A couple snippets from Website Magazine worth noting (and understanding).

"The Department of Commerce estimated total e-commerce sales for 2005 at $86.3 billion, an increase of 24.6 percent over 2004. Total retail sales in 2005 increased 7.2 percent over 2004, with e-commerce sales accounting for 2.3 percent of total sales. "

That means that 97.7 percent of retail sales in 2005 happened in stores or catalog's.

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"Most people don’t buy right away; they like to shop and compare. The study found that over half of online holiday buying activity occurred in subsequent Internet sessions. This shows a strong trend known as latent buying and the importance of search marketing."

This really tells the story of how people use the web to do research online and then go to the store to buy.

If you think about the perishable products of our green industry, I would estimate that MOST of the green products are sold in store because the buyer wants to physically touch what they are buying.

They'll ask: "Does it have any flower buds on it? Any broken branches? What kind of container is it in? Is it a bio-degradable container? Is it rootbound? What kinda bugs does it get?"

We need to serve the web audience the information they are looking for so that they WILL come to the store.

Otherwise, we'll lose out to those descretionary dollars to another category.

For the full article from Website Magazine, click here.

Steve

Brian Wool wrote an interesting article today at ClickZ.

It is titled: Is One Good Web Site Enough for a Local Business?

The thinking behind it is that there are many opportunites to list your business in different directories, and many have profile pages that showcase your business.

As a business person, you should make the profile page as robust as you can make them.

Here is a snippet from his article:

"I don't think these profile pages are meant to -- or can -- replace a well-built Web site. But for some business categories, where in-depth product details, services, or inventory are necessary, profile pages can help drive traffic."

Click here for the full article.

Steve

So what in the world does Brand Search is Category Driven mean?

It means that consumers don't normally start their search on a search engine with a brand name, they usually start it with a generic category-like term. Here is an example using the travel industry.

Search 1: Vacation

Search 2: Caribbean (search completed some time after search 1)

Search 3: Carribbean Cruise (search completed some time after search 2)

Search 4: Carnival Cruise (the brand)(search completed some time after search 3)

Here are some real examples using categories and keywords from our green industry using a popular search engine.

Plants - is a top tier "generic" category keyword

"Plant" got 126,007 searches and "Plant Nursery" got 23,194 searches. "Plant" wins.

Shrubs - Another category keyword, but would expect to fall under "Plants" in the scheme of things

"Shrub(s)" got 10,789 searches. The numbers are getting smaller. "Flowering Shrub" even smaller.

KnockOut Roses - Here is the brand. Currently the most popular rose in the marketplace.

"KnockOut Rose" scored a total of 2,203 searches at the same time "Plants" did 126,000

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Just for information purposes, here is the data on "Roses".

Man there are a lot of "Lover's" out there searching for a handful of roses. It is almost IMPOSSIBLE for a local garden center or nursery to buy the keyword "Roses" in the search engines. WAY too expense a keyword.

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So here's my point.

If you are a brand, and you have a store locator. That is great. Keep doing it. There are those who will drill down far enough to find you. When they do, make sure your store locator is really good.

However.....

Don't rely soley on your store locator thinking it is THE answer. Invest in other web publications that move traffic through top tier keywords. They can drive traffic to the points at which your brand is sold, and in some instances, can introduce your brand.

Steve

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BTW, I understand this concept because our Lawn and Garden Search dot com site introduces brands at top tier category levels. We will be serving brands into the local businesses with the keyword "garden center" over 500,000 times this year. Not to blow my own horn here, but show me another web site that does that and I'll buy you a rose.

The Purchase Funnel

Above is the classic Purchase Funnel diagram that marketers have been using for years. It has been a tried and true model of the decision making process of the buying consumer.

Not any more.

The "old" purchase funnel diagram does not take into account the influence of the Internet.

The change to the model is happening in the middle tiers of Opinion and Consideration.

Search and the social aspects of the web are making the the center of the funnel bulge. Time to re-stack the funnel or maybe even throw it away, because when using search, the user gets to the tier that says "One make/One model intention" and the funnel comes apart.

