Blooming on TikTok: Rosie from Know The Rose

Inspired by the idea of wildly unique, hand-made creations, designer Rosie Browning began experimenting with dried flowers after seeing a growing disconnect from the natural world within society.

Since launching in 2020, Know The Rose has honoured its affinity for rustic, earthy decor, and its desire to invite nature back into the home.

We interviewed Rosie inside our Wildflower Academy membership, where she shared all of the insights on how she cleverly grew her business using TikTok!

Tell me about the beginning of Know The Rose?

COVID happened and I got put down to four days a week at my job. I had one day off every week and I wanted to make the most of it. I wanted to set myself a challenge each week and do something creative that brought that joy back.

So each week I would try something new. One week I had a fresh bunch of native flowers and I'd always wanted to try drying them. So, I thought, I may as well give this a go.

I hung them upside down, and then I just really fell in love with the process of watching them dry out, I would go and see how they were going, and I just ended up buying more and more flowers to dry out, and it kind of just took off from there.

When did you first discover TikTok as a marketing platform?

I launched in 2020 and then it wasn't until 2021 that I jumped on TikTok, I was super hesitant to get on it at first.

I had this friend who was just pestering me saying “You need to jump on TikTok, I've seen businesses blow up on it”. And I was like, “No, no, no, it's not for me. I'm fine on Instagram”. Eventually, I jumped on it and then started going through all of the different small business hashtags and see what other florists were doing and get a feel for it. Then I just decided to post my first video to see how it would go, and it ended up doing pretty well.

Which types of content do you find is most engaging with your audience and with the TikTok platform?

I definitely still find the face-to-camera talking videos perform the best. I try and consistently do them. But other than that, I do vlog style videos where it's like quick shortcuts of me doing different things like prepping for a market.

How do you incorporate your style into your TikTok?

I actually film most of my TikTok’s in my studio, so unless I'm going to the flower market or out setting up an actual market store somewhere, nine times out of 10 I will be filming in my studio. In the background, I've got all of my flowers hanging, I love styling with kind of vintage antique pieces. That really kind of captures the essence of my brand within the videos. I like to think that if they're mindlessly scrolling through their feed, they'll automatically know a video is mine, even without looking at my handle down the bottom.

Do you ever participate in any of the TikTok trends and apply them to your business?

When I'm scrolling through TikTok, I always try and be really mindful. I don't kind of just scroll mindlessly. I like to always be on the lookout for different trends that might pop up that I can use and relate to my niche.

How often do you notice a correlation from when you post, to orders coming in?

It happens quite a lot. When a video gets pretty good engagement I do definitely notice a correlation between them. And not only sales, but I also will get a lot of inquiries online. It's so cool. I love it when you put energy into marketing and see a direct result.

Do you have any tips for how you schedule TikTok Marketing with your busy work day?

I wish I was better at batch-creating content. But all I do is I aim to post one a day and I keep it simple. I don't plan the week what I'm going to post. I just think of it on the day in the moment, depending on what I'm doing that day.
So whether I'm packing orders, whether I'm going to the flower market, whether I'm setting up for a market or prepping for a market or anything else that I might be doing that day, I'll just choose one thing and then film a video about it.

All I aim to do is just one a day. That's my goal. And it is easy when you work with such beautiful products, there's always something you can come up with.

To watch and listen to the full interview, join our Wildflower Academy!