Introduction
Bloomable started as a proprietorship as a SA Florist, with alliances to local artisans. Their business was borne out of a passionate commitment to support local florists who were trying to compete on a larger scale, but sadly didn’t have the resources.
After being in operation for 4 years of nationwide gifting and fresh flower delivery. Today they have built meaningful relationships with over 200 artisans, empowering them to expand their businesses by using tech marketplace as their online hub. They are an online marketplace that connects people looking to buy fresh flowers and beautiful gifts to the actual artisans who create them.
They created a Florist Empowerment Program and launched a service called Zoom Bloom that allows customers to order flowers and have them delivered within two hours in JHB, CPT, PTA and DBN.
The company is positioning itself for growth, for its customers and business operations. To have a competitive advantage for the greater good of creating a sustainable, responsible gifting solution for the market. The greatest marketing asset for the company is their official partnership with Bloomable South Africa, #TheBachelorSA and #TheBacheloretteSA, website-https://www.bloomable.co.za
Social Media Platforms Bloomable engage in:
Twitter:
Professionally laid out, with aesthetically presentation and bright colours. Generally, uses hashtags for sales and promotion. The layout highlights general list of options; who to follow, flowers, topics to follow; more topics. They joined in February 2014.
Facebook:
The company has online store on this medium and has largest followers of all their social media platform. Bloomable would capitalize the highest ROI on FB because of the number of followers and in technical terms possible achieving the highest conversion rate. Less interaction observed between users and the company. Professionally looking page with bright colours of gifts and flowers. They joined in February 2013.
Instagram:
Page presented with beautiful flowers and people being depicted through the multiple pictorials, colourful and bright. The appearance of the website targets the young, the beautiful and couples in love.
LinkedIn:
Page is professionally laid out with less pictorials than the other social media platforms. They have the least number of followers here.
Pinterest:
Beautifully laid out like the other social media platforms aesthetically presented.
Identify your goals
The company will embark on establishing the following plan to improve the ROI for digital marketing.
| Short-Term Goals | Long-Term Goals |
| A)100% Increase in followers for Pinterest and LinkedIn; 1000 increase in impression for Pinterest | 200% increase in Pinterest and Instagram; 2000 impressions for Pinterest |
| 100% increase in unique visitors | Two hundred percent increase in unique visitors |
| 50% increase in followers for Twitter and Instagram | 100% increase in followers for Twitter and Instagram |
| Social media campaign of the above for a month | In month 7 re-launch social media campaign for the above for a month |
Building a brand: why Online presence matters
Online, consumers can simultaneously learn about who you are as a company and engage with your brand on a more personal level. Having a substantial digital presence can not only increase consumer awareness, but it can also work to strengthen your brand by building up your credibility.
A brand identity is made up of what your brand says, what your values are, how you communicate your product, and what you want people to feel when they interact it. Essentially, your brand identity is the personality of your business and reputation promise, a promise to your customers.
6 Components of brand identity
The “Face” of Your Business
“For all intents and purposes, your brand’s logo is the “face” of your business. But that face should do more than just look cool or interesting — a logo’s contribution to brand identity is associative, too. It tells the public that [this image] means [the name of your company].” (Wheeler 2021) https://blog.hubspot.com/agency/develop-brand-identity.
Credibility and Trust
To cultivate credibility you must build trust, earn trust, and get trust. If people like you they will trust you, and if they trust you, they will do business with you.
Advertising Impressions
A brand identity is a template for everything you would include on an advertisement for your business — whether that ad is in print, online, or a pre-roll commercial on YouTube. A brand with a face and industry credibility is well prepared to promote itself and make impressions on potential buyers.
Your Company’s Mission
When you create an identity for your brand, you’re giving it something to stand for. That, in turn, gives your company a purpose.
Vision, Mission & Values
Bloomable
[blue-mih-bill] noun:
A digital marketplace focused on helping people, communities and small businesses to grow, thrive and connect through the cultivation of happiness.
