Jenny (01:42)
hey Leslie, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. I'm excited to chat with you with all things about local marketing.
Leslie Presnall (01:51)
Absolutely, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited.
Jenny (01:54)
Yeah, so you are basically an expert in like local marketing for local businesses, right? How else would you describe like your expertise and what you focus on and what you help people with?
Leslie Presnall (02:08)
Yeah, so I call myself a local marketing coach. So I tell people that if you are trying to reach people who live in your city, like if you work hands-on, like closely with your people, face-to-face, if you have a product or a service that is for a local person, I can help you do that. ⁓
Jenny (02:30)
Love that. And I'm so glad that we connected because in the world of marketing, there's so many different things you can do and so many different strategies you can approach. But for local people with local businesses, I feel like it's different than people that are doing like online digital marketing. Like the way you approach it, at least for me feels different. Like what would you say?
Leslie Presnall (02:55)
Yeah, and I think that's the problem. That's the problem that every local business owner faces because we live in a world where we're all on Instagram every day and we are seeing all the marketing advice for everybody else. And we're like, but wait, how do I make this work for me whenever I'm just trying to reach people who live down the street?
Jenny (02:57)
Yeah.
Right. Because when I sell my flowers, like if I post something on Instagram, I don't want somebody like in California to see it. Like I don't really care. I want people in my local community to see like, there's flowers five, 10 minutes away and I can go get them. And so I think that our conversation today is going be so valuable to everyone listening because they're all in that boat where they are trying to reach local people for the most part. guess maybe there's probably some people who are like shipped products or whatever, but
For the most part, we're looking for local marketing ⁓ advice. So what would you say the biggest mistakes are that you see local businesses making when it comes to trying to market in a local area?
Leslie Presnall (04:04)
Yeah, I think I think there are a few and and number one I think it is Kind of like we were saying like in this day and age It's like we're trained to focus on virality like
Jenny (04:18)
you
Leslie Presnall (04:18)
Going for the views and the reach and reaching everybody so it's it's taking all of these online marketing strategies and trying to apply them to our local business I think that's kind of the first mistake and and it's almost like we make ourselves wrong for that Whenever we do a reel or a post and it doesn't reach that many people. like, i'm doing it wrong But I think the question is is like did it reach people who are in your city? Because if it reached 10 people who live in your city like that's a win
Versus if it reached a thousand people who didn't live in your city because that's not gonna be a win because it could have way more views But it didn't reach anybody that lived in your city. So I think that's like the first mistake is Focusing too much kind of like on those vanity metrics like the virality metrics ⁓ And I think another mistake and I just see a lot of my people getting caught up this I see myself getting caught up in this but it's when you are marketing it's
And tell me if your people do this too. It's like getting caught up in like marketing for maybe your non-best people. Like we get in our heads a lot of times thinking about like who does it want our stuff or like who can't pay our prices or the guy who used to sit behind us in Spanish class or something. know, like anyway, that's not our customer. We end up thinking about them whenever we're marketing.
Jenny (05:38)
Hahaha!
Leslie Presnall (05:45)
And then we go and create from that place versus like just thinking like who are our best people who are like who are the people that are obsessed with us and like staying 100 focused on them all the time. So I think that's like another big mistake people make. ⁓ And then the third one this is going to be probably like a little touchy for people but it's just like not selling enough like not making enough offers and using social media and marketing to do
lot of entertaining, a lot of like inspiring posts, like and you get to do that, like you get to have fun on social media, there's nothing wrong with that, but I think a lot of people are afraid to sell, they're afraid to like talk about what they offer in their products and tell people how to get them and they're not doing that enough, so they end up not getting the sales they want, which is the whole point of all of it.
Jenny (06:41)
Yes. So virality, focusing on like vanity metrics, thinking about all the people who like are not your ideal customer and getting caught up in that and then not selling enough or pitching your offers enough on social media. think that those are all mistakes that people get caught up in. I sometimes get caught up in even though like I know I should know better, but it's so hard when you it is like social media feels like a
Leslie Presnall (07:01)
Same.
Jenny (07:07)
popularity contest sometimes and you don't look cool when you only get like, you know, 300 views instead of like 30,000 or whatever. But like you said, you want those, you know, 30 views from your like hometown, your location. Like that's really who you're trying to target. Are your ideal customers you're going to come and buy from you.
Leslie Presnall (07:08)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, and I think that's the hardest part is like, can you do it anyway if you feel like you still don't look cool?
Jenny (07:37)
Yeah. Can you? I don't know. I certainly feel like a dork every time I post on social media. And I just like try to shut it off in my brain. like, yes, this is cringy. like, yeah. Yeah, exactly. I know I feel cringy every time I record a podcast or post on social media or really do anything. But it's like, I may not like that feeling, but I like what's on the other side of it.
