4 Ways to Drive Traffic with Cross Promotion

Collaboration has led to some of the greatest achievements of all time ranging from the discovery of DNA to the creation of Fortune 500 companies. So why shouldn’t the same idea work for your business success too?

 “Shop Local!” has been a popular theme giving the small to medium size retailers the business opportunity to collaborate and reach new customers that will keep coming back. We have a few suggestions of how to make your business standout in your community by finding the right partnerships to increase sales growth.

 

1.       A Passport Program
Talk to similar businesses in your community to create a passport program for customers to engage in! You can schedule the program for any length of time, but by having it occur for a day or over a weekend, you will have a much better chance of customers getting to every store.

For this passport program, each retailer will give a stamp whenever a customer makes an in store purchase during the designated time frame. At the end, customers who have filled their passport can turn it in to be entered to win a gift basket with goodies from all the places they shopped that day! This is a great opportunity for you and your customers to promote this on social media and tag retailers to drive traffic to their website.

Not only will you have an increase of traffic through your front door, but you’ve created relationships with your retail neighbors that can be very valuable in the long run!

Ex. South Lake in Pasadena hosts a Holiday Fest each December that all of the local retailers can participate in and promote!

 

2.       Choose a Charity

If the passport program is a success and your new team of retailers would like to host another event, selecting a charity to receive your donations is a great way to build mutually beneficial partnerships while helping others. You can select certain items in your store or a percentage of each purchase can go towards the proceeds to a charity in your local area.

This gives retailers involved a chance to cross promote on social media, in store, and directly to customers while assisting those in need!

Ex. Three Dog Bakery hosts a food drive for one month at each of their locations. They’ve made it into a competition between their stores of who can raise the most money for their local animal focused charity!

 

3.       Know your niche market and utilize it!

Knowing who your market is and where to reach them is crucially important. Teaming up with companies that consist of your possible clientele can be great for new business.

 

For example, if you own a store that sells athletic clothing such as yoga pants or running gear, hosting a trunk show for your local Yoga or Pilate’s studio or running club gives you direct contact to your niche market! People may not buy everything at the trunk show, but it provides an incentive to stop by your store later or you can ask the owner if you can leave business cards or flyers at their front desk and see your customer base grow! You can also offer an incentive to those that make a purchase at your store for the opportunity to try out a free sweat session at a local Yoga, Pilates, dance studio or Crossfit gym

*This will help cross promote to your target demographic while creating mutually beneficial business partnerships within your community.

Ex. A Snail’s Pace teamed up with running shoe company, New Balance, for their pub run! Runners were able to try out new shoes from New Balance and finish the night with a drink.

 

4.       Sharing Advertising

Marketing your store can be expensive and you want to make sure you’re utilizing the right tools for the best bang for your buck. Social Media has great platforms for retailers to communicate directly to consumers, but if they’re not searching directly for your business, it can be difficult to reach the right audience.  

Consider working with a retailing neighbor to split the cost of mailers or sponsorship for a community event in your area. There is a high chance that any advertisements will be posted in their store as well, giving your business more promotion!

Ex. The Ann Arbor Summer Festival has many different levels of sponsorship allowing for any size retailer to be a part of the event!

 

Teaming up with other local businesses gives every retailer a chance to be more involved in their community and increase traffic to their stores.  Once the customers are in your door, it’s up to your stellar sales staff and unbeatable customer service to create loyal customers who are excited to return, even when there isn’t a promotion occurring. Start partnering up and encourage people to Shop Local!

If there is something that has worked for your business we would love to hear your story and share it on our social media platforms! Please feel free to email us at: info@onestepretail.com

By: Kimmy Evans
July15, 2015

How Independent Retailers Can Thrive Among the Big-Box Stores

Posted by flexReceipts on Feb 12, 2015

This one’s for the boutique brands, the Main Street mom-and-pops, the local chains built from the ground up. Independent retailers. They may not have the national visibility and sheer resources of mega-chains like Target and Wal-Mart, but that is often the key to their success. The best independent retailers offer truly unique products and experiences that can’t be found anywhere else.

Last week, flexReceipts announced that we would be providing our technology to five independent retailers, including three clothing brands, a china manufacturer and a surf shop in Del Mar, California. By combining custom digital receipts with a comprehensive system of analytics, flexReceipts is ideal for independent retailers trying to carve out their niche. However, there are also many other steps a small retailer can take to compete with the big names.

