You've met with a potential floral design client. Immediately you hit it off! Your Pinterest boards are in sync. You share a common vision, and she's confident that you can create the perfect floral backdrop for her special event. Her budget is realistic, and she's willing to let you take the lead.

The day of the event arrives, and you are prepared! The flowers have been selected, they're conditioned, and your support team is in place. You arrive on time, and the sun is shining. Installation "in progress" photos have been taken, and behind-the-scenes videos have been posted on social. So many likes, comments, and shares!

You leave the event install feeling exhilarated, and when you return to break it down, your client thanks you from the bottom of her heart for delivering floral magic! You wake up the next day exhausted but happy. Then you repeat the same process with your next client and the client after that.

Sounds amazing, right? But something is missing.

How did you get these clients? How did you keep adding new ones to your floral design project funnel? What did you do with those Instagram-worthy photos and oh-so-many kind words from your happy client?

Stay in Touch with Past Clients to Keep Building Future Clientele

If you want to build on each success (without simply relying on word-of-mouth advertising), then planning to stay in touch with your clients (and potential clients, vendor partners, and family and friends who could refer you) should always be on your floral business to-do list.

While texting or actually picking up the phone (does anyone still do that?!) are both great ways to connect one-on-one, the more efficient way to communicate with a large group (think "target audience") is through email. But more specifically, via an email platform that can deliver your message and provide analytics.

Tracking analytics, or your email open rate and reader click-through activity, may not sound very exciting at first. But leveraging the tools provided with an email service platform can provide you with your next warm lead that will help you close your next big client sale.

The next email you send that shares beautiful photos and client testimonials from your last perfectly-executed event could be forwarded by a reader on your email list to someone who's looking for the exact floral experience you specialize in.

This is how floral businesses grow in the direction of your intentions!

How to Use Email Marketing to Set Your Floral Design Business Intentions

When you bring up the topic of flowers, people naturally light up!

Almost everyone has a memory attached to a flower, a favorite flower, or needs special occasion florals at least once in their life.

But when the topic of "marketing" comes up, the conversation can quickly shut down.

Try to mention "email marketing" casually, and the glazed-over looks are sure to follow!

But if you're running any kind of business—floral or otherwise—you need to find a way to offer value to your existing connections while still showcasing your capabilities in a non-salesy way.

This is where a consistently scheduled email newsletter can make a real difference in staying top-of-mind with your friends, family, fans, followers, and flower enthusiasts!

Feel like you're already too busy to add email-planning to your task list?

When we're busy being creative, it's challenging to step out of that flow to document what's happening in the effort to share it with others. But doing just that is essential to building momentum in a way that speaks to the goals you have set for yourself and your growing business.

Imagine having people reach out to hire you.

You can craft an email that's filled with strategically-shared photos that reflect your best and favorite type of floral design work.

You could also include testimonials from clients who sing your praises or exclusive invitations to attend upcoming workshops where you will be presenting your floral design skills.

By doing so, you are more likely to have an engaged audience than when you post and share this same information on social media.

Why is this? Because you already have a connection to your audience!

They must have taken the first step to provide their email to subscribe to your list of contacts.

If someone on your list opens your email (this is where an interesting subject line can really help), the chances are high that they will read what you sent. Whereas on social media platforms, your posts may succumb to the "scrolling past," where it's hard to stand out in a sea of unrelated posts.

Develop Your Email Marketing Strategy

Don't worry if you haven't been using email to stay in touch with your authentic connections!

It's never too late to send a friendly note, reintroduce yourself, or share what's new in your world. People like to receive positive communication, and you can't get much more positive than sharing photos of flowers in bloom!

Here are some tips to keep in mind as you plan your communication strategy. And yes, it is a strategy! But it doesn't have to read like one.

Keep your content informal and engaging over sales-oriented, and you will have a better chance at getting your opened emails read to the end.

5 Things You Need to Launch Your Newsletter 

1. A business email account (yourname@companyname.com) and a robust email delivery service (MailChimp or Constant Contact are just a couple of examples).

2. Photos that represent your work and your floral knowledge. The key to having content readily available to share with others is to take pictures constantly! Take photos throughout your day: as you source items, as you work on your designs, after your design is done, during installation, after installation is complete, and so on.)

3. A list of addresses to send your newsletter. Always collect emails and put them in a spreadsheet right away. Ask for business cards, and have people sign in with their name and email when they attend your events. You can also create a landing page (use your email delivery service to set one up) that offers a free, informative download—a simple one-page PDF can be enough—that will be delivered to a provided email address you can add to your list.

4. A schedule to plan ahead. Would you like to send emails weekly? Monthly? Seasonally? Whichever you choose, be consistent. Once people get used to seeing your message in their inbox, they are more likely to think of you when they are ready to order florals for their next occasion, event, or just because.

5. A story to tell. Think of something interesting to tell your audience. If you had a great weekend full of installs that you executed flawlessly, don't be afraid to share your win! If you collaborated with other creatives to pull off a special event, give them a shout-out and share some highlights. Or you could provide some background on how you got to where you are. It's all relevant, and your readers will enjoy getting to know more about you personally.

5 Elements to Include on your Newsletter Template

1. Business info. Your logo, how to contact you, where to find you online (social media sites, website, Pinterest board, blog, etc.), and hours of operation if you have a retail shop

2. Branded graphics. Canva is a great online tool to help you design a banner graphic for your newsletter or promotional graphics for the body of your email that coordinate with the look and feel of your brand.

3. Choose two fonts only. You'll want a large, bold one for headlines and a smaller easy-to-read one for the body of your email.

4. A photo of you to make it more personal. Show yourself in action to help your audience engage even more with your content.

5. A scanned image of your signature. This makes your newsletter appear even more personal.

10 Floral Business Newsletter Best Practices

1. Include your subscriber's first name at the beginning of your email (this automation helps with open rates).

2. Keep your email short and sweet, leave your audience wishing for more.

3. Be consistent, be positive, be entertaining.

4. Show gratitude in the form of a special gift, coupon, or words of appreciation.

5. Include relevant resource links to your photos and in your text.

6. End with a call to action—include a "Buy Now" button, for example—or ask a question to gain valuable feedback.

7. Encourage your audience to "share this email with a friend" to expand your reach.

8. Don't forget to check your analytics to see who's opening your email and what they are clicking on for more information.

9. Follow up when appropriate.

10. Include a link to your newsletter on your social media pages.

Ready, Get Set, Launch!

Launching your email newsletter can be one of the easiest ways to share your capabilities with your audience.

You'll build trust, gain referrals, and stay top-of-mind to grow your business.

Commit to consistently showing up by regularly delivering your message to the inboxes of your email list, and you are sure to grow your devoted fan base and fill your calendar with the type of design work you want to do.

Start by sharing pretty pictures that illustrate what you do best while presenting what's possible to help potential customers make their floral-buying decisions with confidence!