Hannah Royer grew violets on the windowsill of her home in Lebanon, Pa. To supplement their incomes as teachers, Hannah and husband, Lester, sold the violets at a local garment factory and at area markets. To that humble beginning, Royer’s Flowers & Gifts traces its roots.
Royer’s Flowers fosters community relations
Three-quarters of a century later, family-owned Royer’s Flowers operates 16 stores in Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties.
For nearly a decade, Royer’s has retained Goulet Communications to help tell the florist’s story. While being mindful of its rich history, Royer’s is keenly focused on its future. In fact, a fourth generation of Royers is helping to manage some of the company’s stores.
With a long-term vision in mind, Royer’s in 2006 embraced Goulet Communications’ recommendation to develop a Royer’s Kids Club to give back to the community and to help foster tomorrow’s Royer’s customers.
Goulet creates charitable program to enhance community relations
Launched that fall, the free kids club offers a number of amenities for children ages 5 to 12: membership card, website games and activities, quarterly newsletter (called Buds), giveaways, contests, and in-store events.
While developing the kids club, Goulet Communications also conceived of a complementary charitable event: Bouquets for Books. Royer’s asks customers to donate new children’s books for area public libraries. For each book donated, the customer receives a free floral bouquet (up to three per family per visit).
Because of the expense in flowers, Royer’s does no paid advertising to promote Bouquets for Books. Instead, it relies on the public relations services provided by Goulet Communications to get the word out, from news releases that generate media coverage, to copy for a blast email or flyer, to content posted to Royer’s blog and social media channels.
Royer’s Flowers collects more than 10,000 books for local libraries
To date, Bouquets for Books has collected more than 15,000 books for the region’s budget-strapped libraries. (For the fall kids club event, participants are asked to donate a book as the price of admission). In the aftermath of each year’s Bouquets for Books, Royer’s receives letters of gratitude from the libraries. In 2010, Berks County Public Libraries presented Royer’s with its Outstanding Community Partner Award in recognition of Bouquets for Books.
