Promotion Points To Use For Your Store

Promotions. It sounds so easy, yet it can be so tough. There are a lot of layers involved in promoting a business – whether it is a retail store or a brand itself – so to help kick start your promotion analysis, determine first what it is you are doing and what it is you are missing out on. From there, you can move forward in the direction you need to ensuring you have all your bases covered.

To start, identify what it is you want to promote. And don’t just say “your store”. Instead, determine what is about your store you want to promote. You may realize there are a few angles you can take, and likewise, a few different audiences to share these details with. Next, determine what you can do to generate interest. Consider your budget – or lack of it – and how much time all points will take. A few things to consider doing include:

1. Send out press releases to local media, including newspapers, magazines, web and TV based.

2. Share details with other community businesses and retail supporters. This can be via a professional email, a press release, phone call or even social media.

3. Share details with your local Chamber or Mainstreet Organization.

4. Generate a social media strategy to generate a buzz. Make sure to use it effectively in order for it to be successful!

5. Get help where help is needed. No time to tweet? Allocate responsibilities among your staff. If it’s just you, be realistic with what you can do and what you won’t do. Then do what you can exceptionally well.

6. Create strong signage to use in your store, as well as offer a takeaway postcard for customers after their purchase.

The one point you do not want to overlook is TIME. You can’t chase an event 5 days leading up to it and expect a tremendous success. This may happen sometimes, but should not be your goal and certainly is not likely to be successful for most retailrs doing this. Instead, plan a promotion calendar for your entire year that allows you to work months, weeks, days and ultimately, hours in advance to lead you to a successful promotion. Additionally, by creating a calendar you will see what times during the year may make sense to have certain events, sales and more. It will also show you more clearly where the holes are.

Need more help? Check out a few more of our favorite PR focused blogs!

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Holiday Ideas To Help Your Store Thrive

Tis’ the season to start planning for your holidays! While it may seem far away, most retailers knows it takes months to plan for a successful holiday season. Despite knowing this, though, Thanksgiving often passes us and Christmas comes so fast that retailers aren’t ready for the rush of business. Though their excitement for sales is always there, their ability to support it  and encourage it are not.

By planning in advance, retailers are able to better support their customers and overall sell thru. In addition, they can be better prepared to compete in a competitive  shopping environment.

A few tips to help ensure this happens include the following points below.

1. Partner up with a local charity. Use your store as a collection base for donated items, such as for a local food pantry. Offer customers a discount on their store purchase in exchange for bringing in items. 10% for one food item, 15% for two and 20% for three or more. Take pictures throughout your collection and when you deliver it to the pantry. Finally, tell the local press about this both ahead of time and after you have actually made the donation. You will likely gain press as a result and more customers in return.

2. Offer customers shopping baskets or bags. Although this may take away from your store “style”, there is nothing worse than customers feeling overloaded with products in their arms. Not only will they be less likely to grab something  else, but their natural instinct to linger will diminish since they instinctively know they have no more hands to spare. The overall goal should be to make their shopping experience easier – so a basket or not, make sure customers always have free range to shop.

3. Have a list of back up staff ready to go just in case.Possibly they are family, friends or even former staff, but there is a good chance you will need some last minute help one day and this is a great way to feel more secure about this. Train them on the basic store responsibilities they will need to know before the rush of the holidays, and if you are able to, pay them a little more than your average employee to help encourage them to drop everything when you call for help.

4. Have an assortment of promotions and sales.Don’t just plan one big blow out and call it a day. Instead, stretch your incentives throughout the holiday shopping season to see a consistent customer base coming in. Make sure to have a calendar posted somewhere easy for your customers to see so that they can see all the great sales and events you have planned! Include flyers in bags with purchases to help spread the word.

5. Clean your store, stockroom and cash wrap in advance. This includes stocking all necessary items that you will need throughout the season, such as tissue paper, gift wrap, bags, receipt paper rolls, cash register ink and much, much more. There will be no time for last minute errands to be made. So plan in advance! And having your store as clean and organized as possible is the only way to dive into this hectic season effectively.

Thinking ahead about any obstacles you may see, products that still need to be ordered and staff you may need to train is the best way to get through the season. There is no sure proof list to ensure your single store success, but making your own to conquer what you believe will be effective for your store is a good start !