Leslie Presnall (07:39)
You
Yeah.
Yeah, it's like, can you feel that anyway and just do it?
Yeah.
Jenny (08:06)
I like.
Leslie Presnall (08:06)
Exactly. Yeah, yeah. I think
anytime you can lean more into that It's just a signal that you're going in the right direction versus think about everything you do every day that you just feel totally safe and At peace and very calm like that's a sign. You're not really growing or doing anything outside of your comfort zone, you know
Jenny (08:25)
Yeah, exactly, exactly. So if people should not be focusing on virality and just entertaining and stuff on social media, what should they actually be focusing on when it comes to their marketing strategy?
Leslie Presnall (08:41)
Yeah, I mean, think anybody that has a local business, think number one, they need to be consistently telling people it's a couple of things. I think they need to consistently be telling people who they are and where they are. I think that's very important, especially for the Instagram algorithm for people to just know like you're in their city and then consistently telling people what you do and how you can help people.
or like what it is you're offering. So whether it's like the products, the markets you're gonna be at, workshops, ⁓ classes, like consistently telling people how they can work with you, because that is what they're there for.
Jenny (09:21)
Yeah, exactly. But how would you advise people to actually reach the people they're trying to on Instagram or Facebook? Or is there a platform that you would recommend? Or does it depend? I think I've just asked you several questions. So let me narrow that down again.
Leslie Presnall (09:37)
Yeah, I tend to focus
a lot on I just think everybody especially your people I think everybody is on Instagram, know, it's like all of our clients are on Instagram and Facebook too ⁓ So in order to reach your local people I really do it gets to be simple and I think a lot of people over complicate this but It really is about having your location visible
Jenny (09:47)
Yes, all of our people. Yes.
Leslie Presnall (10:05)
Saying it way more than you think you have to Like calling your people out, you know, like I'm in Baton Rouge, Louisiana So it will be like hey Baton Rouge like literally saying it like saying it in your reels having it on the screen on the text on your reels having it in your captions having it tagged in your Location on your post. It's like everywhere you can have your location Do it
And this is just like reinforcing where you are. So it's telling the algorithm where you are. And so it's just gonna push it to more and more of those people.
Jenny (10:44)
You said something that I really resonated with is that it's really simple to do this and people tend to overcomplicate things. And I feel like that's the same. And I've just been finding in all facets of business is that we tend to overcomplicate things way more than they need to be. And when something sounds simple, we almost don't believe that it works or something, but it's so true. the
It's just these simple tweaks and stuff make a huge difference. okay, making sure your location is visible everywhere, saying where you are all the time and calling people out. Like if I had a farm stand where I live in Clifton Springs, I'd be like, hey, Clifton Springs, like, hey, if like the high school mascot was the Raiders, you would be like, hey, Raiders, like, would that, like anything like that.
Leslie Presnall (11:36)
Yes,
I love it. And I think like any variation of that you could do, you know, because some people live in ⁓ like the suburb of an area or you call your city like I'm in Baton Rouge. So again, we might say like BR sometimes or BR LA. Like just think of all kind of variations of that and just like play around with it.
Jenny (11:52)
Yeah.
Yeah, I love that. ⁓ Something that I was taught a long time ago, too, is not just on social media, but on your website for SEO or search engine optimization. You should have all over the place. For me, it's like Rochester, New York, Rochester, New York, Rochester, New York. I sell flowers in Rochester, New York. And then you'll come up with people are actually searching for that, right? Similar thing.
Leslie Presnall (12:18)
Yeah, and it's
it's very similar to how you would do SEO on your website. It's just now you're applying that to Instagram. And so it's like when people are searching on Instagram for certain keywords, like your farm would show up and now Google.
even like showing specific posts like Instagram posts in the search results. So it's like individual posts like if people are searching on Google and actual individual post can show up in the search results. So that's just another way that people can find you. So like keywords and using your city is just like more important than ever. ⁓
Jenny (12:54)
That's so interesting. I didn't know that. That's insane. Cool. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. And I think people tend to think kind of like, I don't want to say like doomsday, but they're like, it's so hard to reach people in my local area now with all this online digital marketing. But I think that there are some places where we can actually really shine when it comes to stuff like this.
Leslie Presnall (12:59)
It's so good for us.
Yeah, and
and I think again it goes back to what if it was simple and just remembering there's the I think as a local business we have the best of both worlds because we get to use things like Instagram Facebook Email marketing, whatever it is tick-tock. It doesn't matter whatever Online space you want and also we can walk out of our house and go meet people
we can always joke it's like you could stand on the side of the road and hold up a sign if you wanted to. You could walk into a restaurant and tap every single person on the shoulder if you wanted to. that's weird but like it really could be like don't actually go do that but like it could be that easy you know. ⁓ Going to markets like it's so easy to to meet somebody today.
