5 Marketing Strategies for New Businesses
Client Spotlight: J Lynn’s Boutique
One of my favorite things about owning a print shop is getting to work closely with clients on marketing their business. There are so many ways we can help jump start a business by spreading the good news that they are OPEN! We recently had the pleasure of helping a new business do just that.
Meet Janice Graves; owner of J Lynn’s Boutique Consignment. What’s a boutique consignment? It’s a store that takes anything second-hand (anything from Gap to Gucci), and also offers new, high-end goods such as jewelry, purses, and shoes. Janice saw a need in Tallahassee for a high-end boutique consignment and approached us for some assistance with marketing ideas that would help her business grow! Read on to discover the five ways Harvest Print & Marketing Solutions was able to assist J Lynn’s Boutique with marketing strategies and techniques.
- 1. Large Format Posters: When placed in the front windows of your future store, these large posters let people know something is coming soon! If you are opening a retail location that requires a good amount of traffic, it is crucial to create excitement for the people who drive by your location daily. J Lynn’s Boutique Consignment is fortunate to have a great location in a very busy strip mall next to a popular coffee chain along with a few cafes and a well-known drug store. It’s all about location, location, location; but if you don’t get people excited for what’s to come, your location won’t matter. Large Format Posters also give you privacy while your store is in the work-in-progress stage. Your customers want to see the finished product, not the mess in between!
- 2. Direct Mail Campaign: A physical mail box is MUCH less crowded than a digital mail box. In today’s world, direct mail is the way to go! It’s a fantastic technique to get a customer’s attention. Did you know that direct mail gets nine times more attention than an email? 76% of those consumers TRUST direct mail when making a purchase decision and 57% of millennials have made purchases based off a piece of direct mail. It can also be argued that direct mail leaves a stronger foot print in a consumer’s brain because when a person physically touches something, it’s easier for their brain to recall that item or image.
J Lynn’s Boutique ran a direct mail campaign by announcing that she is “now taking consignments”. Harvest Print pulled a list of future clients on the following statistics:
- Age
- Sex
- Household Income
- Zip code
These stats allowed her to “qualify” her candidate and send mail to a targeted audience. Then, Harvest Print created a postcard and mail processed it. In short, the term mail processing is where we confirm all the addresses provided to us, print the addresses on the postcard, and then use a permit to mail them out through the post office. With direct mail, you never have to leave your house or office. Harvest Print handles the entire process from start to finish – design, print & mail.
Another benefit of a direct mail/bulk mail campaign is that the cost of postage is only $0.22 – $0.29 per piece whereas a stamp is $.0.35 and up. A bulk mail campaign is considered anything over 200 pieces of mail sent out at one time that is processed through a mail house. Overall, you could save yourself both time and money by using direct mail campaigns.
And guess what?! J Lynn’s Boutique Consignment’s mailer worked! Once we sent out the mailer, she started seeing responses and was so happy with the results. Success!
- 3. Coroplast Signs: AKA Yard Signs. Like I mentioned before, J Lynn’s is located in a busy strip center with quite a bit of traffic in and out of her general area. J Lynn’s made the wise decision to print coroplast signs and was able to put them in her immediate area and all throughout town. Coroplast signs are made with a material that can handle all types of weather – rain, snow, and sunshine. Putting out yard signs is a great way to advertise for your business so that it is seen in different parts of town. Did you know that a company needs to be seen anywhere between seven to twenty times before they are taken seriously? That’s a lot! Therefore, it’s important for a company to create various ways to be seen by the consumer. A yard sign is a sure-fire way to be noticed repeatedly so that your company is more likely to be the first thing that comes to a customer’s mind.
- 4. Business Cards, Gift Cards & In Store Forms: J Lynn’s Boutique Consignment needed printing done for business cards, gift cards, and 2-part NCR forms; all necessary items for a retail store. Business cards and gift cards are pretty generic, and their purpose is generally well understood, but if you don’t know what an NCR Form is, here’s a good explanation:
An NCR form is a multi-part form constructed from carbonless copy paper. NCR forms allow multiple copies of a handwritten or impact-printed document to be created simultaneously. This is necessary for J Lynn’s because she is taking consignment, and the NCR form allows her to document items. One copy for her and one copy for her client. It allows for good record keeping!
Business cards and gift cards are also important printed products to have for your new business. Gift cards encourage customers to return and buy more products or services and you can also gain new clients through them. Business cards, on the other hand, are essentially pocket-sized billboards for your business. They’re nifty tools because they’re often the first impression a potential client receives of you when you’re out networking. A business card with an effective design can create life-long customers out of passing strangers. These 2×3.5-inch cards are powerful marketing tools that are both affordable and effective!
- 5. Website: Every business needs to have a digital presence and we have partnered with the top web designers in the area so that we can help. Did you know that over the next three years, businesses that make the most out of using websites expect to grow 40% faster than those who don’t? Even if you use third party social media platforms, a company still needs a location to send customers to find out specific details about your products. Your website acts as home base for your clients and serves to educate them about your services or products. A successful website also builds credibility for your new business and helps to create a relationship with your clients.
Although still in process, J Lynn’s Consignment Boutique is creating a website to showcase her products and launch her latest and greatest events and sales.
Opening a business is quite a bit of work. If you’re a small business owner that feels overwhelmed and think you could benefit from these marketing strategies, let us work with you! We’d love to help your business grow.
