Marketing for my shop..

[maria102]

I'm just working out our diary of events for the year and am considering what the best form of marketing would be for my shop. Amongst other things I really think that a leaflet drop woud be a good idea, although I am not sure how far geographically I should go as we are only a small village, also if I find the number of residents/households there are (is this easy enough to find out?) Do I get exactly that amount of flyers printed?

 

[sm1]

Do something wild and viral! Get the whole area talking - a massive catwalk round the village or something odd my marketing skills really do show

 

[maria102]

Do something wild and viral! Get the whole area talking - a massive catwalk round the village or something odd my marketing skills really do show

I don't think that is such a bad idea at all! We are doing a fashion show in one of the winebars when we get our spring summer stuff in and linking up with a charity, we'll get our website done, we have our mailing list and there is the maildrop thing (which I still need advice on!)....plus our special promotional nights!.....

 

[sm1]

good range there! hope it works out all ok

 

[Mister B]

FWIW, historically, I have always found leaflet drops to be a total waste of time. I know that it really does depend on the market sector which you are in, but for your store, I would have thought that as Stefan recommends, the catwalk route would be a good starting point.

In the past I have worked with local fashion and photography students who do the legwork and actually put the show on and I have merely "lent" the products. If tied in with the local press and charitable causes it can raise the store profile quite well. Not sure exactly whereabouts in the NW you're based but I would have thought that you could quite easily accomodate four a year

Other things which have also worked for me in the past is liasing with complimentary retailers. Traditionally we have always marked our marketing calendar with key events, (not just Christmas but even things like National/Derby/Mothers Day,) and combined forces with other specialist retailers, whether it be florist/confectioner/card shop etc etc

Aside of that it comes down to paid for marketing which has never worked well for me unless aimed at the direct target market.

Mister B

 

[maria102]

FWIW, historically, I have always found leaflet drops to be a total waste of time. I know that it really does depend on the market sector which you are in, but for your store, I would have thought that as Stefan recommends, the catwalk route would be a good starting point.

In the past I have worked with local fashion and photography students who do the legwork and actually put the show on and I have merely "lent" the products. If tied in with the local press and charitable causes it can raise the store profile quite well. Not sure exactly whereabouts in the NW you're based but I would have thought that you could quite easily accomodate four a year

Other things which have also worked for me in the past is liasing with complimentary retailers. Traditionally we have always marked our marketing calendar with key events, (not just Christmas but even things like National/Derby/Mothers Day,) and combined forces with other specialist retailers, whether it be florist/confectioner/card shop etc etc

Aside of that it comes down to paid for marketing which has never worked well for me unless aimed at the direct target market.

Mister B

What sort of shop do you have Mister B? assuming its fashion, if you don't mind me asking which labels?

We've got the other events marked up as well, the next being Valentines. The leaflet drop was because we are still getting people coming in the shop and saying they haven't been in before and didn't know what sort of things we stocked, also I wanted to get rid of peoples preconception that we only stock expensive stuff, we don't but most people seem to thing so until they actually look at the prices.

 

[Digger1]

Get the whole area talking - a massive catwalk round the village or something odd

Spot on. Take your shop to the public and give it exposure, however make sure you employ this strategy numerous times. Several times in the first couple of months to create awareness and then periodically to keep your business front of mind.

Frequency plays a major role in any form of advertising. Some advertisers refer to the "rule of seven" but most importantly keep your message frequent and consistent.

This article provides some food for thought
http://www.nfib.com/object/3985727.html

 

[Encompass]

Flyer drops only work well if they have an offer associated with them, like get 10% off with this flyer. Another thing which has worked wonderfully for various businesses is doing the drops on a Sunday. This may seem an odd thing to do, but if you do the drop on a Sunday the recipient will only receive one piece of mail and might actually read it.

Good luck

 

[Chris Ashdown]

How about lending say five dresses to some girls to wear at the local nightclub every few weeks, they are bound to tell everone who matters about your shop

You can have the dresses washed / dry cleaned and sell them on at a reduced price. not to expensive but good publisity

Could select the girls by small competition with local paper more free or cheap publicity

 

[maria102]

Thanks guys, the marketing is important and is what I want to address for when the S/S stuff arrives. Although we have done various offers via the email campaigns over the last couple of months, I wanted to wait until we have a full collection to show before we do our fashion show. The local wine bar have approached us, so I was going to hold it there, though wouldn't mind adding a quirky angle as we have at least a month to plan it and do it well.

