Have you ever wanted to have an in-house employee manage your email, newsletter, social media, print, video, but you weren't really sure how to find somebody that actually had green industry experience to know how to do it? Well, today I'm at Shades of Green Nursery + Landscape in Frisco, Texas. And I'm going to interview Tim Wardell, their Marketing Coordinator who came here when he was a kid and then eventually started working here as a seasonal helper and now manages their YouTube channel and all these other things. And Tim and I are going to share how to produce video content. I'm actually in their studio. We're going to share with you how to build something like this for not very much money, plus the video gear that Tim uses and some proven sales and marketing tips.
My name's Jack Jostes, and welcome to the Landscaper's Guide to Modern Sales and Marketing Podcast. This show is all about helping the green industry get found online by the right customers so you can lead a great company, make a profit, and have an awesome lifestyle. Let's get started with today's episode.
Jack Jostes:
Tim, it's a real pleasure to be here in person with you at the Shades of Green Nursery + Landscape YouTube studio here in Frisco, Texas. We are just about to launch your new logo website, search engine optimization, really grateful to have had the opportunity to work with you guys on that. And today I wanted to interview you because you're the marketing coordinator here. You're a full-time employee. You do marketing. And a lot of times people come to me and they say, "Jack, can you manage my social media or manage my email or do my video?" And I always tell people, "Well, I actually don't recommend outsourcing that because a lot of times it loses the immediacy that you really need to have when you're either on the job site of a landscape or at a garden center." And so I think you're a real asset to the company here. Tim, how do you find a Tim? So how do you find somebody that has ... so just tell us a little bit about your background and your education and all the different skills that you've developed.
How Tim Became The Marketing Coordinator At Shades of Green Nursery + Landscape
Tim Wardell:
Yeah. I can honestly say it all happened by accident. If you'd asked me where I was going to be 30 years ago, I wouldn't have said here. My background is in video production. My degree is in communications, and I got jobs out of college as a public relations assistant, a public relations director, marketing person. Marketing was always a part of every job I did, but it was somehow dealing with the public, in either public relations or internally with employees as a communications director. For 15 years before I wound up here, I worked for an entertainment company that provided old west comedy gunfights to amusement parks.
Tim Wardell:
So I was a cowboy. I was a gunfighter. And I did the marketing for that, but I was also an actor. So you're out there on the street or the set of the amusement park. You're talking to people and interacting with them. It's basically a street performance. You're sitting there as a cowboy and all of a sudden a character comes in and trouble starts and the marshal comes in and hilarity ensues. And so that gets you thinking on your feet and being spontaneous. So I'm doing the performances for them, interacting with the public all the time, just like I would interact with the public here on the sales floor. But then I'm also marketing that, which is a very unique thing to market. Nursery and landscaping is easy compared to trying to sell gunfight shows.
Tim Wardell:
And then I've lived in Frisco for quite a while. I shopped here for probably 12 years before I got hired here. So I knew the place. A lot of their plants were growing in my backyard successfully. And long story short, I was trying to look for a ... in a transition phase in my life and wanted a change of pace. And I came and applied here, and I was hired to do sales. I started gardening as a child with my father and my grandfather. I grew up in the vegetable garden. I grew up around plants. Both of them had wonderful green thumbs and could grow anything, and they passed that on to me. And so I grew up gardening. I shopped here for a long time. I finally wound up getting hired here, seasonally, but my background was in marketing.
Tim Wardell:
And so I just started noticing, "Hey, this website could use some work," because I built the website for my previous employer. And I said, "Your newsletter could use some work," because I'd done the newsletters from my previous employer. So I had all these skills that I just kind of built up organically. And then I found myself in a position where I made some suggestions and they said, "Great. Fix it. You do it. Solve this problem for us." And one thing led to another, and I've been here four years now. And when I started, I was probably 90% sales and 10% marketing. And now it's completely flipped and 90% of the time I'm doing marketing stuff.
