Read All About You

Chris Beytes

How do you make it into the news these days? Well, you could run for president and say something that the press takes exception to and you’ll be all over the front page. But that’s not the sort of publicity you’re looking for. So how do you generate positive publicity for your business? A study of companies that have made headlines lately reveals a few ideas:

Launch a disruptive or quirky product. It’s unlikely that you’ll dream up the next Uber or Airbnb, but there have been several companies who’ve jumped into the flower category and gotten serious press, such as Farmgirl Flowers in San Francisco and Flowers for Dreams in Chicago. Google them. Both put a fresh, natural, hipstereque spin on the staid world of online flowers.

Then there are the rooftop and indoor growers, like Gotham Greens and FarmedHere, who’ve been praised as the future of farming. Put a greenhouse on your roof or some LEDs in your barn and you’re almost guaranteed
publicity.

I just read about Buds and Blossoms, a “wedding weed” and special events florist in Colorado. Florist Bec Koop uses marijuana buds along with traditional flowers in her designs. This isn’t something you can do unless you’re in one of the four states where the stuff is legal for recreational use, but it shows the possibilities.

Go green. There are “green” aspects of all of those companies above, like Farmgirl Flowers using burlap for wrapping their U.S.-grown flowers and Gotham Greens using otherwise-wasted rooftop space to grow local veggies and herbs. Environmentalism is still hot. If you install solar panels or a wind turbine, do some water conservation via a bioswale or plant a bee-attracting pollinator garden, you can get a feature story out of it.

Give back. Flowers for Dreams started as a college project to earn some beer money and to buy school supplies for low-income kids. The giving-back portion of the business is still a cornerstone, with 25% of profits going to a charity of the month. They tout it right at the top of their homepage, next to “locally crafted flowers” and “free delivery” (done “by hand, on bikes, with real people.”)

TOMS.com, the online shoe store, got its start with what founder Blake Mycoskie call “One for One”: A business model that helps a person in need with every product purchased. In TOMS’ case, if you buy a pair of shoes, they give a pair to the needy. They’ve given away 60 million pairs of shoes in 10 years. They’ve since expanded to eye health, drinking water and healthy childbirth.

It’s easy to find a local project to devote your time and skills to, such as supporting community veggie gardens or beautification in a rundown part of town.

Brag on your people. Local news outlets crave human interest stories, and young or old, people doing interesting things are always worth writing about. Believe it or not, growing plants, especially on a commercial scale, is interesting.

I visited one retail grower years ago whose senior-aged head grower was producing something like his 40th Easter lily crop, and they were planning on putting out a press release on that. Perfect! It links a human interest story with a major holiday and allows for some gardening tips, too—an editorial trifecta!

Or you might have an employee who, on the side, grows vegetables for a food bank (if not, get on that project!). Or the star high school athlete who works for you part-time happens to have the county’s biggest succulent collection (if not, give him or her a few to get them started).

You get the point. There are stories in your business just waiting to be told and read. But remember: You have to toot your horn and tell the press what the story angle is. They may not get it at first, but hold their hands and guide them through the details of a good local human interest story and they’ll put you on the cover of the weekend lifestyle section. GT