Want to add more engaged customers and create long-term relationships? Start holding workshops in your floral shop! People are always looking for ways to learn new things, particularly now when they’re stuck at home so much. Here are a few tips to help you promote and run a successful St. Paddy’s Day workshop:

Planning

• If your customers are mainly professionals who work all day, you’ll need to run your workshop during the evening or on the weekend. If you’re not sure when your customers will be available, create a poll on your shop’s Facebook page. It’s easy to do, and it will be well worth it!
• Before ordering flowers for the workshop, make sure you include some exciting or unusual flower varieties. You want to impress attendees, so they come back and purchase more.
• Plan your decorations: Decorate the workshop room with shamrocks, pots of gold, green hats, and other St. Patrick’s Day goodies, and layout all the tools and elements needed before your attendees arrive.

Costing

• Determine whether you’ll have a workshop where people can choose their own flowers and make their own design, or one with a premade design where they all use the same flowers. The latter is often more manageable from a costing perspective since you can plan out exactly how much you’ll need of each item.
• It’s not just flowers that need to be costed: price out food, drink, and any extras, plus your own time, including prep, clean-up, ordering, marketing, and all other elements of the workshop.
• Try to pair up with other businesses to decrease costs. For example, check with local food businesses to see if they would sponsor a free or discounted refreshment in exchange for promotion at your workshop.
• Customers are willing to pay for a memorable experience, so price the workshop accordingly. Standard rates range from around $30 to $50 per head, or more, for one- to two-hour flower workshops.

Marketing

• Promote your workshop through email and social media, and offer incentives like a percentage off if more than one person books at the same time. And offer workshop attendees a discount on their next floral order.
• Encourage your attendees to promote the workshop like crazy while it’s going on. Give them a list of hashtags to use, and make sure they tag your business page— it creates excellent word of mouth!
• Continue marketing to your attendees by ensuring you have all their details, then follow up with email newsletters and other promotions.

Arrangement Idea

• Going for a high-end look doesn’t have to be complicated. For example, to recreate the beauty above, combine Rio Mondial Roses, Rio Green Mini Hydrangeas, Rio Green Trix Dianthus, Rio White Ornamental Kale, white wax flowers, silver dollar eucalyptus, Italian ruscus, and lemon leaf greenery.
• To assemble, place a block of wet floral foam in a wide, low dish and secure it with tape. Cut flower stems at an angle and insert them 1-1/2 inches into the foam. Place larger flowers first, followed by greenery and wax flowers.

To guarantee future customers, workshop attendees must go home with a beautiful creation they’re proud to show off online. Use the information here, and you’ll achieve just that!