As a retailer, how can I make the most our of my promotion spending?

Alan Yarnoff, SCORE counselor and former advertising executive, provides us with his expertise on cost effective ways to promote your business.

“An effective and well planned out promotion approach is an essential survival tool for any retail business in today’s harsh business environment. You need to be creative in finding ways to promote your business and stay at least one step ahead of the competition, while staying within your preset budget perimeters.

Every retailer has at one time used the “tried and true” promotional approaches of flyers, mailers, value packs and newspaper and radio ads all of which are expensive and over time they lose their market value. But, there are other ways to reach your target audience without incurring the high costs of traditional media. Here are some ideas that may be helpful in promoting your business with virtually no costs.

You can write how to articles for newspapers and news letters published by groups in your area focused on your business expertise. If you own a jewelry store you can do stories about buying and selling gold; if you have a gallery, write about buying art as an investment. Just make sure you end the story with your store name and location.

You can contact the promotion manager at the local radio station and offer to donate prizes for their various promotions in return for promoting your store name every time they the event is mentioned.

Try partnering with a local charity by designating a special day to donate a percentage of the profits to the charity. They would promote the event and you would get added traffic to the store and build excellent goodwill in the community.

Get involved in the local community by sponsoring a town event, or parade, or the cleanup of the school playground. You could have a window decorating contest with the neighborhood schools, and, if you get the mayor to be the judge, it will certainly make the local paper.

Remember the key here is to always look for events or promotions that will get your business in front of the public in a positive manner. Be aggressive in what you are doing and once you commit to something make sure it maintains the same high standards you used to build your business.

Richard Strug
Greater Princeton Area SCORE (Chapter 631)
Serving Mercer and Middlesex Counties