Make a Splash is the next segment of Nature’s Rx for Mental Wellness, the theme for the 2018 Garden Trends Report, we are diving deeper into.

If you missed the other deep dives, here are Breathing Rooms, Social Network and Climate Controlled. 

There’s tremendous support for water as a decorative feature and environmental tactic. Preparing the garden to embrace storms and excess rainfall will not only help save water but also help to control storm water runoff.

The growing trend of filtering water with plants helps with healthy water management, while still keeping beauty in the garden.

So, where do we begin?

Today we are diving deeper into Nature’s Rx for Mental Wellness, the theme for the 2018 Garden Trends Report.

With the constant changes in our climate. we need to keep in mind what we can do to help our gardens thrive.

When our ecosystems are stressed, we get stressed too. So, what can we do to help keep our gardens, and our minds, in shape?

Continue reading to find out what garden type you should try for your garden.

As we continue to dive into Nature’s Rx for Mental Wellness, the theme for the 2018 Garden Trends Report, we start to look more to how we can create spaces that help ease our minds.

Imagine walking through a forest and you’ll see that almost every bit of soil is covered with interlocking plants. Trees are covered with moss; the ground is covered with leaves, debris, grasses and moss.

Everything is working in perfect harmony.

Why do we think our garden should be any different?

Read more to learn about one of our 2018 Garden Trends: Social Network

The most important step in creating content is figuring out what your audience wants to read. 

Audiences come to trusted brands for their information. In fact, 65% of daily internet users read blogs. It could be YOUR blog if you make it easy for them to find it.

And yes, while blogs can assist you with the effective promotion of a service or product, they do more to build your businesses credibility, trust and authority. 

However, if you're still about the ROI:

• 63% of people turn to blogs to influences their purchase decisions.
• 60% of U.S. online consumers say they've made a purchase as a direct result of reading a blogger's recommendation.

Continue reading how to build content your readers want.

Nature’s Rx for Mental Wellness, the theme for the 2018 Garden Trends Report, is all about taking a break from being connected 24/7 and getting back in the real world.

The World Health Organization predicts anxiety will be the #1 health issue, outranking obesity by 2020.

That’s right around the corner. If we don’t try to stop that now, we are going to be in major trouble.

Thankfully, there is more talk of wellness in the world more than ever.

Celebrities and Royals are talking about their mental wellness goals, which is helping demystify mental health.

The bottom line is: Happy mind = Happy body.

2018 is officially here!

This year Garden Media Group is taking a break – a mental break that is. Our focus for this year is mental wellness and with that comes a few resolutions to make that happen.

Before we jump into what resolutions we are looking forward to, let’s take a look back in 2017.

Brands did some great things and some not so great things. In the spirit of growing, let’s see what we can learn from 2017.

Use Your Voice: Thousands of women stood up and spoke up with #MeToo. This led to a cover of Time magazine as “Person of the Year.” As Trump took office, companies raced to get their brand in order to see what they were going to do to help immigrants have a voice of their own.

Using your voice doesn’t mean speaking out against every issue – it does mean backing the issues your brand, customers and employees might be dealing with.

Podcasts and Videos: It has been shown time and time again video marketing is here to stay! How-To videos are great for millennials and vlogger influencers are trending like crazy. Podcasts are picking up quickly. Branded video content being featured or even sponsoring a podcast is a great way to get your name out there in a new niche.

Narrow it down: Brands that have narrowed down their audience and created content for specific people have hit the nail on the head. Netflix did a great job of this while promoting the newest Stranger Things season. They used era specific photos and hints to really drive the nostalgia of the 80s.

Continue reading to see what resolutions to follow in 2018.

TrendKite just released a fantastic article with tips to secure your PR budget for the new year.

While Garden Media Group handles this on a different end, we know some of our readers need to fight for every dollar in their company's marketing budget so we wanted to share tips on being the most effective you can be.

Companies often take the money that is budgeted for PR and put it into a different area of marketing. It is up to PR professionals to fight for their budget - and hopefully an increase.

Continue reading for tips on how to secure your PR budget for next year.

Everyone gets old, if we're lucky. But getting old doesn’t mean you stop caring about your well-being, looks and insecurities, so why do businesses assume as much?

In a recent Atlantic article, “Why Businesses Misunderstand Old People,” Joseph Coughlin touches on this intriguing thought.

According to the article, 80 percent of Americans who could benefit from hearing aids aren't seeking them out. 

Is it poor marketing channels? Maybe. But according to Coughlin, traditional hearing aids make people feel old, and no one wants that. 

As influencers in the garden industry, we need to take this into account.The scale of the gardener demographics is largely tilted to an older audience, and if you are missing the mark on what they want, your message will fall flat.

Continue reading to see what businesses are doing to accommodate the older generation.

What do an abacus, a calculator and an iPhone have in common? They all represent a decline in learning everyday practices.

Less real world learning opportunities are offered in school today while more Googling anything continues to rise. The latest internet meme revolves around knowing what mitochondria are, but not how to file taxes – or even how to care for houseplants.

Generations Y and Z are all about YouTube and will look up just about anything from how to boil an egg, change a flat tire or French braid hair. In fact, no feat is too small for YouTube. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that America’s Retailers Have a New Target Customer: The 26-Year-Old Millennial. This age bracket, bigger than any other, is pushing companies to revamp marketing and products, including a lot of remedial education.

Being able to follow step-by-step instruction offers more to its user than assuming they know what to do with the product. Companies that offer how-to content are quickly climbing the ladder to the most influential brands.

REI’s loyal customer base is the leading example; they have over 500 in-depth articles and videos. In addition, they also have a LIVE chat feature and Q&A on their website.

Continue Reading to see how your brand can utilize How-To content.

October 2017 - (Philadelphia) IMPACT Marketing & PR, Inc. was recognized in the Philadelphia Book of Lists as a Top Woman-Owned business and Top PR firm for 2017. Suzi McCoy founded IMPACT Marketing 30 years ago.

Garden Media Group, a subsidiary of IMPACT, was founded 20 years ago to serve the horticulture, gardening and outdoor living industries. Our boutique public relations firm gets results fast because we have our finger on the pulse of the industry and the ear of influencers from top outlets – from Better Homes & Gardens and Magnolia Journal to the sweeping social media outlets. Our clients are both national and international and come to us to make them popular with their target market. We also publish an annual garden trends report, one of the most widely read reports in the industry.

Continue Reading to learn about our Queen Bee and how GMG was born.