Jenny (13:59)
You
Yes. And honestly, you said that like going to a restaurant and tapping people on the shoulder is weird, but like, actually know some of my students who have not exactly, but they like, they've gone to like bars before Valentine's day and they like put up a big sign is like, Hey, have you gotten your significant other flowers for V-Day yet? Like it's tomorrow or whenever. And like, then they actually like sell stuff that way. And it's, it's so powerful and like simple, so simple.
Leslie Presnall (14:18)
Can you do that?
Yeah. That's genius. Yeah.
Jenny (14:40)
So many people are unwilling to do that for some reason.
Leslie Presnall (14:43)
Yeah, yeah, because it's uncomfortable.
Jenny (14:45)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, exactly.
Leslie Presnall (14:47)
Yeah, but I just think of like all the places and all the ways you can bring up what you do. Like I was sitting on the airplane the other day and a lady was like, what do you do? And then for an entire hour we talked about it.
Jenny (15:00)
Aw, I love that. That's awesome. Is there anything that you see like these big digital marketers doing out there that local flower farmers should avoid or do you think it's like just taking everything with like a grain of salt?
Leslie Presnall (15:02)
Yeah. ⁓
I don't like to tell people to just avoid doing anything because any marketing is marketing. If you enjoy doing something, do it. ⁓ I think it should always be layered in. For example, like if it's viral hooks or hopping on a certain trend, anything like that, those things are fun.
So I'm not gonna say like don't ever do a fun trend or something, but I think where it gets tricky is if that's all you do. Because then you're kind of just looking like everybody else all the time and your marketing is no longer being localized.
So it's not like don't ever do anything that all these bigger Instagram like global marketers are saying, but it's like, can you do that and still layer in like the localization?
Jenny (16:19)
Yes,
that makes a lot of sense. Now, when it comes to things like social media and marketing on social media, how can people actually get people off of Instagram and like into their shop or into their farm stand or market or location to translate those people on social media into customers and sales? Like what are some tactics or messages people could use?
Leslie Presnall (16:48)
Yeah, I mean, I think it's giving people a good reason to.
And I think this goes back to the first mistake we said or I think the third mistake was people not selling not making enough offers So I think a lot of times people think well I said it once and nobody took me up on it or I invited people and nobody came so I think a lot of times we just severely underestimate the amount that we have to Invite people or promote something It it does take a lot of work to get people to put on real pants and leave their house
and so I think just like yeah and I also think like don't let that be a problem so like don't think ⁓ I made this offer one time and nobody took me up on it it's like okay I'm just gonna make another one tomorrow no big deal and it's like how creative can I get with it
Jenny (17:25)
Me included.
Leslie Presnall (17:44)
⁓ And just don't let anything like be a dead end to stop you. I don't think there is like one perfect tactic or like say this and they're all gonna come but it's just like I'm gonna try this way today and then I'm gonna try this way tomorrow and I know that it's just probably gonna take more invites than I thought and that's okay and I think just thinking like What are people gonna get excited about? Like what is nobody else in my city doing?
Like, where's there a gap that I can fill? What's gonna get people excited?
Jenny (18:19)
Yeah, I love that way of thinking. It also reminds me of the marketing rule of seven, which is this long time studied principle where potential customers need to see your message at least seven times before they even think about taking an action or making a purchase or coming out to see you.
Seven times is kind of a lot when you think about it, but like to get somebody to like physically come out to your like your location and find you that just it's, it should be exciting for people to hear that because it means like you can keep telling them and it's okay. Like that's what you need to do. ⁓
Leslie Presnall (18:43)
Nah.
Yeah, and I think I
actually read that it's like gone up too, which doesn't surprise me. And you have to think about, let's just say it is still seven or 11, 17. I don't know what the exact number is, but whatever that number is.
Jenny (19:11)
Hahaha
Leslie Presnall (19:16)
If say it's like, okay, I'm gonna put it that number out every time your people probably didn't even see all of those like they What two percent of your people on Instagram even saw it to begin with or if you send an email, okay cool Like 40 % of those people saw it. It's like let's just double triple that that's what I say like people just underestimate The amount of marketing and they tend to think oh I said it once or I said it seven times like check. It's like no, let's just
Jenny (19:22)
Yes. Yes.
Mm-hmm. ⁓
Leslie Presnall (19:46)
Like what else can we say or how can we just say it a little louder for the people in the back that missed it or the mom standing in line at Target who saw it and like she wanted to come but now she just got distracted by a screaming kid and forgot. Just remind her it's fine.
