If you’re in the horticulture business—or any business—you can’t escape branding. Twenty-five years ago, the idea of branded plants was new to the United States. Now it’s the industry norm. But branding goes beyond logos on the pots and tags of the plants you sell.
With a new season on the horizon, it’s a good time to take a broader look at your business’s brand. And if you think your business doesn’t really have a brand of its own, think again. It does, whether you realize it or not.
The key is whether you know what you stand for in the eyes of your employees and customers—and end consumers. That’s step one. Step two is what you’re doing to ensure that “brand” conveys the message you hope it does.
Understanding brands and branding
Think back to long before plant nurseries started branding programs. Cattle ranchers used brands as signs of ownership and origin. But as ranch brands gained recognition, they came to stand for more—things like bloodlines, quality, and the ranchers behind them. Those perceptions and the expectations they created became one with the brand.
In that same way, your “brand” is how people think and feel about you and your business. That runs from your products and services to your staff and the experience customers have when they turn to you. Your brand also encompasses how your competitors see you and what sets you apart from them.
Successful branding begins with understanding where you’re at today. Then you can start to shape how people perceive you and separate your business from the pack.
Defining and refining your brand
Marketing materials can reinforce brands, but it goes deeper than that. When customers turn to you for plants, products, or services, your brand holds a promise of what to expect. Delivering on that promise is essential to a positive, profitable brand. You probably know at least one grower whose brand—despite a nice logo—came to mean rushed plants, lax sanitation, or poor customer service.
If you’re not sure about your brand or your branding, take a few minutes to think. What is the promise you want conveyed to your customers and your employees? What are your company’s strengths?
Next, find out how your thoughts align with reality. Talk with a few of your loyal customers and staff. Find out why they stick with you, what they trust, what they expect, and what they feel they get. The bottom line is how their reasons stack up to your hopes. Does what your brand promises, in their eyes, align with the brand you desire to promote?
Learning from plant branding
Branding your business isn’t that different from branding products. Consider branded plant lines with colorful, easily identified pots practically pre-sold to consumers through marketing programs. Sales come easier when customers believe the brand delivers new, improved plants and success at home. But if results don’t live up to the promise, the brand won’t last long.
A few of the earliest examples of plant branding are still around—Flower Carpet roses, Wave petunias, Endless Summer hydrangeas, and Proven Winners plants, to name a few. But scores of other brands have come and gone.
Regardless of your feelings about branded plants—and the marketing fees and pot upcharges that go with them—it’s hard to argue with the impact of successful programs. The best brands market extensively by courting garden writers, buying ads, flooding social media, and more. They create excitement and interest that brings wholesale and retail customers through doors—and they deliver on their brand promise.
Branding programs promise growers things like new and improved genetics, marketing support, signage, lower inputs, and faster growth. They promise consumers that plants will live up to the hype. In the same way, when your customers and employees think of your business, your brand carries similar expectations for them.
Building brands through partnerships
One aspect often overlooked in brands and branding is the power of the partnerships you form. When your brand conveys a promise, your ability to fulfill that promise depends in part on the supply chain partners you choose for the products, services, and plant materials you use or offer for sale.
At ICL, we’ve earned the trust of growers and distributors by delivering on the promises held in our brands and continually innovating with trusted new solutions for the challenges of today. That’s why professional growers have trusted their crops to Osmocote controlled-release fertilizers and Peters water-soluble fertilizers for more than half a century.
When you buy ICL products, you can count on quality, innovation, research, proven performance, and expert advice from our people working with you in the field. Our promises, our products, and your success all go hand in hand. We are your partner in growth. So, give us a call and let us help you grow your business and your brand.
Endless Summer and Easy Elegance photos provided by Bailey Nurseries, Inc.