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| Original Message Added : 14 Oct 2010 We'v just launched a new shop on the Norfolk coast and it is taking time to get editorial and adverts into local publications. One has a waiting list until February! Because I now work full time my daughter is in the shop and learning the business ropes. Has anyone got any great, proven or inventive ideas for promoting a small shop to a local and surrounding communities on an almost zero budget? I'd like ways to encourage word-of-mouth or to get people to simply come and visit us to see what we do - which is 'everyday eco-friendly household products'. Our website has been running well for two years, but a shop seems to be a whole new ball game! Many Thanks Kay |
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| Reply : 14 Oct 2010 Why not go the whole hog and dress up in a Green-Uniform..not unlike the Green Cross Code person..lol..All your posters and leaflets should be in Green-lettering..etc Invite all customers, new and old to A green-party..Offer a re-cycling Point.. Just some idea's to kick into the long-grass..LOL
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| Reply : 15 Oct 2010 I'm a little confused at your decision to open up a retail store if your website business is already successful. There are many ways to expand you business efficiently, but unless the retail store is a counter at the front of your distribution warehouse, I fail to understand the business decision to go local retail. What you may want to consider is taking your business model and turning it into a Licensed Partner program (a bit like a mini Franchise without all the cost, bells and whistles). From looking at your product range I would have also thought that targeting business to business rather than business to consumer would give better leverage for you. Given that you now have the ties of the store you may want to consider the party plan router. Get friends to host a party, invite other friends, and you go along an demo the products. You supply the wine and nibbles and have a bit of fun with it. Then look for people elsewhere to run parties for you in their regions/areas. I think you need to think a lot bigger than just a local shop stuck out on the Norfolk coast. Look at the part of the business you have been successful with so far, then wrap it up as a business model and sell the license to trade under you. There are lots of people wanting to start their own business these days and will gladly pay to be shown how to set something up that has a proven history. So look at you web based business and resell that idea which will generate extra cash flow into the business, which will then allow you to afford to market the off line business properly. If you would like any advice on how to do all this then let me know and I'll talk you through the process. No Charge. I will also forward you one of my marketing guides which is full of low cost marketing tactics and details how to approach marketing from a non traditional route. Best regards, Steve. |
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| Reply : 15 Oct 2010 A quick, effective and nil cost way to promote your shop quickly is to issue a media release to local press, radio and TV. It will jump the advertising queue and you could be on TV tonight! All you need is an angle .. dressing in green might do it on a slow news day but you need to think this through carefully. Then you write a media release and email it to papers, radio, TV .. put it on your website etc. Give me a ring if you want more detail on the mechanics Good luck Stefan
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| Reply : 15 Oct 2010 - (Edited : 15 Oct 2010) I think Stefan Drew's advice is right on the money. I have done this myself many times in previous lives, and if it worked for you it could be the platform for a real liftoff of your business. I would go further than Stefan suggested and call the local media yourself, again and again and again - the squeaking wheel etc. With these people it is all about timing, by which I mean if they get your info on a day when there is something big happening, your request may literally get filed in the bin. Just keep on keeping on until you get them to cover you. You have a great angle. Also.......get some flyers done, they can be printed for pennies if you find the right printer........and call on EVERY shop/retail outlet in your area and ask them to promote your business to their clientele - the kicker is that you must also cross promote their business to your potential customers in return.......leave that one to you to bottom out, but what has worked for me in the past is where the retailers simply give me their promotioinal info and that was put up in my customer's outlet......as I said, you can bottom that one out yourself. By the by, this idea would work REALLY well for you if you did get the media coverage we're talking about, and were able to show proof of it to your retail partners-to-be. And there's another cheap marketing idea for you i.e. use the media coverage proof to create another marketing flyer for your shop. Hope this is of help - best of luck with the new venture - and thanks for the "thumbs up" if this has been of use. All the best. John
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| Reply : 15 Oct 2010 Try and bring a focal-point to your Shop! All collections in Green-buckets!! Offer a prize! for guessing the number of spots! seen on the TV....Involve local children.. even if its only a pick-up place for their packs!!
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| Reply : 15 Oct 2010 looking to advertise in a green way ? Then Bluetooth Proximity Marketing Or Reverse Graffiti Advertising could well be your way forward Advertising that does not cost the "EARTH"(No paper flyers) The second of these may well link into the media coverage you are looking for and they may well come searching YOU out for a story . Both these advertising methods gain lot's of public attention and welcome attention once they understand the reasoning and concept Your reasoning's to advertise in these ways can only add to your image and your clients resolve to buy green. If you need some help or advice in these directions contact me and its yours for free. I hope all goes well and keep up the good work , Kind Regards, Adrian.
