Practicing what we preach

For the past few years, Garden Center magazine has thumped the drum for change in this business. Day after day, year after year, we've tried to point out that if you're tired of the gloom-and-doom in our market, YOU have to do something. Take steps to reinvent your business and defy the trends that seem to work against you. Innovate! Change your business model because the old one ain't working too well in the "new normal."

Well, it finally occurred to us that WE should practice what we preach.

In March, Garden Center magazine will launch an entirely new type of publication designed exclusively to drive business into your store. It's called A Garden Life, and it's not written for you…it's written for your customers.

A Garden Life will be a digital feast for anyone who loves the urban outdoor lifestyle. There will be fabulous articles about new varieties for the backyard, gardening with children, sustainable practices, growing edibles and everything else about the lifestyle that makes your customers passionate about your products.

In some ways, it will be similar to consumer magazines like "Real Simple" and "Whole Living" in tone, look and content. There will be planting tips for rookies, beautiful photos of home landscapes, descriptions of new plant varieties, ideas for conservation and recycling, recipes, columns, blogs and more that you'd find in those magazines and on their websites. But there is one huge difference: A Garden Life connects those readers directly to you.

Here's how it works: A Garden Life will be a revolutionary, completely digital publication designed for today's consumer. Instead of being a traditional paper magazine, it will be a digital publication delivered directly through e-mail, a website and a customized app for their iPad or Android tablet. It's completely free to them, and YOU can help them get signed up (more about that in a minute).

Imagine a customer—maybe a working mom—reading an article about a beautiful new type of perennial and she wants to find out more. A simple click will allow her to see videos about the variety, find out what bloggers are saying, get tips for care and, most importantly, find out WHERE she can get them locally. That's right…your garden center will pop up on their screen as a source for that product and others.

The fancy term for this is geo-coding. It's the same idea behind smartphone apps and websites that offer local information when you search for a particular product or topic. But, in this case, it links your garden center directly to the people who want what you're selling.

It's not only completely free for your customers…it's also completely free to you, too. Our industry supplier partners are sponsoring A Garden Life to help create pull-through business for their products and yours.

All you need to do is tell your customers about it…and we've made that easy, too. Simply go to www.AGardenLife.com and just say "yes" to download customized Point-Of-Purchase materials that offer a free subscription to A Garden Life to your customers. You will be able to personalize these Point-Of-Purchase materials with your garden center's logo on them for distribution to your customers at check out. You'll also be able to incorporate into A Garden Life's promo material a coupon for your store to further drive sales. We think this is a win-win, adding an exciting new value element to your customer relationships… and supporting a magazine that will entertain them, and help expand your business potential.

You can also promote A Garden Life through your website, and customer e-newsletters with content we'll make available to you. The more you spread the word, the more it will benefit your business.

As a Garden Center magazine subscriber, you'll automatically receive e-mail alerts to tell you what's coming up in the next issue of A Garden Life, as well as information about how other outlets are successfully promoting and using the concept to drive business.

So, we're practicing what we preach by creating an easy, free and revolutionary way to bring business directly to your door. The next step is up to you. Check out our website for more details, but don't miss a chance to be the first in your area to get onboard with A Garden Life.

By the way, just because we're launching something new doesn't mean we're taking Garden Center magazine for granted.

As you've probably already noticed, we've redesigned the magazine for better readability, better organization and better content that reflects your needs in the new normal.

Take a look and let us know what you think!

yyoungblood@gie.net