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Eileen Nelson
UW-Madison Department of Horticulture
608-265-5283 |
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| Do You Know Who Your Customer Is? | | |
When you market your business/products, do you focus on what you sell or what your customer wants to buy? There is a subtle difference.
That is one of the many take-aways I learned from the recent Marketing Course I took at UW Madison's School of Business. To be effective marketing needs to focus on what your customer wants -- not what you want to sell them. To do that you need to "know your customer." In a recent issue of the OFA Bulletin, Sid Raisch covers the same topic. . . .
Your customer does much more than buy the stuff you sell. They are the reason you sell what you sell. The marketer's job is not to sell what you have produced or bought, it is to produce or buy what your customer wants from you.
Before we get to what the customer wants, do we know who they are so you can find out what they want from you? All you have to do is ask, but you have to ask the right people. Too often we ask ourselves, our staff, or worse yet - our vendors.
It's not that any of these people have malicious intent. They are just not the customer, and no matter how similar they may be to your customers their view is different. Sometimes the core type of customer is only a small part of the total picture because different types of customers make up a customer base. Also consider customer types you are
missing. The answer to this question can be complex.
That's all the more reason to know for sure who they are.
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Openhort.com | | |
I ran across this open source green industry marketing blog started by Art Parkerson, Owner of Lancaster Farms in Virginia.
www.openhort.com
For those new to our conversation, this site is intended to be a place for "open-source" green industry marketing--a place for us to share what we're doing and what's working (or not).
Our industry is great about sharing growing techniques and cultural practices, but we need to step up our marketing abilities--and our openness in this area.
I started this site after the 2010 ANLA Management Clinic. I was a moderator for a session called the "Swap Shop," where the central topic was along these lines, "Okay, growing these plants is the easy part now. How do we sell them?" I wanted to continue and broaden the conversation we started then...and to actually do something instead of just sit there and say, "somebody ought to do X,Y and Z to promote this industry."
Check out his manifesto at:
http://www.openhort.com/photos/?page_id=249
What ideas do you have to contribute? |
| Spring Trials on Face Book | | |
If you want to follow along at the Spring Trials, March 26 a to April 1, Grower Talks/Green Profit has started a FaceBook Page at: https://www.facebook.com/springtrials
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| American Society for Horticultural Science | | | ASHS now has their archival content (2008 and prior) of the Journal of the AmericanSociety for Horticulatural Science (JASHS), HortScience and HortTechnology is OPEN ACCESS in the online ASHS journal sites on HighWire Press. Access them from here: http://www.ashs.org/ |
| Grants for Community Gardens | | |
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. is offering $1,500 grants to communities and organizations involved in creating community gardens and green spaces.
The goal is to plant 1,000 gardens and green spaces across the U.S., Canada and Europe by 2018. To help achieve that goal, Scotts Miracle-Gro launched a new program called GRO1000. Communities interested in pursuing 2011 GRO1000 grassroots grants can apply online at http://thescottsmiraclegrocompany.com/GRO1000 by March 31, 2011.
Projects should include the involvement of neighborhood residents and foster a sense of community spirit. |
| The Rookie Bench | | |
Source: Todays Garden Center, February 2011
We all know how intimidating that first trip to a garden center can be - your main goal is to make sure those first timers don't feel overwhelmed and just turn around and walk back out the door empty handed.
Here's a quick idea from Ball Horticultural Company's Bill Calkins that can help take the pressure off those beginners: The Rookie Gardener Bench. Set aside a bench in a highly visible area so the inexperienced gardeners will see it as soon as they walk in. Stock it with low-maintenance, easy-to-work-with plants you know will succeed in your area. Make sure to display all the other products they'll need - fertilizers, tools, gloves, containers, etc. And have a staff member stationed nearby to approach those first-timers, answer all their questions, and reassure them that you're there to make sure they have a successful first experience.
They'll appreciate it, and they'll be back again soon - more confident, with a little-bit greener thumb and ready to try something new. |
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