Jack Jostes:
And you and I actually met a few years ago when I was the keynote speaker at Landscape at the Expo with the Texas Nursery Landscape Association. You won the review contest. We had a review countdown, and you guys had the most reviews.
Tim Wardell:
The most reviews, yes.
Jack Jostes:
And so I gave you a copy of my book.
Tim Wardell:
Correct.
Jack Jostes:
And that kind of led us to then work together a couple of years later. Tell us a little bit about, what should garden centers or landscape companies hire in? What should be an in-house marketing person versus what should you hire out? And how did you guys kind of navigate some of those decisions?
Tim Wardell:
Yeah. From first meeting you and getting your book, which I've read thoroughly and it's dog-eared and marked up and highlighted and I devoured that and tried to implement as much of it as I could, so from then to actually hiring Ramblin Jackson to help us really implement a cohesive SEO strategy where every sentence of every page of our website served a purpose, and that purpose was getting found online, that was about a two year process. And in the meantime, I was doing everything myself, as much as I could, all the Facebook posts, all the Instagram, all the social media, the newsletter that goes out electronically, the website.
Tim Wardell:
I would say that there's lots of companies out there that will come to you and say, "Hey, if you'll pay us so much money a month, we'll do Google for you. We'll get you on Google. You'll show up on Google." And we were with a company like that before you. And basically, all you're doing is you're giving them money and they're going out and buying ad words for you. And we've all done searches on Google for everything from a burger joint to an ice cream parlor to whatever. And you get the search results and the first three or four, we'll say ad, ad, ad.
Tim Wardell:
And then below that, there's a little map and then you see the ones that don't have an ad next to them, that just says how many reviews they have. And how many of us have ever clicked on one of the ads? Because we know that's being paid for. And most of us instinctively, intuitively scroll down and they go, "Well, this one doesn't say ad, but it's got a 4.8 star review." I want to click on that because if I'm going to go for a pizza, I want the best pizza. If I'm going to go buy flowers and shrubs, I want to go to the best nursery in my area. And that is more valuable. That's an organic search. And that's based on customer loyalty, customer reviews, and other people talking about us. Not us talking about us because every company will tell you, "Oh, we're awesome. You should do business with us."
Tim Wardell:
But when all your customers have given you a 4.7 or 4.8 or, in a perfect world, a 5.0 rating on Google, you can't buy that kind of marketing. And all the money's on ad words in the world, won't really give you that kind of gravitas with the potential buyer, won't have that much impact. It doesn't sway them as much. Well, anybody can spend money and buy an ad. But if everyone that comes to your store has good things to say about you, well, I want to experience that myself because, ultimately, as consumers, we want a good value. We want a good product. We also want to have a good experience. And I would much rather go to a 4.7 star place than a two and a half star place, or take a chance on something that just says ad next to it and no ratings at all. So we wanted to get to a position where people were finding us online for the right reasons.
What Marketing Should Be Done In-House Vs. Outsourced?
Tim Wardell:
But back to your question is what do you outsource and what do you do in house? To the degree possible, do as much as you can in-house because a lot of those are the companies that are more than happy to take your money and do ad words for you or write blogs for you do not know your business. They don't know your plants. They don't know your products. They don't know your area. We had people, this other company that was writing blogs for us, and they were talking about plants that did not grow in North Texas. Or this blog would go on for 500 words and have no valuable or useful content because you could tell it was being written by an algorithm and not about someone who knew about plants. And there's really no substitute, especially if you're a small, independent garden center like we are.
Tim Wardell:
We're a family-owned operation. We have one brick and mortar store, about 34 full-time employees. We average about, I'd say, maybe 3.5, on our way to 4 million. So we're blessed. But we know our market, we know our area, we know our plants, and you can't outsource that kind of knowledge. I mean, if you've got the information, you need to find the people who can help you get it out a little more effectively, but don't rely on other people for your content. You've really got to take ownership of your content because there's very few people that you're going to bring in that are going to understand the plants you sell, the climate and all the intricacies.
