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5 Marketing Tips for Promoting Your Brick-and-Mortar Startup

While online businesses have become stronger over the past few years, brick-and-mortar companies are still offering customers a much-needed, in-person shopping experience. Retail establishments understand this and are always looking for ways to make their stores into viable businesses. This includes marketing strategies that’ll encourage shoppers to visit the business. 

If you’re thinking of opening your own brick-and-mortar outlet, marketing is crucial for a startup to succeed in its first days of trading. Promoting your brick-and-mortar business within your local area is necessary to increase foot traffic into your store. Strategic retail marketing could include dressing your employees in branded business polo shirts or offering discounts when you first open your doors. 

The key results of a successful marketing strategy should be improved customer awareness, increased sales and brand recognition. There are a number of ways of promoting your startup to get this right and draw in your target audience. Read on to discover five effective marketing tips that’ll help you promote your brick-and-mortar startup and be sure your business gets the kickstart it needs to succeed!

1. Attract Attention With Storefront Signage

Storefront signage is an age-old marketing trick and yet, it’s still applicable to the modern-day brick-and-mortar shop. The right visual display will catch your customers’ attention and encourage them to enter your retail store. Your storefront signage is often the first impression a new customer will have of your startup, so you want to make sure you get it right. 

Your main storefront signage banner should clearly state your brand. It should also attract attention by describing what your business can offer your customers such as printing, photocopying or selling hardware. Visual displays can also be used to entice your customers, such as promoting sales and the arrival of new products.  

2. Offer Top-Class Customer Service

If you’re selling merchandise you may think customer service is not important, relying instead on your products to make the sales. However, whether you’re selling merchandise or a service, your ability to nurture relationships is key to promoting and growing your startup. By giving your customers great service, you’re enhancing their in-person shopping experience.

Top-class customer service includes hearing what your clients are saying and giving them the right feedback. It’s about assisting them with their queries and providing them with a solution through your products or service. Friendly and informative face-to-face customer service is something many in-person shoppers value especially when looking to buy a new product. 

3. Get Involved In Local Community Events

If most of your business success relies on buy-in within your local community, find ways to promote your company locally. Some ideas:

  • Host a cocktail evening and invite local business owners in your vicinity to visit your store.
  • Offer special discounts to community charities in the area and get involved in local fundraising events. 
  • Find opportunities to network by joining a local Chamber of Commerce in your area. These organisations also support new and existing businesses to grow.
  • Identify local newspapers and promote your business with a story or advertising.

And always list your startup with Google Business Profile for customers who’ll search online for your services. 

4. Take Advantage of Online Marketing

Even if your business is brick-and-mortar, you should be taking advantage of online marketing. Creating a website for your startup is almost a necessity nowadays as many customers like to check out your business online before venturing into your store. Your website can be used to promote your brand with special discounts, informative blogs and description of your products or services.

Social media is another way of promoting your brand and engaging with community Facebook pages is a good way of getting your name out there among the local residents. Use social media to tell your customers what they can expect when they visit your store. Happy customers will also share your posts with friends and family. This means you’re tapping into the potential of word-of-mouth marketing!

5. Create a Professional Image

Proper signage, top-class customer service and a user-friendly website all contribute to creating a professional image for your brand. But, dressing yourself and your employees in branded uniforms go a long way to reassuring your customers that you take your business seriously. Uniforms are highly effective marketing tools when you have a team of employees working for you. 

Smart business polo shirts, T-shirts, caps and jackets in your brand’s colour and stamped with your logo, make it easier for your customers to identify your company. Branded uniforms also make your brand stand out whenever you’re presenting your startup at local events.

The benefits are far reaching. A consistent dress-code encourages your employees by making them feel smarter which in turn, cultivates better productivity.

Final Thoughts

Thinking out of the box and being creative is always a good idea when finding ways to promote your brick-and-mortar startup. However, some of the most conventional marketing strategies work the best, having stood the test of time in the advertising world. You can also get ahead of the game by having software and data analysis from places like MerchantWords.

The key to a successful marketing campaign is incorporating a number of strategies that are known to work and doing them properly. This way, you can open your brick-and-mortar shop, confident you’ll attract the foot traffic you need to reach your goals and grow. 

Think about security too, particularly if you use online applications for marketing. Tools like Multi Factor Authentication will protect your business from brute force attacks and stolen passwords.

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