Fall Is Here. Are You Giving Customers a Reason to Visit?

September can be an interesting time at the garden center.

The frantic pace of spring is behind us. Summer color is beginning to fade. Customers are settling back into their routines. And while we know fall is one of the best times of the year to plant, our customers don’t necessarily wake up on Saturday morning thinking, “I should go to the garden center today.”

So maybe that’s the real marketing challenge this fall:

Give them a reason to come.

And that reason doesn’t always have to be a sale.

Sell the Project, Not Just the Plant

Take a look at the typical fall promotion: Mums are here! Ornamental grasses are in! Fresh perennials!

There’s nothing wrong with those messages. But what if we helped customers imagine what they could do with those plants?

Instead of simply promoting mums:

Refresh Your Front Entry for Fall

Instead of promoting grass seed:

Repair Your Summer-Weary Lawn

Instead of listing shrubs and perennials:

Plant Now for a Better Garden Next Spring

Suddenly, you’re not just selling products. You’re suggesting a project, solving a problem and giving someone a reason to get outside.

And maybe that’s part of what we’re really selling.

Gardening gets people outdoors and moving. We walk, bend, dig, lift and plant without necessarily thinking of it as exercise. We feel the cooler air, notice the changing light and reconnect with the landscape around us.

For a little while, we’re doing something with our hands instead of looking at another screen.

That’s a pretty compelling benefit.

Give Them a New Reason Every Week

One mistake we can make during fall is treating the entire season as one big promotion.

“Fall is here!”

That’s a good message once. It’s considerably less interesting the fourth time someone sees it.

Instead, think of September and October as a series of smaller stories.

One weekend might be about refreshing containers. The next could focus on lawn repair. Then fall planting. Then pumpkins and decorating. Then spectacular fall foliage. Then spring-flowering bulbs.

The inventory may overlap from week to week, but the reason to visit changes.

That’s what keeps your marketing fresh.

Turn Advice Into Advertising

Garden centers have something the big boxes and online retailers have a hard time duplicating: knowledge.

Use it.

Rather than another advertisement, try sending customers:

5 Things You Should Do in Your Yard This Weekend

Patch bare spots in the lawn. Refresh tired containers. Add late-season color. Plant a shrub. Start thinking about spring bulbs.

You’ve created the need before you’ve promoted the product.

But you’ve also done something else. You’ve given people a reason to put down the phone, step outside and spend an hour doing something productive and enjoyable.

Sometimes our marketing doesn’t have to say, “Come buy something.”

It can simply say, “It’s a beautiful weekend. Go enjoy your yard.”

Your garden center can help them get started.

Sometimes the Weather Is the Promotion

Don’t overlook one of the simplest marketing opportunities available this time of year.

A beautiful September weekend.

Cool mornings. Comfortable afternoons. Sunshine. Lower humidity.

When the forecast looks great, tell people.

“This weekend looks perfect for planting.”

That’s timely, relevant and gives customers a reason to act now rather than putting the project off for another week.

More importantly, it connects what you’re selling to an experience: a few hours outdoors, some physical activity, a project accomplished and something beautiful to enjoy afterward.

Show People What’s Happening Right Now

Your garden center changes constantly. Your marketing should too.

Take a 30-second video walking through the perennial department. Photograph the best-looking display of the morning. Have someone on your staff choose three favorite plants. Show what’s blooming. Show what just arrived.

It doesn’t need to be polished.

Sometimes a quick “Look what just came in this morning!” video can be more compelling than a carefully designed advertisement.

It reminds customers that the garden center itself can be an enjoyable place to spend part of a Saturday morning.

The 15-Minute Marketing Challenge

Here’s something to try tomorrow morning.

Walk outside your front door.

Turn around.

Now look at your garden center as though you’ve never been there before.

What are the first three things you see?

Then ask yourself:

Are those the three things I most want customers to notice this week?

If they’re not, you may have just discovered your next merchandising project — and your next marketing campaign.

One Last Question

Here’s the question I’d leave you with this week:

If you weren’t allowed to discount anything this weekend, what would you promote?

Because sometimes the best reason to visit your garden center isn’t 10% off.

It’s inspiration. It’s expertise. It’s discovering something new.

And perhaps it’s something even simpler.

Come outside. Move a little. Plant something. Make your corner of the world a little more beautiful.

Sometimes we don’t need to convince people to buy another plant.

We just need to remind them why they fell in love with gardening in the first place.