Get to know your customers: One of the main appeals of the classic mom and pop store is a sense of friendliness. National corporations and chains, in contrast, are often seen as faceless and uncaring, treating customers as merely numbers toward the bottom line. With local reach and a much smaller pool of customers, it’s easy for independent retailers to offer a personalized customer experience, which often even means getting to know the regulars by name. This doesn’t mean you should forgo statistics and analytics. On the contrary, keeping track of things like shopping habits and demographics allow you to delve into exactly who your customers are and what they want. Email receipt programs are also a good way to capture an email address so you can create a consumer profile and start monitoring how your customers shop over time.

Social media is your friend: It’s the great equalizer. Any business, regardless of size, revenue or resources, can create a Facebook page or Twitter account for no cost. The key to success, of course, is in the execution.  Independent retailers should strive to frequently post content they know will engage their current and potential customers, and make an effort to respond to every single person who posts to their page or mentions their product. Social media should be an extension of the experience customers would find in-store or on the e-commerce website.

Tell your story: Everyone has one, but you don’t often hear about the ones from big-box retailers. The guy standing in line at Wal-Mart with a hundred other people probably doesn’t care about how the Waltons made their first billion. Independent retailers, on the other hand, have a chance to connect with their customers by letting them know how they got there and where they are going. In-store, in marketing and advertising, and on social media, the focus should not just be on the products or services, but on what makes your business unique and interesting. Doing so can make your customers feel that, buy patronizing your business, they are becoming part of something special.

Adapt to survive: Technology and consumer tastes are constantly changing. Lacking fallbacks like large-scale corporate backing and national brand recognition, independent retailers must adapt to these changes as quickly and efficiently as possible. Stay on top of the latest trends in your industry or field. Pay close attention to your customers buying habits. Adopt up-and-coming technology and social media early. Not only will this allow your business to survive, it could give you a crucial edge on competitors.

To see the original article please visit: http://retail.flexreceipts.com/blog/how-independent-retailers-can-thrive-among-the-big-box-stores-2/

Why Shopping Independent Stores This Holiday Season Should Be On Your To-Do-List

 

written by: Nicole Leinbach-Reyhle, Forbes Contributor

 

Did you know that on average, 48 percent of each purchase at local independent businesses was recirculated locally, compared to less than 14 percent of purchases at chain stores? This data, shared by the American Independent Business Alliance, along with countless other reasons are why it’s so important to support your local LOCM +1.38% businesses this holiday season and always.

"Shopping should be an enjoyable experience with interactions that leave us feeling good versus feeling like we have to do a chore. I find that’s far more likely to happen when I’m patronizing local independent businesses, plus I also find independent merchants usually beat the chains or the online mega retailers when you add up the key factors. These include product quality and durability, getting expert advice without having to waste time doing my own research and ease of return if an exchange is needed, as well as price. I think the discount chains have brainwashed America into valuing cheapness above all, but the best value isn’t always – or even usually – the cheapest product or vendor,” shares Co-Director of the American Independent Business Alliance Jeff Milchen.

Expanding on this is Ellen Divita, Director of Community Development in DeKalb, Illinois, which is home to Northern Illinois University.

"Keeping purchases close to home helps communities in countless ways, and consumers need to recognize this as they make their purchase decisions. Local shopping – whether at small or larger stores – impact community economics, and too often purchases are being made online nowadays. Browsing the shelves of your local store is an experience which cannot be replaced by shopping on-line, even if cheaper and quicker,” Divita states.

Additionally, Divita shares that DeKalb recently lost a major retailer and as a result, they’d like to attract independent merchants to make up for this loss while also bringing value to their community.

"We intend to work with our businesses to focus on customer service and build the customer experience. We are hopeful to attract an independent book seller as a key downtown revitalization strategy yet know this will be a challenge,” Divita further states.

Advantages to Shopping Local 
With internet shopping at our fingertips and big box stores always competing to one-up the other when it comes to offering consumers deals, independent merchants and other small businesses too often get lost in the dust. This trend, however, doesn’t have to continue and thanks to movements that include Small Business Saturday – which takes place the Saturday following Thanksgiving – and the increasingly popular Shop Small message that is shared year round, consumers are becoming more in-tune with the value of shopping local.

"More and more people are recognizing how important it is for their local economy and quality of life to patronize local businesses that support their community. That includes not only job creation and taxes, but support for local charities, events and more,” Milchen of the American Independent Business Alliance states. 

