With school back in session, parents finding their nests empty, and businesses owners saying goodbye to seasonal workers, it’s time for your business to rethink it’s Fall strategy to keep up the Summer momentum.
Don’t get caught sitting around waiting for the next peak season to come. Businesses that use downtime wisely can set themselves up for success throughout the year. Here’s what you should be thinking about to keep your business on people’s minds during the next phase, this Fall.
1. Create a seasonal window display
When designing your window display in your small business, you need to consider the objective of the window. You can break it down to two key objectives:
- Show that the products are king
- Focus on selling the image and the identity of the store
Both options should attempt to sell and pull the customer into your store. It’s all about persuasion and proving to them that it’s worth their time to stop in and say hello (and of course buy). How are products the king? Think about it; bakeries, jewelers, florists, and hardware stores – these outlets can really capitalize on showing off their variety of goods. It’s hard to ignore a cookie shop that shows off their freshly baked sugar cookies, or to just pass by a diamond glistening in the sun at a captivating jewelry store. If there is no product examples and just the name of your business it’s going to take a lot longer to lure someone into your store. If there isn’t anything worth capturing their attention, potential customers will just walk on by!
When a customer walks by, you aren’t missing out on just one customer, you’re missing out on their network. Even if the potential customer didn’t buy anything, that’s when word-of-mouth marketing can come into play. A friend might have seen something another friend enjoys and might send them to your store the next day.
2. Engage Your Social Media Fans
There’s nothing better than when a small business is able to tease their fans with a new product release or even when they simply have a new item in stock. For example, use Facebook Live to give a sneak peek, or a behind-the-scenes look into your world. Be sure to watch the live comments and offer a chance to create a two-way conversation between you and your audience – but don’t fully giveaway your news!
These types of teaser videos and imagery should promote questions such as:
- “Oh, what is that?”
- “Have you ever seen something like this?”
- “When can I try?”
Doing things like this will keep your brand on top of minds and have people lined up to check out your news when it comes time.
3. Give People A Reason To Hang Out
Hosting an event is always a sure way to get new people into the door. There is nothing that can compel people more to attend an event than when there are free food and drink – maybe even some prizes (we’ll get to that in the next tip).
Gravitate, a co-working space in Des Moines, Iowa, opens the doors wide-open to the entrepreneur and remote community every first Friday of the month for a happy hour and open co-working. It brings in people that don’t normally visit but they get to experience the coworking community, network with other remote workers and start-up founders all while enjoying local craft beer.
4. Giveaway Special Items From Your Store
Giveaways are a great idea to get people excited about your business. They allow people to experience your product and services without putting any money down.
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Another perk of doing giveaways is that you can count on some user-generated content (UGC). If you want stellar examples of UGC, check out ‘Creatures of Content.’ They tell impressive stories using products from companies that range from comics to drinking awesome coffee. They’re free to use the product however they want, just like your customers will be able to do after they win a contest.
If you don’t know how to get started with a giveaway, try testing out one of these giveaway tools:
5. Celebrate a new holiday
If you’re a coffee shop owner looking for marketing ideas, creating a holiday around a certain coffee flavor or style is a fun idea to try. With Fall coming up quickly, and flavors like pumpkin spice and cinnamon making their come back, jump on the trendiness of the term and create a holiday! If you aren’t able to decide on a creative holiday, have no fear. You can capitalize on National Coffee Day. Give your customers specials such as buy one, get one free or have a live jazz band in the coffee shop for the day to provide a unique experience.
Using any of these ideas this Fall will give you, your store, and your customers an experience that will have you turning over inventory faster than the leaves turning red.
Featured photo credit: Pexels via pexels.com
