Top Mistakes Retailers Make in a Tough Economy

Top Mistakes Retailers Make in a Tough Economy

Advertising...This is one of the first areas retailers cut when business gets slow.

Advertising scares every Retailer even in good economic times. Why? money of course. Major chains and big box retailers have more stores or giants amount of square footage to spread their costs over. The smaller independents don't. 

How do you negate this disadvantage? How do you Advertise when money is tight?

First let's look at one of the meanings of Advertising: “Bringing a product or service to the attention of potential and current customers.”

With this in mind let's look at the different ways we can accomplish this with little or no money.

Phone: Require your sales associates to personally call their customers and your database of customers. Offer an incentive to drive them to your store. This is both personal and inexpensive and directly correlates to the above definition.

Postcards: Another inexpensive, yet effective form of communications. Our experience is that a larger 6x9 postcard is more attention getting and has a better success rate. If you are concerned about printing costs, consider printing them yourself on a PC. You can do this without costly software or special papers. Keep your tag lines and general message consistent in this and all your marketing. For instance in all our ads you will see Wholesale Clothing prominently displayed near our name. We want our customers to associate Wholesale Clothing with Julie Ann Apparel. 

Remnant Ads: Talk with your local papers about these. A lot of times there are late cancellations and extra space that comes available. Ask your local representative to keep you in mind when these come available. There can be some incredible bargains and placements not normally affordable.

People Signs: You've seen these...At an intersection or higher traffic corner. A person stands there with a larger than life sign that displays the Sale. This is normally done close to the store and attracts cars and people passing buy. This becomes in effect a Billboard.

These are just a few of the ways to Advertise with little or no money. You probably are aware of these or even done them in the past. 

The question we must ask is.....When was the last time we did? Advertising should not be done just when sales are slow. Advertising needs to be consistent to build both branding and sales.

The biggest mistake Independent Retailers make is not advertising until they run a Going Out of Business Sale.

Let's avoid that by implementing an Advertising Plan that is both effective and easy on the wallet.