Geno Giovanni Turns Around Silver Forest Christmas Tree Farm After Dismal 2024 Season
1.5.26 GGP News Desk
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After a disappointing 2024 season that fell short of the farm’s 2023 “golden year,” Geno Giovanni entered 2025 facing a hard reality at Silver Forest Christmas Tree Farm: awareness had slipped, operations were reactive, and marketing was fragmented. The result was fewer booked appointments, softer Saturdays than expected, and no clear link between advertising spend and the number of trees sold, leaving the farm vulnerable in a competitive local market.
In 2025, Geno set out to rescue the farm from its decline, rebuilding Silver Forest from a struggling seasonal operation into a serious contender in the regional Christmas tree landscape and laying the foundations for a stronger 2026 season. The turnaround hinged on data-driven marketing, tighter operational controls, a renewed focus on customer experience, and the strategic use of outdoor advertising.
The 2024 downturn was rooted in several structural issues that had developed gradually over time. Marketing was largely ad hoc, with scattered posts and limited tracking, making it difficult to understand which messages and platforms actually led families from seeing content to visiting the farm.
Without clear sales targets or appointment goals, the team entered the season with hope rather than a plan, resulting in uneven days, missed revenue potential, and limited insight into why some weekends were successful and others were not. In a region where multiple farms compete for the same holiday families, this lack of structure left Silver Forest exposed to more organized competitors who were already investing in consistent storytelling and measurable campaigns.
Why 2024 was a
dismal season
Rebuilding with data and discipline in 2025
In 2025, Geno approached the farm as both general manager and marketing chief, replacing guesswork with specific numbers and systems. He set concrete sales targets of roughly 110–120 trees, including 7–10 premium trees, and aligned pricing tiers at $100 for standard trees and $200 for premium sizes, giving the farm a clear revenue goal in the tens of thousands.
Daily tracking of trees sold, transactions, and booked appointments became standard operating procedure, turning each day into a measurable piece of a larger strategy rather than a standalone event. On one December Saturday, for example, the farm hit a single‑day mark of more than a dozen trees sold—a clear sign the new systems were working compared with the softer peaks of 2024.
Geno also refined on‑site sales behavior, ensuring that greeting customers, asking about size and texture preferences, and guiding them to the right tree became a consistent, repeatable experience instead of a hit‑or‑miss interaction. That consistency helped keep lines moving while still giving each family a personal touch.
Turning marketing into a coordinated engine
One of the most significant changes in 2025 was the shift from “posting and praying” to a coordinated, multi‑channel marketing engine. Geno developed themed campaigns. For example, the Tree Hunt concept integrates social media ads, video content, maps, listings, and the farm website into a single funnel that guides families from discovery to directions to the driveway.
He began analyzing landing page views, cost per landing page view, demographic breakdowns, placements, and regional performance, using this data to refine audiences and creative rather than relying on vanity metrics such as likes. Across the season, weekday appointments roughly doubled compared to the previous year. The farm had more predictable midweek sales, and pressure eased off peak weekends.
To extend SFCTF's reach beyond the screen, Geno also leveraged outdoor advertising through business partner and outdoor advertising guru Matthew Olivieri of AdSemble, placing digital boards along key commuter routes leading toward the foothills. These boards acted as a simple but powerful reminder that cutting a fresh tree was just a short drive away.
User-generated content became part of the storytelling layer, including a family-made commercial-style video that showcased the experience of cutting, hauling, and decorating their Silver Forest tree. Short testimonials—like one parent calling it “our new Christmas tradition”—reinforced the message that the farm was about more than just buying a tree.
Customer experience
as the new differentiator
As the systems came online, Geno made sure that numbers did not eclipse the heart of the farm: the experience. Appointments were treated as both sales opportunities and relationship-building moments, with families guided through rows of trees, encouraged to explore, and invited to turn their visit into a tradition.
Evidence of this deeper connection surfaced quickly, with returning local customers—including families and an elderly married couple—sharing that they not only enjoyed the experience but were already planning to return in 2026. One couple remarked that the visit “felt like Christmas used to,” a sentiment that captured exactly what Geno wanted Silver Forest to represent in the community.
Laying the groundwork for 2026 and a return to greatness
By the end of the 2025 season, Silver Forest Christmas Tree Farm looked very different from its 2024 self.
Campaigns were structured, content was purposeful, analytics-informed decisions, outdoor placements amplified awareness, and sales performance was tracked against clear targets, positioning the farm as a more serious competitor in the local Christmas tree market once again.
With Geno Giovanni Presents serving as the media arm, Matthew Olivieri and AdSemble supporting outdoor visibility, and Silver Forest Christmas Tree Farm as the experience on the ground, the path back to the magic and “greatness” of 2023 is no longer just a wish; it is a planned trajectory built on data, creativity, and consistent execution.
If the 2024 season was a warning, 2025 has become the turning point—and 2026 is being positioned as the year this foothill farm fully reclaims its place in the local holiday spotlight.
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