By rbhamil on Jul 26, 2009 in Promotions | 0 Comments
If you are opening a dollar store there comes a time when you start to ponder adding radio and television advertising to your marketing strategy. You want to develop a successful campaign to take your dollar store sale levels to new, record heights. With the huge audiences served by television and radio, a well-thought-out campaign might seem like the perfect solution.
By rbhamil on May 7, 2009 in Promotions | 0 Comments
No matter how big or successful your business, it’s important to continuously focus efforts on keeping it healthy, growing and profitable. One of the surest ways to continue growth is with an effectively designed advertising program.
By rbhamil on May 3, 2009 in Promotions | 0 Comments
Many who are opening a dollar store have had little or no experience creating effective newspaper advertisements. Yet one of the better methods of growing sales for your store is newspaper advertising. There are a variety of companies available to help with this important task. However they generally charge for their services. Why not learn to create top quality ads, and then write your own? In this article I present 4 tips for writing powerful ads when opening a dollar store. Give these simple, yet effective techniques a try and you’ll soon be writing ads that work.
1) Headlines are critical to success. The purpose of the headline is to grab your readers and then motivate them to move forward and read your ad. In fact, without an attention-grabbing headline, you’ll likely have few readers actual move on to read the content of your ads. Immediately grab the reader’s attention with your headline. Then provide a crystal clear message. Staying focused and to the point with your headlines is one of the keys to writing powerful ads.
2) Keep your ads simple. This isn’t the time to be complex. Stay to the point. Be sure to avoid being too wordy. Keep your advertisement focused on a single theme or idea from beginning to end. Carry that theme throughout your ad. Avoid trying to communicate too much information. Work to stay on-target with your message.
3) Customers want to know what’s in it for them. Soon after opening a dollar store you’ll discover that every customer wants to know what’s in it for them when reading your ads. If that information isn’t clear, they are not likely to read on. Be sure you stay focused on your target customer throughout your ad. Include information about the benefits your store and products offer. Test your work by asking ‘what’s in it for the customer’. If that message isn’t clear, then revise your ad until there is no doubt.
4) Make your ads flow from top to bottom. Writing powerful ads requires staying on-track from beginning to end. Avoid out of place ideas and thoughts. Write every word with your customer in-mind. Make your ads easily understood by all readers. Use the least number of words possible to get the message across. Simple company logos and theme-related artwork adds to the overall positive impression of your newspaper ads.
Writing powerful ads for newspapers will take time and practice. Apply the tips outlined in this article and you are on your way. Then remember; practice makes perfect. Invest the time to create ads that work when opening a dollar store. You’ll be glad you did.
To your dollar store business success!
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By rbhamil on May 1, 2009 in Promotions | 0 Comments
When you open a dollar store you are on your way to many rewards, as well as many challenges. The rewards include the pride of owning your own business. You no longer have a job, and you have replaced your boss with yourself. There’s also the excitement of watching as your ideas and plans become a reality. One of the biggest challenges is associated with continually growing your business sales. One of the keys to growing those sales is building the traffic for your store. All things remaining equal, the greater the number of people who enter your store, the higher the sales totals. In this article I present proven options to grow traffic after you open a dollar store.
There are really two very distinct types of traffic. First, there is traffic from new, first time shoppers. Most who open a dollar store think of this as the focus whenever they work to increase traffic numbers for their store. However, there is another option, and in many ways the second option is easier to increase. The second option is traffic from existing shoppers and customers of your store. Done properly it is easy to motivate your existing customer base to come back more often. An even better reward for increasing existing shopper traffic is the fact they already know your store and as existing customers, are much more likely to make purchases whenever they enter your store. Next let’s examine some options for increasing each of these traffic sources.
Our first focus will be on motivating brand new shoppers to enter your store. Increasing the traffic counts of new shoppers starts by making as many prospective shoppers as possible aware of your store, the benefits of shopping in your store, and its the location. Those who have never heard of your store will need to be prompted several times before they will get the message and take action. Many experts claim it takes someone 7 exposures to your message before they will respond. As a result, whenever you are targeting this type of traffic it is important that your message be very clear and it must be repeated over and over again.
While most instantly think of television advertising as the solution, it can be cost-prohibitive for a smaller store. Lower cost options might be a better solution in those cases. Start sending press releases about major changes in your business to the local newspaper. Most welcome these updates and will publish them without much trouble. Even better; there’s some chance they will follow-up and write a lengthier story featuring your business. Local newspaper ads are also effective. Signs work well. Options include basic sign-holders placed in-front of your store and at parking lot entrances. Consider hiring someone to hold signs as well. You’d be amazed at the instant traffic increases this can produce. Developing a professional-looking flyer and mailing it to all households in your targeted area can be a great means of notifying your targeted households about your store. Radio advertising is another lower-cost option to consider. The list goes on from here. Use a combination of methods to increase the potential for significant new traffic generation. Don’t give up on any option too soon. Remember the magic number is seven or more exposures
The majority of previous return shoppers are not regulars in your store. They’ve been in before and they do come back from time to time. However they’re visits are much less frequent, and your store is not on their weekly or monthly schedule as a routine stop. Of course there are also some shoppers who will come in every week or even multiple times during the week. Your goal with all existing shoppers should be to increase the number of times they visit your store in a month. Motivating these extra visits starts with ‘customer appreciation’ efforts. For example, holding customer appreciation events for repeat customers works well. Offer special prizes or discounts on products for attending. Provide drinks and cookies to make the visit more entertaining and enjoyable. Another effective appreciation idea is offering frequent shopper cards. Once the card is filled your shopper can obtain a one-time discount on the purchases they make. Another idea is to have a more valuable item displayed as the reward for filling the card.
There are a variety of events that will motivate new or existing shoppers to come into your store. Hold special events such as sidewalk sales, anniversary sales, monthly sales, spring, summer, fall, and winter sales. It’s important to hold these throughout the year to really maintain the momentum and enthusiasm. Holiday events are another great way to keep traffic high. As the name implies, these are events that are held around the major holidays. Put all of your events together and there’s never a dull moment in your store! If you are about to open a dollar store create a calendar of events and use it when purchasing products for your store.
To your dollar store business success!
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By rbhamil on Apr 11, 2009 in Promotions | 0 Comments
When opening a dollar store it is important to keep the name and location of your business in-front of current and prospective customers at all times. In this article I present 9 low-cost promotional items to advertise when opening a dollar store.
By rbhamil on Apr 9, 2009 in Online Promotions | 0 Comments
In today’s marketplace shoppers routinely refer to the internet when they have questions about the location of your store, or your phone number, or even your operating hours. Don’t lose customers to the competitor down the street by not having a website for your store. It’s easy to create and maintain a simple site. If you don’t have the skills a basic website is relatively inexpensive to have created for you.