Why?

Because brand search is category driven. (I'll address this in tomorrows blog)

What happens now is that when someone searches on the web, their consideration set goes from one to many, as many brands are introduced on the web search. So the funnel gets MUCH wider in the middle.

Maybe we need to start calling it something different:

The Purchase Droplet

See you tomorrow.

Steve

 Phil Adikes 

Phil Adikes and I spoke at Retail X in Cleveland the first week of September 2007.

A nicely run event from Ball Publishing.

Phils Blog, called Garden Center Blog, (along with Eric Wilder) bring blog commentary to us that makes a lot of sense to business owners, but even more so to garden center owners and managers.

Here is an entry from Garden Center Blog that needs to go in the Smart Marketing file:

Notes from Ball Publishing’s Retail Experience 

Posted September 8th, 2007 by Phil Adikes (click here for actual blog entry)

I had a great day today at the Retail Experience show in Cleveland. I told attendees that I would post notes on this page for them to refer to.

Keys to getting new customers:

Search Engine Optimization:

Page names that reflect search terms.

Inbound Links:

• Vendors
• Charities
• Newspaper Articles
• Website Comments

Considerations for Maximum Lifetime Value from customers

For the full blog entry, click here.
 

Wednesday September 19, 2007

The fall plants showcase called GCA's "Fashion In Bloom" starts today.

It is a showcase of the new plant introductions from some of the largest growers in the world hosted at Conard-Pyle Nursery in Pennsylvania and Homestead Growers in Maryland.

The weather is cooperating for this event - blue skies - upper seventies.

I'm heading there today. I'll use this thread to report on what I see.

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My visit to Conard-Pyle was worth the trip. The colors and textures were outstanding. I would think that garden center managers and owners would come away with many display ideas.

I shot a little video footage while I was there.

Click here to see video of Conard-Pyle location.

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Friday September 21st - Homestead Gardens 2 locations

A lot of energy and thought went into the displays at the Homestead locations.

At the Homestead Growers facility, the pathway that wound through the greenhouse was very inviting.

Had a long chat with Sharon Gravit-Warschauer and Doug Parkinson from Euro American Propigators. Their Retro Succulents line on display was really cool. I particularly liked the rooster (on the video).

Here is the video from the 2 Homestead locations.

Steve

In today's marketplace, a web site is a MUST. No question about it, people are doing research on the web, and then going to the location to buy.

Now, it doesn't always start with a search engine. It might just start out on the highway.

Example:

So you are driving down the road (at the posted speed limit of course), and you drive past this garden center/nursery half a dozen times a week....and there is the sign out front with the company name. Bet if you closed your eyes you can picture it.

Does it have a web site address on it? Probably not, but it should.

People will remember the url (web site address) more than any one thing you can publish about your business. It should be legible from the road at the posted speed (or faster).

Here is Bill Calkins talking about his perspective on just this topic. Bill knows what he is talking about !

Take this idea and run with it.

Steve

In the world of search, it is important to know the difference between (existence of?) horizontal and vertical directories, and how to utilize both in an effort to drive users (who don't know about you) to your web site.

Horizontal Directories:

Let's start with horizontal directories. These are the directories you're most familiar with. Traditional yellow pages (print and online) are in the horizontal format. They cover topics like: pizza, mufflers, doctors, lawyers, automotive, restaurants, plumbers etc. The horizontal directory covers a lot if different subjects, all arranged on a horizontal line so you can find them.

Here are some examples of horizontal directories:

YellowPages.com

SuperPages

Switchboard

CitySearch

DexKnows

Vertical Directories:

Vertical directories are not as widely known, but are increasingly popular and relevant. Vertical directories take a subject matter that lands on the horzontal directory line and drills deep into the knowledge base of the subject. It is within these vertical directory spaces that you may find your ideal customer. The horizontal diretories have traditionally been used when a service is needed. For example, if I have broken pipe, I need a plumber now, and would use a horizontal directory (or a vertical about plumbing) right away.

