Business Promotion

4 ways to promote your retail business before you open

4/23/2012 By Joan 2 Comments

Mallory - March 2012 This guest post is written by Mallory Whitfield, a proud resident of New Orleans, LA. She has been blogging at MissMalaprop.com since 2006 and also runs an online shop dedicated to the very best in handmade and eco-friendly gifts.

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I recently discovered a great post here at The Publicity Hound about 6 ways to promote your retail business before you open. It really struck a cord with me because I am currently working toward my dream of opening a brick and mortar boutique.

Rather than taking out massive debt to make my dream happen, however, I’ve decided to bootstrap and build my brand first before paying rent on a retail storefront. I’ve come up with four more ways to promote your retail business before you open:

1. Set up a website or blog, or both, prior to opening to start building buzz for your business.

blog for miss malaprop

This is exactly what I’ve been doing, and it has been instrumental in building brand recognition for my business. The earlier you launch a website, blog or even an online storefront before opening your retail space, the sooner you can start connecting with potential customers.

The early adopters who find you during this phase are likely to become your best customers later on, so take good care of them. You can also start connecting with them via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media outlets prior to opening your new store.

Share with them the behind-the-scenes action of your store build-out, the new products that will be on your shelves, and other news to build excitement before opening day.

2. Connect with your local Yelp community.

Yelp Elite Local businesses CANNOT underestimate the value of Yelp these days. Many businesses even fear getting on the bad side of Yelp reviewers.

Avoid problems down the road by connecting early on with your local Yelp community. Be sure to take advantage of all of Yelp’s free tools and features offered to business owners, including Yelp Deals.

You can go one step further and seek out the local Yelp Community Manager and Yelp Elite. You can often find these folks milling about in the Talk section, a message board within Yelp. These are the movers and shakers on Yelp, and in many cities the Community Managers work with local businesses to throw parties exclusively for Yelp Elite.

How about throwing a pre-grand opening party, giving your Yelp Elite an exclusive sneak peek at your new business? It’s sure to create lots of buzz!

3. Create an eye-catching store window prior to opening.

Window-display Go one step further than simply putting up a banner or sign about your new business.

Create an appealing storefront window display to catch the eyes of potential customers and give them a glimpse at what you’ll soon be offering in your new space. A “Coming Soon” banner can take center stage, with colorful products and clever props surrounding it. Be sure to also include your website address as part of your Coming Soon window display.

You could even incorporate a QR code into your window display, and have it send visitors to your website or a link where they can sign up for your mailing list.

Need help creating a brilliant looking window display? Check out this Design*Sponge article on Creating Great Window Displays, written by a former Anthropologie display coordinator.

4. Participate in local festivals and other events with a booth promoting your business.

Getting the word out to your local community about the existence of your new business is key, and what better way to do that than face-to-face at local events like festivals?

Most of these events offer up booth space to local businesses, artists and food vendors. They can be a fun and affordable way for you to connect with customers and show them what you have to offer.

For retail stores, you can bring a small sample of what you sell.

Service-based businesses can also benefit. Hair stylists might offer simple yet festive services like hair braiding or feather clip extensions. Massage therapists are also popular at these types of events when providing brief chair massages as a way to promote their regular offerings.

Think creatively, and consider your target market when deciding what types of events will work best to promote your business. Maybe teaming up with another local business for a trunk show at their location is the way to go? Or perhaps if you sell comic books or video games, you could seek out nearby sci-fi and fantasy conventions?

Need more ideas? I’ve written a post on Where to Find Good Craft Shows that also includes other alternative venue ideas as well. Have you tried any of these ideas before? How did they work for your business?

Filed Under: Business Promotion Tagged With: community festivals, miss malaprop, qr code, retail publicity, storefront window display, yelp reviewers

How to piggyback PR onto top consumer trends for 2012

12/6/2011 By Joan 4 Comments

Every December, Trendwatching.com publishes an annual list of a dozen crucial trends for the following year.

If you’re looking for a hook to hang a story onto, so you can pitch it to the media and bloggers, there are lots of opportunities.

Here’s the list of 12 Crucial Trends for 2012 (there are actually 13):

You won’t be able to determine instantly what each one means, so go to the website and read more. Trendwatching also has provided a helpful list of four tips you should read that helps you understand how you can use this list and actually make money from it:

Influence or shape your company’s vision.
Come up with a new business concept, an entirely new venture, a new brand.
Add a new product, service or experience for a certain customer segment.
Speak the language of those consumers already “living” a trend.

How about a fifth? Tie a story idea from your company or nonprofit into one of the trends.

