Florists Growing Revenues at a Record Pace

Flower Shops We Support Are Flourishing

Are you in the flower business? If so, you are no doubt aware that the number of independent flower shops operating in the United States has been dropping over the past 5 years. The United States Department of Labor projects a 7 percent overall employment growth rate for all occupations, between the years of 2014 to 2024. At the same time, Bureau of Labor Statistics also projects that employment in the floral business will drop by 3 percent, over the same period of time.

If you are in the floral industry these numbers probably don’t give you much confidence about your future. Let me share some thoughts with you. At least some of what I have to say may ease your concerns. The numbers say there will be less florists ten years from now than there are today. The data also says there will be fewer jobs in the floral industry. What those stats don’t speak to is demand and supply. If you look at the supply data, you will quickly see that growers are planning to increase supply over the next ten years. Why would they do that you ask? Well, the answer is demand. People love fresh cut flowers and beautiful green and flowering plants. As population in the U.S. continues to increase, the need for fresh cut flowers, wedding flowers and event flowers grows as well.

What Is Causing So Many Flower Shops To Close

If you ask the question around the industry, “What is causing so many flower shops to close?” you will get a bunch of different answers. We have our own opinions on what is causing the decline. Here is what we would describe as the problems.

Flower Shop Reliance On Wire Networks
Order Gatherers Keeping Larger Percentage of Sale
Rapidly Changing Shopping Patterns
More Competition for Fresh Cut Flower Sales

Lets take these bullet points and review them in more detail. Why would we list flower shop reliance on wire networks as a problem. Many small and medium sized flower shops have historically relied on the wire networks for orders. At the height of the wire network effectiveness, a florist could set up shop, hire employees, purchase product, then turn on the order wire and wait for a steady stream of profitable orders to flow across the wire networks. In today’s world, that strategy just does not produce the same result. Take a look at the shops who are closing their doors. Many relied heavily on the wire networks for order volume.

What has changed that makes wire network reliance such a huge problem in todays world? We believe that the order gatherers are keeping a larger percentage of each wire order and passing through a smaller amount of revenue to the flower shop who actually fills the order. What is most likely driving that is the fact that the cost of order acquisition has increased for the order aggregators. In addition to the cost of acquisition, many of the order aggregators are also facing increased pressures by their owners and share holders to increase profitability. Well, how to you increase profitability? The most obvious ways are to increase the number of orders you gather, or increase the percentage of each order that you keep.

What Do We Mean By “Rapidly Changing Shopping Patterns”

The Internet is changing many aspects of our lives. One very clear change is how people are choosing to shop. In the past, if you wanted to purchase something, you generally went down to the store that carried the item you wanted and made a purchase. In today’s world, you can simply order right from the Internet, in the safety and comfort of your own home. The data is clear, online sales are growing at an incredible rate. Check out this data. comScore reported last year that retail spending in the U.S., conducted on desktop computers for the first 30 days of the November-December 2015 holiday season, had reached $27.9 billion. That was a 6% increase versus the same time period the previous year.

Folks, that was just online shopping, done by people using desktop computers. When you look at online sales from all devices, you really begin to see just how dramatically the Internet is changing shopping patterns. 2015 statistics reflected that more than 191 million Americans owned smartphones. That number has continued to increase. People using smartphones are searching the Internet at staggering rates. In fact, searches from smartphone and tablet devices have now exceeded the total number of searches being conducted on desktop and laptop computers. These smartphone shoppers aren’t just researching, they are buying!

Lastly, competition in the fresh cut flower business has increased, even though the number of independent flower shops in the U.S. has declined. The competition for florists is coming from grocery stores, Costco, Sam’s Club and other wholesale and natural foods stores. Seems like everyone who sells groceries wants to offer fresh cut flowers, vases, balloons and plants. That clearly wasn’t something that traditional florists had to worry about in the past.

Florists We Support Are Flourishing

Seven years ago, we met a man named Charles Carithers. He was the owner of Carithers Flowers in Atlanta, Georgia. We had just opened our doors for business a few months prior to meeting him. In January of 2009, we sat down with Charles and developed a PPC program that was designed to create a steady order stream for Carithers. The idea was to move away from the reliance on wire orders and to replace those orders with sales that we had generated on our own. That program delivered in a big way! From there, we studied the other issues facing Carithers. We went on to develop a comprehensive marketing strategy for Carithers that allowed us to build brand recognition, customer loyalty, wedding and event sales and more. In essence, we focused on a global strategy that would allow Carithers to grow, while the rest of the floral industry scrambled to find solutions to declining order volume, increased competition, lower value wire orders and overall declines in gross revenues.

Over the past seven years, we have added even more florists as clients. In fact, we have taken on a number of very notable flower shops, including; Veldkamp’s Flowers in Denver, Allen’s Flowers in San Diego and the Ozment Family, who own and operate four Flowerama shops in and around Columbus Ohio. As we took on each new client, we extensively studied the demographic differences of their market, versue markets we already compete in. We also identified the unique elements of the competitive environment each florist was operating in. Armed with this new competitive knowledge, we tactically adjusted elements of our strategy, then deployed the comprehensive program for each shop owner. The end result of all these learnings and tactical adjustments is a program that produces eye popping results.