However, if I were researching an arthritic knee solution, finding an appropriate restaurant for a party, researching what kind of lawyer handles my need or planning a garden, a vertical directory woud be the place to start. You will find MUCH more information about the topic in the vertical space. The vertical will cover in depth information that the horizontal can't touch.

Here are some examples of vertical directories:

Health: WebMD.com

Dining: Restaurants.com

Lawyers: FindLaw.com

Lawn and Garden: Lawn and Garden Search

A Search Engine Marketing strategy should be inclusive of horizontal and relevant vertical directories in order to expose your business to the broadest audience. You will be pleasantly suprised by the traffic you get from a both areas.

Steve

One of my favorite resources is the Search Engine Land blog. Greg Sterling's recent contribution titled "Local Search Is About Products Too, Not Just Restaurants And Plumbers" has eye opening impications for our green industry.

We have a fragmented industry. We have breeders that don't know where their plants are being sold. We have brands that utilize a growers network, but each grower in the nextwork won't share information with the brand as to where the plants are being sold.

Ultimately, the consumer loses, as does the green industry as a whole. We are fighting for the attention of the consumer and their descretionary dollars. When they can't find us for the information they need, they take their dollars elsewhere to a place where they understand what they are getting and where they can get it.

So Greg has this to say about product related searches:

"ShopLocal found that "65 percent made an in-store purchase within a week after visiting a site and another 23 percent within three weeks." As more data like this is compiled tactical implications for online marketers will become apparent."

He - llo ! He just said 88% make a purchase in less than a month after doing online research.

Bottom line? You need to have your web site in places that people are searching. When found, they will meet you at your cash register.

Steve

There is all sorts of content being published these days about "Local Search". There are huge amounts of money being thrown at local search platforms as well from the likes of Google, Yahoo, MSN, YellowPages.com, Local.com and many many more.

A recent Piper Jaffray survey showed that local search is now the second most common activity online. They created a recent document called the "User Revolution". It discusses the new advertising ecosystem and the rise of the Internet as a mass medium, and makes some pretty incredible forecasts.

Did you know that people are using the Internet now to make locally focused decisions more than anything other medium with the exception of email? I'm not sure that your local business really understands the size and frequency of the audience that is looking for you. Truthfully, most green industry businesses are missing the boat.

Has "Build it and they will come" been the thinking of your green industry business web site so far? You need a layer of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) on top of your web site if your site is going to be found by those who do not know about you.

Sure, put your URL on your letterhead, invoices, shirts, signs, vehicles etc. But reaching out to those who don't know about you is the strength of SEM. And it works.

I will take some time here in the near future to write about SEM.

Steve

Saturday morning. 6:30 am. Hot bagel and a cup of coffee.

Thumbing through the Sept/Oct issue of Green Profit Magazine. There's a lot of information about the OFA Short Course and Trade Show in this issue, and rightfully so. It was a great show and learning experience.

My friend Bill Calkins gives his farewell salute to us as he is moving up the chain of command at Ball Horticulture. Bill is taking on the position of Manager of Independent Garden Centers. If you are an independent garden center, keep an eye on Bill. He gets around and is very observant of things that can really work for garden centers. . . and he doesn't necessarily get his ideas from garden centers.

The Consumer Buzz Live event is covered pretty well. Kerry Herndon, a grower of Bromeliads and Orchids in Florida, wrote a column about the event and how the Internet was the underlying theme of the CBL event (p. 42). The panelists of 40 year olds said they wanted the garden centers to help them, get to know them, and maintain a relationship. They want to hear from the garden center every month about what they should be doing, whether it is with new things for gardening, or whether is has to do with the things they bought there.

These panelists also reenforced the data that says consumers go to the web to do research first, then go to the store to buy.

My friend Pete Bottomley wrote an article about how garden centers can succeed with customer seminars.

Bottom line take away this morning: We (consumer focused green industry businesses) need to do a better job of developing relationships with our customers, and find ways to establish the relationship that find them where they are.

Sun's up. Time to get moving.

Steve