 

[maria102]

How about lending say five dresses to some girls to wear at the local nightclub every few weeks, they are bound to tell everone who matters about your shop

You can have the dresses washed / dry cleaned and sell them on at a reduced price. not to expensive but good publisity

Could select the girls by small competition with local paper more free or cheap publicity

Thanks Chris, we seem to do ok in away along those lines - a lot of people are coming in now on recommendations from other people who have bought stuff they like.

 

[nateski]

hi maria, what kind of shop do you have? leaflet dropping depends as much on the leaflet offer as where it is dropped - think headline, think risk reversal, but think specific.

Perhaps an exclusive 'after opening invite with champagne or an exclusive one day only 25% OFF WITH THIS VOUCHER type leaflet, or what about, 50th customer gets £1000 to spend.... all depends on your shop, but ive read you posts your a smart cookie im sure whatever you do you will be fine

 

[maria102]

hi maria, what kind of shop do you have? leaflet dropping depends as much on the leaflet offer as where it is dropped - think headline, think risk reversal, but think specific.

Perhaps an exclusive 'after opening invite with champagne or an exclusive one day only 25% OFF WITH THIS VOUCHER type leaflet, or what about, 50th customer gets £1000 to spend.... all depends on your shop, but ive read you posts your a smart cookie im sure whatever you do you will be fine

Thanks for that, its a ladieswear boutique - are you talking about putting a discount or offer on the leaflets? I think that is a good idea, though we have done this with our mailing list, but of course on leaflets it would reach a wider audience.

 

[MH1]

FWIW with the recession in peoples mind it might be as well to have a simple entry into a free competition, no purchase required, but the client has to drop the entry into the shop by a certain date to win £x of clothes from yourself etc.

The main point being getting the potential clients through the door in the first place, once inside I doubt many women will need any offers to start spending on clothes.

 

[Mister B]

TBH, I'm quite cynical about using both competition and flyers. Sure, go ahead and try as without trying, you'll never know for sure what the results will be. All that I say is that historically, I have always found them to be a waste of time. Still, hopefully, it will work for others

Going back to your original question to me, No, I am not in fashion, although I was many moons ago. Twenty years in a specialist industry and marketing on a shoestring has given me similar experiences to yourself. As somebody else says, you're obviously a smart cookie and having read your posts to date about tour new shop, I think that you're half way there. You just need to get the marketing nailed By the looks of it, you're hoping to achieve what I did a few years ago whereby people would come to me on a monthly basis to find out what the latest fashion/technology was. These consumers weren't worried about the price, just wanted to look and feel the part. Those that couldn't afford to buy top end products used to buy a small accessory so that they could leave with one of our bags Seriously.

Good luck with it.

Mister B

 

[YesGifts]

Hi maria102

To be totally honest with you, i wouldnt go for flyers at all. you spend money to have them made up to only be put in the bin. even if you have a discount voucher on it. people will come to your shop, buy something with the voucher and then forget about you. until you send another flyer. you keep having to pay someone to make the flyers again and again.

you need to give people something they can use over and over, keep with them and then theyll remember you only having gifted something once, for example a keyring. if its a good design and useful keyring, people will keep it. it needs to be funky and appeal to the young market. if you know some creative people you can have them create you some kind of funky logo or strap line to have on your item.

other good examples would include:

car stickers (once put in the car, itll probably never be taken out.)
bottle openers (young people tend to carry these around now.)
button badges (its button badge crazy at the moment, young people having thousands on their bags)
fridge magnets
yoyos (very addictive)

my point is you want something that will stay around for a lot longer and it has to appeal to your target audience, it doesnt have to be related to clothing. There are loads of great places online to look for promotional items that will help you choose a great gift. one good place is yesgifts.co.uk, they are great at helping you choose a product and can also help you out with designs as they have their own design team. its worth getting a quote anyway.

you can have them on your pay counter or scattered around the shop so even if people dont buy they take one of your gifts anyway. you could even choose something small, like car stickers, to post out instead of a leaflet. I think that this would be more effective for your business. if youre going to spend money on marketing then you want to spend it on something useful that will be used.

hope that helps.

