Brand Awareness
From building awareness, growing credibility, solidifying trust, and influencing audiences’ behavior, public relations is uniquely suited for helping grow your brand. We shape the conversation, influence your customers and build your brand.
How we do it
Tell Stories
People do business with people they like and trust. That’s why your reputation is our mission. We develop a brand narrative to forge a strong emotional bond between you and your customers.
Offer Credibility
To be successful, a brand must be credible. Credibility can’t be bought. It must be earned. We constantly drive momentum to build trust, loyalty and share of heart.
Obtain Third-Party Endorsements
The essence of good PR is having people talk about your brand. An endorsement from key influencers, content sharing and social media community building are more cost efficient and effective than paid advertising.
Use Data
Our unique insights and forward-thinking strategies are grounded in lawn and garden industry research. This proprietary data into the home and garden customer helps us position your brand for success, keep you on the minds of influencers and drive demand.
Educate Consumers
We influence consumer behavior by developing innovative campaigns, such as "O2 For You," promoting the benefits of houseplants and "SafePaws," raising awareness about the importance of organic lawn care for the health of people, pets and the planet.
Open Doors
With our connections you bypass gatekeepers and get introduced to key buyers in retail stores and e-commerce sites. We develop retail strategies to get your products on shelves and make you stand out above your competition.
With years of public relations experience in the home and garden industry, the award-winning team at Garden Media uses their talents and tools to effectively and efficiently build your brand.
What Steve Says About Garden Media
Since our relationship with Garden Media Group, which began in 1995, our brand recognition has soared. Their creative and enthusiastic approach to the professional and consumer press, and to our customers, had given us a national presence and impact well beyond our expectations. They are professional and responsive and represented us in a manner that perfectly reflected our company.
PR Campaigns
Traditional media outreach, social media and content marketing are a few of the key components to a strategic PR campaign.
We build buzz for new brands and breathe life into those a century old. Whether you want a national campaign, drill down in a regional market, or to reach garden center owners, Garden Media has the experience and creativity to make magic happen.
How we do it
Goal Driven
We produce the results you want with our goal-oriented approach that supports your vision in a consistent and organized fashion.
We create targeted strategies, write detailed action plans and hold milestone reviews to exceed your expectations.
Compelling Messages
We craft clear, concise messages to engage your audience, move them to action and make them fall in love with your brand.
Zero in
We match your brand with the interests, tastes and spending power of potential customers to target conversations most effectively.
Stay on Budget
By focusing the planning and execution of a campaign from the beginning, we ensure your money is spent effectively and efficiently.
Review and Repeat
We constantly re-evaluate our tactics to keep on track, maintain momentum and exceed expectations.
You get the most for your marketing investment with Garden Media's innovative, value-driven campaigns.
What Marta Says About Garden Media
Garden Media Group has introduced our company to key players in the lawn and garden industry. The ideas developed by the team have helped promote our company and enhance our image in front of our customers.
Launching a New Product
When launching a new product, it's important to have a clear PR strategy, detailed launch plan and targeted execution.
With almost 30 years of experience, Garden Media knows what it takes to put your brand or product on the map.
How we do it
Find the Golden Nugget
Through competitive research and market strategy we define your unique selling proposition and unearth the newsworthy core of your brand.
Seed the Market
The media has received thousands of plants and products through our strategically executed sample programs. They know Garden Media only represents the best and are eager to review samples we send.
Generate Product Reviews
Key influencers and bloggers look to us for innovative new products they can be the first to sample, test and talk about. Their reviews create buzz and drive demand before your new product is launched.
Secure Stories
From crafting company stories and press releases to providing customer testimonials and beautiful images, we work with key influencers to gain national, regional and local media coverage.
Ignite Social Media
By engaging a targeted audience on social media, we get people talking and sharing information about your product and ignite buzz around its launch.
Plan Events
We host events everyone wants to attend and talk about. These gain the attention of media, key influencers and consumers to launch your new product to stardom.
Launching a product is not a one-day event. You need to build and feed the momentum. By using an ongoing PR strategy, you reach more customers, raise brand awareness and increase sales.
Media Relations
Media relations is about finding the right “crowd” and making friends with them.
Garden Media knows who to contact and when.
The media trusts us and the clients we represent so you are effortlessly folded into our network of key influencers and become an instant insider.
We help you win the hearts of the media—and make you the go-to expert for information.
How we do it
Develop A-Lists
Our team maintains relationships with top home and garden editors and freelancers around the country, including key markets from New York to Los Angeles.
Leverage Relationships
Sending a press release to a mass list of journalists no longer works. It takes more than hitting send on an email. We are a recognized and trusted source the media turns to for story ideas, interviews and images.
Introduce Your Brand
Sample programs put your product directly in the hands of the influencers. The media trust that our clients are the best of the best and eagerly receive products to test and review.
