My dad used to say, “The meek shall inherit the earth, but only if they have the courage to claim it.” This is a strong statement and it is also the jumping off point to this month’s column on promotion and advertising.

You can fill a convention room with people from our green industry and there are two topics that will always generate a heated debate. The first controversial topic is which fertilizer to use for root growth and the other is advertising and promotion. In my 30-some years in our trade I have heard many opinions, but rarely a consensus on either subject. Leaving the volatility of the 10-52-10 versus 10-30-20 debate alone, I will now venture into the other discussion that raises voices.

The entire purpose of advertising is to create brand recognition for our businesses and to influence people to shop at our stores. Measuring this is often referred to as TOM which is the acronym for top of mind. Here is how TOM is determined. Ask people questions such as these:

1. When you think of pizza, you think of __________.
2. When you think of a radio station, you think of _______.
3. When you think of a greenhouse, you think of ________.

For this to be effective, the respondent must answer within five seconds or move onto the next question. Needless to write, (but I will anyway) the business owner wants the vast majority to answer with his name when asked. Advertising assists in creating and increasing that TOM penetration.

Set a budget, spend wisely
For most of our businesses, we should have an annual budget set aside for advertising between two and four per cent of gross sales. And for a specific campaign, if we are launching a new product line, we might even want to look at a ten per cent budget for initial market penetration.

Where we spend our budget is part of the great debate between different operators. Some swear by television and others by newspaper and some swear at both of them. I have tried radio in a number of different formats, and I did not find it worth my while. Having written that, my friend Jan Pederson, from Shelmerdine’s in Winnipeg, insists that radio is totally worthwhile, and I respect his business acumen, but I still disagree. My opinion is that people listen to radio but they do not hear the message. After many years in the business, my formula was to spend 70 per cent on newspaper and 30 per cent on television.

With my newspaper budget, I had two small ads on page two of the paper every Tuesday and Saturday, just to keep my company name out front. I did that every month of the year. That was my consistency advertising. Then on every Thursday during the busy months, I ran a half- or a two third-page display ad, featuring specials, new introductions, staff members and gardening tips. In the slower months, I would reduce that display ad from weekly to bi-weekly.

With my television advertising, I did a major spring campaign that started earlier than many of my competitors. My observation was that come May, people were already out in their gardens or they were shopping at their favourite garden centres, not watching television. So to influence them, I ran my commercials much heavier during April. I also ran a smaller campaign for fall bulbs in September and a medium sized one for Christmas sales.

One thing I am convinced of in this multi-channel universe is that channel surfing slows down during the local news broadcast, as viewers have a strong commitment to those programs. As much as I could afford it, I would buy time during local news. At the time I was purchasing, I noticed that the rates just prior to the six o’clock local news were considerably cheaper, as they were tied into the program ratings prior to the news. People are already tuned in for the start of their news show, so 5:59 was my favourite spot.

The best promo is not for sale
My favourite form of advertising is promo-tion, and by that I mean free promotion. Free is such a popular word for us Scotsmen. This part of the column should be titled ‘Shameless Self Promotion 101.’ We are in a business that is custom made for free promotion. Pity the poor toilet seat manufacturer; how many times can he get a story about his product run for free? And yet here we are with television stations, magazines and newspapers more than willing to run stories that feature plants, our plants, and other gardening stories.

Prepare a fax and e-mail list of all the local media, especially the lifestyle editor of your newspaper. You must be careful not to send endless faxes or e-mails with sale items. Your information should focus on new introductions and timely garden tips; information that will interest their readers and viewers. Over the years, I managed to get full-page articles with colour photographs written about roses, water gardening, statuary, bulbs and poinsettias. Each one of those pages was framed and displayed at my garden centre. I also got regular articles published about care of Christmas trees, the best time to prune, lawn care and secrets of good gardeners. That was just the newspaper. Then, the television stations would come around on slow news days when there was still snow on the ground, looking for a ‘feel good’ story about the greenhouse and all of its wonderful plants. Radio stations are often looking for stories or expert opinions, and it doesn’t hurt your bottom line to be the expert interviewed.

Local cable companies, as well as radio stations, will often host a gardening show, especially during the spring, and I fully believe those are the best opportunities for free promotion. If you yourself are not the best at public speaking, perhaps you have a staff member who is comfortable doing the job. I have always maintained that these stories and shows are the best form of advertising that money cannot buy. It has to do with credibility. People are jaded when they read or watch commercial messages. “Of course they say nice things about themselves. They are paying the bill!” Whereas news stories have a higher trust level and you need to insert yourself into those stories.

Customers love an event
Also under the umbrella of promotion are gardening seminars. I have always believed in the power of the seminars. They are not only an educational tool for your customer base, but they also promote your operation as the community expert. And experts are always worth more money than non-experts! In order for seminars to be effective, they should run every week during the busy season and every other week during the slower months.

There is not a lot of value in just offering them once or twice a year. Seminars should be 30 to 45 minutes long, preferably presented by your staff or yourself, and a handout including your company logo is a must. Keep in mind, when you present a seminar, 90 per cent of what you say will be forgotten before the audience hits the parking lot, so reinforce everything with a handout. Audiences love handouts and they regard them as valuable, if done well. They will hang onto those handouts for years to come, so get your name on them. My staff used to offer 26 seminars every year on a variety of subjects and a typical seminar would have 30 gardeners in attendance. Our highest number ever for an in-house seminar on hanging baskets attracted 140 people!

Also available to us within the green trade, is the opportunity to be guest speakers at various conferences, meetings and shows. People love listening to a gardening expert, and it might as well be you as your competition. Regardless of where a seminar or a talk is presented, I found it beneficial to provide straightforward information. If you try to turn the seminar into an infomercial for your company, audiences will tune you out. Provide your audiences with straight, basic information and they will not only appreciate you, they will reward you with increased visits and sales.

Last but not least, get your name out front, on everything! It always amazes me that there are still businesses, well established businesses at that, that do not have their names on their vehicles, on their carry-out trays, their shopping bags or anything else customers have contact with. Your name on the side of a delivery van is the best advertising money that you can spend.

Be proud of what you do, and let the world know it. Let your advertising and promotions keep you on the road to success.

Rod McDonald owned and operated Lakeview Gardens, a successful garden center/landscape firm in Regina, Sask., for 28 years. He now works full time in the world of fine arts, writing, acting and producing in film, television and stage.