 

[maria102]

Thank you! After the Christmas period I am starting to see what we are not getting quite right:

• Not enough men came in to buy their wives/girlfriends presents which I have an inkling was either because they didn't know sizes or what they would like, or the shop is maybe just a little too girly so they would feel intimidated.
• I had my first barmaid in from the local well respected pub last week, she came in for some underwear (ie she knew it was affordable) and took this as an opportunity to look round. Anyway she has since been back bought two dresses and I have now had the rest of her colleagues in who bought a condsiderable amount too. I'm pretty sure that its because they thought it was more expensive than it is and why they have never been in since we opened.
• The limited number of size 14+ ladies who have been are always surprised that I have 16's, they always say they haven't been in before as the presumed I wouldn't have anything to fit them.

I know Rome wasn't built in a day, but these are the areas I can see that need addressing when I do my next bit of marketing. :|

 

[maria102]

you need to give people something they can use over and over, keep with them and then theyll remember you only having gifted something once, for example a keyring. if its a good design and useful keyring, people will keep it. it needs to be funky and appeal to the young market. if you know some creative people you can have them create you some kind of funky logo or strap line to have on your item.

Thank you it does, we did some promotional hand mirrors when we first opened which we put with each purchase, these went down well, but I suppose the point was we were only giving them to the people who bought something and weren't reaching the larger audience.

 

[Call Tracker]

If you do a leaflet have a voucher attached that the customer has to bring in to you for their discount or special offer. Make it a real loss leader and you will get a decent response. Make sure you put a trackable phone number on the flyer so that you know what part of your marketing is working (if you aim to get calls as well as footfall).

 

[Mark Nagurski]

Hi Maria

I'd look for more ways to 'work with' the customers that do buy - from what you mentioned about the barmaid and the 14+ ladies, word of mouth would seem to work well for you although there are one or two preconceptions (price and sizing) that you need to overcome.

A few random ideas:

• You could use real customers as models in any advertising or print materials. I can imagine a series based on 3 or 4 different customer types.
• Instead of doing a leaflet drop how about targeting specific customers with gift certificates that they can hand out to their friends.
• On your website, why not include a pics gallery of customers wearing your clothes - give them a disposable (or cheap digital) camera to take pics on a night out or run a comp where the best pictures win freebies. With a bit of luck they'll also pass those pics 'round via social media.

Finally, and speaking from experience, men love gift certificates - promote these and possibly team up with a few related shops (florist, card shop ...) to get them in front of men at present buying time.

Hope something there helps

 

[YesGifts]

Mediamonitor--> yeah, thats a good idea, the phone number thing; you need to know whats working and what isnt.

maria102--> this is why i suggested something small that you can also post out, like car stickers, they can fit in a normal sized envelope and can be received my anyone who picks up the post, female, male etc. you could even do leaflet with car sticker inside. so you get all the info you want out there, i.e. some prices and sizes to encourage people and then something they can keep as well.

good luck

 

[Blush]

FWIW with the recession in peoples mind it might be as well to have a simple entry into a free competition, no purchase required, but the client has to drop the entry into the shop by a certain date to win £x of clothes from yourself etc.

The main point being getting the potential clients through the door in the first place, once inside I doubt many women will need any offers to start spending on clothes.

I did this in the summer, only it was aimed at kids and it was design competition.It attracted alot of interest, new customers and local free coverage in teh local paper too.May try something similar again.Was worth it.

 

[Blush]

Thank you! After the Christmas period I am starting to see what we are not getting quite right:

• Not enough men came in to buy their wives/girlfriends presents which I have an inkling was either because they didn't know sizes or what they would like, or the shop is maybe just a little too girly so they would feel intimidated. what about offering a personal; shopper for the men?? adter all most don't have a clue
• I had my first barmaid in from the local well respected pub last week, she came in for some underwear (ie she knew it was affordable) and took this as an opportunity to look round. Anyway she has since been back bought two dresses and I have now had the rest of her colleagues in who bought a condsiderable amount too. I'm pretty sure that its because they thought it was more expensive than it is and why they have never been in since we opened.you can't beat word of mouth majority of my new customers come in because someone has told them about us.
• The limited number of size 14+ ladies who have been are always surprised that I have 16's, they always say they haven't been in before as the presumed I wouldn't have anything to fit them.

I know Rome wasn't built in a day, but these are the areas I can see that need addressing when I do my next bit of marketing. :|

Do you have graphics in your car? was wondering whether to go with this myself.