Shops we serve are achieving historical highs in both sales and revenues. Florists we support are no longer just making a living, they are thriving. The best part of the whole process for us has been the development of long term, strategic relationships with the florists and families we support. For us, the relationship we enjoy with our clients and watching their families grow and flourish is worth all the hours we put in on our end.

By admin|2017-08-15T10:57:59+00:00June 10th, 2016|Categories: Floral Industry Statistics, Flower Shop Marketing, Flyline Search Marketing, Statistics On Florists|Tags: Allen's Flower Market Long Beach, Allen's Flowers San Diego, Carithers Flowers, Flower Shop Statistics, Flowerama Columbus, Flowerama Reynoldsburg, Flowerama Westerville, Flowerama Whitehall, Flowers and Company Houston, Stats For Florists, Veldkamp's Flowers|Comments Off

Valentine’s Day Flower Sales Results

Flower Shop Sales Blossom

Even though Valentine’s Day fell on Sunday this year, the vast majority of the flower shop clients we support experienced at least some upward growth in year over year net revenue. Most other flower shops around the country were probably not so lucky. Our bet is that flower shops who depend on the wire services for volume likely felt a sharp decline in sales, deliveries and year over year revenues.

Florists in the U.S. went into this years Valentine’s holiday feeling a bit apprehensive. Some we spoke with were openly discouraged by the floral industry projections for the coming holiday. Historically, the floral industry almost always projects lower than normal holiday sales, anytime Valentine’s falls on a Saturday or Sunday. The Society of American Florists (SAF) put out an article in January of this year, which highlighted industry concerns on this point. The article lays out a pretty compelling case that a very negative mindset existed prior to the 2016 Valentine’s Day holiday (See Article)

Flyline Search Marketing® flower shop clients all told us that they were planning to approach the holiday with caution. All felt the weekend issue would create problems. Most honestly felt going into the holiday that industry projections would likely prove accurate. All of our shop owners have years of experience in the industry. They all have years of historical industry trend data of their own. Many commented to us that their data supported the probable decline theory.

Now for some great news. For the flower shop clients we support, the decline did not happen. Why you ask? Our shop owners are some of the most progressive, high level thinkers in the floral industry. They are intelligent marketers and always open to new ideas. All are motivated to find ways to improve and grow their flower shops. Even though they approached Valentine’s with a cautious eye, none asked us to back off of our aggressive, comprehensive marketing approach. Instead, all opted into the notion that this weekend thing was simply another obstacle in the road that needed to be overcome. For the record, we have a great track record of overcoming obstacles and bucking industry trends.

Virtually every flower shop in our group had solid holiday sales results during February. Almost all experienced at least some level of year over year growth in net revenue. While I cannot share the actual numbers with you, lend it to say that all of our shop owners came away feeling like they had significantly beaten industry projections.

When you look at where our shop owners shined, almost all saw increases in credit card sales, call-in sales and online sales results. A few saw nice gains in their wire-out sales volume. Even though Valentine’s Day is the second busiest sales holiday of the year, almost every shop in the group saw a slight decline in in-store shopping.

The only shops in the group that continue to experience positive growth in walk-in sales are our florists in Long Beach and Denver. The Long Beach shop takes a very unique approach to Valentine’s and Mother’s Day. Beginning 48 hours before the actual holiday, they remain open 24 hours a day over the last two days. You would not believe how many people in Long Beach actually shop in the middle of the night. Pretty crazy and not something that would likely work everywhere, but, a solid idea in that unique market. In Denver, they opted for a multi-million dollar store renovation a year or so ago, that has proven to be a great idea. The store is absolutely fabulous. Truly one of the nicest flower and gift shops you will ever see. In-store sales have nearly doubled since the renovation occurred.

If you study enough Analytics data for flower shops, it is clear that most shops across the U.S. are experiencing a decline in-store sales. That seems to be a universal problem throughout the floral industry. A further review of the data will point to the reason for the problem. The data clearly points to a shift in shopping patterns of folks purchasing flowers. More and more people are opting to make their purchases online, in lieu of coming into the shop. The driver behind the shift appears to be the rapid growth in smartphone and tablet usage.

In speaking with our support team at Google, it is clear they are seeing the same trend. They talk often about the continuous growth in overall Internet search traffic. They point to the enormous growth in smartphone usage as the major driver of the ever increasing search traffic.

Did any of you use mobile friendly ads in your Valentine’s PPC campaigns this year? If so, how did those ads perform for you? Did you see increases in click through rates on your mobile ads, as say compared to your desktop and laptop focused text ads? Did any of you try “Call Only” campaigns? If so, we would love to hear how those campaigns performed as well. In our case, we utilize both of those elements, along with a ton of other tools like RLSA, mobile bid adjustments, call extensions and some very sophisticated call tracking scripts and phone tracking platforms.