Jenny (19:58)
Yes, that is me.
Yes, exactly. I think that people get really discouraged. I know that my students that I work with, I've seen this pattern where people get really discouraged if they like try something or put something out there and they just don't feel like they get a lot of return out of it. And it's like, that's kind of the way this works. Like you just have to keep doing it more and more and more.
put out more volume and the more times that you do it, the more you learn about what works, what resonates, what doesn't, and the better you get at it. And so like, just don't give up if you, you know, say something a few times and you get many bites from it. Like this is literally what people do over and over again, right?
Leslie Presnall (20:45)
Yeah, I think it's just about being all in and committed to getting the result you want no matter what and it's like I'm just gonna figure this out no matter how many times it takes
Jenny (20:55)
Yes, I love that mindset so much. that's honestly, you have to have that if you want to be successful in business, right?
Leslie Presnall (21:02)
Yeah, because
it's not going to work the first time and that's fine. Or the tech.
Jenny (21:06)
It's not. Yeah,
exactly. And even after you've been doing this for a while, things that used to work suddenly don't work anymore. And then you got to figure it all out again. And it's never ending. So that's the fun of it too. So I've heard you say before to become like the go-to in your city. What does that mean in practice? And what are the key steps to kind of like becoming the go-to person in your city for, you know,
Leslie Presnall (21:11)
of less.
Jenny (21:33)
the flower farmer or florist or whatever.
Leslie Presnall (21:36)
Yeah, so I to me like being that local go-to person is it's just being that top choice It's it's the person that gets referred. It's the person that everybody knows I like to think about it It's like if there was you know how the local magazines will do like the best of awards and things like that It's like if there was a category for what you do, you would be the winner So it's like you walk into a local coffee shop and like somebody knows you it's just like being
Jenny (21:56)
Yeah.
Leslie Presnall (22:06)
known in your city. So that's what that means to me and it's just it's just this like self concept really that you step into.
I think it shows later by the results that you create so by having the demand by Selling out by having people come to the markets and be like, my gosh, I came today just for you ⁓ By having people DM you and telling you how much they love your business like all those little micro things that come along with that
But I think you like build yourself up to become that person in in two main ways and I always say that it starts with you first like it really is like this identity like the self-concept that you have to step into ⁓ and just like be thinking and feeling every day and like showing up and doing the things like that local go-to person would be doing. ⁓ I just find a lot of times if you do like a self check in and audit every day most of the time
we're not acting kind of like the future version of ourselves like that person that we want to be so that's really what this is all about like are you being that future version of you like that local go-to person ⁓
If not, like how would I be thinking every day if I did have that demand? How would I be feeling? What would I be doing in my business? ⁓ How like how would I be acting if I did have that demand if I was selling out if I did have people coming to the markets like just for me and Let that be how you show up in your business today Like even before those results are there because ultimately that's gonna be how you create those results so that's kind of more of like the like the self-concept mindset
side of it and then like the strategy side of it is finding the things that are like really unique to you.
in your business, in your farm, like the ways you maybe like grow things or offer things, the way certain processes you have, like the way you interact with customers or fund things for your customers to do, like whatever is unique about you specifically, and then making sure you're marketing those things. And like really being able to highlight the value of what you do in your marketing.
So people just can see like very clearly like why you are different and why you are that top choice.
Jenny (24:34)
Yeah, I feel like there's, I didn't expect to go into all this mindset stuff with you today, but you're just so right how important it is to show up in that version of you that you kind of want to become. So when people do see you, they kind of get that feeling like, this person knows what they're doing and I'm here for it. I love that. Yeah.
Leslie Presnall (24:56)
Yeah, it's like a confidence right or it's like
a self-confidence maybe before the real confidence is there
Jenny (25:02)
Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like I like, I kind of did this when I first started, and I've met a lot of my students that have done this too, where they truly just adopt this identity of, I am now the go-to flower person. And everywhere you go, when you go to the chiropractor, to the grocery store, when you go to a dentist appointment, to a friend's house, to a block party, you bring flowers with you.
everywhere you go. And eventually when people need flowers, they're just going to think of you. And then if you layer on top of that, like marketing you're talking about on like social media and stuff, and you, they, you come up on their feeds with more flowers, like you're just going to be the person that comes to mind when people are like, ⁓ I have a wedding coming up or a party or whatever. They need flowers or something.
Leslie Presnall (25:36)
you. ⁓
Yeah, and that's what
it's about. Yeah, and it's like that repetition of that.
