Food and drink producers- our bags are the perfect marketing tool for you.
To develop and run a successful retail butchery or farm shop business today you need to have an understanding of marketing. In particular, you need to know how to promote your enterprise in line with your business plan and how to boost sales.
There are many facets to ‘marketing’ and no one element can be dealt with in isolation. They range from researching and understanding consumer needs to how to initiate a successful sales promotion.
WHAT IS A SALES PROMOTION?
Promotions are short-term tactical marketing tools which can be used to achieve specific sales objectives during a defined period of time. They are invaluable in helping achieve the goals set out in your individual business plan.
WHAT CAN SALES PROMOTIONS DO FOR YOU?
- Maximise sales to existing customers
- Attract new customers
- Increase consumer awareness
- Stimulate interest and draw attention to new and existing product ranges
- Encourage trial and repeat purchase
- Boost seasonal buying peaks
- Enable you to target specific customer sectors
- Provide you with a major advantage over your competitor
WHAT IS A SWOT ANALYSIS?
Before launching a sales promotion, it helps to carry out a SWOT Analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The SWOT Analysis is a very useful tool for improving understanding and informing the decision-making process in your business. It can help you identify what your business is good at and what needs to be improved.
Each SWOT analysis will be different depending on when it is conducted. Some elements will always be the same but many will change. After the analysis has been carried out you will be able to decide on a promotional activity that plays to your strengths and opportunities, yet minimises any weaknesses and threats.
THE STEPS TO A SUCCESSFUL SALES PROMOTION
There are four key areas to address when planning a successful sales promotion:
1. Campaign focus
2. Publicity
3. Advertising
4. In-store activities
- CAMPAIGN FOCUS
Before any publicity programme to support your sales promotion can start, you need to decide a number of things.
Agree on what you are going to promote
You need to have a “strong offer” for your customers, so decide what it is you want to sell.
Is it:
- New product range?
- New service (i.e.home delivery)?
- The opening of a new shop/branch?
- A special charity event?
- perhaps by a local/well known chef?
- Membership of the EBLEX Quality Standard Mark scheme?
Decide on the target audience
Carry out some market research – take a close look at who lives near the shop, who shops with you most at the moment and who you would like to attract through the door. Involve your staff in the research project.
Create a database of customers
This is probably the most valuable asset you will ever have! One way to obtain customers’ names and addresses is to organise a monthly prize draw. Alternatively, contact local authorities and local business organisations and ask if they make their own databases available for a fee.
Check the Electoral Roll (you can do these at most local libraries).
Once you have contact details, you can target these customers by direct mail to let
them know about promotions or special new products.
Remember, if you have a database you are legally responsible for protecting the names and addresses of private individuals on it, and you must be registered under the Data Protection Act. Data protection legislation dictates that you cannot pass on or sell the list without the individuals’.
PUBLICITY
Having identified what it is you want to promote and your target audience, you need to think about how to reach your customer. That’s where publicity can help.
Publicity can take many forms, from a chalkboard outside the shop to a more organised public relations campaign. Of course, one of the best forms is recommendation – customers telling others how good your shop is.
What is Public Relations?
PR, as it’s more commonly known, is a very effective way to communicate positive messages about your business. It encompasses key areas such as the media, advertising and direct mail. When all these are brought together to publicise a defined objective, you have a “PR campaign”.
One tried and trusted way to promote your business successfully is via the local newspaper or radio station. If your promotion has a clear message or a strong offer that will prove attractive to readers or listeners, chances are it will be of interest to the local media.
Contacting the local press
You can do this yourself by following these simple steps:
- Make sure you have all the facts at your fingertips including information on what you are promoting and all the contact details for your shop.
- Call your local paper or radio and ask for the news desk.
- Tell the journalist that you have a story of possible interest and ask if they’re the right person to talk to.
- Once you have the right person on the line,ask for their name and start building a relationship with them – this will make it easier to ‘sell in’stories in the future.
It may be that the journalist asks if you have a press release. This is just a written version of the information you have given over the phone in a more concise format. It is fairly straightforward to put together your own press release.
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