to wherever you get your podcasts to tune in today!
Join us for 2 Days of Hands-On Training with Françoise Weeks, Phebe Robinson-Higgins & Alison Ellis, April 17 & 18th at The Round Barn, Waitsfield, Vermont.
Including Foam Free Woodland Techniques, Business Coaching On How To Sell A Wedding & Price For Profit, and Everything You Need To Run A Successful Pop-Up Shop in time for Mother’s Day!
Get the resources you need to level-up your passion & career.
Limited to 20 Seats. Doors Are Open Now! Click Here For Details!
Pack your tools, bring your refillable water bottle, and we’ll make sure you have everything you need once you’re on site!–from flowers to supplies to meals and snacks and bottomless pots of coffee (or tea)!
All Meals Included for Welcome Reception on Sunday and 2 Full Days of Hands-On Training on Monday and Tuesday.
If you’re a floral designer or farmer-florist and you want to expand your offerings to include more sustainable design techniques, or create profitable pop-up shop in your community, or book more profitable weddings & events, this workshop is for you!
You’ll walk away with inspiration to design with new perspective, know-how to price for profit and close wedding sales, and skills to Pop-Up so you can sell your flowers– even without your own storefront!
Get Your Seat Now!
TWO DAYS WITH FRANÇOISE, PHEBE & ALISON:
Sustainable. Successful. Profitable. Ready to join us?
Elevate your creativity and level-up your business strategy!
Click Here for Pricing, Daily Schedule and FAQs!
We’d love to see you here in Vermont in April! Reach out with questions for me anytime. info{at}realflowerbusiness.com
xo. -Alison Ellis
Have you heard that engagement is down on Instagram lately? Some of the “most popular” flower famous folks I follow have been mentioning this for the last few months, but what does that REALLY mean for their business…and more importantly, what does that mean for YOUR business?
Well, let me show you a few quick REAL numbers from some of the “successful” instagram accounts I follow with 90K-100K followers.
First, a note….I know I’m not the only one who looks at numbers like these, but when you’re looking at your own “Instagram stats” and adding up your “likes”, keep THESE STATS in mind:
One “flower famous” account with over 100K followers had about 1,000 “likes” on a post recently–which sounds like a lot, but that’s actually ONLY 1% of their total followers! And MOST of their posts had closer to 500 average “likes”, which is 0.5%–that’s ONLY half of one percent of “followers”.
Another super talented floral designer with over 90K followers had an average of 149 “likes” on posts lately….and AGAIN that’s just a little over 1% of their follower count.
Overall, that is a very small percentage of people who saw the post and took a second to “give it a like”–and, as you may be able to guess, even fewer took the time to comment–and even fewer took action to buy something!
If your small business has 600 followers with an average of 10 likes on your posts, that’s 1.66%–Which is in line with the stats of these VERY popular flower accounts with tons of fans!
Knowing that the actual reach of these social media posts is “very low”, should you be aiming to grow your Instagram following?
In short, nope.
Instead of chasing an algorithm for “likes”, your business needs a more intentional marketing strategy to bring the right clients to your business year after year.
Now, don’t get me wrong here–having 1,000 people “like” your stuff is a lot of eyeballs for a small business!…But I’m more interested in how many customers are buying from you than how many people are “liking” your social media posts!
Most small businesses don’t have the bandwidth to outwit, outsmart, and out-post on social media to try to gain “popularity”–it’s far better to reach a smaller number of people who are the MOST interested in purchasing what you have to offer.
Remember these stats before you worry about a poor post performance! Focus on growing your sales over growing your “followers”.
xo. -Alison Ellis
P.S. I don’t post on social media every day and I don’t have 100K followers on social media, but I have managed to attract GREAT clients to my business for the last 20 years thanks to an intentional marketing strategy that’s designed to bring the BEST customers to me. I’m sharing some of the MOST important marketing and brand building tips in my Marketing Workshop for Florists on Dec. 5, 6, & 7th at 12pm EST. If you don’t have a marketing plan in place for 2023, consider joining this workshop for just $37!
You don’t have to end the year “pushing to the finish line”, but some easy, practical marketing tips can be just the thing to help you reach more great customers who can’t wait to work with you in the new year. Click Here for details about the Workshop and Sign Up Today!
If you want to be a florist, do you have to go to Floristry School? It’s a question I see a lot and I know there can be some strong opinions on the subject. Click to see my answer to the question and let me know what you think!
There are so many things to learn that you can’t learn “everything you need to know in just one place”. Whether you go to floristry school, or take an accredited floral design certification program, or you teach yourself through trial and error, there will always be something more for you to learn.
For example, I’ve heard from floristry students in Australia and England who enrolled in my Flower Math course and say that they got a much more thorough and clear explanation from my online course than they did in school! Even longtime florists have told me that they understand the design aspect of their work, but they’ve been kept mostly in the dark on the business-stuff.
And still, some floral designers manage to build a “busy” floral design business, but they struggle with attracting higher paying clients or creating systems to close sales (without a dozen meetings that drain their time and energy).
Let’s face it, there’s so much more to know as a florist than “just flowers”!
The secret to success in the floral industry is to keep learning and growing. Just going to floristry school isn’t enough.
And just learning from YouTube videos isn’t enough.
And letting 20 years pass between your last in-person learning experience isn’t enough either.
Never stop learning in your business and your life–and keep doing beautiful work!
With love from me to you,
Alison