Customer, customer, where for art thou Valentine's Day customer?

Valentine’s Day can be a tricky one for florists when it comes to targeting your ideal customer. Because they might not be your current customers.

He may not be following you or engaged with your brand.

She may not be thinking of you as a Valentine’s solution.

They may be being wooed by another local business already.

So how, short of chasing them down the street, do you market to those who are not your regular, loyal customers, so they sit up and take notice of your gorgeous Valentine’s blooms?

Nothing is gained by admiring from afar. Just like Romeo and his balcony, you need to climb to where they are hanging out and take their breath away.

Here’s our top 5 suggestions for sweeping them off their feet.

1.      Be blatant  - trip them up! (well not literally)

Just like the accidental touch in the supermarket aisle, sometimes you have to stand in their way to get them to look up.

If you’re a retail florist on a busy high street, invest in an A-board out on the pavement. Hand out some flyers to potential passing trade or have some fun with a cheeky message on a sandwich board. You can interrupt online too. Post in your local Facebook groups or have some fun with Instagram Reels or Tik Tok using a trending audio (under 10k uses) to be seen by non-followers.

2.      Get flirty – tease them with an incentive

Consider targeting local offices and business, offering staff and workers a discount or incentive for shopping local. Remind them of the convenience of organising their Valentine’s gift in their lunch hour as well as the superiority of your flowers over the garage forecourt or supermarket alternatives on the way home.

Don’t limit yourself to your immediate business neighbours – there’s plenty of room for a bit of promiscuity!

3.      Be seductive - collaborate with someone they ARE engaged with

No shame in jumping into bed with someone else! If your ideal Valentine’s Day target customer is more likely to be following a local restaurant, beauty room, wine shop or bakery than you, look for ways you can collaborate with those brands or retailers to tap into their following. Maybe it’s a giveaway for a luxurious breakfast in bed, a meal for two with flowers or a couples massage on a bed of roses. Get creative and support each other’s businesses. We’ve got loads more collaboration ideas for florists here on the British Florist Association website.

4.      Flaunt it – show off your talent

Think of ways you could showcase your talent and the quality of your stems in venues where your ideal customer might be spending time. Perhaps you could create a reception display for a local gym, vase designs for a local gastro pub or a window display for deli in exchange for them handing out or displaying your business cards or flyers. Some might even let you merchandise a small corner of their shop to showcase your Valentine’s range purely for the joy of bringing a little floral magic to their interiors.

5.      Be cupid – help them drop (not so) subtle hints

They want your flowers. They know it, you know it. Now someone just needs to tell their partner. Help your current customers steer their other halves in the right direction by providing them with cute, helpful and ever-so slightly sneaky ways to drop the hint. Perhaps a little postcard through the letterbox that they can leave ‘lying around.’ Maybe a ‘helpful’ email download the they can forward on. Or, our favourite, a social giveaway where they have to tag the partner they’re looking to drop the hint to! Nothing like ripping the blinkers off!

However you choose to flaunt your business and its Valentine’s assets, our key piece of advice is to spend time really thinking about who your target audience is for this particular celebration and go where they go. Oh, and don’t play hard to get!