The marketing and communication industry is fast paced and ever changing. Rebecca Drew, Grimm’s Garden marketing manager, can attest to that. She was originally hired as a landscape designer and her marketing responsibilities soon followed. Rebecca and her husband Ben welcomed their first child, Bethany, in July of 2016, so her work turned to part time and she began to focus solely on the marketing piece. Prior to the change, her job was ¾ landscape design and ¼ marketing, so efficiency has always been key for Rebecca.
Ben, Rebecca, Bethany Drew
Rebecca has found that Facebook and email are the best platforms to reach their customers and the most cost-effective. However, Grimm’s does pay a monthly rate for Mail Chimp and that allows them to send an unlimited number of e-mails and is great in-depth service.
“For the cost, Facebook and e-mail are the best because you can post to Facebook constantly,” Rebecca said.
Grimm’s utilizing Facebook to showcase their landscape design.
Beyond those two marketing avenues, Rebecca utilizes the local newspapers. Print and digital marketing have proven themselves but haven’t always been the primary ways of communication. Before cutting back their radio advertisements in half this past year, Grimm’s has had a presence on the radio for years but the effectiveness has decreased.
Facebook has proven to be successful for Grimm’s because of the ability to target specific audiences. Rebecca stresses the importance of identifying your audiences to direct what kind of content to push and where to push it.
“For example, we market our landscape design work to fairly specific audience, homeowners who are 25 and up with higher socioeconomic status,” Rebecca said. “We market our garden center differently to target middle aged women.”
Part-time worker, Denise Hunning, watering the fall mums outside of the main garden center.
Regardless of which audience or how many you are trying to reach, the main goal is brand awareness and this is the objective for Rebecca as well. Rebecca supports Grimm’s mission by focusing ultimately getting the word out. Beyond that, she is constantly informing followers on the sales, availability of products, and some tips and tricks of lawn care and plant basics.
Marketing Tips:
Tip # 1: be honest, transparent, and relatable
Tip # 2: educate your customers
Tip # 3: keep trying new things and if something doesn’t work don’t be afraid to scratch it
She attended the boot camp last year but will be sitting in a different seat this year and is excited to have the opportunity to speak and share her insights into the realm of marketing.
“I’m really excited to network and meet new people, share the things I’ve learned, and hopefully bring a young and relatable perspective to the Boot Camp,” Rebecca said.
Stay tuned and don’t miss the opportunity to learn more about our other speakers in the next couple of months. Visit Grimm’s Gardens on Facebook and online, they ship nationwide!