On the QT | The Official Newsletter of GWA February-March 2016 | Page 20

MARKETING

C.L. FORNARI

A garden communicator’s
approach to marketing
Once the audience is identified, you can pinpoint
what they care about. With their concerns in mind,
look at how your knowledge, product or business
solves their problems.

Like it or not, we are all marketers. We promote
ourselves as gardening experts and publicize our
individual books, photos, talks or multi-media
presentations. We promote businesses, such as
garden centers, public gardens or garden
products. We also market horticulture and plants
overall. Therefore, it’s , essential to be organized
about selling ourselves, what we create and
gardening in general.

WRITE IT DOWN: WHERE DO YOU
ULTIMATELY WANT TO BE?
The first step in any marketing plan should be to
determine your ultimate goal, making sure the
objective
is in sync with the life you want to live.

WRITE IT DOWN: WHAT ARE
YOU SELLING?
You might think that you’re publicizing a book,
generating speaking engagements or advancing
your tool company, but that’s not what you’re
selling. When marketing any business, product
or individual, you need to appeal to emotions.
People buy from their hearts and then justify their
purchases with their heads.
If you’re an expert about vegetable gardening,
for example, you might be selling sustenance and
self-sufficiency. A seed company could be selling
abundance and nurturing, while a speaker might
be
selling an experience.

THIN KSTOCK. COM/ VAE EN MA

MAKE A LIST: WHO IS BUYING?
Decide who is in your audience. We’d like to
believe that the entire world needs our books,
photos or podcasts, but the reality is that only a
small percentage of people will be interested.
Define the target buyer for your work.

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One of the biggest mistakes garden communicators make is to think that our target audience is
gardeners. Instead, consider everyone who comes
into contact with plants and landscapes, and how
your expertise speaks to them. For example, how
do plants and gardens relate to off-road bikers,
stay-at-home parents, or people who are stressed
at work? Maybe those are your buyers.
Where does your target audience hang out? What
radio stations do they listen to? Do they peruse a
local newspaper or the Huffington Post? Are they
on Facebook or Instagram? Do they go to the
library or the corner sports bar?
Does the intended audience for your book project
read lengthy articles or do they prefer to get
their information from captions on photographs?
Knowing that will determine whether you approach
Timber Press or Andrews McMeel Publishing with
your
idea.

CREATE A MARKING PLAN
AND PRIORITIES
Your marketing plan will include developing
relationships—person-to-person and online
through your website/blog and social networking. It might also include personal communication, media appearances and news releases.
Develop a step-by-step strategy for reaching
your audience in many ways. To get you started,
download the marketing template at: gardenwriters.org, Members Area, Member Central
Home,
On the QT.

USE GWA TO ITS FULLEST!
If you need help making a marketing plan,
form a marketing mastermind group with other
GWA members. Go to our Facebook page to
connect or work with members you already
know to form a group that meets virtually and
regularly to help each other reach goals.
GWA member C.L. Fornari is an author, speaker, radio
host and professional plant pusher who gardens on
Poison Ivy Acres on Cape Cod. Her website is www.
GardenLady.com