[blue-mih-bill] adjective:
Able to bloom; capable of growth; rich in possibilities; potential to flourish; shows promise.
Vision:
We want to be the brand people turn to when looking for ways to make someone’s day. When people want to send flowers, we want their first thought to be Bloomable.
Not only because of our guaranteed quality offering and obsession with customer service, but because we’re kind, trustworthy and we truly give a damn. And not because we say we give a damn, but because we show we give a damn – through mindful and sustainable practices.
Mission:
We are the online marketplace of happiness. This means providing an eCommerce platform for local businesses to thrive on; offering our customers the freshest flowers from local florists; and keeping a strong focus on developing and expanding our artisan gift offering.
Let’s look at their Split up into two – BLOOM and ABLE – it clearly celebrates the ability to bloom. And this is something that resonates so deeply with them – the potential to flourish, the promise of growth; and the ability to thrive.
The word ‘BLOOM’ keeps them firmly rooted in the history of flowers, but also propels us into a future of growth and expansion. Because to bloom is quite literally to grow.
Then there’s ‘ABLE,’. It says, ‘we can.’ And it focuses on ability: Our ability, our florists’ and artisans’ ability and our customers’ ability to spread joy.
Values:
HAPPINESS IS EVERYTHING
We’re all about the science of happiness. And that’s why it’s one of our core values. It’s at the center of everything we do. We seek it, find it, share it, give it, feel it, deliver it, cultivate it. Why? Because when people are happy, good things happen. And when good things happen, everybody is happy. It’s the ultimate positive feedback loop. And it’s the thing we like to measure our success against.
Don’t even get us started on how flowers stimulate the ‘happy chemicals’ in our brains. Ever seen someone receiving blooms? It’s a big part of why we’re in this business. Whether you’re a customer, a supplier or part of our team – we promise to keep happiness at our core.
IT’S ALL ABOUT TRUST
As a company, trust is a massive part of our culture. Customers trust our marketplace – not only for the highest quality blooms and gifts, but for service that’ll knock their socks off. In turn, we trust our customers to give us feedback. And we’re deeply invested in what they have to say. How else will we keep getting better?
Generating New Customers and Pleasing Existing Ones
A brand identity — one with a face, trust, and a mission — attracts people who agree with what your brand has to offer. But once these people become customers, that same brand identity gives them a sense of belonging.
Examples to increase your online presence:
Website
This is where people go to see who you are as a business, your mission, vision, and values as well your reputation promise and potentially buy products from you seeing as it is an online shop after all. Lastly this is the information hub of your business to clients where reviews and information can be found at their convenience.
Google My Business
Google my business is a local search optimization tool that provides you with the ability to list your business location on Google Maps and local search results. That will drive customer engagement. You can display important information about your business, including the opening/closing times, contact details or a link to your website.
Blog: Bloomable
https://www.bloomable.co.za/blog/
Value Proposition & Competition of Bloomable
Understanding your TARGET market and what makes your business unique is essential in making your business stand out from the competition.
Knowing the difference between you and your competition is imperative to developing a successful brand. Keeping an eye on your competitors will also educate you on what branding techniques work well and those that don’t.
Know your Target Customers
Given the current state of the economy, having a well-defined target market is more important than ever.
Demographics and Psycho-graphics are important criteria to look at. What your business has to offer the specific target audience.
Problems that are solved through Bloomable
Understand the problems targeted at the audience and how you can solve it
Many people don’t have the time to pick up flowers or a gift to make a real special impact although with Bloomable, being online makes it easy and efficient because of the courier service added to the business.
What makes Bloomable unique to others?
Bloomable is a made up word. And we like it that way. It’s our name, but it’s also an adjective for everything we’re about.
We are committed to the ability to bloom, not only within our team, but in the communities we work with, the people we collaborate with and in crafting the best possible experience for our our customers.
Newly appointed MD, Melissa Cumming says; “People think we’re a florist, but we’re not. We’ve been dubbed “Uber for florists” in the past, which is a good way to explain what we do.