Take a Tour
Face time is critical to get the media to fall in love with your company, culture and plants or products. Whether hosted at their office, your business or a mutual location, you get to the heart of public relations: personally telling your story.
Your garden brand needs to continually stay in the loop with the media so they keep you top of mind with your customers.
What Dean Says About Garden Media
The Garden Media Group always seems to have a strong and varied client list, is creative about marketing story ideas and is quick to handle requests. The staff also anticipates writer needs regarding interviews, supplying images and respecting deadlines. All this makes the information-gathering side of writing garden columns a great deal easier than making a series of cold calls. It's appreciated.
Content Marketing
Brands are now publishers. Fresh content is more important today than ever before. In fact, research shows 61% of consumers are more likely to buy from companies that offer custom content. At Garden Media we create, publish and share consistent content in the voice of your brand to engage your customer. And since 80% of decision makers prefer articles versus advertisements to make purchases, your custom content will make a difference in sales.
How we do it
Tell Stories
Content that tells a story, highlights your product or services, and establishes you as an industry expert is a powerful way to get found online, attract new business and build long-term relationships with customers.
Attract New Visitors
By providing valuable, consistent information, we help build brand awareness, grow trust and increase loyalty.
Create Lifetime Customers
Your customers become inspired and educated through our content and then become your brand ambassadors, helping to sell your product for you.
Telling your story isn’t always easy. This is where Garden Media can help.
What Mark Says About Garden Media
Because of Garden Media Group, our website pops up as #1 on most any search engine when gardeners are looking for our product category. The media coverage we have received over the last 5 years has contributed to this status on the web.
Social Media Marketing
You want people to find your online “storefront” representative of your brand persona. If they have a great experience they will buy your products and better yet, talk about your brand with their friends. This is how business is conducted today. Garden Media oversees social media marketing from start to finish to ensure you're found, remembered and shared.
How we do it
Plan Ahead
Planning and outlining the content you need to share in an editorial calendar keeps your brand fresh, postings consistent and followers engaged.
Create Content
The 60-20-20 rule drives content that educates, inspires and sells your brand with stories and images people like and share. From optimizing long-tail keywords and driving inbound marketing, to creating brand pages and telling stories, we get your brand noticed.
Engage Influencers
Our outreach to top bloggers and power pinners generates online reviews, conversations and product recommendations.
Insert You in Conversations
Social media allows you to be a part of the conversation, either as a participant or an observer. Responding to what is being said about your brand in real time with a real voice positions you as a trusted friend.
Increase Engagement
Your customers are your best brand ambassadors. When they love your brand, they'll talk about you. We grow engagement by sharing useful content, hosting contests, responding quickly and building community.
From creating editorial calendars to partnering with key bloggers, we start conversations, inspire sharing and increase brand presence online.
Speaking Engagements
If you want your conference or workshop to learn about the latest trends in gardening, we invite you to contact us about your upcoming event. Our keynote and seminar presentations are designed to inspire and motivate your audience to improve their business, gain customers and become thought leaders for their own audience.
How we do it
Past Speaking Engagements
- Cultivate
- FarWest
- Great Lakes
- MGIX
- Spoga&Gafa
Speakers
Katie Dubow has been presetting topics to audiences for nearly 10 years. From Marketing to Millennials to Garden Trends, Katie has presented a dozen topics in four different countries. And, as a guest host on QVC for Cottage Farms, Dubow has honed her speaking skills for a live audience. Book her for your event today.
Popular Topics
- Garden Trends
- 7 C’s of Social Media
- Marketing to Millennials
- Cause Marketing Halo Effect
- Video Marketing
Jourdan Cole specializes in digital marketing for horticulture. She is a Penn State Master Gardener. Jourdan can present on topics such as “Trends”, “Marketing to Millennials”, “The Future of Retail”, and “Gardening for Parents and Kids.” Book her for additional topics about digital trends, Facebook and Instagram marketing, or millennials.
In a vivid, inspiring, and humorous way, the speaking team will share practical, actionable tips so that attendees walk away with a “to do” list they can implement right away. Want to know more? Contact us about your event.
What Charlie Says About Katie
I could listen to Katie talk about trends all day! Seriously, not only does she know her stuff but she presents it in such a captivating manner. As an economist, I am always looking at trends and how they impact the lawn and garden industry. Thanks to Katie, I don't have to spend hundreds of hours collecting that information and then wade through mountains of data. She's so good at what she does that she should be on TV -- wait, she is!
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a public relations firm do for my business?
What is the difference between public relations and advertising?
How do I pick a PR firm?
What is your social media expertise?
How much does a PR agency cost?
Am I locked into a long-term contract?
How long before I see results?
Who will be working on my account?
What will you need from me to make the relationship work?
How do you communicate with me?
Do you provide media coaching?
How do I get started?
