If you
watched the recent TV series Mr Selfridge you will be only too aware of the
importance of marketing. The series
about the life of Harry Gordon Selfridge was developed from the biography Shopping,
Seduction & Mr Selfridge by Lindy Woodhead.
The title says it all! The lesson
to be learnt is that here was a new retail business with few customers; in fact
it was aimed at a customer base who at the time didn't even shop! As the story unfolds it soon becomes clear
that in the early days it wasn't that easy to get the business
up and running. It sort of proves the
point that you should never give up and even when the odds are stacked against
you you've got to keep pushing ahead.
For me, what was
more fascinating was Harry Selfridge’s skill in creating the wow factor to grab
attention and increase customer footfall.
No one would argue with his ability to go out on a limb to create
unbelievable retail campaigns (often with considerable risk attached) to get
the customers to come to his store. More
surprisingly is that this happened over one hundred years ago! Unlike back then shopping has now become a
pastime. Today there are many different ways to shop and so many different places
to do it!
Now is probably
a good time to apply a bit of Harry’s thinking to your own business. Of course,
you may be thinking but that’s Selfridges and I’m a little independent shop with
little to no budget for retail campaigns.
Well, my response to that would be, it’s all about economies of scale and
everything is relative to your turnover.
Delivering a focussed retail campaign doesn't have to cost a shed load of money, in fact I've seen some achieved on less than
£20.00. What is important is that you do it.
In a few weeks I’m running an online course in how to merchandise and
deliver an in store retail campaign. The
course will be short, sharp and completed in two weeks, requiring only a few hours
input. Creating retail campaigns need to
be part of your daily habit if you’re going to continue to succeed in growing
your business. Doing a bit of marketing a
few times a year will achieve nothing. I’m
on a mission to get a group of independent retailers (large and small) to a position where they are comfortably rolling out high
quality campaigns on a regular basis.
Sounds like hard work but it doesn't have to be if you focus and
simplify the process.
If you want
to know more sign up here and I'll send you the details.
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