Part III A Retailer’s Guide for Promotion of Your Store: Good Times or Bad

What kind of events can you conduct in your store to bring people in that will shop and purchase your merchandise?

1. A sidewalk sale
2. Hot dog carts/popcorn/soda/watermelon feed/wine and cheese/deli sandwiches
3. Coupon, co-operative with a neighboring business. “Stop by and receive a coupon for a dozen donuts for a buck from Lou’s Donuts.”
4. Aggressive markdowns of entire categories or specific brands of merchandise
5. Balloon popping events. (10” helium filled balloons with free goods or deep discounts printed on slips and inserted in the balloons.) * Suggestion: Put one or two slips that simply say, We’ll give you $50 cash if you stand at the front door of the store and proclaim that this is the best shopping event you ever saw – or other comment. (Make it funny and entertaining and inoffensive.).
6. Warm and fuzzy attractive plush or live animals or item of note at the front entrance
7. Theatrical lighting that you can rent and use a colored gel in front of the light to cast on your front window or specific area of your store
8. Taped tasteful music – not a radio station unless it’s a live radio event
9. Every (color) item of merchandise in the store is 40% Off ! (Specified time frame and not raised in price, prior to the event).
10. Customers wearing various articles of clothing worn into the store will be rewarded with 20% – 40% discounts on every item they purchase this weekend
11. Community related events such as the School Choir, cheerleaders demonstrating activities in front of the store
12. A window art contest. Themed water color art projects for children of a specific age group painting your windows for evaluation and awards.
13. A tall tale contest. Who can tell or write the most outrageous story? Judged by someone other than a store staff member or relative to any of the applicants.
14. “Let’s take the underprivileged kids from the local society: fishing, to a movie, zoo, or the local fair.” Organized with social clubs from your community.
15. Prize give-away programs that represent multiple prizes of a mid-range price point. Make it fair and easy and not inventory of your store. (You don’t want people trying to win what you could be selling!) (The items should be non-labor merchandise. No cookware or items that represent work around the house.) Small color televisions, IPods, jogger’s equipment, G.P.S. devices, DVD players, CD players and the like.
16. Stop by and show us what you caught at the river/lake/pond and we’ll weigh it and measure it and take your picture and post it
17. Survey forms with a legitimate “reward” connected to every submission. (Then read them and react appropriately.)
18. Early morning or late night events with legitimate markdowns of broad categories no less than 20% and up to 50%. (You may need the sales in this economy.)Scavenger Hunts in or out of the store with a suitable area for storage of what they brought back for viewing by an audience on a specific day. Awards appropriate to the event.
19. Sporting or creative events of a nonsensical nature. Pumpkin catapults, water balloon basketball, snowball distance or accuracy throwing, screwy inventions that accomplish nothing. (Make it funny and creative.) Provided you have the parking lot space or open area suitable for the activity.

You can see that there are many things that you can do to draw attention and favorable reaction to your business and yourself. These times are going to be gruesome and that requires innovation and creativity and a positive attitude and entertaining activities for the community you serve. Events don’t have to be a hard sell activity with a buy now or else attitude.

You can be a catalyst in your community and get people feeling good and coming together to acknowledge what we have, instead of what we don’t have! This is a time to pull together.