Jenny (25:57)
Yes, it takes a lot of repetition. I feel like this is a theme that is coming up in this conversation. A theme, yeah. ⁓ So when people have kind of adopted this idea of I'm going to be the go-to person in my city for this, this is what I'm going be known for, this is what I'm going show up for, how can they clarify their message so that the local customers are trying to reach
Leslie Presnall (26:00)
I'm
Jenny (26:24)
immediately understand what they offer and want to choose them over somebody else.
Leslie Presnall (26:31)
Yeah, I think it goes back to like what like who are you? Who are you for? What do you offer? How is it different than what anybody else is offering? Like is there a specific problem you're solving? How are you the solution to that problem? What is your specific process or method for that? ⁓ What specific result are people gonna get?
So I think it's just all layers of that throughout your messaging. But really like who are you for? How are you helping your people? And how are you doing that differently than anybody else?
Jenny (27:11)
Yes, I love that so much. I know in our world, in the flower world, it's like flower farming is definitely like a trendy thing lately and there's a lot of flower farms popping up everywhere. And I see a lot of people feeling like they don't want to step in other people's toes or they don't want to be like somebody else or they don't feel like they can really like find their niche in their area because they feel like the market is like flooded or something. But I think
What you're saying is so important to get past those feelings of like even feelings of like imposter syndrome, just thinking about like who is the customer that you want to serve, who you can really help or do something amazing with, what you can be best at and just focusing on that will naturally make you stand out from other people, right?
Leslie Presnall (28:00)
Yes, and everybody does have something different that they do whether it's just you as a human or something about your flower something about how they're grown something about your farm stand something about the markets like something about you is different something the way you Package everything up like something about you is different So it's like figuring that out and even if you can't think of it like make that a priority to create something and Then that's what you go and market
Jenny (28:03)
Yeah.
Yes, I love that.
Yeah, absolutely. Now, besides social media, and we talk about on my podcast a lot, email marketing. I'm very big into email marketing, and I teach it a lot. But what are some other strategies, maybe like,
in-person events or local strategies can flower farmers use to get the word out about their business and to market better.
Leslie Presnall (28:56)
Yeah, I I mean the way I teach it is like all marketing works And we know that because everybody does something different So I'm kind of like I said, it's like we have the online marketing you get to do any of those platforms that you want and like the offline marketing so the farmers markets the signage like I've had some money that put up a It was like a little
Jenny (29:01)
Yeah. Yeah.
Leslie Presnall (29:22)
scrolly sign at behind a coffee bar and they got clients that way like I just don't think there's any or even putting Like a sign like, know the pool tabs on I don't even know what they're called like the papers that you have put up on a sign at a coffee shop and people like Like old school like
Jenny (29:39)
like a sheet of paper that you rip a tab off the bottom? Yes!
Leslie Presnall (29:44)
Most the people
still do that. So are putting a business card on a board. Like I think you could do anything and everything. It's like, especially if you're just starting out and you don't have the demand that you want, why not try all of it?
Jenny (29:58)
Yes.
Leslie Presnall (29:59)
It's like there are business cards, there are flyers, there's pitching yourself to local media. Like I know people have like a lot of people think they have to pay for local media, but I was in journalism in my previous life and they're like the the reporters, the journalists, like they are always looking for story ideas. So if you can just pitch them a story idea like you can get on the news for free, you can get into magazines for free. So it's just being able to like pitch them a story idea like
they will thank you for that. ⁓ You know, it's just any idea that comes to you of like this is the way I can get in front of people, like just do it. Like going to networking events, even going to other classes, like...
a candle making class or I was gonna say like a flower arranging class, those are your people. You know, some like some sort of class like a dance class or even like a fitness class. Like it doesn't have to be a form like a formal networking event for you to still be networking. I know a lot of my people get really ⁓ weirded out like going to networking events. So it's like, can you just go to a class like a fun
Jenny (30:52)
Hahaha!
Mm.
Leslie Presnall (31:16)
class and have fun, whether it's like a painting class or something like that, and just meet people because everybody you meet in your city is either like can be your next customer or like refer you to one.
Jenny (31:27)
or open up huge doors of opportunity for you. Like you never know who you're talking about or talking to, mean. And ⁓ yeah, I think everything, I love this direction you're coming from because I wholeheartedly agree that like all marketing works and you can do all different kinds of marketing. But I do think that feels like overwhelming for people sometimes. And so what,
Leslie Presnall (31:30)
Yeah.
Jenny (31:52)
What I did when I first started out and what I think a lot of people do is they just kind of like try everything. And then you kind of see what sticks and like where customers are starting to come from. Like maybe they are coming from the fire. You put it at the coffee shop down the street. Maybe they are coming from social media, like wherever that is, whatever's working, you just like double down on that and like lean into it instead of trying to like do everything. Because I think that's
probably a place where people get tripped up to is where they feel like they should be doing like marketing events. They should be in the news, media. They should be doing flyers. They're doing Instagram. They're doing like all the things and it's just overwhelming. So would you say like that makes sense based on like your experience or what do you think?
