Branding Your Florist Business – where to start

If you are just starting out, you may be wondering what a “brand” is and how to go about branding your florist business. A brand is a reflection of who you are and what you stand for within your business. The key to creating an effective brand identity is to create a unique personality that speaks directly to your target audience while also remaining true to who you are as an individual. Here are some tips on how to develop and refine your brand so that it accurately represents the best version of yourself:

Develop your mission and vision

Your mission statement should guide the overall direction of how you want your business to grow, while a vision statement will help you identify the long-term goals. You’ll want to make sure these two are congruent with one another, so that they reflect a unified sense of purpose. In addition, they should be specific enough that they can be measured on an annual or quarterly basis—but not too narrow or specific as to limit creativity in their implementation. Finally, they should take into account the resources available (both human capital and financial) within your organization when determining ultimate success metrics for each goal set forth in these statements.

Define what makes you unique

Defining what makes you unique is one of the biggest parts to branding your florist business.

• Brand: The overall reputation of a business, product or service.
• Brand values: The beliefs that are held by each individual employee and expressed through the way they interact with customers, as well as how they interact internally.
• Brand personality: How people perceive your company’s personality, including its tone and style of communication.
• Story: What makes your business or product special? Why should someone buy from you instead of another florist?
• Promise: What are the benefits associated with working with you? Why will this be worth their time and money? Will they get results faster than if they chose another florist? Are there other perks involved besides flowers (e.g., free consultations)?

Create a brand story

A brand story is your florist business’s narrative, and it can be used to help you connect with prospective customers. It’s also an excellent way to promote yourself as an expert in your field.

To develop a brand story, think about who you are and what makes your business unique. What do you want people to think or feel when they come into contact with anything related to your business? For example, if you’re a local florist whose specialty is creating arrangements that reflect the personality of the recipient (e.g., “I’m sending my mom some flowers because she loves birds”), then that might inform how you describe yourself when marketing online or on social media platforms like Instagram (“We specialize in custom design”).

Once developed, share this information everywhere—from company signage outside of shops to ads on Google ads (Google My Business).

Design your brand logo

As you can tell already, branding isn’t just a logo. There is depth to it. When it comes to picking or designing a brand logo, you must think about your target audience. Who is going to be buying flowers from your business? What types of people are they? Once you know this, it will help guide the rest of your branding efforts and make them more effective overall.

Once you’ve determined who your brand is for, it’s time to design a logo that will represent them. The best logos are simple, yet memorable and unique enough that they stand out from competitors in their field. Your logo should also be flexible enough so that no matter what type of marketing material or promotional item you use (brochures, advertisements), the same logo can be used without losing its recognizability or appeal at any scale (bigger than life posters versus small business cards).

Additionally, having a timeless design means avoiding trends that might seem cool now but aren’t likely to last very long into the future; this ensures longevity for both yourself and your business.

Choose between branding templates or custom design

Now the biggest hurdle – finances. Branding your florist business can be quite expensive, so I’d encourage you to think about where you are in your business now and where you plan to be in 3-4 years.

I’ve been designing brands for 7+ years now, and one thing that I’ve learned is that in MOST cases – clients don’t know what they want to look like first starting out. When you are starting your florist business it is easy to follow trends, be influenced by others in the field, and end up thinking you want something looking one way…when in 2 years you realize that wasn’t YOU at all.

My advice? Start with all the other aspects of your branding first. Purchase a logo template, or create something that is clean and minimal. Then, revisit your branding in a year and ask yourself if it is still accurate. It probably won’t be. You’ll be amazed how much you will grow and change in your business in the first year. And no one wants to invest 3k+ starting out only to invest it again 2 years later.

Branding color scheme

The color scheme you choose for your floral arrangements is an important part of your business’s branding. This is because colors are used to communicate so much about a company.

• Complementary colors (colors that work well together) can be used to create beautiful, harmonious arrangements that make customers feel happy and relaxed while they’re getting their flowers.
• Colors that are in line with your brand personality will help reinforce what it means to be part of the brand community and help connect customers with you on an emotional level.
• Colors that reflect the story behind a business or its products can help attract new customers by creating an association between their own experience and a positive memory from the past or present.
• Using colors from your logo helps maintain consistency across all platforms so that consumers everywhere see a cohesive image when they encounter anything related to your business—from websites and ads on social media platforms like Instagram to storefront signage or even just printed pieces like business cards or brochures; every little bit helps contribute towards building up a visual brand identity!
• I’ve also created monthly color schemes for years now, and these can help you decide the direction you’d like to go for your own color scheme. View them here.

Style brand photography

Branding your florist business doesn’t stop with a logo, it also includes pictures for your business. Photographs of your arrangements and portfolio, of your shop, and of yourself. It’s important to choose a photography style that suits your brand.

For example, if you’re going for a laid-back, rustic look and feel, it’s best to avoid anything too formal or sleek. You should also take into consideration the type of photography equipment you have access to and if you plan to hire someone. This will also limit or increase your brand photography options.

Once you’ve chosen your style and are ready to start taking pictures, keep the following tips in mind:

• Use clean backgrounds without distractions like messy patterns or objects behind the subject(s) being photographed
• Natural lighting is best for most situations; however artificial light may be necessary if natural light cannot be found (in this case try not to overuse flash)
• Be consistent with poses/angles/colors/backgrounds when shooting multiple images
• Utilize blur to bring the main focus of your images out

You can learn more about the importance of brand photography here.

Brand fonts

There are so many font options these days, so how do you know which font is right for your brand? Here are some questions to consider:

• Is this font simple and easy to read? If not, it might be unreadable on smaller screens or business cards.
• Is this font timeless? Will it still look good in 5 years’ time? Does it have the feel you want for your business style?
• Can I scale this down and still be able to read it clearly at small size? An elegant script may look beautiful when blown up large but seem illegible on smaller banners or posters if not designed with scalability in mind from the start!

Branding your florist business can make or break your success

If you’re ready to go out on your own, I hope these tips have been helpful. At the end of the day, it’s all about having a good brand and knowing how to use it. Remember that your business is a reflection of who you are and what you stand for; branding is not just about having a good logo or name but also about developing an identity that fits in with where you want to go.

It is a reflection of your values, business goals, target audience and even your company culture. It creates an emotional connection between the consumer and the product or service being offered by your business.

Once again, if there’s anything else we can help with please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

You can view more business tips for your florist business here.