Whether it’s your very first business or an additional location, opening a new store can be scary. Achieving success won’t just happen by sheer luck. You have to push awareness, earn customers and drive sales to maintain revenue and achieve success. But where do you start?
We’ve asked marketing experts and business owners to share their advice on how to successfully market a new store. Although some tips may not apply to your new store in its infancy, you may be able to apply these tips to market your new store as it matures. A marketing tactic that may not make sense before you open may be beneficial when you’ve hit your one-year anniversary.
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Get a Website
It doesn't have to be robust or expensive. Find someone who can create a basic three to five page website that will provide your customers with answers to questions that they may have. Where to find you, what are your hours, how to contact you, a description of your business, what you offer and some quality photos. You can always improve this as your business grows.
Kathy Cruz Small Business Consultant at Savvy Shopkeeper -
Create a Buzz
A must-do when opening a new store is to create buzz around it. One great way to do that is to host an event for the store opening. At your event, you can organize tempting giveaways ... Offering a discount to the first X number of attendees can also help ensure guests arrive early. The more fun, exciting your store opening is, the more likely you can also gain free press from local newspapers and television stations to create awarenes ... you want everyone to have an incredible experience so they'll continue to patronize your store in the future.
Chelsea Trautman PR and Communications Specialist at Matrix Marketing Group -
Add Your Store to Listings
Local citations are key to success for many small businesses. Getting found in the local pack and apps like Yelp is a must-have if you want to get foot traffic and eyeballs on your website. There are plenty of services that can handle local citation building, but you can also just as easily handle it yourself. Just find a list of the most common directories, listings, and profiles in your niche. Then create and/or update your listings to be consistent. It's crucial that your name, address, phone number and website are all listed exactly the same on every listing. This will help you get discovered in the search results and the google local pack.
Sam Warren Director of Marketing at RankPay -
Create Content Before You Open
When it comes to marketing a brand new store, I love to focus on content marketing and SEO from the start. Search engine traffic is the best source of consistent high-converting traffic. People are literally there to search for a product they want to buy. But, content and SEO take six to 12 months to kick in. So the earlier you start, the earlier you reap those huge benefits! As for how much content to write? One article every month or two is plenty. Just spend more time on promotion and link building than anything else.
Bill Widmer Content Marketing and SEO Expert at billwidmer.com -
Take Advantage of Free Marketing
All free marketing is good marketing ... Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. These are all platforms used by different demographics. Is there crossover? Sure, there’s nothing better than being everywhere people look.
Nate Masterson Marketing Manager at Maple Holistics -
Consider Offering a Mobile App
Mobile apps provide the best mobile experience for shoppers, and there’s a multitude of benefits to your brick and mortar store. Using geo-targeted push notifications you can drive customers within the vicinity ... with special offers or reminders about products you’ve got in stock. Your app can also act as a loyalty program for customers ... Using app makers like AppInstitute and other similar products, you’re able to build an app branded to your business without writing a single line of code or breaking the bank.
Ian Naylor CEO and Founder of AppInstitute
Discover how to find new customers.
Have you opened a new store recently? Tell us how you successfully marketed it and achieved success in the comments section below.