Tim Wardell:
That was one of the reasons we started working with you because you focus, Ramblin Jackson focuses on nursery, garden centers, and landscape. And I don't want to put my faith in someone who does pizza parlors and plumbers all the time. I need someone who understands the intricacies of my business. And the consumer is the same way. It's like, "I've got a plant problem. I need someone who understands the problem and can help me solve it."
Jack Jostes:
Tim, you have a lot of great marketing skills. I saw your computer earlier. You're creating some new graphics. So you have some design skills. You can shoot and edit videos. You can make social media posts and you know about Facebook advertising and different things. How do I draw the line of when did it make sense? Because you built, before we worked together, the next iteration of your website. What was it that you knew was something to do in-house versus hire out?
Tim Wardell:
I think once you hit the wall of your competence. Go as far as you can go with what you're able to do, but then, as the old saying goes, a man's got to know his limitations. And once you realize what those are, it's like, "Okay, I can't do more to our website. I can't write every single line of every single page to be the answer to a question on Google." It was partly a matter of time. And partly just a matter of the technical knowledge of how to rank organically on Google. And there's a lot of science, as you know, that goes into that. And I knew what I knew, but I was really aware of what I didn't know. And once I got to that point where it's like, "Okay, I know I can do this, but I don't have a clue how to do that." And all I can tell you is you'll know it when you hit that point. You'll know it.
Jack Jostes:
Well, I think it's part of your character, though. I mean, you have to be humble enough to say, "This is what I'm really good at, and this is where I need help." And so I think that's kudos to you because I've also seen, actually, a garden center where they had an employee build it and they ruined it. They ruined it. They should have said no, but they didn't. Anyways, one of the pages of your website that I'm super excited about, that's a major pain point that every garden center listening, I know it was when I was working at the garden center that I worked at is, during the springtime people calling and saying, "Hi, how many red roses do you have? Do you have any sod?"
Jack Jostes:
And they want to know before they drive in. It makes sense that they would want to come, but they have no idea how busy a garden center gets. So one of the pages that I'm super excited about is the inventory page. And Tim and I are going to talk about how they're going to make a video that goes on that page each week, unedited, just a selfie video, that'll answer that question. And that brings us into our next topic of video. And so, Tim, I want to share a clip of you on video because I think you're great.
Tim Wardell:
Hi, I'm Tim with Shades of Green Nursery + Landscape in Frisco, Texas, with a plant profile about black-eyed Susan, rudbeckia fulgida goldsturm. This is a bright, beautiful native Texas perennial that thrives in full sun. It's one of the most popular perennials in the United States, and with good reason. It's stunning, golden yellow, sort of orange, Daisy-like flowers contrast wonderfully against its dark green foliage. It has no serious disease or pest issues, and even rabbits tend to leave it alone. And that's a big plus here in Collin County.
How To Make Videos Using Basic Equipment
Jack Jostes:
So Tim, that video looked great. It sounded great. And I bet many of the audience, if you're watching the video version of this, you'd be amazed to know that he produced that on his iPhone. And with some basic equipment, you can take any smartphone, Android, iPhone, and turn it into a good enough video camera. But there are two key things that you need to do that Tim and I talked about. So, Tim, what are those two things? And for under a couple hundred dollars, you can have the equipment needed to do those things.
Tim Wardell:
Well, assuming exactly what you're talking about and you have something valuable to say to somebody that would be watching your video, the two biggest rules are a still steady shot, no shaky cam, and audio that you can actually hear that's not sound like you're screaming or that's not barely audible. And all the videos that I've shot so far, I've got an iPhone 8. I don't even have the newest model. I don't even know ... what are we on now? The iPhone 12 is about to come out. This is an iPhone 8. I've shot all the videos I've done for Shades of Green Nursery + Landscape on this camera. And I've got a bad habit of always getting my finger in front of the lens. So this little rig here costs about $20, $25, and it's made to just ... you've got these little rubber bumpers in it. You put your phone in and tighten it down. You plug in your wireless mic. These are the DeWise mics that I found out about from Jack. These are about, what, $40, $45?
