If you are a retail store and you don’t have a solid plan to get more sales this Christmas season, it’s not too late. If you’re reading this in November, then sorry, it actually is too late. However, if this is August (and last I checked it still is), go ahead and get yourself a cup of coffee and sit down with me at the table. We’ve got notes to make. Every year you tell your self that you’re going to hit it out of the park but you get busy and December rolls up before you know it and steamrolls you. This year is going to be different.
After we determine budget, we are going to work backward from New Years Day. First, we will ask some questions.
- Assuming you have inventory lined up and purchased or at least planned for the next couple of months, how much money do you have left? Is there any way to get additional funding?
- If you are planning on doing your own marketing, ask yourself what you know about marketing retail these days. You don’t have to be a genius but it will really help if you’ve done some marketing before. If you haven’t, good for you for having gumption, but shouldn’t you really practice marketing when there isn’t so much pressure? Do you need someone to market your retail store for you? Maybe you can do a little of both and really come out on top.
- If you are doing it yourself, here’s a list of what most publications and think-tanks are saying is important these days for small and medium sized retail outfits:
- Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest in particular)
- Local online directories: Are all of your listings correct? Can people find you?
- Email: The Energizer Bunny of marketing. You do have an email list, right?
- Physical handouts for future promotions
- Writing in your site’s blogWhich ones suit you? Which do you have time for?
Tomorrow, we start to pull a plan together. Read up on things you aren’t familiar with. Literally, everything is available for you to learn. It’s a question of time.