It is my humble opinion that flower shop owners across the country really need to find a marketing firm who understands the floral industry and partner up with them. The floral industry landscape has become extremely complex. You face challenges that you may not even fully understand. The national order gatherers are becoming more and more aggressive in advertising in your local communities. Most of you are now starting to realize that their presence in local search results is affecting your ability to drive local sales volume. You just cannot stay in business if your only plan is to continue taking orders from them off the wire services. Those orders are becoming less and less valuable. Most of you are starting to figure out that you cannot pay your bills based on the ever decreasing revenue share those orders are providing to you.

We have partnered with a number of shops located throughout the United States. Those flower shops are flourishing, even in these difficult times. They are growing, while at the same time the floral industry continues to see a rapid increase in the number of local flower shops who are closing their doors. They are closing because they can no longer figure out ways to generate a profit. If you are a local flower shop owner, we are here to tell you that there is a way to grow again. We can help you grow, assuming you are willing to strategically partner with us in building your brand and comprehensively marketing your business. We don’t take on all flower shops, but, we do strategically partner with one shop owner in each major market. When we take on a client, our mission is to help that flower shop and the family who owns it to grow and thrive! It might be that Flyline Search Marketing® could be a good fit with you!

Another Valentine’s Day is in the books. I know most of you are happy to get back to normal work schedules and regular delivery volumes for a few months. I know our team didn’t get much sleep during February, so we are definitely ready. With Valentine’s Day behind us, it’s time to start planning for Mother’s Day!

By admin|2017-08-15T11:24:57+00:00March 2nd, 2016|Categories: Florists Valentines Day, Flyline Search Marketing, Valentine's Day Advertising Strategies, Valentine's Day Marketing, Valentines Flowers|Tags: Allen's Flower Market, Allen's Flowers, Carithers Flowers, Flowerama Columbus, Flowers and Company, Valentines Day Sales Results, Veldkamp's Flowers|Comments Off

Understanding Adwords & Analytics

Google Analytics Is An Empowering Tool

How much time do you spend reviewing Google Analytics? Have you ever set up and managed a sophisticated Google Adwords platform? Just a couple of the questions we ask each new prospective client who contacts us for help. The vast majority have never spent any measurable amount of time doing either. With each client we serve, we spend a good bit of time providing education into the value of understanding the unique attributes of the Adwords and Analytics platforms. We find that educating a client, as to how to effectively review and evaluate Analytics data, is empowering for that client.

Here is one example of the types of information we share with our flower shop owners. When flower shop owners come into our group, they don’t have any idea why Adwords and Analytics conversion data is different. Many assume that there is simply a problem with how the e-commerce tracking code is loaded. The reality is, the platforms are designed to track conversions in a completely different and explainable way. Google Analytics tracks conversions as they occur. Adwords on the other hand, drops a cookie on the computers of every person who clicks our PPC ads. That cookie tracks information for a designated period of time. If the folks who click on our PPC ads, don’t make a purchase at the time of the initial click, that cookie can monitor their search activity over a designated period of time to see if the sale occurs at a later date. If those folks make a purchase with us from that same computer, within the designated tracking time frame, Adwords will attribute the sale to the campaign and ad that generated the initial click. This is why Analytics and Adwords conversion tracking differ.

Why is this information important? It’s just one step along the path of becoming a more knowledgeable and empowered business owner. We frequently encourage our clients to review their “Top Conversion Path” reports. Why do they need to understand that report you ask? The answer lies in the fact that the report provides a great visual teaching tool for our florists and other e-commerce clients. It shows the precise path customers took in choosing to make a purchase. PPC is often the platform we see noted on the report, as the tool that initially allowed us to connect with the customers. The report provides the visual proof our flower shop owners need to better understand that even though PPC may have helped us make the initial connection, it does not always get the credit for generating the actual sale. The actual sale may in fact be attributed in Analytics as coming from a direct visit, organic visit or even from referral traffic. Having a full understanding of how to accurately evaluate the value of the marketing data in Analytics can be critically important to your ability to see and grasp opportunities to grow your business.

Lets talk for a minute about another piece of information that is important when evaluating the value of Adwords. We choose to display Google dynamically generated phone numbers with each Google ad we serve up. That gives customers who see our clients Google ads the opportunity to either click and visit the website, or call and speak directly with a live operator. We find that many shoppers opt to utilize the click to call phone numbers. The rapid increase in smartphone ownership and usage is likely at the root of why we are seeing an increase in the usage of the click to call feature. By using the dynamically generated numbers, we receive call data from Google that appears within our Adwords platform. That call data tracks back to the campaigns that are generating the calls. We use that information in our tactical account management efforts. We also forward each dynamically generated phone number to a call tracking number in our own call tracking and recording platform. That allows us to validate call conversions. Our customers have 24/7 access to our call center. They can go in and see the call data as well. They can also listen into actual conversations to see how their folks handled the sales opportunities.

