GROW! Marketing and Public Relations Tips

Becky Paxton

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Very Peri Plant Picks: Pantone's Color of the Year in Your Garden

Posted by Becky Paxton on Fri, Dec 17, 2021 @ 1:18 PM

Pantone’s 2022 Color of the Year, “Very Peri,” a custom periwinkle with hints of violet-red, is popping up on taste makers’ radars around the country. From delicate blossoms to vibrant foliage, you can find periwinkles and purples in a vast array of landscape plants. As trendy pollinator, edible, and cutting gardens are poised to capture gardeners’ attention in spring 2022, the following periwinkle plants offer an inspiring infusion of this year’s “it” color.

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Topics: Public relations, garden marketing, marketing communications, trends

Mind the Gap: Talking About Plants in a Post-COVID World

Posted by Becky Paxton on Fri, Oct 22, 2021 @ 2:06 PM

Gardening is on the tip of everyone’s tongues as unprecedented millions took to plants during the pandemic. Are you speaking the new gardener’s language?

This report analyzes millions of social media posts and articles written across the course of the pandemic. These gardening posts reveal key patterns in language and sentiment – and represent a significant shift in the way the public talked about plants before and after COVID-19.

Navigating emerging pandemic trends and topics, Mind the Gap helps readers better relate to the gardening public – and gain the trust of the new gardener.

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Topics: branding, marketing communications, garden PR consultant, internet marketing, Garden Media Group, Garden Trends, social media, Social

Sold Out!  Plants are Running Low... But What are Customers Saying?

Posted by Becky Paxton on Mon, Jun 14, 2021 @ 2:05 PM

The headlines seem to be everywhere – skyrocketing plant sales, seed shortages, and a cut flower frenzy. On the heels of the pandemic, 2021 has seen a fervor for plants and garden goods that our industry hasn’t experienced in years.

As industry struggles to meet the demands of the massive “plantdemic” gardening trend, many are acutely aware of how limited supplies are this spring.

And this has led to an important question: how much of the “sold out blues” are consumers feeling? 

This spring, many gardeners (including first-timers) arrived at the garden center ready to shop, only to be met with empty shelves and in some cases, unfulfilled wishes. In our visions of worst-case scenarios, we imagine them getting frustrated and giving up – even abandoning the hobby.

Luckily, social media is giving us insight into consumers’ thoughts and feelings…

Read more to find out what they’re posting - it isn’t what you might expect!

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Topics: marketing communications, garden PR consultant, Instagram, Garden Trends, social media

Get Growing in Kids Garden Month!

Posted by Becky Paxton on Thu, Apr 22, 2021 @ 9:47 AM

Sunny days, big smiles, and messy hands… If that’s what springtime means to your child, then it’s time to get outside and get growing! April is national Kids Garden Month, an initiative spearheaded by the youth-focused nonprofit KidsGardening to inspire and encourage kids to get into gardening.

Gardening benefits children in countless ways. From hands-on learning about science and biology to physical fitness and creative play with colors and textures, home gardening helps children steward our natural world while learning – plus it’s a “screen-free” activity!

If you’re stumped on how to get started, never fear! We’ve got three tips for getting your kids excited and inspired to garden!
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Topics: gardening, question and answer, vacation, health and wellness, kids and family

Holiday 2020: Garden Insiders Tell All

Posted by Becky Paxton on Fri, Nov 13, 2020 @ 3:37 PM
I n a year of  unpredictable challenges and incredible growth for the garden industry, early signs are  indicating that – as we suspected – it’s going to be a holiday season like no other.  And with holiday shopping well underw ay, major changes in consumer shopping habits are playing out in real time.
 
We spoke to garden businesses on the front lines – from garden centers to manufacturing – to gain insight into “the new garden consumer” and how they’re shopping this holiday season.

Read on for the four surprising finds of the 2020 holiday season.

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Topics: garden marketing, branding, marketing communications, gardening, Marketing to Millennials, garden business, marketing, decision-making

Early, Online, and Uncertain: Navigating 2020 Holiday Trends

Posted by Becky Paxton on Tue, Oct 20, 2020 @ 12:43 PM

If the sight of Christmas decorations next to Halloween candy on store shelves makes you raise an eyebrow, you may want to get used to it – because a trend has arrived that garden retailers can’t afford to ignore.

In recent years, 43% of holiday shoppers planned to start shopping in November. But signs are indicating a major shift this year, and retailers need brace themselves: holiday shoppers are shopping EARLY in 2020, and their preferences have changed.

Read more to learn 3 must-have tips for positioning your brands this holiday season.

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Topics: Pinterest, marketing communications, trends, Instagram, advertising, Cyber Monday, marketing, emails, holiday

Green with Envy: Tips from the New Cool Kids of Garden Social Media

Posted by Becky Paxton on Mon, Oct 5, 2020 @ 1:23 PM

With gardens and houseplants shifting from white-hot trend in 2019 to full-blown national obsession in 2020, the faces at the front of the new wave are social media influencers with legions of followers and backyards that make us—yes—green with envy.

Why should businesses in the horticulture industry pay attention to garden influencers, who range from tattooed and pierced ‘plant dads’ to proud grandmothers with enviable backyards? Because they have a direct line to the eyes, ears and wallets of millions of consumers. And the numbers tell us that these customers trust and take their buying queues from social influencers.

Smart companies are asking two questions:
• What are garden influencers doing right?
• And how can we work with them?

Read more to learn the 1-2-3’s of influencer marketing to green industry businesses.

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Topics: Instagram, social media, key influencers, inbound marketing, Social

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