Seeing is believing

As the days grew shorter and our customer base started to thin out for the season, it was about time for the garden center to make a few cuts here and there to start going into hibernation mode for the winter. As usual, we cut back on unnecessary purchasing and laid off those non-critical employees. With restricted income and constant expenses, there wasn’t much wiggle room when it came down to advertising or even extra purchasing. 

So, when an 8-foot-long, life-like resin tiger statue was delivered, I almost had a heart attack. As an employee of a small indie shop, you’d think word would get around when one of your coworkers decides to spend a large chunk of the monthly purchasing budget on a large fake tiger. With a simple smile and a shrug of his shoulders, the owner responded “Sell it.” With that, “Kaline the Tiger” became just another piece of merchandise to unload — or was it? 
 

Take a peek

Enter visual branding, the practice of putting an image in front of your target audience and instilling a memory that will last long after they’ve left your business (or looked at an ad, heard a commercial etc.) Every business has a persona, a personality, a character and a product that they want to convey to the public, and if those things add up to a positive visual brand — it will stick with the consumer after they've left the garden center. If you’ve got the proper persona, you can advertise all day and all night by being nothing but a pleasant memory in your customers' minds.
 

Reevaluate your persona

Every business has a certain target audience who they have to cater to. Take tattoo shops and antique malls for example. If you were to try to market your tattoo shop with bronze lamps and exotic glassware, you’re not going to reach the target audience you need to reach. If anything, that target audience isn’t going to take you seriously and will give you bad publicity. Instead of taking memories from your store and sharing pleasantries with their friends and families, those customers will walk away with a negative impression.

This is why it’s important to look over your business and see what you are purveying. What makes you stand out? Chances are if you’ve been successful thus far, you’re not in a terrible position, but you could always be better. What is it going to take to rejuvenate your business and set you apart and make you more cutting edge than the rest? Perhaps the tattoo shop thought they would be cutting edge by “classing it up,” but without proper execution it was a waste of time.
 

Image is everything

Repeating certain images will help implant in consumers' heads. Look at famous logos such as Starbucks. This image has a very familiar color, pattern, shape and is recognizable at a glance. As a small independent, however, you can’t use the chain mentality to instill memories. Chains can do this by repetition on every exit ramp, street corner or strip mall; you cannot. To create an image that will last you must put it where the people can see it. Using social media, the Internet and even something as simple as a small ad in the newspaper will assist in putting your logo and image where people will see it and remember it — even if it’s not something that would be of interest to them at that very moment.

A perfect example of visual impact on consumers’ thoughts would be the idea that during intermissions at drive-in movie theaters, the images on the screen would tempt you into buying refreshments, even if you weren’t hungry or thirsty. The temptation of the dancing hot dog will lure you in, even if you know it’s against your better judgment. What captivates the buyer is the use of familiar, comforting images that stimulate and make you feel like you’re part of the experience. The dancing popcorn tub isn’t just dancing, it’s dancing with you. It’s dancing with your mind.
 

Use “popcorn power”

In order to use all of your assets, you may have to lose a few that you’ve become used to for a long time. Chances are when your business was founded, you developed a motto, designed a logo, and chose company colors. When was the last time you looked at them and then took a look at the world around you? Things are getting more streamline, simple and easy to digest, and your logo and motto should be the same. If you’ve had the same multi-colored avocado green and harvest yellow logo since the '70s you might want to look toward updating it a bit. If your logo gets into the eyes of a younger, stylish customer, they might look at your store as dated and perhaps think you’re out of touch with the latest trends. Also, believe it or not, font has a lot to do with how your business is perceived. Ensure that your logo has a good, bold font that’s easy to read, yet still up to date with the latest trends. Remember, in a world that’s moving toward simplicity, a straightforward font and simple logo color go a long way.