Google Analytics does a great job of gathering all related costs from running Adwords. Unfortunately, it cannot always adequately capture sales conversions from calls, especially if those calls didn’t occur via the dynamically generated phone numbers. If Adwords was the impetus behind the customer purchase, but the customer choose to call directly into your flower shop call center, that sale will likely never be attributed to Adwords in the ROA calculations. We have met many less empowered florists who have looked at Analytics data and concluded Adwords just cannot be cost justified. My advice to any florist with a mind to learn is this. In the right hands, Adwords can and will help your grow your business to levels you might never achieve otherwise. Adwords alone though isn’t the answer to solving the whole growth equation. More accurately, Adwords is one tool in the comprehensive program we deliver for our shop owners that helps them achieve the growth rates they desire.

We recently took on a new flower shop in Houston. The owner shared some point of sale system data with us. After just one month of running our program, we saw strong growth in overall sales transactions, overall revenues, credit card sales, average value per sale and other mission critical areas of the clients business. We attribute that growth to several factors. First, rolled out a new website for the client. Then we deployed our comprehensive marketing program. Our main focus was to drive high quality web traffic to the new site. The sites job was to convert that traffic into sales. We aren’t just trying to drive any type of traffic. We are focusing our energy and platforms around connecting with shoppers who want to buy.

Hopefully this information provided by Flyline Search Marketing® is helpful to you. Let us know if you have questions or would like more information around these subjects?

By admin|2017-08-15T11:28:21+00:00July 24th, 2015|Categories: Flyline Search Marketing, Google Advertising, Google Analytics, Google Pay Per Click, Marketing For Florists|Tags: Improving Overall Sales, Revenue Increases, Sales Conversions, Sales Increases|Comments Off

Flowers & Company Hires Flyline Search Marketing

Flowers & Company of Houston, Texas, has hired Flyline Search Marketing to design and deliver a comprehensive marketing program for their firm. The Flowers and Company firm is owned by the Aaron family. Bryan Aaron is the President and day to day manager of the flower shop. The Flowers and Company design center is physically located in Pasadena.

Flowers & Company employs a team of professional delivery drivers. Each driver is specifically trained in the art of hauling and delivering floral products. The folks at Flowers and Company offer nationwide same day delivery. If you live in the Houston area, you can also take advantage of their express local delivery service. They provide same day express delivery in: Atascocita, Baytown, Bellaire, Channelview, Conroe, Crosby, Deer Park, Friendswood, Galena Park, Houston, Humble, Katy, Kemah, La Porte, League City, Manvel, Missouri City, Pasadena, Pearland, Seabrook, South Houston, Spring, Stafford, Webster and The Woodlands.

The floral design professionals at Flowers and Company are true artisans. They design some of the most stunning flower arrangements found anywhere in the state of Texas. Flowers and Company has actually been designing and hand delivering flowers in the Houston area since 1986. The Aaron family has always taken great pride in the flower arrangements they delivery. They stand behind every arrangement they create. When you purchase flowers from Flowers and Company, you can take comfort in the fact that all products come with Bryan Aaron’s personal 100% customer satisfaction guarantee! If you don’t like what Bryan’s team has created for you, just contact the Flowers and Company office at (281) 487-1896. They will replace that floral arrangement with one of equal or greater value, at absolutely no charge to you.

Flowers and Company hired Flyline Search Marketing in February of 2015. Bryan Aaron advised that he was impressed by the results we are generating for two other flower shops, who participate in the floral group that he is a member of. Our team is already well underway in deploying our comprehensive Internet marketing program for them. In just our first month of serving Flowers and Company, they experienced an increase in online sales transactions of 109.4%. In March, online sales grew by approximately 193%. Historically, clients we serve routinely experience monthly online sales increases ranging from 30%, up to 65%.

Flower shops that we support include some of the most prominent and successful florists in the country. We handle marketing services for companies like Carithers Flowers in Atlanta, Veldkamp’s Flowers in Denver and Allen’s Flowers in San Diego. All three of these shops are extremely well known throughout the floral industry. Our program is designed to deliver industry leading online sales growth. We don’t stop there. Using our strategic marketing approach, we can also deliver eye popping additional financial benefits, such as; increases in call-in and walk-in sales, as well as improvements in overall credit card sales as well.

Our marketing approach has proven successful in market after market. We have delivered marketing services for flower shops in major markets such as; Albuquerque, Atlanta, Columbus, Denver, Houston, Long Beach, Reseda and San Diego. The results produced have been equally stunning, regardless of the website platform that we have been asked to work with. Deploying our marketing strategies with different e-commerce platforms has allowed us to refine and customize our program, based on the type of website our client is using.

Our staff is now very familiar with the flower industries most popular floral website platforms. For example, we have a great working knowledge of the Gravity Free website and support a number of flower shops who utilize that platform. We enjoy a great working relationship with Scott Heaps and his super talented team. We also have a great working relationship with the Ozment family. They created a new, fully customized floral website of their own. They own Flowerama of Columbus and also own and operate 3 other Flowerama branded flower shops in Reynoldsburg, Westerville and Whitehall. We working with Steve, Kara, Andrea and Bob Ozment. They are just outstanding folks and have created a pretty incredible floral website. They have given us permission to discuss their site with prospective clients we encounter.