Here are some some examples I thought of that tie into items on the list above:

1. Red Carpet. Are you one of the department stores, airlines, hotels, theme parks, museums or cities that plan to roll out the red carpet for Chinese visitors and customers with tailored services and perks? If so, when? And how does this tie in with your overall marketing plan? A great story for local business journals.
3. Dealer-Chic. What are you doing to reward thrifty consumers who love the thrill of chasing down bargains and deals? Have you started a Deal of the Day or a Deal of the Weak? What about membership clubs or rewards programs?
4. Eco-cycology. The media particularly love stories about making the environment cleaner. Pitch anything dealing with innovative ways you’re recycling, how you’re encouraging employees to offer their best ideas and even products you’re making, or packaging you’re using, from recycled materials. How does this affect the bottom line? Any time you can point to a dollars-and-cents savings, you’ve got a great tidbit to include in your pitch.
8. Flawsome. What are you doing to be honest about your company’s flaws? How are you showing empathy, generosity, humility, flexibility, maturity, humor and character? Are you blogging and adopting a blog policy to address nasty comments head on? How are you showing your flaws on the social media sites? If you don’t have a social media policy yet, here are more than 80 free sample social media policies you can review.
9. Screen Culture. What are you doing with your website or sales process to make it easier for consumers to connect with you by simply touching the screens on their tablet or smart phone or at the kiosk at the local malls? Nonprofits, are you making it easier for people to donate?

Those are just a few ideas. I know you can think of more. Don’t miss Trendwatching’s 15 tips on how to best track and apply trends.

How will you use this list as part of your PR campaign next year? How will you be tying your pitch into these trends?

Filed Under: Blogs, Business Promotion, Nonprofits, Pitching the Media Tagged With: DIY health, top trends, trend watcher, trend-watching

N.J. biz women, PR ideas wanted for self-published book

11/8/2011 By Joan 7 Comments

Author Joyce Restaino

Joyce Restaino of Newfoundland, NJ, writes:

“We’re on the final push seeking contributing authors for the forthcoming book Jersey Women Mean Business: Big, Bold Business Advice from 100 New Jersey Women Business Owners—Practical Pointers, Solutions, and Strategies for Business, which will be published by Woodpecker Press, a company that helps authors self-publish.

“The investment is $595, and 50 New Jersey women business owners have already committed to write chapters. Since this is a self-published book, the media typically aren’t interested.

“However, there are plenty of benefits for those contributing a chapter, such as a professional video clip of each author talking about her chapter and her business ($600 value); an opportunity to be a guest on a blog talk radio business show; PR and social media training; opportunities to appear on business panels after the book is published in 2012; discounts and special author-only programs.

“To attract authors, we have used email, direct mail, phone follow-up, workshops, and in-person appearances to talk about the book and its benefits.

“We’re making one final push for contributing authors and would love suggestions from all of your Publicity Hounds on how to involve more authors and attract publicity. Here’s the landing page.”

Filed Under: Authors & Publishers, Business Promotion Tagged With: biz owner advice, business tips, new jersey business women, self-published book

What rich authors know that poor authors don’t

10/11/2011 By Joan 8 Comments

Poor authors place their hopes, dreams, sweat, blood and money only into their books.

If the book fails, the author fails.

Rich authors use the book as a calling card to upsell readers to a wide variety of other products and services like: coaching programs, board games, wall calendars, membership programs, and more. That’s one of the key differences between rich authors and poor authors.

Learn the other six at a free 75-minute telephone seminar hosted by Steve Harrison of Radio-TV Interview Report, at 2 and 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Oct. 13. Even though the call is free, I promote it as a compensated affiliate because I’ve seen hundreds of authors miss this important distinction and tie up their life’s savings in cardboard boxes of books they can’t sell.

Register for the call, “How to Achieve A Lot More Success As An Author By Discovering The Seven Things Rich Authors Know That Poor Authors Don’t.”

Filed Under: Authors & Publishers, Business Promotion, Information Products Tagged With: book marketing, Book Promotion, book sales. author marketing, book spin-off products, book success secrets, book teleseminar, successful authors

6 ways to promote your retail business before you open

10/11/2011 By Joan 8 Comments

Create a buzz all over town long before your store opens.

These days, in a sour economy, businesses opening just about anywhere are major news. So don’t shy away from publicity. Here six ways to promote your retail business before you open.

Display a large banner or sign outside your building letting people know you’ll be opening. Thanks to Alyson Stanfield, a business coach for artists and an art marketing expert, for this idea which I read at her blog yesterday.
Pitch the story to the local media. Contact a reporter at your local newspaper, business journal or business magazine and pitch a story about the opening. Angles can include why you chose this time, when the economy is bad, to open a new business.
Write a press release. Post it on a site like Craigslist, which gets millions of eyeballs. Post it only in one category and only in the city closest to where your business is located.
Plan a fun grand opening celebration. Publicize it on a local event sites like Yelp, EventCrazy.com and MeetUp.com. This list of 27 questions to ask before promoting your event will stimulate ideas and help you plan a more interesting event. Please, no boring ribbon-cuttings. You can do better than that. Here are some alternatives to ribbon-cutting events.
Just before you open, create a business profile on Google Maps.
Contact related businesses and offer to cross-promote. Ask them to display flyers about your grand opening at the front counter. Tell them that once you open, you’ll be happy to promote something they’re doing. If you’re opening a pet store, contact owners of dog kennels, dog obedience schools and veterinarians.