Media coverage is how you build a brand.

Both on social media and traditional media sources, this is your chance to tell your brand's story and make personal connections with your target audience.

But, the one major difference? On social media, your brand is totally in charge while in traditional media you're at the mercy of the journalist.

To better prep for media interviews with outlets of any size, be sure your brand's face can answer four of journalists' toughest questions.

Instagram recently rolled out a video feature.  Now Vine isn't the only platform you can take quick snappy videos.

As social media and amateur video making continue to evolve, your garden business needs to be aware of the changes and know how to embrace them!

There's a head-on battle brewing between the new Instagram Video and the already beloved Vine.

Let's take a look at both platforms, and see who wins when it comes to garden marketing in this heated feud for social video!

All the elements for your public relations campaign are now in line: goals, objectives, key media, and target audience.

Your campaign has rolled out across a multitude of media outlets--and audiences are craving more.

Now that you have an action and media plan in line as well as a few media hits, you need to focus on maintaining momentum.

Your garden company cannot blast the same message in the same way year after year. To keep it interesting, add a new twist to your campaign each year.

Let's look at our PR Campaign Case Study on Costa Farms' O2 for You to illustrate the art of shifting the tactics each year while furthering your campaign's goals.

Are you an app addict? Always downloading new apps on your smartphone?

Well then it may come as a surprise to you that people use their smartphones most for emails, not apps, not internet, not actual phone calls, but E-MAIL.

A study found 79% of smartphone users use their phone to check email. And, after checking their personal email, emails from brands - or even better emails from your garden business are their second priority in terms of importance.

And a whopping 70% said direct emails from businesses influence their buying behavior -- a great ROI! That's why mobile email marketing is definitely a worthwhile investment.

With these stats in mind, your garden business needs to take a second look at your email marketing and use these simple but powerful tips for an email makeover.

Whenever you sit down to write something, do you imagine how impactful it will be?  Or how many eyes will read it?

Well, did you know that 40% of your articles never get read?

Yes, the one you slaved over and edited again and again.

If you're lucky, about 60% of your articles will be read! But there are secrets to increase readership and give your posts some punch.

Below, we've got some more facts about consumer reading habits... HOWEVER, we have ways to combat these findings and advice on how to produce pieces your readers will love.

By now, you should have a solid understanding of the basics of a public relations campaign as well as how to define your goals and objectives.

However, you really can't begin to craft your key messages and target media outlets until you determine your key audience.

Today, we're going to focus on the key questions you need to ask about your target demographic and how to translate that to media outlets in your region and on a national level.

Through our GROW! e-Book club, we've been getting oodles of questions about how to measure social media--and for good reason.

In the scheme of public relations and the garden industry, social media is still a new medium. New or now, your garden business needs to be participating on the most relevant platforms for your target audience.

But, how can you tell if the time and energy your garden company invests is worth the return on your investment?

We're going to share an easy way to implement step-by-step processes to measure the success of your garden business's social media campaigns.

Big or small, no business is guaranteed a fruitful financial year. In fact, maintaining your popularity with customers is hard work--and you always need to be ten steps ahead.

A new study, released this week, surveyed professionals about the next 10 years of marketing.

Read on to discover what your garden business needs to remain thriving (and relevant) in ten years.

Last week, we focused on the steps to creating a public relations campaign. As promised, we've returned to walk you through steps one and two: defining goals and objectives. 

Our spotlight will be on Costa Farm's wildly successful O2 for You campaign from 2008-2012.

Below are our proven to work steps to define goals and objectives for a public relations campaign in the garden industry. 

Vine has been dominating headlines lately because (drum roll please) Vine is officially available for Android phones!

In case you missed it the first time around, Vine is the easiest way to make videos. Anybody with a smart phone can make a six second video and upload it to Twitter.

But, there's a catch. Now that Vine has been around for four months, we've seen a lot of the same videos.

While Vine may be called the Instagram of Video, like the picture above illustrates, you have got to be doing more with your video than the standard.

Freshen up your garden business's Vine tactic by trying 8 types of Vine that innovate--and consumers LOVE to retweet.