We routinely meet flower shop owners who utilize Teleflora or FTD template sites. We encourage those shop owners to consider our floral platform. Flyline Search Marketing offers an extremely affordable and highly effective e-commerce website, specifically designed for flower shops. The framework is fully responsive, making the site mobile friendly. It comes with a ton of great features, such as the ability to sell on Facebook and Ebay, the ability to generate your own Google Product Feeds, email integration with either an internal email system, Constant Contact or MailChimp, a user focused product review module and bulk product import and export capabilities, just to name a few. Our floral platform delivers excellent results, especially when paired with our comprehensive marketing program.

In the case of Flowers and Company, our client Bryan Aaron, will be licensing use of the new custom website designed by the Ozment family. That is exciting for all involved. We get another opportunity to demonstrate our ability to work our magic on a third party website. The Ozments get the chance to show the industry that their platform can be equally productive, when deployed outside of the state of Ohio. The folks at Flowers and Company are the biggest winners. They will be the beneficiaries of all the sales and revenue that comes as a result of deploying one of the best websites in the floral industry, coupled with arguably one of the floral industries most productive marketing agencies.

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By admin|2015-04-03T19:41:11+00:00April 3rd, 2015|Categories: Flowers and Company, Flyline Search Marketing, Website Design|Tags: Allen's Flower Market, Allen's Flowers, Carithers Flowers, Flowerama Columbus, Marketing For Florists, Veldkamp's Flowers, Websites For Flower Shops|Comments Off

Flowerama Columbus Marketing Efforts Ramping Up

Flowerama Columbus Opts For Comprehensive Marketing Approach

In July of 2014 the Ozment family, owners of Flowerama Columbus, Flowerama Reynoldsburg, Flowerama Westerville and Flowerama Whitehall, hired Flyline Search Marketing to design and deploy a comprehensive marketing program for their firm. We were tasked to deliver an advertising program, designed to immediately increase sales transactions, improve their brand awareness and to generate sustainable double digit revenue growth for their firm.

When asked how they found out about us, they advised that they first learned of Flyline Search Marketing from Allen’s Flowers. The owner of Allen’s Flowers, Brad Levy, hired our firm back in April of 2012. Brad and his family have been clients of ours since that time. Brad participates in the “Next Level” floral industry group, that the Ozments are also members of. Steve Ozment had gotten to know Brad pretty well as a result of the meetings. He was extremely taken back with the top line results that Brad had shared with the group. According to Steve, the numbers for Allen’s Flowers were truly eye popping and far exceeded anything being generated by other shop owners in the group.

The Ozment family operates four store locations in the Columbus area. Their store locations are located in: Columbus Ohio – 1600 Morse Road, Reynoldsburg Ohio – 6311 East Main Street, Westerville Ohio – 635 South State Street and Whitehall Ohio -4785 East Broad Street. The Ozments have traditionally relied upon a business model that called for using store front locations, strategically positioned in high traffic areas. That approach has served them well, and provided growth over the early years of their business. The storefront approach is historically the way many flower shops have grown to prominence in the floral industry. Here is a great video you might enjoy telling more about the Flowerama Columbus story.

Flowerama Columbus is truly a family affair. Virtually the entire family is involved in the business to some degree. The primary operators of the business are Steve Ozment, Kara Ozment and Andrea Ozment. They are assisted by Mark Ozment, Alisa Ozment and parents Bob and Jeanne. If you haven’t met this family, you really need to. They are awesome folks and really put everything they have into their business and serving their community.

The Ozments are seasoned professionals and very astute marketers. Several years ago, they came to the realization that the Internet was beginning to reshape the shopping patterns of people searching for fresh cut flower arrangements in the Columbus area. Armed with that knowledge, they decided that it was time to expand their online footprint. The old traditional floral site they had been using was in need of a face lift. They wasted no time and quickly hired a web development firm to help them create a new, more modern online storefront. They chose to custom design and construct a fully responsive, custom built floral website. You can view the new site by clicking this link (www.FloweramaColumbus.com). Their goal was to create a new website, capable of improving the shopping experience for people surfing the web via a desktop, laptop, I-pad or tablet computer device. They didn’t stop there. They also constructed a new mobile themed website as well. The mobile site is designed to make it easier for smartphone users to peruse flower arrangements and to easily and securely make purchases from their phones.

The Ozments quickly realized that the site was really effective, but, in order to get the most out of it, they needed a marketing agency. They chose Flyline Search Marketing. Through their connection with Allen’s Flowers, they were able to connect with us. They signed an annual service agreement with us in mid July of 2014. Our team quickly set about the business of deploying all the strategic components of our comprehensive marketing program. That program is specifically designed for flower shops. It is currently viewed to be one of the top performing marketing programs available in the floral industry.

We originally created the comprehensive marketing program in January of 2009. At that time we had been hired by Charles Carithers to help him grow his business. Charles and his family own Carithers Flowers in Atlanta. We built the program and produced eye popping results for Carithers. Our connections with other flower shop owners have all grown from those early roots we laid down in serving Charles and the Carithers Flowers organization. The program proved to be incredibly productive for Carithers and that continues today. Through the incredible leadership of Charles Carithers and the support we have provided, Carithers Flowers has grown into one of the largest and most prestigious flower shops in the United States.

