Help: effective methods for marketing an upcomingn orchid show!

[DrOrchid]

We just finished our annual show and turnout was very disappointing. We did have bad weather one of the three days but our small group of devoted members need help. All we seem to be able to do is make a poster and then I don't think they get distributed well. I plastered the poster all over my Facebook business pages, personal pages and several interest pages that cater to the local population to little affect. Is your show successful in creating excitement, generates good attendance that benefits the local society and helps the vendors? What did you do?? I'm a vendor and on the board of this society. Part of the problem is the society itself. It needs an influx of energy. We are about to move to a MUCH more attractive and public meeting location and are changing the date of our monthly meetings from a weeknight to a sunday afternoon time. We hope this will attract current members who don't like to drive at night or who are tired from the work day and attract new members as well.

[AnonYMouse]

I'm not a member of an OS for many reasons but I do attend the big shows.

I describe myself as an orchid enthusiast who outgrew BBS NoID Phals. To get me to a show will require vendors with diverse wares, and have that communicated in quick graphics. I think that will work somewhat with the general public (they can get NoID Phals as BBS, too) but they'll need something else to bring them in (food and wine work really well!).

Does your area have garden or home improvement shows? Set up a OS booth, educate the general public about the diversity of orchids, show and sell plants not normally seen at BBS. Demystify the orchid family; that they are not just for adventure nerds hunting the plants, don't need greenhouses to grow, aren't just for the hoity-toity snooty people, etc.

Despite the nerdy discussions going on elsewhere on the board, orchids should have a bigger nerd following. Just need to get the word out.

[orchidsarefun]

our Show is not super-successful but we made sure we did the following too - ads in local newspapers/online versions and made sure there were a few other shows taking place simultaneously in the exhibition grounds ( draw in crowds ). We also get regulars because we offer free repotting with advice.
The only really successful show I have been to was the IOS Show at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. At the time CBG had their own orchid display - literally thousands of imported flowering orchids were shown in their greenhouses. That show plus the incredible Gardens themselves drew in crowds and ensured that the public and vendors were happy......oh and good weather ( for Chicago ) of course.

[silken]

We don't have a show every year but we just finished putting one on end of March It was an AOS judged show and we hosted the annual Canadian Orchid Congress general meeting. Last year at our garden show where our society always has a display of members' blooming plants, we already had a huge poster made up and on display advertising the show a year away. A year ago at a show in the neighbouring province that our society always attends we gave an info pack to every vendor and mailed out many more to vendors not at that show. They need lots of time as their schedules fill up fast. Closer to the show we had the local paper do an article and also contacted several TV stations. They interviewed the two ladies in charge of organising the show. We also had posters put up at lots of garden and related type retail places.

I think our show was very successful and the vendors seemed quite pleased with their sales. Several mentioned it was the best they ever did. We just had our monthly meeting yesterday (Sunday afternoon) and we had a few new members as a result of the show at the end of March.

[Leafmite]

I am very sorry to hear of your disappointment in attendance. I know how very much work goes into an orchid show between planning and clean-up.

Our small show was a huge (for us) success. We are fortunate enough to host it at a large, popular nursery with a great selection of outdoor and indoor plants, gardening supplies and other fun things, operated and staffed by the nicest people. They had a wine-tasting the same day which was a stroke of luck.
Our show is free and parking is free. We advertise in the local newspapers and the radio station. One of the newspapers has been doing an article on the orchid show which helps us get some attention. Our vice president posts it on face book and it is on our web page. I usually post a thread about it here, too. Then everyone asks local businesses to put up a poster to advertise the show. In the end, though, I am pretty certain that the wine-tasting is what really helped our attendance. Fortunately, lots of people who came for the first time told me that they plan to come to our show every year. Hopefully, they will!
This year, we are probably going to buy a table at a very well-attended craft show in the area and pass out fliers with the information for next spring's show. We plan to sell orchids, give advice on growing them and hopefully sign up some new members.