You never want your customer/potential customer to have to stop and try to figure out what you’re trying to sell them either. Once you get that customer in your store, they can see your logo and motto from wherever they are standing in at least three places. Put it on your signage or on banners above your annuals tables. Repeating your name will implant that image into your customers' minds, and much like the dancing popcorn, the thought will stick with them long after they leave your store. This might take a bit of work, but in the end, the more you can get your name in front of the customer, the more they’ll carry the memory with them.

Think back to the Starbucks logo. You can see the silhouette of the green mermaid somewhere without seeing words or descriptions and immediately correlate the image to the coffee shop. Your mind will then go to coffee, snacks, soft music and spending money. That money will go to the store, the store will make a profit, and you’ll be happy. People will go out of their way to go someplace where they are comfortable and familiar, and a warm, welcoming logo is something that will lure them in without saying a word. Imagine you’re travelling in a town you’re unfamiliar with, and there are three coffee shops lined up - all with the same menu - all with the same waiting line - where are you going to go? Would it be one of the two shops that you’ve never heard of, or the one that you’ve experienced and are comfortable with? Depending on the mood, chances are you’ll go to what you know. This will all come back to your logo.
 

Think beyond graphics

Logos are important when it comes down to implanting an image in your customers’ mind, but you must also be able to create a visual experience to go along with that logo. Unless you have something unique to offer, you’ll just blend into the background.

Garden centers aren’t always thought of as edgy, but they certainly can be! For my garden center, edgy came in the form of an 8-foot-long tiger. Instead of looking at the tiger with a groan and wondering who would be silly enough to buy it, we reveled in it and made it our mascot. Not only did this large money pit actually turn things around for us, it started an online movement. The tiger had daily adventures to look at new exciting things in the store and gave advice on how what to plant, and even starred in a stop motion movie. 

Using an object as part of your visual brand can be as simple as what we did with our resin tiger or it could be being known for the store with a friendly cat, a great cornucopia made of burlap for Thanksgiving or being located at the old filling station. Having an advertising gimmick such as a tiger, a cat or a unique location will make coming up with ideas to advertise around easier in the future. When running ads, you can rely on a familiar image representative of your store, such as an 8-foot tiger. When customers see this, they’ll remember it, primarily because it’s not what they expected.
 

Independents — far from typical

Being in the battle of big box versus little guys is a blessing in disguise. Look at those big box stores and see what they can’t do, and what you can.

There isn’t any way that they could use a gimmick such as an fake tiger in their local ads - they’re stuck with a mass produced advertisement that they have no control over.

The big box up the street has strict rules that ban animals from taking residence in their proximity - but who makes your rules? You do! Find all the rules that the big box up the street has to stick to and break them:

• Create holiday events centered around bringing in large shipments of a certain flower/item - such as a free geranium for every mother on Mother’s Day. This will make you the “place with the free geranium.”
• Get a store pet, but make sure it’s one that won’t offend. Being the store with “that big fuzzy cat” might be better than for the “goat that eats the weeds out of the plant pots.”
• Check out Al Johnson’s Restaurant in Wisconsin. Most people don’t even know they have food. They’re known more for having goats.
• Create a mascot, be it a person dressed in a costume, an object (like our tiger) or a cartoon character. Having something semi-silly for comic relief will make your customer smile, and a smiling customer is always money in the bank.
• Make your logo seasonal - change it to reflect what’s going on that particular time of the year. When your big box buddy up the street is stuck with the same logo, you can accent yours with Christmas lights, a turkey or even a little birthday cake to celebrate your anniversary (and you should ALWAYS celebrate your anniversary).

By appealing to customers’ eyes, you appeal to their minds. Then, you have to know where to lead your customers once you’ve got their attention. Misguiding or confusing images will just turn them away, so make sure you’ve got your plan of attack for visual branding laid out. 

The image that you project to the world is the image that they’re going to carry with them to the bar, the bakery and the barbershop. Make it a good one or kiss your new customers goodbye.

Nikki Weed is a horticulturist and professional adventurer who uses her experiences and knowledge to manage a successful garden center in Greenville, S.C. She can be reached at pepitaweed@gmail.com