We just put together and shared some high level program metrics with the Ozments this past week. The data gave them a glimpse into their advertising program start up experience versus that of other florists we serve. Their key metrics really look rock solid. The data was very clear. Flowerama Columbus is quickly shifting into high gear with their Internet marketing efforts. The program results show that they are already tracking, trending and moving along a very similar pattern of growth, experienced by Carithers Flowers, Allen’s Flowers, Veldkamp’s Flowers and other florists we serve. Armed with their new website and supported by Flyline’s comprehensive marketing program, Flowerama Columbus should be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come.

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By admin|2015-03-14T12:34:28+00:00March 14th, 2015|Categories: Flowerama, Flowerama Columbus, Flowerama Reynoldsburg, Flowerama Westerville, Flowerama Whitehall, Flyline Search Marketing, Internet Marketing For Florists, Marketing For Florists|Tags: Advertising For Florists, Marketing Flower Shops, Marketing For Florists, Marketing Programs For Flower Shops, Websites For Florists|Comments Off

Stirring The Airwaves For Carithers Flowers

Carithers Flowers

Using Broadcast Media To Spread Holiday Cheer

We just completed several new radio advertising spots for Carithers Flowers. The spots are running on WSB 750 am and 95.5 fm. The Georgia Gardner, “Walter Reeves,” and the owner of Carithers Flowers, “Charles Carithers,” are both featured on the holiday ad spots. We wrote and recorded 15 second, 30 second and 60 second spots in support of our Christmas and Holiday marketing program for Carithers. We invite you to listen to them by clicking on the links below.

New Christmas & Holiday Ad Spots

Holiday Contest

In addition to running the new advertising spots, we are also promoting a Christmas and Holiday contest on WSB as well. This season, send in your photos and a short story, explaining your favorite Holiday memory. To enter, go to the WSB website (http://www.wsbradio.com/s/contests/). Tell Walter Reeves your favorite Christmas memory for the chance to win. The beautiful decorated christmas tree shown to the right will go to the grand prize winner. This stunning Christmas Tree will be the talk of the neighborhood this holiday season.

All submissions will be judged by Walter Reeves. He is planning to select the winners just before Christmas. The winner will receive a gorgeous Decorated Miniature Christmas Tree From Carithers. There are also prizes for the top four runner-up participants. These folks will receive a beautiful Christmas floral arrangement. All prizes will be designed and delivered by Carithers Flowers, absolutely FREE of charge!

Hear The Contest Winner Announcement By Walter Reeves

Announcement of winners took place on Saturday, December 20, 2014.

If you haven’t already purchased a Christmas present for everyone on your list this year, we encourage you to visit the Carithers Flowers website to see all of the great Christmas and Holiday gifts they offer. The nationally acclaimed floral design team at Carithers creates some of the most beautiful and unique flower arrangements found anywhere in the country. Take a look at a few of the floral arrangements they are offering this holiday season.

Christmas & Holiday Flowers

Flyline Search Marketing is the advertising agency for Carithers Flowers. We have been under contract with Carithers Flowers since January of 2009. Our team handles Internet Marketing, Broadcast Media Buying and Social Media programs for Carithers. We also deliver website design and optimization, along with a mirad of other consulting services we provide. You can see a sample our our web design work for Carithers by visiting the new wedding site we just finished a few month ago. To visit that site, go to Carithers Wedding Flowers.

Carithers Flowers was the first floral design client to sign an advertising services agreement with us. Over the past few years, we have taken on quite a few new flower shop clients. In fact, marketing for florists is now an advertising line that we specialize in. Our comprehensive marketing program for florists is arguably one of the very best in the floral industry. The program has delivered incredible results for Carithers. It helped to propel them from a small family owned business, into one of the largest flower shops in the Southeastern United States. Our strategically designed program is now being used to support other florists, located in some of the most competitive markets in the country, including; Albuquerque, Columbus, Denver, Long Beach, Reseda and San Diego. In every case, the program has produced excellent results. Each florist in our group has been able to increase sales transactions, improve their gross and net revenues and achieve more dominant positions within their local service area.

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By admin|2014-12-17T10:42:23+00:00December 17th, 2014|Categories: Broadcast Media Buying, Carithers Flowers, Flyline Search Marketing, Radio Advertising, Walter Reeves, WSB Radio|Tags: Carithers Flowers, Charles Carithers, Flyline Search Marketing, The Georgia Gardner, Walter Reeves, WSB Radio|Comments Off

Veldkamp’s Flowers Signs A Two Year Contract Extension

Flyline Search Marketing CEO, Mark Lein, announced today that Flyline and Veldkamp’s Flowers have agreed to terms on a new two year service agreement. Mr. Lein advised that a full press release would be issued later this week, providing more details about the contract.

