How To Create A Professional Brand For Your Garden Center

Brand,initially coined "brandr" by the ancient North Germaniclanguage,
originallymeant

"aburning piece of wood or a torch." The meaning later changed torepresent cattle ownership and other goods like wine boxes. Today,branding is a standard business term often mistaken for marketing.But business branding is not advertising or marketing. It is not thelogo that so conspicuously shouts the image of a business or thecolors that appeal to a carefully curated demographic. No, businessbranding is a phenomenon that today gives a company its true value asperceived by a customer's mind. And like its origins, it sheds lighton the nature of the products and services a company produces.Branding is vital because it is the pull that gets you repeatcustomers, high product margins, and an advantage over yourcompetitors. Knowing that, how do you create a professional brand foryour garden center?

AProfessional Brand Is Only As Successful As Its DifferentiationAbilities

Thismeans that your business brand must stand out among the internetnoise. And then, once you stand out, you must hold that position andgrow up and onwards among your competitors. The challenge here isthat you already have many established garden centers grabbing thisattention.

Thatis why you must work backward to differentiate yourself. Take acompany like Ford Motors, for example. Its brand is born from itsheritage since it has been in business for many generations. Heritageworks because it conveys that what the company is doing must besuitable for it to have survived for a period.

Amuch more appealing example for a small business that wants to growfast would be McDonald's. Besides its
franchisemodel

,the company uses just-in-time processes to keep up with the demandfor fast food. Prides Corner Farms is a gardening company thatapplies the same branding principle as McDonald's.

Thenursery has built a reputation for delivering stock to differentgarden centers every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, which ensurestheir clients always have stock. Other companies like Apple, Tesla,and Amazon are identified mainly because they provide unique,innovative ideas.

Evidently,there are many examples to study and learn from, but one thing standsout, each successful and well-known brand has a differentiationprinciple. Working backward can help you figure out what you wantyour garden center to be recognized for. That is, develop
aunique selling proposition

and use it to settle on your professional brand identity.

FindingYour Unique Selling Point (USP)

Likebranding, your USP is not your vision or mission statement. As thename suggests, this should be the unique thing about your gardencenter that makes you stand out from your competition. A place tostart is to ask yourself why your customers prefer to purchase fromyour garden center instead of your competitors.

Thinkof a Ferrari and a Rolls Royce, and your mind automatically thinks offast cars and luxury cars, respectively. Why? Ferrari's uniqueselling point is fast cars, while Rolls Royce is known for offeringluxury cars. What about a Jeep and a Volvo?

Didyou think adventure and safety for both? So, in the same fashion,what is it that you offer that makes your business stand out? What doyou offer that is better than every other garden center in yourmarket?

Remember,the best brand identity will also have a lasting impression.Therefore, answers like low prices, quality products, and betterlocation do not apply. You are in the gardening industry, meaningyour competitors are probably offering the very same high-qualityproducts you are. Besides, established businesses might be offering amore comprehensive product line and have a more attractive and betterlocation.

Therefore,your differential factor must give your customers the perception ofindividuality. A straightforward example is positioning yourself asthe only garden retailer in your region selling exotic garden plants.Even though you cater to other gardening needs, exotic garden plantsshould be your warehouse's most extensive stock proportion.

TellA Story

Whendetermining your unique selling proposition, focus on
thestory you want to tell your target audience

.A well-developed narrative will attract customers to your brand andinspire loyalty and a close connection.

Ensureyour story has an element of conflict or adversary and make ittransparent. Did it take years to find the perfect blend of exoticplants that thrive in your region? Tell your audience the pains youwent through searching for the ideal seedling.

Wheredid you start? What challenges put your efforts at stake? How did youovercome all your challenges? Telling the real story behind yourcompany will give you the unique selling proposition you need tocreate a brand.

Therefore,use your most emotional and exciting story to create a connectionwith your audience. Determine the message in your story and use it tosell an experience. Airbnb does this exceptionally by offering traveldiaries of customers that rent rooms.

CreateInviting Content

Catchy,conversational, and valuable content is prudent when selling yourgarden center brand. When deciding what content you want to share,ensure it is informational yet relational. This is for your brandidentity, therefore, do not focus on making sales and announcing yourpromotional offers.

Instead,use your story to tell your clientele what your business focuses oneach season. Keep the message consistent throughout the year. As arule of thumb, make 60% of your content inspirational, 30% of yourcontent educational, and the remaining 10% about sales.

Includevideos and pictures in your content to help appeal to your audience.Long text messages might be complex for busy gardeners to getthrough. Besides, visual content is retained and understood fasterthan text.

Ifyou are too busy to create new and authentic content, repurpose oldcontent and post it as blurbs on your social media pages. Update theinformation in the content and post it as a fresh piece with newimages and videos.

Getassistance from any of your gardening employees who love to write andgarden. They will have a plethora of ideas, insights, and content toshare with fellow gardeners. Make it personal by offering incentivesto your employees that encourage them to share their experiences.

Forinstance, offer a gift card they can use to purchase gardeningproducts in your store and encourage them to write about the productsor plants. Then offer an additional incentive for the contentprovided.

Encouragethem to take photos and videos of your garden center or their fellowemployees working in the store. It is much easier for one employee totake a video of their colleague practicing what you preach, or moreso, offering excellent customer service to your customers. And thisis the type of content you want to be associated with your brand.

WhereWe Come In

TheErply POS solution is designed to
helpsmall businesses grow

through scaling or franchising. For instance, our document design hastools and features you can use to showcase your professional brandthrough invoices, labels, reports, and shelf tags. You canadditionally offer value to your customers by adding gardeninginformation to your plant descriptions and presenting them asgardening guides to your customers. Our efficiency and thoughtfulnessare bound to help your business stand out from your competition.
Tryour demo today,

or get a free consultation to find out more about what we can do tohelp your garden center brand itself and grow.