Brand Strategy · Public Gardens
Botanical gardens, arboretums, and forests attract visitors when their identity is clear, their message is bold, and their experience is designed for the people who love them most.
By Marissa Ferrari, Creative Director
Ask the leaders of almost any botanical garden or arboretum what makes their institution special, and you’ll get a rich, layered answer — centuries of horticultural heritage, rare plant collections, community education programs, a peaceful refuge in a busy world. Yet that same richness can make it difficult to communicate a singular, compelling reason to visit.
That’s precisely the problem a well-executed brand strategy solves. When done thoughtfully, branding doesn’t flatten what makes a public garden unique — it amplifies it. And the results show up where it matters most: in visitation numbers, event registrations, and long-term audience loyalty.
Three Ways Branding Drives Visitation
A professionally developed brand increases visitation at botanical gardens, arboretums, historical gardens, and forests in three interconnected ways:
It creates an immediate emotional impression. Visitors to your website or social media channels form an opinion within seconds. The photographs, color palette, typefaces, and illustrations they encounter either invite them in or leave them indifferent. A cohesive visual identity ensures that first impression reflects the actual experience of your garden.
It sets you apart from other regional attractions. A botanical garden competes not just with other gardens, but with zoos, museums, sports, and weekend getaways. A clearly articulated differentiator gives prospective visitors a specific, memorable reason to choose you.
It boosts interest in programs and events. Audience research conducted as part of the brand process reveals what prospective visitors actually want — which makes it possible to design programs they can’t resist, and remove the barriers that have quietly kept them away.
A bold, specific message reaches both prospective and returning visitors far more effectively than trying to be everything to everyone.
The Three Phases of Brand Strategy for Public Gardens
Brand strategy for a botanical garden or arboretum is a structured process. A professionally facilitated engagement moves through three phases:
1. Discovery
A brand strategist works directly with garden leadership, staff, and Board members to understand the organization’s history, goals, challenges, and aspirations — and how the garden should ideally be perceived in the community.
2. Audience Research
Through interviews, focus groups, and surveys, the strategist gathers insight directly from current and prospective visitors: what they value, what they wish were different, what the garden’s reputation is, and what would motivate them to visit more often.
3. Positioning
Discovery and research are synthesized into a positioning strategy — a clear articulation of what the garden stands for, who it serves, and how to communicate its unique value in language and imagery that resonates and inspires action.
From Strategy to Brand Identity
Once the brand strategy is complete, it becomes the foundation for every element of the garden’s visual and verbal identity. A complete brand system typically includes:
- Brand personality & values
- Core messaging
- Color palette
- Typography system
- Logo & mark
- Photography direction
Each of these elements works together. The logo alone cannot do what a fully integrated brand identity can: create a consistent, emotionally resonant experience across a garden’s website, signage, social media, programming materials, and membership communications.
Why Visual Identity Matters So Much
People are emotional decision-makers. They scan, react, and decide in seconds — and the visual cues they encounter on a garden’s website or Instagram feed shape their expectations before they ever set foot through the gate. Color, typography, and photography all carry meaning. Warm tones communicate welcome; saturated colors evoke vitality; a serif typeface signals heritage and permanence.
The goal is not to manipulate, but to align: to ensure that the emotions sparked by your visual presence are the same emotions visitors feel when they experience your garden in person. When those two things match, trust deepens — and visitors return.
Standing Apart: The Power of a Clear Differentiator
Public gardens often feel pressure to appeal to every possible audience: families, school groups, horticulture enthusiasts, event planners. But a message designed for everyone resonates with no one.
The most successful public gardens lean into a single, compelling differentiator and build their brand around it. Consider how clearly these institutions communicate their identity:
- Cheyenne Botanic Gardens — Culture
- Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens — 400 Years of History
- Bernheim Forest & Arboretum — Adventure
- The Butchart Gardens — Family
Each of these differentiators was likely uncovered through a combination of discovery and audience research — by listening carefully to both the organization’s leadership and the people who visit and love the space. That’s the work brand strategy makes possible.
Using Audience Research to Fill Programs and Events
One of the most practical benefits of a branding engagement is what the audience research reveals about programs and events. When you ask the right questions, you learn not just who your visitors are, but what they want — and what’s quietly keeping them from participating.
Sample audience research questions worth adapting:
- Do you prefer self-guided events, or events that include a facilitator?
- Would you like the option to register for an event as a group?
- Are there any barriers — even seemingly small ones — that prevent you from participating in programs or events?
Questions like these often surface surprises: a scheduling conflict that affects a large segment of your audience, a registration process that feels unwelcoming, or an event format that doesn’t suit how people want to spend time together. They also generate direct inspiration for new programming — ideas that come directly from the people you most want to reach.
The result: events designed for your audience, promoted with language that speaks to their motivations, and structured in ways that remove friction. Fully booked programs aren’t an accident. They’re the outcome of intentional listening.
Marissa Ferrari is a brand strategist who partners with organizations that benefit the environment, community wellbeing, and the economy. Her work supports park districts, land conservation organizations, public gardens, nature centers, and more.