 

[maria102]

Do you have graphics in your car? was wondering whether to go with this myself.

The car is a long story.....we bought a nifty Nissan Figaro as it goes with the image of the shop - unfortunately my husband took this on as a pet project and to cut a long story, it appears to be taking longer than thought! ie, I drive his car and he drives the Figaro with only one seat screwed in, a jammed window and a half fitted car alarm!

Sorry, the answer is yes, we were hoping to!!! eventually!

 

[Matt1959]

I would say that if its a village, then leaflets are a must. I've lived in villages all my life and residents love to know all thats going on in "their" village. So long as the leaflet is obviously about something in their village and relevant etc then surely they will grab it and look at it, chat to the neighbour about it and when people/ famillies come to visit chat to them about it as well. Leaflets are so cheap, instant, adaptable for content etc that for me I wouldnt even think of not doing them

 

[fergusmum]

An idea i came up with (but never followed through!), if theres a local nail bar or sunbed place, offer to buy a voucher every month, say £25 or full set of nails, whatever, in return for them displaying one of your mannequins, change the outfit weekly, and display the price, sizes available etc. Then do a free prize draw & give away the voucher, this is also a good way to get details for your mailing list. The type of people who look after their appearance are your kind of customers (and mine) and it will remind them to pop into you more often. I must do this tomorrow!! Would work in a hair dressers or beauty therapy clinic also.

 

[Blush]

thats a good idea, may use that one myself!

 

[Cornish Steve]

• Not enough men came in to buy their wives/girlfriends presents which I have an inkling was either because they didn't know sizes or what they would like

What about having some inexpensive cloth tape measures made with your company's name, address, and website information on them? Leave them in places where men frequent - along with a message saying that "now you know your wife's vital stats, you'll never want to miss a sale at *** Boutique".

 

[Cornish Steve]

I like the idea suggested earlier about linking your campaign to a charity event. For example:

- Arrange a Breast Cancer Awareness month (maybe there already is one, I don't know)

- Suggest that women wear something pink (or yellow or green or whatever) for that month to demonstrate support for breast cancer

- Arrange a special rack of clothing in your store that are all that colour

- For all items on that rack, state that you're going to donate 10% or whatever of the price to a breast cancer charity

- Now you have something you can tie your flyer campaign to. It can show a woman dressed in one of your pink items and can announce BCA month in your village

- Get someone from the local paper to write an article, and try to win the support of other store owners in your village. Before you know it, you may create a phenomenon - and raise money for an excellent cause

 

[Rachel Goodall]

How about writing an article giving advice about how to care for your favourite particularly delicate fashion item or something like that. Then lead the article towards talking about whatever you sell and include the bit about how people are surprised at the range of prices your shop has. Send it in as a ready-made piece that your local paper can use without any work on their part. Add a quote from a particularly happy customer about whatever it is about you and your shop that is special, as a testimonial type of thing.

Using the paper's usual style but getting your message across. What knowledge to you have in your head that your customers would be interested to hear?



Does your target customer spend time in the local library? Do they have a newsletter?

If you don't like writing your could get someone else to do it for you. If you do like writing you may end up wanting to do a monthly fashion tips or something.

 

[maria102]

An idea i came up with (but never followed through!), if theres a local nail bar or sunbed place, offer to buy a voucher every month, say £25 or full set of nails, whatever, in return for them displaying one of your mannequins, change the outfit weekly, and display the price, sizes available etc. Then do a free prize draw & give away the voucher, this is also a good way to get details for your mailing list. The type of people who look after their appearance are your kind of customers (and mine) and it will remind them to pop into you more often. I must do this tomorrow!! Would work in a hair dressers or beauty therapy clinic also.

This is a great idea! We are surrounded by hairdressers, nailbars, tanning salons!

[/list] What about having some inexpensive cloth tape measures made with your company's name, address, and website information on them? Leave them in places where men frequent - along with a message saying that "now you know your wife's vital stats, you'll never want to miss a sale at *** Boutique".

This is also brilliant and I've started to look into it, the prices are very reasonable to buy promotional tape measures ;-)

I like the idea suggested earlier about linking your campaign to a charity event.

