Coming up roses: launching an innovative product in an unchanging industry.

• Author: Madison, Rachel
• Position: Lessons Learned

Innovative is a word that's rarely used in the floral industry. But Meagan Chapman is one major exception. The lifelong entrepreneur founded her online business, Ogden-based Eco Flower, in January 2014 on the idea that bouquets of flowers didn't have to shrivel up, die and eventually be thrown away.

Instead, Chapman sells floral bouquets made of wood--tapioca plant for the flowers and bamboo for the stems--in a variety of colors from traditional red to the trendy marsala, and scents from Japanese cherry blossom to banana cream pie. Each bouquet in the online shop is unique, and many incorporate other recyclable materials such as corn husks, paper and burlap to complete their distinctive look.

Chapman's business started out very slow, but after being on the local news while she was trying out for ABC's Shark Tank, she received a call from fellow entrepreneur Alex Ledoux, who was interested in partnering with her on her business. Though Eco Flower didn't make it onto the hit TV show, after partnering up, Ledoux did help Chapman land an investment from South Jordan-based JW Capital.

"From there it's exploded," she says. "I was working out of my garage until the investment firm invested. Now we've had to move warehouses twice in the last six months to keep growing. Last year we did $10,000 in sales, and this year we're on track to do $300,000 to $400,000. That's quite a big jump in a year."

But launching an innovative product in an industry that's been virtually unchanged for decades hasn't always been easy. "I wouldn't say we have made any horrendous mistakes, but I definitely think there are things we needed to pay much closer attention to in the past, and we definitely will be going forward," Ledoux says.

Marketing is Crucial

Early on, Chapman and Ledoux hired an SEO company to get Eco Flower's ranking higher on Google, but Chapman says they found more success with Facebook ads, social media and word of mouth.

"Nobody knows to Google 'wood flowers,' so we have to present the product to people," Chapman says. "The best way to do that is through social media with tagging, sharing and commenting. We use Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, and you really can see a difference. Sales will go down and then I'll put up a Facebook post and sales will spike for the next hour."

If your company is selling a new product that hasn't been seen before, you need to get it in front of as many people as you can, she says. "The market will test itself. If...