5 video ideas to boost revenue for your garden center
Is your social media quiet and lacking engagement? Do you not appear high on your local Google search for garden centers? Do you feel as if your neighbors and community aren’t really excited about your garden center?
If so, then it’s time to change all of that.
One of the best ways for garden centers to get more engagement in their social media, appear higher on their local Google search, and excite their communities is through video. In fact, video has been the secret weapon of garden center marketing for years. But why?
Video is King When it Comes to Marketing your Garden Center
According to research, video data usage increased by 24% in 2022, and video usage accounted for 65% of all internet traffic by the end of 2022. That is A LOT of videos.
Video is great for showing audiences who businesses are, why they are unique, and why people should buy the businesses’ products. In fact, 64% of consumers are more likely to buy a product after watching a video about it. So, what does this have to do with garden center marketing?
Why Garden Centers Should Use Video for Marketing
Garden center marketing videos are great for doing the following:
1. Telling garden centers’ unique story
This is your chance to tell your origin story, show how you are unique among your competitors, showcase your personality, and show your audience your specialties.
2. Showing local communities who you are.
Most garden center owners who post videos on social media and YouTube say that there are numerous customers who come out and say, “Hey, I saw you on that video you posted!”
So, video is a great way to stay in the front of potential customers’ minds, and it puts a face to a name so that your customers can envision who you are and can visualize buying products from you. Really, video helps your potential customers feel like they know you as a person. (Consider the fact that people don’t like doing business with businesses — they like doing business with PEOPLE!)
3. Building trust with customers.
Video helps to portray you as relatable and trustworthy. You are not a faceless corporation. You’re a person leading a team of people—just like your customers.
4. Boosting social media engagement.
Research finds that video generates 1200% more shares on social media than do photo posts. Thus, more video means more shares, which means that you’re reaching a bigger and bigger audience through social media. Heck, at this rate people who have never heard of you before will now have heard of you and are far more likely to stop by. Which leads us to our next point…
5. Driving sales.
More and more people prefer videos over static posts, and 86% of people state that they want to see more videos from the brands that they love. It makes sense then that 78% of marketing professionals find that videos directly increase their clients’ sales and drive traffic to their clients’ websites.
6. Ranking higher in local search rankings.
YouTube—which is all about video—is the second largest search engine on the Internet, and even Google is starting to prioritize more video in its search pages, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI). Video is key if you want to rank higher on your local search rankings. Our post, “How to Win Local SEO for Your Garden Center” explains more on how garden centers can rank higher in local search rankings so people in your region can easily discover your garden center on Google Search.
Garden Center Video Ideas
All of your garden center marketing videos should be personalized to you and your garden center. Show off your facility, your plants, your specialties, and your staff. Make it uniquely you. Here are some more garden center video ideas to increase your video presence.
1. DIY Garden Projects and Tutorials
To you, gardening and landscaping may be second nature. But for many of your current and potential customers, landscaping and gardening can be confusing, difficult, and intimidating. You can position yourself as a trustworthy authority on gardening by creating videos that show each step in creating a certain type of garden, tackling a gardening challenge, completing a landscaping project, etc.
Some video ideas include how to arrange perennials in your garden bed, how to create a pollinator-friendly garden, how to plant a native garden, how to build raised beds, how to create vertical gardens, how to plant a potato, and how to harvest broccoli.
2. Seasonal Gardening Tips and Plant Care
Garden centers often receive numerous questions from their customers. Keep your ear to the most common questions you hear about plant care and turn your answers into videos. Some questions whose answers can be turned into videos may include: “How do I take care of [specific plant],” “Why is my houseplant dying,” “Why do my succulents look terrible,” “Why aren’t my hydrangeas blooming,” and “What’s going on with my roses?” Answering questions on video also shows people many of the possibilities that gardening can offer to them.
Video is also great for gardening reminders and how-to advice. Some video ideas in this category include reminding viewers when to plant their pumpkins so that they’re ready for fall, explaining how to care for seasonal flowers, discussing how to trim fruit trees, and showing how to tackle common plant diseases and pests (seriously, how do we get rid of those critters that keep eating our Brussel sprouts?).
