At Garden Media Group, we approach every single item on our agenda with oodles of excitement.

From the moment we wake until we sleep, we’re laughing, brainstorming, typing like crazy, and working as a team—all with enthusiasm.

If you are a dedicated GROW! Reader, you know firsthand how much we love to show our excitement even on the web. That’s right, exclamation points and emoticons galore! You’ve just got to love it!! We even have an exclamation point in our blog title!

But, what about the times when you’re just pleased and a small smile lurks across your face, but you don’t have enthusiasm exuding out of you.

Enter the Elrey Mark, the newest exclamation mark on the scene. Would you use this new punctuation, made for digital communications in 2013?

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Vine, Blogging. Ugh, my head is already spinning! Anyone else's?? 

Social media plays a HUGE role in any modern, successful company's media plan, but it can also take up a good deal of time.

It doesn't have to, though.

Load up your social media toolbelt, and prepare to be amazed. These four tools outlined below will save you and your garden business oodles of time. Plus, time is money. Need we say more?

Email marketing, like most all things, can do some amazing good... or irreparable damage. Email marketing lets you build relationships with leads and current customers. Customers have even said that they like email marketing more than a regular email. Not only are they a customer favorite, but they also are more effective.

The emails sent by email marketing are usually beautiful. They're gorgeous to look at, so you'd think they'd be more likely to be read. Well, yes and no.

Email marketing is good, but only to a certain extent..

So, how much email  marketing is too much, and how can your business avoid getting on customers' black lists?

A New Year means out with the old and in with the new, so where exactly does that put Facebook? Facebook has over 1 billion users, so it’s definitely here to stay. Yet, the social media mogul certainly is changing.

I am a huge fan of using infographics to convey a message.  Whether they are about gardening or technology, infographics always seem to make sense to me, be pretty to look at, and be just enough information to keep my attention. 

Drum roll please! Pinterest is finally embracing its role in public relation media plans! Yes, businesses have been using Pinterest to promote new products and connect with customers.

But, until recently, commercial use of Pinterest was actually prohibited! Some rules are just made to be broken! Garden Media Group has been getting a ton of buzz for being one of the first PR firms to properly harness the power of Pinterest.

Now, it’s your turn! Learn the ins and outs of the new business accounts on Pinterest. Apply these tips to your garden business’s Pinterest page.

Just a few days ago, we were reflecting on the importance of including videos in press releases, but today, we’re going to take it a step further.

After a video is made, it cannot just be used in press releases! It must be mass-distributed. YouTube is the internet’s second most popular search-engine, right after Google. 48 hours of video are uploaded every minute of every day.

With that much content, SEO optimization for videos should be a critical and thoughtful task.

When trying to get your garden business and brand exposure, you can’t rely exclusively on the tried and true methods. Yes, they work, but they’re also over done.

To be a true leader in the lawn and garden industry, you’ve got to be leading the pack—that means you’ve got to stay afoot of PR trends and garden trends. Luckily, we can help you out on both fronts!

Induated by e-mails and cold phone calls, reporters and editors at the local and national level are looking for new ways to find stories. 

Take hold of social media, and make it work for you! Using a fresh, new approach to pitching stories may be just what you need.

Below are easy ways you can bring your pitching strategies into the 21^st century.

Pinterest has captured the attention of the media and the masses alike since its inception in 2010. But, some businesses are still left wondering how to use Pinterest to increase their social reputation.

If social media is making your head spin, you're not alone. Social media and other Internet tools are still in the wild west stage. There are no rules. There are little analytics. And the players can pop out of nowhere, even surprising themselves with their instant Internet fame.

I'm not a math wizard, but this makes sense to me. 1X1 equals what? One! That's old media. No dialogue. No conversation. No engagement. Now let's say you share some news with 100 of your closest friends . . . and they share your news with 100 of their closest friends. Now that 1X1 becomes 1X100X100 or 10,000! That's why you want to put social media in your marketing tool box. You can reach incredible numbers with the click of a mouse.

If that's not convincing you to ramp up your social marketing, check out these facts: