Customers today are being more careful with how they spend their money. In a recession, the focus is no longer on luxury and 'I deserve it'; it's shifted to saving money and getting more value for every dollar spent. This means tougher times for small business owners. The cost of running your business this year hasn't probably changed a lot from last year and you may find your sales are not as high as you want them to be. Customers want sale prices but you need to make a profit so putting all your products on sale is not the answer.
Here's three ways you can attract bargain-minded customers without losing your shirt:
1. Play the coupon game. Thanks to the recession, coupons are hot again! People are using them more than ever. And one of the most surprising marketing facts I just learned is that the biggest users of coupons are 18 to 34 year olds! More and more businesses are using online coupons - this is a growing trend and makes creating a coupon program more affordable, for any size of business.
2. Create specialized price promotions. Slashing your prices on everything does not help your profitability. But creating special promotions will catch the eye of customers looking for sales. Think of the sales rack at a Gap store. You can offer short-term price reductions on popular items to get people buying. Or you can bundle a combination of products together at a special price to get people buying. One bookstore increased their traffic by simply adding a 'sales shelf'. Customers drop in on a regular basis to see what is on the shelf and end up buying because the book is on sale. The store wins because they are moving inventory. Figure out what your customers want and then provide it at a price they like.
3. Co-promote with another business. The best way to make your marketing dollars go further is to do a co-promotion with another non-competing business that is servicing the same customers as you. I just saw a produce store do a coupon program with a bakery; every customer who bough more than $25 of produce got a coupon for a free loaf of bread. 90% of those coupons were used. The produce store saw their average purchase size go up and for every free loaf given away, the bakery sold an extra 2 loaves. In this economy, co-promotion makes sense - you share the cost and the work, reduce your marketing cost and everyone wins!
© 2009 FM Walsh & Associates Inc.
Here's three ways you can attract bargain-minded customers without losing your shirt:
1. Play the coupon game. Thanks to the recession, coupons are hot again! People are using them more than ever. And one of the most surprising marketing facts I just learned is that the biggest users of coupons are 18 to 34 year olds! More and more businesses are using online coupons - this is a growing trend and makes creating a coupon program more affordable, for any size of business.
2. Create specialized price promotions. Slashing your prices on everything does not help your profitability. But creating special promotions will catch the eye of customers looking for sales. Think of the sales rack at a Gap store. You can offer short-term price reductions on popular items to get people buying. Or you can bundle a combination of products together at a special price to get people buying. One bookstore increased their traffic by simply adding a 'sales shelf'. Customers drop in on a regular basis to see what is on the shelf and end up buying because the book is on sale. The store wins because they are moving inventory. Figure out what your customers want and then provide it at a price they like.
3. Co-promote with another business. The best way to make your marketing dollars go further is to do a co-promotion with another non-competing business that is servicing the same customers as you. I just saw a produce store do a coupon program with a bakery; every customer who bough more than $25 of produce got a coupon for a free loaf of bread. 90% of those coupons were used. The produce store saw their average purchase size go up and for every free loaf given away, the bakery sold an extra 2 loaves. In this economy, co-promotion makes sense - you share the cost and the work, reduce your marketing cost and everyone wins!
© 2009 FM Walsh & Associates Inc.
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