Effective business owners and store managers are always looking more ways to obtain more attention while keeping costs down. Enter in-store events, press releases and word-of-mouth publicity! I know we’ve lightly touched on this before but it bears repeating in more detail. Here are some event ideas that involve a small or minimal monetary investment but can garner a lot of attention.
Give and you shall receive. Donate your products or services to a local non-profit or other worthy organization. How does giving away your merchandise or knowledge benefit your store or company? Two words: free publicity. Newspapers will print or post online news about events benefiting the community and non-profits for free.
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If you own a beauty salon, offer a day of pampering to the residents of a local assisted living home, senior center or women’s shelter. Contact the activity director, pack up your gear and go give free hair trims, comb-outs or mini-manis to people who would like a little pick-me-up.
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Own a restaurant? Choose a day to offer military veterans free dessert and coffee or have a little 3-hour reception with finger foods, beverages and desserts for the vets.
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Owners of pet grooming salons can offer free nail trims and ear cleanings for dogs and/or cats and ask for donations which will benefit a local animal shelter. Give it a party-like atmosphere by setting up a tent outside where you can work on the less skittish visitors and do face painting for the kids.
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Owners of clothing stores can contact a local homeless shelter or women’s shelter to offer some people in need nice new clothes for job interviews or clothing for their children.
Put on your thinking cap and think about what events you can hold at your location or what services you can offer off-site. What can you do to make the events fun and newsworthy? The event will be more effective if your heart is in it – the sincerity will show through and speak for itself. In turn, people will talk about it in a positive way and spread the word about your company. And there you go – more publicity.
Make sure you spend extra time cleaning your store and organizing everything! After all, there will be potential customers coming to your place for these events, so give them a great first impression. Be sure to have business cards or flyers with your company’s information to give to visitors, especially if your event is off-site.
Spread the news. Write an effective press release to let the local news outlets know what you’re doing. Make sure you get the press release to the Events Editor at least 2-3 weeks before your event and take pictures at the event so they can print a follow-up story (which you will also provide in a press release format). Press releases need to have a title that both grabs attention and gives info of the event. Be sure to give all pertinent information in a summary paragraph at the beginning of the press release before delving into details. If you don’t, you may not grab the attention of the editor – no attention from the editor, no free publicity. Check out this article on how to write an effective press release for some helpful hints. Don’t forget to advertise your event with posters in your store, on your website/social media page and via email to your mailing list.
So, you’ve got some new fun and profitable event ideas to generate interest and get publicity. Please let me know what events you’re planning and how they go!
Visit the Specialty Store Services website for products to help you promote your events and for links to more tools to help you run your business effectively.