Veldkamp’s Flowers originally hired Flyline Search Marketing in November of 2013. They tasked Flyline with designing and deploying a comprehensive marketing strategy for their firm. The comprehensive program Flyline created proved extremely productive over the past 12 months. Paid search and organic marketing elements of the program helped Veldkamp’s to significantly increase online sales. The program not only delivered increased productivity from the website, it also generated stunning increases in call-in sales, walk-in sales, credit card sales, wire-out orders and drove additional wedding and event flower business for Veldkamp’s. Veldkamp’s has been able to lower their dependence on wire-in orders. They have also benefited from an overall increase in brand awareness.

Mr. Lein, explained that the program deployed for Veldkamp’s was originally created for Carithers Flowers. Charles Carithers, owner of Carithers Flowers, operates one of the most highly successful Flower Shops in the Southeastern United States. Charles hired Flyline Search Marketing in January of 2009. He originally tasked Flyline with helping his firm to improve their Internet presence and online footprint. The comprehensive marketing approach for Florists, grew out of the relationship between Flyline and Carithers. That program has since been deployed by Flyline for other flower shops located throughout the United States. Flyline currently serves some of the most successful florists in the country, such as; Carithers Flowers in Atlanta, Peoples Flowers in Albuquerque, Allen’s Flowers in San Diego, Flowerama in Columbus, Veldkamp’s Flowers in Denver, Allen’s Flower Market in Long Beach and Allen’s Flower Market Online in Reseda.

With the addition of each new florist to the Flyline client group, came the opportunity to collect even more data from the program and to enhance and improve the overall design of the various platforms being used. Over the past six years, this comprehensive program has grown from a great idea into a strategic weapon for florists it’s deployed for. Every florist in the Flyline group has reported tremendous growth. Most report that their overall sales and revenue results far outpace those of other florists in various floral groups they participate in.

Another component of the program that has really paid huge dividends is the fact that all the florists in the group have done a great job of communicating with each other on things like best practices, flower vendors and top performing products. Flyline has created an open forum and an atmosphere that promotes a safe and secure environment where florists feel comfortable in sharing all kinds of strategic information and knowledge. This approach has delivered tremendous value for all the members of the Flyline Flower Shop user group.

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By admin|2014-10-23T02:13:44+00:00October 23rd, 2014|Categories: Flyline Advantage, Flyline Search Marketing, Marketing for Carithers Flowers, Marketing For Florists, Marketing for Veldkamps Flowers, Veldkamp's Flowers|Tags: Bing Sponsored Search, Blogging, Google Adwords, Internet Marketing, Press Releases, Website Optimization|Comments Off

Flyline Search Marketing® Develops New Website For Flowerama Columbus

Marketing Services For Florists

Flyline Search Marketing specializes in marketing for florists. We serve flower shop owners all over the United States. Our newest client is Flowerama of Columbus, Ohio. Flowerama in Columbus is owned by the Ozment family.

Flyline delivers a comprehensive marketing program for Flowerama that includes platforms such as; Google Adwords, Bing Sponsored Search, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and Google+. We also provide website optimization and design services, media buying and consulting services as well. As part of the marketing program we developed a new wedding flower website. You can view the new website at Flowerama Columbus Weddings.

Site development began several weeks ago. Our design team used a custom bWordPress framework to build the website. The website is responsive in nature, meaning the website will conform it’s display, based upon the type of device (Desktop, Laptop, Tablet or Smartphone) that is attempting to access it. Mark Lein, CEO of Flyline Search Marketing, recently stated ” Responsive website designs really seems to work well for our clients in today’s complex marketplace. There are now more than 125 million smartphone users in the United States. There are also millions of people who also now own I-pads and other Microsoft based tablets. A responsive themed design allows all of these mobile enabled customers to fully enjoy the full scope of floral services available through Flowerama of Columbus.”

We have also created similar websites for many of the other flower shops that we serve. Wedding Flowers are always in heavy demand. With the new wedding sites, perspective brides have the ability to view a much larger cross section of the wedding flowers each florist has available.

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The website is absolutely loaded with great features. Some of the best features include: an unlimited numbers of slideshows and photo galleries, responsive design which allows site to conform it’s display based upon the type of device attempting to access the website, Google fonts, a robust framework which allows for extensive customization of typography and styling, fushion shortcodes, social media sharing options and the site is Woo-commerce enabled. The website allows for customization of each individual page, which allows the site owner to add user features such as masonry photo galleries, along with slideshows and boxed for full page width options.

Flowerama of Columbus, Ohio is a family owned and operated flower shop. They operate four flower shop locations that are located in Columbus, Reynoldsburg, Westerville and Whitehall. Flowerama Columbus offers fresh cut flower arrangements, green plants, flowering plants, gift baskets, fruit baskets, wedding flowers, event flowers, sympathy flowers and more. They provide same day flower delivery locally or nationwide.

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By admin|2014-09-28T21:39:49+00:00September 28th, 2014|Categories: Flyline Search Marketing, Website Design|Tags: Flower Shop Marketing, Websites For Florists, Wedding Flowers|Comments Off

Pay Per Click – Is PPC the new Yellow Pages?