Jack Jostes:
Yeah. About $45, and that's actually a wired mic.
Tim Wardell:
Yeah, it's wired, but it works great. And if you don't want to risk not turning something on or ... wireless mics are expensive, for one, and then there's so many things that can go wrong.
Jack Jostes:
Yeah. This is so I love this. You keep it simple. And now your wife actually works with you and she holds this. SO can see, if you could have somebody else hold it with this, keep it steady. Or it can attach to a tripod if you're doing it solo, which is what ... like right now, we just have my camera on a tripod.
Tim Wardell:
Right, yeah. If you were by yourself, you could lock this down. It's got so many attachment points. You could turn it any which way you could screw it into a tripod. It's got these cold shoe mounts that you can add a light to it or all other kinds of gear to it. And if I was doing this by myself, I have shot some videos by myself, I set this on a tripod, I lock it down, I go sit where I'm going to sit, record some video, come back, make sure it's there, and then go from there. So a steady, good frame shot is step one. And step number two is audio that you can hear because the cameras on these smartphones are fantastic. The microphones are not.
Jack Jostes:
Well, and that's just kind of the nature of microphones in general.
Tim Wardell:
They need to be held right here. Right.
Jack Jostes:
Right now, we're both wearing a lavalier microphone, and we won't get into how we're editing that. This is a bit more advanced. But for making a good enough video, having a simple lavalier microphone plugged into it. And also the one other thing I wanted to share with you is a selfie video. So when the camera, if you turn it so it points at yourself, when it's about arms distance, it actually sounds really good. If you get more than about two feet away, that's where you've got to use an external microphone. And so I'm going to actually, just so you can see what it sounds like, I'm going to record a video like I would if I worked here during the springtime. Hey, what's up everyone. It's Jack. I'm at Shades of Green Nursery + Landscape, and we just got a shipment of ... what would be a good shipment that people would ask about?
Tim Wardell:
Hardy hibiscus.
Jack Jostes:
We've got this sweet shipment of hardy hibiscus. And, hey, we only have 50. We're probably going to sell them all out. So you guys got to come check it out. And you can crouch down and show people what you've got. We also have hydrangeas and we just got mulch and whatever we've got. All these wonderful things. And that's our current inventory. So please don't call because that is the inventory. You've just got to come on down to the garden center and see what we've got.
Tim Wardell:
Right. And that's what we're planning to do this spring on this inventory page that we're building with your help. Because again, we're a small family-owned garden center, and half of our staff is on the landscape crew and half of us are on the floor. And we have so many people here in person on the weekends that there are times where we're ringing up customers at the register and the phone is just ringing and we can't get to it. So we're hoping that we're going to shoot this video on the fly, guerrilla style. We're not going to edit it. We're not going to hook up any mix.
Tim Wardell:
It's just going to be running out there with our phone. We're going to hit record, pause, start talking, one take, stop recording, throw it up on Facebook, get it up on our website. And then people will know, "Oh, this is what's come in. And this week they're going to have at Shades of Green Nursery + Landscape this weekend. Because we're hoping that that's a great use of video that will help us solve a sales problem, letting as many people know what's here and what it looks like, and then they can find that out. And if we do grab the phone, our outgoing message, if they can't get in, if they can't have someone pick up, they'll hear a recording that says, "Hey, if you're calling to find out what's here, check out our inventory page or go to our Facebook page and to see the same video."
Jack Jostes:
Yeah. I love that. you can email that page to people. You can mention it in your voicemail. It's really going to be a great asset for you, and people will watch it. I think these videos could even be seven, eight minutes long. I mean, the shorter the better. And I mean, when you get fresh shipments, there might be a bit to talk about, a bit to show people.