To expand on this, consider why shopping local impacts your immediate community beyond economics. For starters, independent businesses help bring character and charm to communities – as well as help communities stand out and become more exciting, more enjoyable and more memorable than others. This ultimately leads to strong economic growth and long-term vitality, as well as helps bring new residents and jobs into the community.

Consider your own firsthand experience, as well. It’s likely fair to say that you’ve experienced towns worth visiting and towns only worth driving through simply based on the unique small shops that exist within them. Collectively, these small businesses help shape and create the community in which they reside – as well as bring together residents and out of town visitors alike.

If charm isn’t reason enough to get you shopping local, consider the value that small, local businesses bring to your local employment options. Independent businesses help increase employment rates, as well become the customers to local accountants, lawyers, printers, marketing agencies and more. The domino effect is simply too good to ignore – yet unfortunately, too many consumers do.

Online or at big box stores, remember that every time you spend even a dollar, you are impacting your local economy, vitality and overall livelihood. The schools, public services, parks and recreation and so much more are all impacted by local businesses, as well, and again, impacted by your choice to support your community at large… or not. So this holiday season – and even beyond – consider where you want to spend your dollars and how it will impact the big picture of your hometown.



To view the original article please visit: http://www.forbes.com/sites/nicoleleinbachreyhle/2014/11/08/why-shopping-independent-stores-this-holiday-season-should-be-on-your-to-do-list/
 

Marketing to Millennials

By Hannah West

If your store has been around for a few years, you probably have some loyal customers you know by name. Many of these customers are part of the Baby Boomer generation and respond well to more traditional marketing and advertising.

But there is a new generation in town. When young adults born after the early 1980s reach 18, they are grouped into a category called "Millennials" or "Generation Y." Ten years ago they may have been running around your store asking their parents to purchase items FOR them, but now they have their own disposable income.

Here are some things to keep in mind when trying to get more Millennials in your doors:

1. They grew up with technology

When it comes to technology, it is like second nature to Millennials. They grew up with cell phones, computers in school and some may have even read their college textbooks on a screen rather than a page. They have plenty of ways to access information from anywhere. Millennials are not only accessing information from computers, but laptops, tablets and phones! Some fast solutions to their even faster lifestyles:

• Mention in your emails that discounts will be included if you show the email at the cash register on a cell phone.
• Share your sales, news and promotions on social media sites as well as email and traditional media. Luckily, SnapRetail makes this easy for our subscribers with an option to automatically repurpose an email for social media.

• Run Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest-exclusive promotions or contests.

• Invest in offering a smartphone app.

2. They have different priorities than older generations

Since Millennials cover a wide span of ages, your customers can range anywhere from an 18-year-old girl looking for dorm accessories to a 27-year-old father looking for a gift for his young son. Every customer is different, but Forbes.com had this to say about the spending priorities of young adult consumers: "Whereas older adults prioritized family-focused expenditures… today's Millennials spend their money on themselves, primarily on technology and travel."

 

There IS good news when it comes to Millennial shopping habits. According to a study done by Edelman Digital, 40% of Millennials claimed to prefer buying local. Appeal to Millennials' preferences by:

• Emphasizing the "shop local" movement in your marketing messages. Take note of important events such as Independent Retailer Month (July) and Small Business Saturday (November).

   

• Focusing on what products can do for individual customers in your messaging. How will this benefit them and their busy lives?

3. They love "sharable" purchases

When a Millennial loves a product, everyone knows. And if they hate it, the same rule applies. Millennials love to share their product feedback on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and any other medium possible. As much as they love telling others what to buy, they also look to the web to make their own buying decisions. Another Edelman study revealed that 42% of Millennials check four or more sources when they are trying to decide whether to pay for a product or service. This may be due to the way Millennials connect to products and what purchasing these products says about them. According to casualliving.com, "Sharability of the experience and 'association' are twice as important to Millennials as to Boomers. Millennials don't only think about how they should share their thoughts on a product, they think of how associating themselves with the product will make them look. Give them something to talk about by:

• Claim online listings on sites such as Yelp, Foursquare and Facebook places and encourage customers to check in and review.
• Encourage customers to add photos of themselves using purchases or tweet at your store to let you know how much they love their purchase or experience.

Marketing to Millennials is crucial since they are largest age group of consumers in the world. In addition to the size of this market, they are highly educated and racially diverse. The qualities of this age group in conjunction with their increasing buying power makes them worth the adjustments in your marketing.

 

To view the original article visit: http://www.snapretail.com/posts/2014/marketing-to-millennials.aspx