Leslie Presnall (32:38)
100
% and and I don't actually I think there are two types of people. I think there are people who Especially early on in their business. They're like I'm gonna hustle. I'm gonna hit the ground running I'm gonna throw everything out there and see what sticks and then there are people that
Started a business because they liked what they were doing and then they're like, my gosh, what is marketing? Like how do I do this? And then they look at all these options that we just talked about and then they they do shut down from the overwhelm So if that is you and I never recommend like trying to literally do everything at once
But I think if you are in like that overwhelmed category, it's like just pick a handful. It's like I'm gonna I'm gonna pick Instagram. I'm gonna pick going to one networking event a month. Maybe I put up a flyer or something, know, like pick your things. Maybe I pitch a collaboration to somebody and I'm just gonna stick with like that core group of things and then I'm gonna see like what's working about this. What's not working about this? How do I want to like make this work better? And if I feel like one of
them isn't working maybe I can drop one and like add in something else or once I feel like I can handle those things and it's like I've got the ball rolling on those and my capacity is now expanded a little bit maybe now I can add on something else versus like trying to take on everything at once
Jenny (34:04)
Yeah, absolutely. I honestly feel like we've really narrowed down our marketing to almost just one customer acquisition channel at this point. And it's basically through our farmers market, which sounds crazy. But out of all the things that we were doing, all the things we were trying, we were getting all of these people on our email list and meeting all these people just by showing up to our farmers market.
because they do a lot of the marketing for you. There's always fresh people coming in. And over time, we've honestly kind of stopped doing everything else. And we just super hyper-focus on that one marketing channel. And it sounds so overly simplistic and seems like too good to be true to some people. But it's like, that's what worked for us. And so that's what we lean into. And so.
That's what we do now and like it makes marketing so much easier than like trying to keep up with the Joneses and like post on social media three times a day or whatever.
Leslie Presnall (35:09)
Yeah, and I think
that's part of it too. It's like figuring out what is gonna work for you. And it's like which...
thing do you also like have the least resistance to? It's like if you could only do one thing, like what are the things, like what's the thing that you know you're going to show up to? Because it's like if you have a list of 99 things you're going to do to market yourself, but then in the moment you tell yourself, I don't feel like it or that's scary or I don't want to do it. It's like, I would rather you just have one thing that you are really good at and you just do it over and over and you make that work.
Jenny (35:24)
Yes. Yes.
Leslie Presnall (35:49)
Because again, all marketing works, right? ⁓
Jenny (35:49)
Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
As long as you're consistent and you do it lots and lots of times over and over again. And I think that like this, when you said like old school methods of like marketing and stuff, I think that those are so underrated still because like we got all of our first customers basically from like putting bouquets of flowers at local businesses with like a little
It wasn't like a flyer, but like a little postcard that was like sign up for a subscription program and like just literally just going to local businesses and putting out cards and stuff. And it really, really works. And like just yesterday I was working at a local coffee shop in our area because the heat was out in our barn.
And inside of the bathroom there, they have this big community board and they have all these businesses post like little flyers and business cards and stuff. like, I read it every single time I go there. And I have found like several businesses, like a yoga studio and a chiropractor and a musician that like we've gone to go see at a local ⁓ restaurant. And it's like, we've found out about all these people that way. And it just sounds so like basic, but it can really work for some people.
Leslie Presnall (37:04)
Yeah, why not? ⁓
Jenny (37:06)
Yeah,
so what about like marketing events, like in person, like workshops or classes or like tours or stuff like that?
Leslie Presnall (37:21)
Yeah, so in terms of like your people hosting her own to get more people. Yeah.
Jenny (37:25)
Yeah, like to get customers or like get the word out there for marketing. Because that's something
that we've done in the past is we've like hosted farm events or like farm tours that just sort of like, I don't want to say like one off events, but like the purpose of the event was like, get people to like come out to the farm and like get to know us so we could like sell flowers to them.
Leslie Presnall (37:50)
Yeah.
Okay. So I actually have a rule and I actually teach my students that they can't have like one off events.
Jenny (37:59)
Ooh,
I like that. OK, tell me more. Tell me more.
Leslie Presnall (38:01)
Just because
there's so much to learn from your first event and I really do think the purpose of your first event is just to learn as much as you can for your next event. And then the next event is learn as much as you can for the next event. Like my very first event I used to do like these big, we called them boutique blowout sales and my very first event it was an empty ballroom. Like I cried on an empty ballroom floor but then like
Jenny (38:07)
I... There is.