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Reply : 15 Oct 2010 Regards Kay
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| Reply : 15 Oct 2010 Our decision was based on making sure we were in a prominent holiday area rather than a locals only area for the following reasons. Although the web is successful, we have ploughed all money in to upgrading the website and increasing our stock range, then moving the business out of the living-room into a portable office. All advertising seems to have failed as far as the web goes, and our best success has been from Google and word of mouth. We found 'paper' advertising didn't work for the website (advertise online for sales online), but local advertising for local shops seems to work. So for less than the monthly cost of some adverts, we have opened the shop. We will do selective advertising within 15 miles, and hopefully draw in locals (who would never buy from the website) and holiday makers who would never hear of us otherwise, may then go home and buy online next time because they love the products. Hope that makes sense as to our seemingly odd decision :-) Regards Kay |
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| Reply : 15 Oct 2010 Brilliant! I have sent a release to the local paper - Archant. If they use it, they will probaly put it into several publications anyway as they have good links. They brilliantly did this for us when my 15 yr old son recently published his first book. Shame the main paper was about 90 pages thick that week, mid summer and mid carnival, so the article was lost, but the local paper used it front page! They are currently doing a 'buy local' campaign across 18 towns for xmas so hopefully they will put our article in the next feature of that - along with a paid colour advert - one little bit we are splashing out on as it has incentive for customers to purchase. If they spend £10 they get a sticker on their card, and can enter a prize draw for £1,000 for each town. Does everyone find it difficult to write about your own business from a third person perspective? LOL Regards Kay |
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Reply : 15 Oct 2010
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| Reply : 15 Oct 2010 P.S. PARTY PLAN for those that suggested... Would love to but... Unfortunately I have chronic allergies to smoke, cats, house dust, mildew and even some perfumes just for starters (just one of my reasons for going green) so visiting strangers homes is a big health risk for me. Also never know when I can get away from work on time! Thanks for the suggestion, it's a good one, just not for me. x |
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| Reply : 16 Oct 2010 I just found this site http://www.sas.org.uk/campaigns/toxics-2/ which gave me the idea that I could give local talks in halls and meeting places - to talk about what can be done to change household products to those that are water friendly. I could explain what kinds of pollution things like washing-up liquid and shampoos cause, and why our products don't add to these problems. Talks about plastic, organic, personal care and household cleaning done at public groups would be like holding parties - no risky homes involved for me and no risky products for them :-D |
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| Reply : 16 Oct 2010 Do n't you just love it!! when you are mentioned in dispatches..  LOLRemember after All this hard work!! You guys...will need a Holiday yourselves!! |
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| Reply : 16 Oct 2010 Thought I would explain Bluetooth for you as I think it could be a useful tool for your shop and image> Bluetooth Adverts And Messages are transmitted to hand held devices up to 100 meters away they don't use the normal networks. Instead if you can imagine a remote control for a TV or DvD player is probably the easiest way to describe the system . except it is their phones etc that receive the messages You can send Ads, logos, images, Pic's of your products & info, discount vouchers, Opening times, Links to your website, special offers, the list is endless You can even walk around with the device at shows etc place it in your car as you are driving around and the people that you pass along the way will be sent a message you can leave it in your shop front to attract passing trade. They can chose to open or ignore the message. If they ignore the message they will not be sent the same one again (we don't want to pester them now do we ) However when you change your message this starts the ball rolling again so you can constantly update your ads and offers these can then be sent on from phone to phone (viral marketing) spreading the word so to speak in an eco-friendly way 24 hours a day. Again if you would like to know a bit more just drop me a line Regards Adrian. |
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| Reply : 16 Oct 2010 Adrian, thanks for the info, I didn't know about that. Round here we are still trying to educate people what email is for. If they started getting random blue tooth messages they'd have the police after us for invading their phone's privacy or have the priest excorcising the street for doing spooky things every time they walk past the shop LOL. I do love the idea though and in a city or at a show I can imagine this works brilliantly! |
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| Reply : 17 Oct 2010 You mentioned your local paper is published by Archant. Well they also publish Norfolk magazine and the demographic would be ideal for your outlet. Having had way over 100 pages published in various Archant magazines in the past I can recommend you approach them with an article idea ... based around the topics you mentioned you might include for talks. Clearly you can't just write glorified advert, you need an article that is informative etc .. AND some great photos to grab readers attention. I ran a series of articles for one of my clients via Archant and we had a two page gardening feature PLUS a gardening question and answer page run in one magazine ... then it was syndicated into another magazine ... and ran to 72 pages in the first year alone ....and the gardening q/a is still running several years on. I'm not suggesting you will get this much coverage .... but you never know. If you want to discuss this and a few other thoughts I have just give me a ring. Stefan |
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| Reply : 17 Oct 2010 I did have an article in September's issue of the EDP magazine, that they phoned and offered to me as part of a feature on women in Norfolk starting their own green businesses. Shame it was before we knew about the shop. I could follow up on that... I love the Q/A idea! Asking questions gets people thinking! Thinking about green issues could invoke new knowledge while seeking answers and that could in turn, invoke change. |
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| Reply : 6 Dec 2010 I would consider running a points based social media competition, whereby people are rewarded extra points for promoting the competition. You can then tap into Facebook et al and that way it can (maybe) go viral. Promote it locally and see what happens... The other thing that many shop owners don't do is encourage people to sign up to your email list in the shop. If your footfall is a low 50 people per day and you get just 20% of them to sign up to your list (in return for a discount) that's a cool 240 people per month on your list (a large proportion local I assume?). You can then leverage that by offering them rewards if they refer other locals to the shop etc. Cheers TJ |
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.jpg&maxW=50&maxH=50&action=crop "Steve Crane")
.JPG&maxW=50&maxH=50&action=crop "Stefan Drew")
