How does the consumer get their information on gardening? Historically they would have tuned their “wireless” in as the garden experts told their tales and offered advice on how to get the best out of your garden. Then TV arrived and the programmers discovered a potential new audience and gardening programmes evolved from serious technical programmes to” make overs”. TV stations became a media where the gardener presenters gained celebrity status. Books followed and many of these garden celebrities moved onto be general TV stars.

2010 arrived and the next phase in garden media exposure arrived. Gardeners started to rush to their mobile phones to watch the latest trends in gardening.

This is the era of the third screen revolution. The first screen was the TV and within a few short years everyone had one in their home. The second screen revolution was the computer screen and in the early days it was looked on as a piece of equipment that should stay in the office, now most homes have a computer. The third screen revolution was the mobile phone and now TV comes in the hand and more and more people are watching movies on their hand held phones.

By this stage in this article some of you will think I have lost the plot while others will be nodding their heads in agreement as they are already hooked on using the mobile phone to down load gardening programmes. The challenge is are you keeping up with your customers.

Consumers are now watching TV on their computers and mobile phones. I realize that many horticulturists believe that this style of media is not suitable for gardening, I have been told many times that the idea will not catch on, but, alas ,your customers do not agree with you.

The first on line star I met was Patti Moreno, the Garden Girl, [www.gardengirltv.com].Patti is based in Roxbury, Massachusetts in the USA and specializes in urban sustainable gardening. Apart from producing on line garden TV, she also has a magazine, presents at conferences and has started her own range of garden products that are now available through independent garden centres across the USA. She understands that to get the message across to today’s consumer she needs to use a number of different media channels

The on line garden TV guru must be Shirley Bovshow and her bi-monthly gardening programme “The Garden World Report” [www.gardenworldreport.com].This programme is unique in that it presents an international cast of the “Who’s Who” of the international gardening world as well as everyday passionate gardeners as contributors to the show. Viewers are exposed to major garden brands in any given show including Monrovia, Burpee Home Gardens, Fiskars, Garden Design Magazine, award winning authors and their books and new garden product previews! The “Garden World Report” is a new media platform for garden industry marketing. Shirley is Los Angeles ,California based and produces a full length programme that is topical and very much about now in the garden. Having said Shirley is from California, do not expect this programme to be a west coast based presentation. Her contributors can be presenting as far afield as New Zealand, Bangladesh or New Jersey! The contributors simply send their presentations via an email to the producer, who then edits it into the show. Developing a worldwide garden TV programme is now easier to do.

In Europe there are among other, two personalities that have taken a different approach. Nicola Gammon became frustrated with the information she was receiving from garden centres and she set up “Shoot Gardening” [www.shootgardening.com.uk].This is not a gardening programme ,but a web page that can provide information on the selection and care of plants that can grow in a UK garden.

Miriam Young is a Brit based in Haarlem in Holland and is the brains behind Plant Concierge [www.PlantConcierge.com].This is a programme that links horticultural retailers and consumers. The retailer registers as a member and local consumers can place queries, requests and comments on the web page and these are then answered by the local garden center. The web page offers advice, shopping, installation, maintenance and design. A complete package in one web site.

The value of the social media as a vehicle to get information to the gardener is that it is versatile, the consumer can watch the programme at their convenience, plus they can watch it as many times as they like. At the same time they can get involved in the conversation and ask questions that can be addressed immediately by the presenter.

Compared to conventional TV it is also a lot more cheaper to produce, a programme of good quality can be produced using a relatively cheap camera.

But What does All this mean to you as a retailer?

As a retailer the key is to be in tune with your customer. retailers will often tell me that the new marketing techniques are only for the new generation and that they are not gardeners. This theory has two flaws.

Firstly, the younger generation will become gardeners, probably at an earlier age than generations before them. They will accept the new media as the norm and expect their suppliers to be on the same page when it comes to marketing technology.

Secondly ,when it comes to my own Face Book page I checked the age of the last two people that joined my page, one was 63 and the other one was 75.The older generations are driving the social media revolution now, not the younger generations, they have already joined up. The main reason that retailers are rejecting the request is quite simple. They are too busy and do not have time to learn about the new technology.

The challenge for many retailers is to get up to speed with their customers before another retailer takes the market away from them. These new retailers may not even be in the existing market place. But,are observing an opportunity sand developing plans to take your market share away from you.

What is the Answer for retailers today?

Speed is now important for many retailers if they are to catch up with their consumers the flowing steps need to be taken as quickly as possible.

1. Ensure you have become a “fan” of the existing on line presenters and are aware of what is being promoted
2. Promote these presenters to your consumers through your newsletter,it will give you credibility and your customers ideas
3. Start becoming an on line presenter yourself.Become the local garden hero on You Tube or Face Book or one of the other social network sites
4. Promote yourself through your centre as the media expert on gardening
5. Be patient

It takes time for consumers to get tuned into your new media presence, as long as you are getting growth in the number of consumers that are in tune with you on line stay with it. It will take time for you to create a presence and as a result many retailers will get disillusioned with the process. Social media is instant, but is a lot slower to measure than ,for example, putting an advert in the local newspaper and waiting for the customers to rush in next weekend. You are building a relationship with your customers on gardening matters, not simply selling them product. Relationships take time to build, the receiver has to trust you before they will start buying from you.

Don’t neglect the past, but embrace the future

The message that is important is that no retailer should neglect passed marketing techniques, you still need to read the latest garden magazines and books to keep up with the trends, but at the same time keep up to date with the new marketing systems that are becoming available. Plus, it will not stop here, there are new interactive media systems that will become available in the future. The gardener will rely more on their mobile devices to communicate in the garden.

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