Leslie Presnall (38:28)
Eight events later, there was lines wrapped around the building, like people waiting two hours to get in, and that wouldn't have happened if I would have stopped after that first event, because I would have been like, well, this was terrible. Like, no one showed up. This was a fail. I'm done. Right? Like, events just don't work for me. And I feel like that's what most people do, because they're like, well, nobody came. This was a low turnout or this was a lot of work for no return. So...
Jenny (38:50)
Yeah.
Leslie Presnall (38:58)
I tell people when you do your first event, you're just automatically signing up for the next one. ⁓
Jenny (39:03)
I actually really, do 100 % agree with that because it's so much work and you do learn so much. And that's a great story.
Leslie Presnall (39:12)
Yeah, and I think too, with events, if you do the same event over and over, it becomes something that you can really start to systematize.
Because you create the marketing the first time and then you get to reuse it the second time Through the lens of like what worked about this what didn't work? What do I need to change to get better for this one? And then if you just keep like reiterating that over and over and over by the time you do that event multiple times Of course, it's gonna be working and you didn't have to like reinvent the wheel every single time And I just think it goes back to what we said earlier like we just underestimate the amount of
marketing especially to get people to put on real pants and leave their house and like to to You know
Jenny (39:55)
You
Leslie Presnall (40:00)
I you also, because people always want to know like what's the time frame? Like how far in advance do I need to start marketing my event? And again, it's like, I wish I had a magic number, but like every client I've worked with, like we all have different windows. And I think again, if you know you're going to do this over and over and over, you get to test different windows and it's like, okay, I started promoting this event two weeks out. I didn't get the result I wanted. I'm going to start the next one three weeks out. Maybe I need a whole month. Maybe I need two months, you know?
So you just learn all of this the more you do it.
Jenny (40:34)
Yeah, I absolutely agree. But I do think that if you're going to sign up for, like, sign yourself up for doing events, no one off events, but I think it can be a really powerful way to generate interest for your business, especially like in your local community. ⁓ What would you say to people that have maybe tried that or gone through a situation like you did?
Leslie Presnall (40:51)
Yeah.
Jenny (40:59)
crying on the empty ballroom, which I've totally been there too, by the way. What would you say to somebody how to keep going through a low turnout event or something that just didn't go the way that they expected it to?
Leslie Presnall (41:12)
I mean I just it's part of it, you know and I like one of my values and this has been like for such a long time is as a local business owner like just one of my values is to bring experiences to our city like I want to
Jenny (41:16)
like that.
Leslie Presnall (41:31)
Don't know like I live in a place where everybody's like, there's nothing to do here Like everybody's like we have to go We have to go to New Orleans to have fun or like to a bigger city to have fun and I always I'm like But how can we create something here that like locals get excited about so like I really took that on as like my personal mission and And so with that in mind I feel like that that mission just like fueled me to like get up off the ballroom floor It's like okay. I just I didn't reach enough people
Jenny (41:36)
Really?
Leslie Presnall (42:01)
this time. I didn't like nail the messaging. I didn't make it sound juicy enough like that's okay like let's just go again because I do know like there is a gap in the city for this. Like this is something people would want. I just need to like try again.
Jenny (42:16)
Yeah, I love that. And like I said before, that's like the mindset you need when you own a business, right? Another theme that's coming up in this conversation. ⁓ OK, so this has all been really fun conversation around like marketing, getting the word out and stuff. And I kind of want to start to wrap up our conversation. I want to ask you this question. For flower farmers, if
Leslie Presnall (42:24)
Yes.
Jenny (42:42)
You were able to sit down with a local flower farmer or any local business for a week and just help them improve their local sales visibility through marketing. What are the three things that you would focus on most?
Leslie Presnall (42:59)
a good question. I think I would focus on number one, are you doing the marketing things you said you would do consistently? Like do you have a plan in place of how you're gonna show up every single day, every single week, every single month to get out there and to be visible in your city either online or offline? And like are you following that plan?
So that would be the first thing. And then I think it would be like digging in to how all of that is working. ⁓
and just like doing a big audit and coming up with theories like why do I think these Instagram posts are not resonating? Where am I not connecting with my local people here? ⁓ Where could I localize things more? How could I make my content more engaging? How could I make offers and sell more? And then I think the third thing would be
to create just more content that is clearly talking about who I am, where I am, what I offer, and like leading people to take the next step to either book classes with me, book workshops, sell, and making sure like that is just being consistently woven into my content.
Jenny (44:36)
So looking at if they're consistently marketing, if they have a plan in place to show up, looking at what marketing is actually working by doing an audit and then creating more content to be clear about who we are, what we do, who we're for, and how to get to the next step of hopefully making a purchase from us.