By positioning yourself as a trusted resource, viewers will be more likely to turn to your garden center for their gardening needs. So, make your advice as locally specific as possible.
Ultimately, your videos should show your viewers your knowledge and passion for gardening, which differentiates you from big box stores and adds further value to your garden center.
3. Expert Interviews and Q&A Sessions
Consider inviting your gardening contacts or finding local gardening experts, horticulturists, or landscape designers to participate in interview-style videos or live Q&A sessions. You could discuss various gardening topics such as plant selection, landscape design tips, and solving common gardening challenges. Encourage your audience and customers to submit their questions in advance or during a live video session on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube.
Not only will these interview videos provide valuable information to your viewers, but they will also attract a wider audience, potentially gain exposure for your garden center, and perhaps give you some great backlinking opportunities. You can read our post on what backlinking is and why it’s important to garden center marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) by clicking here: “How to Win Local SEO for Your Garden Center.”
4. Before and After Garden Transformations
Consider capturing the journey of transforming a neglected or uninspiring outdoor space into a beautiful garden oasis. Start by showcasing a “before” video where you discuss the challenges and limitations of the space. Then, document the process of redesigning and revamping the garden, including showing the plant selection, any landscape modifications, and the installation of garden features. Finally, reveal the stunning “after” video and highlight the dramatic transformation as well as the potential of your garden center’s products.
You can also do these “before” and “after” videos with saving plants.
These videos are great for showing your plants and products “in action!” Make sure to include a list of each plant and product you use in the video and in the video’s description so that it is easier for people to replicate your project’s success and buy necessary items when they visit your garden center.
This type of video is a fun and unique opportunity to show off your garden center. Also, these videos are highly shareable and can generate buzz around your garden center, thereby attracting new customers and increasing your garden center’s revenue.
How to Get Started Making Videos for Your Garden Center
Making garden center marketing videos doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. A cellphone is fine to use for filming, and you can purchase a lapel mic from Amazon if you want quality audio or have background sounds such as fans or echoes. Also, consider doing the following to create the most effective garden center marketing videos:
1. Use relevant and local keywords throughout the video.
2. Have a descriptive title.
The title should include relevant keywords, describe what happens in the video, and tell people why they should care (Ex. “4 Ways to Protect Your Plants from Pests”).
3. Have an engaging thumbnail image.
Design one easily in Canva.
4. Promote your videos.
Make sure to promote your videos on your website, social medial channels, and email newsletters to reach a wider audience and drive traffic to your garden center.
5. Publish a video at least once a month.
Preferably, you would publish more often than once a month, but even monthly postings will increase awareness and traffic to your garden center.
If you regularly create great garden center marketing videos, then you will drive foot traffic and more purchases to your garden center, which means more monthly revenue. Further, your garden center will appear higher on search engines (including Google), you’ll achieve increased engagement on your social media, and you’ll reach more people in your community because you’re showing up for people through video, you’re educating them, and you’re being their local plant expert. Thus, you’ll be positioned as a local, active, and trusted authority and you will be turning your neighbors into your fans!
McCusker’s Marketing for Garden Centers: Uplifting Family-Owned, Independent Garden Centers
If you would like some guidance or help in marketing and creating regular videos for your garden center, then feel free to reach out to McCusker’s Marketing for Garden Centers via phone, text message, or email.
McCusker’s Marketing for Garden Centers provides high-quality, custom marketing to family-owned, independent garden centers. We specialize in getting our garden centers more foot traffic, helping them to compete with big box stores, and telling our garden centers’ unique stories.
We at McCusker’s Marketing for Garden Centers love garden centers, we love making America more beautiful by uplifting local garden centers, and we’d love to help you in your garden center marketing journey. We can’t wait to meet you!
Phone: 440-822-9260
Email: Rebecca@McCuskersMarketing.com