We are an online marketplace that connects people looking to buy fresh flowers and beautiful gifts, to the actual artisans who create them.”
Bloomable offers exclusive gift boxes as an add-on with flowers to give it a more personalised, special feel.
We are BLOOMABLE. Let’s be friends.
Ge:Skenk is a bespoke gifting solutions business premised on a ‘pay-it-forward’ ideology.
Each Bloomable Conscious Gift Box is curated by Ge:skenk to not only delight the recipient, but to support job creation, empower individuals, be gentle on the earth and to ensure a sustainable future for the South African social enterprise, non-profit or emerging entrepreneur who created it. https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/394/187276.html.
Finding which digital marketing elements work for your business:
- Content marketing
Your content is what populates your website.
Examples:
Website: Could have a faq tab of different questions that clients have ranging from general things to speciality that include tips for gifts etc.
Infographics: Tutorials on gift guides for birthdays, anniversaries, the different seasons for flowers (spring, summer, autumn, and winter) etc.
- SEO / Search engine optimization
It is the process of taking steps to help a website or piece of content rank higher on Google.
Examples:
On-page SEO: Is the process of optimizing the content on your website. This can include your body copy, keywords, headers, meta titles, meta descriptions, images, and more.
Off-page SEO: Is all about creating exposure and trust for your company, which ultimately can result in more visitors and sales.
Local SEO: Helps your business be more visible in local search results on Google. Any business that has a physical location or serves a geographic area can benefit from local SEO.
Example: Google my Business
Social Media Marketing
Social Media Marketing Social media channels allow individuals, organizations, news distributors, and businesses to follow each other’s online activity, engage in virtual conversations, and share content.
Online stores can build and increase their presence through social media channels such as:
1. Facebook
2. Instagram
3. Twitter
4. LinkedIn
5. Pinterest
Different platforms can be used for defining buyer personas, depending on your target audience for example. Facebook will be for the middle-aged class and Instagram will be used to target the younger age groups.
Social media can help extend your reach, deepen engagement for your brand, build more customer loyalty as well as drive more sales.
Having an Influencer promote your product could help in increasing your online presence for example. The Bachelor TV show could be viewed as an influencer for Bloomable as it is seen by many viewers on television.
- Email marketing
Email marketing is the act of sending promotional messages to people in mass quantities. It helps you connect with your audience to promote your brand and increase sales.
Examples:
Newsletter: informs your audience of the latest news, tips, or updates about your product or company
Promotional emails: informs your audience of the latest news, tips, or updates about your product or company
- Paid search advertising
Paid search advertising is an excellent way to attract new customers because there is an intent of high purchase.
Conclusion
In comparison with booming segments, such as the furniture market or sports shops, the online florist is still lagging. But even if the florist business on the Internet is still somewhat minor, statistical figures show that this market has extreme potential and is continuing to grow and prosper.
Consumers are increasingly interested in cut flowers and plants in eCommerce and online orders are also on the uptick.
If we look at the entire garden-related sector, it becomes clear that online shopping has become extremely popular.
“Branding is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
Jeff Bezos
“This is just the beginning for Bloomable, we have some exciting plans for the year ahead and we can’t wait to share our new chapter with our partners, consumers and corporate clients.
Changing our name and brand was the perfect way to mark our collective re-commitment to the company’s mission: to provide an eCommerce platform for local businesses to thrive on, to offer our customers the freshest flowers from local florists.
To keep a strong focus on developing and expanding our gifting business to empower even more artisans” concludes Cumming.
You can read the full SA Florist to Bloomable story on bloomable.co.za.
Have a look at the online visibility from 11/05/2018 to today for SA FLORIST BREATHES NEW LIFE AS BLOOMABLE:
- Google Search Results
- Bing Search Results
- Yahoo Search Results
- DuckDuckGo Search Results
- Twitter Mentions
Tricia Murray
Sales and marketing MBA professional with over 18 years in corporate and government sales, now embarking in digital marketing.
Mia Visser
A communications graduate from South Africa, developed a interest in Digital marketing through IIDM™.