---------- Post added at 11:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:03 PM ----------

And, yes, it is very important to be friendly and helpful at the shows so people will return the following year and bring their friends. Even if people have no intention of buying orchids or caring about them, you want to give the best impression because 'word-of-mouth' (now often done on social media) is one of the best forms of advertising.

[Paul]

"I plastered the poster all over my Facebook business pages, personal pages..."

By this I assume that the society does not have a Facebook page? If not, then this is an item that needs addressed. While I personally have zero interest in Facebook (perhaps even a level of antipathy), I am not blind to the fact that -- for a great many people in this day and age -- Facebook is a highly used resource. While your personal page informs those folks connected to your page, it does not effectively reach a wider audience. The society should have its own Facebook presence -- and that presence MUST be updated regularly throughout the year (though an announced hiatus for the summer would be understandable). Doing so demonstrates that your society is ACTIVE and may pique the interest of people who happen upon the society's page. What sorts of things should appear in/on the page?

• pictures of some of the plants brought to meetings, as well as of members or speakers
• pictures of displays from the show as well as pictures taken during set-up/tear-down
• a highlight or two from a recent meeting
• mention of upcoming events -- whether they be meetings (with a note as to whom the speaker will be and what the topic of discussion will be), outings, shows
• address/directions to the meeting (especially as you plan on moving to a new location) and to the show locations
• the dates and times for meetings and shows

"And, yes, it is very important to be friendly and helpful at the shows ..."

And not just at shows. While it may seem to be a "no-brainer", your members MUST be friendly and helpful at meetings as well. There are two OSs within reasonable driving distance for me. I belong to neither of them. Why? Because I did not find them to be the least bit welcoming ... quite cliquish/snobby, in fact. If I had not made the effort to talk to someone while at their meetings, I could have gone the whole time without saying a word. I found that inexcusable. New people should be greeted within the first few minutes of entering the meeting room ... it lets them know they are "seen" and is a valuable first impression opportunity. And don't make the mistake of letting the new person's age fool you. I know a young man who found it quite irritating when he would attend meetings in his area because of the patronizing attitude of many of the members. He was 15 or 16 at the time but had already been growing orchids and other plants for 5+ years before that. He told me that it was very evident that many of the society members (most in their 50s on up) found it difficult to take him seriously. They just couldn't believe that anyone that young knew anything.

Notification of an upcoming show should be done on a webpage/facebook page a month or two in advance at least -- and mentioned in each update until show time.

As has been suggested, contact your local tv, newspapers, and radio stations weeks before the show. They might even be willing to make free public service announcements. Invite them to come down to the show and have someone who is knowledgeable as well as enthusiastic and very personable to be on hand to be interviewed should a reporter be sent to check the show out. (Be brutally honest with yourselves as to just who those interviewees should be. If you have some young members, that might help to send a message that orchids aren't just for "old fogeys".)

[Fairorchids]

The number 1 factor, is finding a good location with incidental people flow. A place like a nursery or garden center is good, look around and do not be afraid of thinking outside of the box.

Getting posters into supermarkets, libraries train stations and other places with a lot of people coming through is just one step.

Our OS has drawings for free orchids (donated by vendors) at the door. To enter, people must complete a ballot with either a mailing address, or an e-mail address. We then use those ballots to mail post cards a couple of weeks in advance of the following years show. This helps build attendance.

[AnonYMouse]

Just found out about an open house at a green house. Although not an OS, this small business fails in outreach as the societies here do (I think there are three within a 50 mile radius). I can't even remember how I ran across the notice a couple of hours ago, it was pure chance. I vaguely remember their name at the big show in February, had no idea they were local. They have a FB page but no website.

So what can a small orchid entity do? Post notices here on OB and other online places where enthusiasts congregate. Whether a newsletter or an event. There are a lot of lurkers who just might be in your neck of the woods.

I and others have posted show notices (and I'm not a OS member!), so where are the OS officers whose positions are to get the word out?

Make the effort. How else am I or anyone else suppose to know you exist?