'Our future is in the stories we tell'

“Don’t be someone you’re not,” said Hendrickson, who recently started a new consulting business called Next New Planet. He suggested that they instead brush up on their storytelling skills.

 

“Our future is in the stories we tell,” he said to the crowd at the ninth annual event. “Marketing is about storytelling … This is not a generational issue. This is a message issue.”

 

Many retailers have already perfected pricing, staff, plant quality and other aspects of running a business, Hendrickson said, but the last missing piece of the puzzle is marketing through stories. 

 

Channeling his middle and high school English teachers, Hendrickson reminded attendees about the basic elements of a good story: Characters, setting, need, resolution and closure. And, he noted the potential purposes of the stories – to entertain, educate, enlighten or provoke emotion – and provided some inspiration. 

 

For example, Bill Van Wilgen, owner of Van Wilgen’s Garden Center in North Branford, Conn., has been diagnosed with cancer twice. A bone marrow transplant helped him recover from his second bout with the illness, and he wanted to give back to the cancer center that treated him. He encouraged customers to “adopt” pink plastic flamingos for $10 each, and told his story through the company’s newsletter, website and social media. Not only did the effort help raise nearly $16,000 for the Smilow Cancer Hospital, but he connected with customers. They told him about their own stories of their experience with cancer. 

 

“Don’t send information from a company. Send it from a person,” Hendrickson advised. 

 

Stories can be about staff. They can be about the origins of a plant and its benefits. But what’s important is that garden centers don’t change who they are, but the perception of who they are, Hendrickson said. Instead of starring in your company’s own commercial, try spotlighting customers young and old and let them tell potential customers why they garden. Two commercials Hendrickson shared from a Louisiana garden center featured a middle-aged man teaching his young daughters how to grow herbs and seasoning his fresh-grilled food with them. Another starred a 90-something woman who says gardening “keeps you young.” 

 

“Honesty will get you through any crisis you’re facing,” he said. “Our DNA is wired for stories. You remember stories better than facts.”

 

Keep checking our website for more coverage from the 2015 IGC Show.