Leslie Presnall (45:00)
Yeah, yeah, and when
I say who you are, that to me is like who you are as that local go-to person. Like what sets you apart? Why are you different? All those things.
Jenny (45:07)
Right.
Nice. Now I, it's interesting you said number one is that consistent marketing a plan, having a plan in place to show up because I think this is the number one thing that
flower farmers struggle with is that they don't actually spend the time on marketing because they have all these other urgent things in the business happening all the time. Like the irrigation broke and we need to go fix it. Or this flat of plugs just showed up and I need to go transplant them. Or there's aphids in the greenhouse and I need to go figure out how to get rid of them. And it's like all these urgent things come up that push the most important things to the back burner. Because urgent
And important things are not the same. And I think that marketing is the one of the most important things that you have to do as a business owner, marketing and sales. And it's so hard for people to be consistent because of all these fires coming up all the time. But like, I always tell people like you need to literally block off like same day, same time every single week.
to sit down and make sure it is a priority. Like for me, it used to be every single Tuesday, I would sit down and I would do my marketing. Would you give other advice to people like to actually show up and do it consistently? Like what would you say to people who are feeling like that?
Leslie Presnall (46:31)
Yeah, and I think
everybody is gonna have their different like preference of if they sit down and batch or if they do it daily, but I mean the reframe too might just be like your marketing is also urgent, you know, and I think and it's also that when you're
Jenny (46:40)
Right.
Yes. Yes.
Leslie Presnall (46:52)
Flower farmer like you are everything you're doing is very like physical too and like you're out there You're doing things and I also think that's a great way to take your people along with you
And it gets to be easy. gets to be fun. It gets to be in the moment. Your audience gets to be connected to you in real time. It almost gets to be like a reality TV show. And to me, that is one of the ways that that farmers, flower farmers, like get to show the real value of what they do, because people like us civilians, like we don't always see like the the labor of love that goes into what you do. Like we just see the finished product, right? We're just like,
Jenny (47:04)
Yes.
haha
you
Leslie Presnall (47:34)
here's a beautiful flower, we don't see all that went into it. So it's like when the irrigation system, when all this drama is happening, take your people along with you. Like your marketing can be that easy too.
Jenny (47:47)
Yeah, I mean, when I was really focused on like Instagram way back when, would literally, I mean, I had my phone with me all the time and I would just take pictures and videos as I was going through the day. It took me no time at all. It was very easy. It's like, it really can be that simple.
Leslie Presnall (48:03)
Yeah.
And I think if you can get out of the perfectionism or thinking that it's not good enough or anything like that, a post can take you a second, a minute. You know, it can be really fast.
Jenny (48:21)
Yeah, literally just like, this is what I harvested today. Or like, this is what we're bringing to market. Or like, this is what my cat did while I was trying to harvest flowers. Whatever. That's what I think about, because my cats are always in my way whenever I'm trying to do everything. We have these two mischievous orange cats that ruin all of our efficient plans for the day. They're great, but also terrible.
Leslie Presnall (48:24)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yes.
Put them up!
Yeah, and one
one of them the end just thought of I think people Don't focus on social media or like their marketing in general when they don't think that a result is gonna come from it Like that's when it isn't important because they don't believe that a result is on the other side of it So it's like well, what's the point, you know, so it really is Starting to show yourself and prove to yourself that a that you are like you can create that result
Jenny (48:57)
Mmm.
Yes, ⁓ that was a really good nugget of advice right there. I think that's so true. That's awesome. Well, Leslie, this has been such a fun conversation. And I think everybody has probably learned a lot about how to look at their marketing, how to approach it, even the mindset around marketing too. So I think this has been great. Can you tell people where they can find you, learn more from you, learn more about you, or possibly work with you?
Leslie Presnall (49:42)
Yeah, of course. So you can find me at Lesliepressnell.com. I know my name's kind of hard to spell, so you can put that in the show notes, hopefully. Okay, so my Instagram is also my name, Lesliepressnell, and I coach my students inside the localpreneur academy, and I'm also the host of the Grow Your Local Business podcast.
Jenny (49:49)
I'll link it in the show notes.
How awesome. Thank you so much for being here today, Leslie. I'll make sure I post or link all of your stuff in the show notes so people can grab it easily. Is there anything else you want to share with us today before we wrap up?
Leslie Presnall (50:18)
I I think we have covered so much of, yeah, I think we've hit a lot of it.
Jenny (50:25)
Awesome. Well, it's been such an honor to chat with you today. Thank you so much for doing this. And thank you to everyone listening for being here for another episode of the Six Figure Flower Farming Podcast. Don't forget we have new episodes every Monday. So we'll see you next week, same time, same place. Take care for now.