Tim Wardell:
Damn right. Yeah, we get lots of product in. But the point is it doesn't have to be professionally edited. It doesn't have to be professionally lit. It doesn't have to be professionally shot. And I want to point out, this is a YouTube studio that we're making to do a lot of videos in. This is still under construction. We literally got this wall up like an hour before Jack showed up here today. And most garden centers probably have, most landscapers have a little corner room or closet, some piece of place on their property, where this was just junk. This is where all the stuff got put over the years.
Building A Video Studio Out Of Recycled Materials
Tim Wardell:
And when I came in here, there were shelves and old equipment and just clutter everywhere. And this is only about 12-feet wide and maybe six-feet deep. That's not that much square footage. And all we did was clean it up and use some recycled fence boards. These were actually reclaimed from landscaping jobs we did. These are led track lights. It didn't cost that much at all, and they lit up a wall. I got a separate track there lighting us up. And this really doesn't cost that much money. We haven't spent that much on gear. This just took a little bit of our time. Luckily, it's January, the slowest time of year for the industry. And that would just be my point to people is that you don't need to spend a fortune and you don't have to be Steven Spielberg or George Lucas to pull off something that could be of real value to your customers.
Jack Jostes:
Now rolling on my iPhone, and I wanted to just show people kind of behind the scenes. There's literally saws and nail guns and drills and hammers and everything. It's seriously a work in progress. Okay. My favorite feature is this closet. So tell us a little bit about this.
Tim Wardell:
Yeah. This is a closet. This room used to be a man cave because our garden center operates out of what used to be a house, a three bedroom, two bath house. And this is a closet now. It used to be the bathroom of the man cave. But I didn't want to have to worry about all this when I was framing a shot for our video, so we just got a 12-foot barn door track online, and we can just wheel this into place when we want to do a shot. And then if we ever need to access the closet, we just roll this back out of the way.
Jack Jostes:
That is awesome.
Tim Wardell:
And this is all reclaimed, recycled, reused fence boards. We bought fresh lumber to frame it out, but that's about it.
Jack Jostes:
Cool. But, yeah, that's a great use of the space and the material. Well, Tim, thanks so much for the tour of the Shades of Green Nursery + Landscape YouTube studio and all these amazing tips. And for those of you watching, think about who is on your staff that you could potentially promote to be a marketing coordinator. Maybe you have somebody who, like Tim, came to you as seasonal help. But now they're on the team and they're coming to you with those ideas of, "Hey, it's time to update the website," or "Hey, the newsletter should really feature this." And ask them if they would consider taking this type of role on.
Jack Jostes:
I'll share that my marketing coordinator, the person who is actually editing this video, didn't have video editing experience prior to working at Ramblin Jackson. And it's been amazing to see her grow into our marketing coordinator. So I think it's an exciting position for somebody who loves marketing and wants to help your company. And having some of these things like your email, your print, your social media managed in-house, you're just going to get some more of that personal and immediate information, like literally, what do you have in stock right now, or the photos on the job site or at the company barbecue. Those are just things that having somebody on your team, you can't outsource that like you can maybe a website or SEO or branding or things like that.
Jack Jostes:
So I hope you found some great information in this. Check out our show notes for links to previous podcasts that we've done, where I go into greater detail about how to get started with do it yourself smartphone video. My name's Jack Jostes, and thanks so much for checking out the Landscaper's Guide to Modern Sales and Marketing Podcast. I look forward to seeing you next week.
Jack Jostes:
By the way, if you run a garden center or nursery, join us at the 2021 Virtual Retail Summit with the Texas Nursery Landscape Association on Wednesday, January 27th at noon central time for my presentation of an interactive workshop: The Garden Centers Guide to Getting Found Online by New Customers. I'll be sharing new content. And it'll be done workshop style, so half of it will be live Q&A, where I'll be able to give you feedback on your website and meet with you directly. So check out landscapersguide.com/events to learn more. And I'll look forward to seeing you there.