Get someone from the local paper to write an article, and try to win the support of other store owners in your village. Before you know it, you may create a phenomenon - and raise money for an excellent cause

Brilliant again Steve, we are doing this by linking up with Alzheimers for our fashion show when we get the new collections in (selling tickets for a nominal fee which we will give to the charity and then have an inkling about numbers)

How about writing an article giving advice about how to care for your favourite particularly delicate fashion item or something like that. Then lead the article towards talking about whatever you sell and include the bit about how people are surprised at the range of prices your shop has. Send it in as a ready-made piece that your local paper can use without any work on their part. Add a quote from a particularly happy customer about whatever it is about you and your shop that is special, as a testimonial type of thing.

Using the paper's usual style but getting your message across. What knowledge to you have in your head that your customers would be interested to hear?

Thanks for this, I could definitely put something together, I could talk about the technicalities of clothes all day long, plus have very strong opinions.....like in this months Vogue it has the new trend for jeans, loose around the bottom area and then tapered in at the ankle! Yep, they've managed to come with a trend that doesn't look good on anyone

 

[Rachel Goodall]

[/list] What about having some inexpensive cloth tape measures made with your company's name, address, and website information on them? Leave them in places where men frequent - along with a message saying that "now you know your wife's vital stats, you'll never want to miss a sale at *** Boutique".

Love that one! You've given me a great adaptation for weight loss products with that idea. Thank you very much.

 

[maria102]

Love that one! You've given me a great adaptation for weight loss products with that idea. Thank you very much.

It is quite brilliant! its the perfect solution, I asked a guy that came in with his wife why he didn't come in to buy her a christmas present, instantly his wife piped up "because he doesn't know what size I am!" She suggested I keep a database of sizes (because we are a very local shop) and thats what I am working on.

 

A few random thoughts I had about the 'size database':

1) Data Protection Legislation..... once you start to store details, you need to ensure you are registered.
2) Do women not blow up and down in size slightly? (Or am I chasing the wrong ones?)
3) Are all women not made slightly different, at least this is the excuse I have had for being kept waiting whilst they try everything on. So each individual dress & cut has to be tried on to be sure it fits.

I'd never come into a shop like yours to buy a garment for a lady Maria, I'd be more tempted to buy a gift certificate though....if that helps.

 

[maria102]

A few random thoughts I had about the 'size database':

1) Data Protection Legislation..... once you start to store details, you need to ensure you are registered.
2) Do women not blow up and down in size slightly? (Or am I chasing the wrong ones?)
3) Are all women not made slightly different, at least this is the excuse I have had for being kept waiting whilst they try everything on. So each individual dress & cut has to be tried on to be sure it fits.

I'd never come into a shop like yours to buy a garment for a lady Maria, I'd be more tempted to buy a gift certificate though....if that helps.

It does help Mark Any input from blokes is more than welcome, a guy delivered a parcel today and said how nice he thought the shop was and would bring his wife in on Saturday - I asked him if he felt it was a bit too girly (previous feedback) but he said he would feel comfortable, though not all guys are the same. I will register about keeping info, though women have expressed an interest in holding this info quite a lot, so if they know they are registered they may change/update it.

We are getting vouchers because a lot of people have asked about this too...

Oh, its hard work this shop business but I love it and I hope it works out

 

A couple of ladies I am friendly with locally Maria, run a designer shoe store.

They have found their little 'evenings' to be quite successful, where they put on a little grub and some drinks, and let the ladies they invite in for a special show evening. A lot of them treat is as a social thing, but they get a lot of sales immediately afterwards in the next week or so.

...........keeps their regulars regular.

 

[maria102]

A couple of ladies I am friendly with locally Maria, run a designer shoe store.

They have found their little 'evenings' to be quite successful, where they put on a little grub and some drinks, and let the ladies they invite in for a special show evening. A lot of them treat is as a social thing, but they get a lot of sales immediately afterwards in the next week or so.

...........keeps their regulars regular.

That is so right! its sooo local, everyone knows everyone which is why i treat the relationships as fragile, bizarrely I am remembering people very well, a skill that I don't remember having in my previous IT life!

 

[lm11]

Hi Maria,

We can offer you something very different and exciting with the added bonus of potentially national press coverage to boot. Where abouts is your shop based?

Luke

 

[maria102]

Not sure vehicle wrapping would be the answer to all my marketing!

 

[lm11]

Maybe not all, but it could certainly capture your offline market...