HortiTrends Weekly Comment & News Digest April 5th

We had a fantastic response to our advertising offer and have have extended it to close of business April 13th. We met some great people at the recent Tulip Naming Event in the Botanic Gardens. One person made the comment that they liked the site but that it was hard to tell the difference between what was real news or just simple advert plugs. We cannot argue with that opinion. Without the support of these advertisers it would be impossible to do what we do.

Before HortiTrends you had to be in the know, have the contacts or know people in the right places to get access to the critical business information. You also had to spend a lot of time surfing various trade and development body sites among others. We will continue to develop our news sources and offer more ‘inhouse created news’ as we get more adverts on-line which is our main source of revenue to fund the running of the site. It also allows us the time to do stuff like the following.

Lucy Trant works with Kerry Parents and Friends at a garden centre in Listowel operated by adults with special needs. They are holding a Garden Fete on May 20th which is a big sale of plants to raise much needed funds. Do you have any ideas for them to help make this day a success? Do you know any celebrity that would come for free and draw a crowd? A gardening celeb? Ideas and offers to lucy@trantsplants.com.

There is an interesting article that we republish from the Phoenix Magazine that has broke many a political story or scandal. It questions the awarding of the event management for Bloom 2012 to a company that was only incorporated 48hours before the tender deadline. We have asked for a response from Bord Bia, but only just yesterday and will bring you that when we have it. We will have our Dail section on horticulture related questions. Sorry for the delay.

The Dutch event we were invited to cover was organised by the Dutch embassy last week. Paul Fritters one of the organisers behind the IOH ‘Young Horticulturist of the Year’ was also in attendance and in his element among so many of his fellow country men. It was to celebrate the naming of a new variety of tulips and also the Dutch being the Dutch, to do some marketing being the masters that they are. We were also provided with some interesting stats on the levels of electricity production by Dutch horticulture. We will bring you that in an energy special feature that will be part of a series of marketing feature newsletters that will also include the themes of Glas and Bloom among others. These newsletter feature specials will be your advertising opportunity to target the 10’000 visits per month and 1 Million Page/Advert views on HortiTrends in 2012.

One of Ireland’s leading garden retailers online and offline was at the event too and gave some useful advice for companies trying to get their products in front of potential customers. Be realistic with your pricing and the mark-up that a distributor or garden retailer is going to need to take your product on. If you get the price right then you also need to show them what you are going to do, to bring the customers for your product through their online or offline door. The person in question is also somewhat bemused by the rush into the online marketplace with the belief of many that the online streets are paved with gold. Be ready for long hard hours of work and be ready to put in place a serious online marketing plan, supply chain plus fulfilment infrastructure.

We value your time on the site and for that reason we also try to layout the information with news that is sector specific so that a quick scan will let you know what you need to know asap. We also want to know if your company is involved in any new business innovations or products. Send your news through as a one-liner or press release but in a written style that is not just a pure advert. If you are a supporter of the site whether as an advertiser or regular news source you will get published.

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Thank you.

Joseph (Editor at HortiTrends)