Our relationship is like any other — we need regular and honest communication. This allows both sides to meet the pre-established goals and objectives and provides the best opportunity for the relationship to flourish.
We need for you to treat us as your in-house team and keep us in the loop on your marketing efforts and activities so we can best leverage these in our PR efforts. And we need beautiful images of your plants, products or services. Even more today, a picture tells a thousand words.
Yes. When a member of the media is scheduled to do an interview with a client, we prepare them with talking points outlining important facts about the company and map out a plan that will help build their brand for the specific media market.
We offer suggestions on what to wear and more importantly, what not to wear. And since practice makes perfect, we can even hold a mock interview to ensure our clients are prepared and successful.
We have to stay current with the evolving world of social media. Suzi, founder of Garden Media, calls social media the Wild, Wild West, as it is such an ever changing frontier. We consider “traditional” forms of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn as critical for all PR campaigns.
We also regularly tap newer mediums such as Instagram and SnapChat to reach consumers, market products and build brands. We can manage your social media reputation for you 100 percent or just help you stay ahead of the curve and supplement what you do in-house.
Either way, social media is just another trick in our playbook.
We are known for working magic, but like a garden, PR doesn’t happen overnight. Every business wants their products on the cover of a big magazine, but it usually takes at least six months to begin seeing steady results.
Because this is our niche, we can fast track your results, but because of the nature of the gardening industry, it will take roughly two to three years before you see the media big placements on your wish list.
Our goal always is to exceed your expectations by delivering a high return on your public relations and marketing investment.
The length of the contract is mutually decided on between our agency and the client. Every contract clearly states the duration of the relationship. At a minimum, our contracts are for one year, but we know PR takes time and are most successful with long-term relationships. Many of our clients have been with us for more than 10 years.
Communication is the lifeblood of a successful partnership with all of our clients. In fact, we’re in this business because we LOVE to talk.
We talk to our clients almost every day, whether through scheduled phone calls, non-scheduled calls, text messages, emails or face-to-face meetings. It’s important to keep our clients up to date on our progress of meeting their goals and needs and to uncover PR opportunities you may not recognize.
We also schedule regular client calls with agendas and follow up immediately with call reports to make sure we all are on the same page.
At Garden Media we work as a team. Every client is assigned a seasoned account manager as the lead. Senior management works directly with the client and account manager on strategy development and is always available for consultations. Depending on your budget and needs of the company, an assistant account manager or two may also be on your team to help with day-to-day projects. The team is rounded out by support staff and IT experts.
One of the most common reasons people don't retain PR services is they think it costs too much. Dollar for dollar, however, you get more bang from your marketing budget with PR than with advertising.
The Wall Street Journal reports that companies under $20 million make the most efficient use of marketing resources with public relations.
All public relations campaigns differ in price, but at Garden Media we have budgets of all ranges. The budget is customized based on the needs and desired services of each client.
Just searching "public relations firms" in Google is not going to help you find the best overall fit for your business. However, it is a start.
Be specific and ask yourself these four questions:
1) Are they experts in your industry?
2) Do they share the same cultural values?
3) Do you like what you see in their portfolio of work?
4) Can you afford them?
Interview at least three PR firms. Then, check the PR firm’s references. Ask specifically what the firm did for their business, how long it took them to gain traction with the media, and whether or not public relations helped increase sales. The answers will speak for themselves.
The first step is to start a conversation about what you want to achieve with a public relations program. After we’ve had these discovery calls, we map out a plan of action with goals, strategies, objectives and budget.
We review the proposal with you, answer questions and make any adjustments to the plan as needed. We provide you with several references from our current and even past clients so you can check us out.
Once we agree on a course of action and sign a contract, we put together an action plan with assignments and deadlines and start our PR engines to help you reach your goals and make your brand a star.
Public relations builds your reputation and captures the hearts – and minds - of your customers. Advertising maintains it.
Public relations enables your brand to go beyond advertising by shaping conversations, influencing consumer attitudes and changing opinions. Your brand gains credibility through strategic word of mouth.
Garden Media is always evaluating new programs and techniques to help tell your story, engage consumers and build relationships between your customers and your brand.
In advertising, you pay for the product to do all the talking for you and people can see it coming from a mile away. In public relations, a “trusted friend” is speaking about you, and people take more notice of what they are saying, believe them and are more likely to follow their recommendation.
This third party endorsement is priceless. The message is far more persuasive and memorable than an ad, far less costly and far more credible.
In a nutshell, a public relations firm builds your brand’s reputation so customers fall in love with your company, become loyal consumers and ask for your product by name.
We help shape, build and maintain your reputation by securing media placements, creating compelling content, setting up speaking engagements and managing social media marketing to help you break through the noise and reach your customers.
And we do it quicker and more efficiently than advertising. It is particularly important when launching a new plant or product to first introduce your brand to potential customers through a trusted source, such as a magazine or blog.