Example: Anytime Fitness Health Club Located in Roswell, Georgia

Pay per click advertising is fast becoming the new yellow pages. It is imperative for small business owners, who have traditionally relied upon yellow pages for their business leads, to begin to understand the true power of the Internet. In areas where DSL and Broadband Internet penetration and connectivity rates are high, pay per click has virtually replaced the phone book as the method used by most people to look up phone numbers for businesses. Here is an example of that phenomenom. In February, the yellow pages delivered approximately 30 business calls from current club members, over 100 calls from companies trying to sell our client their products and services, and literally zero calls from new prospective clients seeking a club membership. A total of zero new club members can be attributed to the yellow page advertising program during February. These numbers are accurate and verifiable, given, the club purchased a separate phone line and published the number only in their yellow pages ads. They purchased advertising in both the AT&T Marietta and Roswell yellow page directories. Those books cover a tremendous geographic area, all the way from Marietta to Dawsonville, Georgia (More than 25 square miles of advertising coverage). Our client spends more than $400 dollars per month on this yellow pages program. The client advised us that the program has generated very few members of the past 6 months.

During the same 30 day period, a total of 337 people, within a 7 mile radius of the gym, conducted a Google keyword search for the term “Anytime Fitness”. We know this because the clubs firm name is included in the hundreds of keyword terms we use in Google adwords lead generation efforts for this customer. The owner of the gym added approximately 45 new members during February, and indicates all learned of the club either because they drive by on a regular basis, live near the club or saw the Google ads we placed for the gym.

All that said, I hope the number 337 really burns into your memory. Think about that number for a minute. That number represents the total number of people, within a 7 mile radius of that small gym, who searched precisely for that clubs firm and phone number. The yellow pages simply did not match that result during February. Want to know how many people saw all the Google ads we ran for our client during February? Sit down, this number is really going to make an impression (no pun intended). The total number of people who saw our clients Google ads during February was 28,787. Thats right folks, the Google program drove 28,787 impressions for this client in one months time, all from within a 7 mile radius of the club. That my friends is the true power of the Internet. Needless to say the owner of Anytime Fitness was pleased with the return on his investment from Google.

By admin|2009-03-09T20:13:15+00:00March 9th, 2009|Categories: Business News, Flyline Search Marketing, Google Advertising|Tags: Bing Sponsored Search, Google Adwords, The New Yellow Pages|Comments Off

The Flyline Advantage

Leading the League in Connecting Buyers to Sellers!

Want to grow your business even in a tough economy? Do what Pete’s Plumbing, Anytime Fitness, Do It Yourself Pest Control, Winder Construction, Mat Works Ltd and others have already done; hire Flyline Search Marketing™ to custom design and professionally manage a Pay Per Click marketing program for you on Google, Yahoo, MSN or Ask.
Why are companies selecting Flyline Search Marketing™ over our larger rivals?
1) Flyline Search Marketing™ offers an affordable and extremely customer friendly fixed program fee structure. The vast majority of our client’s monthly advertising budget goes directly towards the purchase of actual advertising on the search engines. Our competitors keep between 30% – 50% of your total monthly advertising spend as their monthly management fee. The more you need to spend, the more they make.

Example (Program Running Locally)
You contract with Flyline Search Marketing™ to direct your advertising spend of $4000 monthly on Google. Flyline Search Marketing™ charges $400 per month to professionally design and manage your local Google program. Your firm receives $3600 dollars worth of actual advertising. If you had contracted with one of our larger rivals to spend the same $4000, they would have kept $1200 to $2000 of your money as their monthly fee. You would only have received $2000 to $2800 in actual advertising value.

Example (Program Running Nationwide)
You contract with Flyline Search Marketing™ to direct your advertising spend of $8000 monthly on Google. Flyline Search Marketing™ charges $800 per month to professionally design and manage your Nationwide Google program. Your firm receives $7200 dollars worth of actual advertising. If you had contracted with one of our larger rivals to spend the same $8000, they would have kept $2400 to $4000 of your money as their monthly fee. You would only have received $4000 to $5600 in actual advertising value.

2) Flyline Search Marketing™ allows more of your money to go towards the purchase of advertising. Because more of our client’s money goes toward the purchase of actual search engine advertising, our client’s consistently enjoythe benefit ofhigher ad positionsandmore traffic.

3) Clients of Flyline Search Marketing™ have the distinctive advantage of being able to add funds to their Google, Yahoo, MSN or Ask advertising account balance at any point in the month with no increase in management fee. The majority of our larger rivals don’t even offer that option. Those that do keep 30% – 50% of the additional funds you add, further increasing the overall monthly management fee you have paid. Bottom line, our clients have a huge advertising advantage over those of you using some of our larger rivals.

If you are interested in speaking with us, or need more information about search engine marketing please contact us at:
866-258-5511 or 678-867-6810
Or Email: flyline@bellsouth.net
Web Address: www.flylinesearchmarketing.com

By admin|2009-02-05T20:05:06+00:00February 5th, 2009|Categories: Flyline Advantage, Flyline Search Marketing, Internet Marketing Agency|Tags: Internet Marketing, The Flyline Search Marketing Advantage|Comments Off