Give & Receive

It’s been said “what you give to your community, your community will give back to you.” There’s a lot of truth to this. I’d go one step further and say, “your involvement in the community will harvest involvement with your business.” Local Store Marketing is about reaching out, making connections, building relationships, and offering something of value to particular segments. Let’s take schools for example. We’re going to assume you have one or two fundraising programs that you make available to schools, clubs, groups, and organizations. If not, we encourage you to think about developing them.

The savvy local store marketer not only uses tools available to them, but they know how to quickly find the decision maker.
Since we all have schools in our trade areas that could use some assistance with fundraising, here are the decision makers – plus a few extra marketing ideas for getting your product in the hands of potential customers.

Elementary and Middle Schools
· Talk with the school and ask if you could sample product at parent/teacher meetings. Do you have pizza, coffee, tea, or ice cream that you could serve in small sample sizes to parents and teachers for a one or two-hour window at least one night each quarter?
· Ask the school about the Parent/Teacher Organization and the person in charge of fundraising. Find out if you could meet the fundraising chairman and share your fundraising programs with them.
· Visit the school’s front office and give the office staff and teachers a coupon and fundraising information. Lots of teachers around the country could use assistance with school supplies.

High Schools
· Visit the front office and ask about student organizations and the teacher advisor. Ask if you could provide fundraising information to the different groups (some schools will have over 50 organizations!).
· Do you have a product that is teenager-friendly (like pizza or burritos)? What about selling product at high school games and giving a portion of the proceeds back to the physical education department?
· Private schools will have active Alumni Associations. Find the president of the association and talk with them about your fundraising opportunities.

Have the courage to make that first visit and talk with the front office. One way to open doors is to bring some free product with you. Who could turn away free samples and a smile?!

Keeping up with the Jones'

If the majority of your customers live within a 5 minute drive of your store or restaurant, this posting is for you. And if you are opening a new store or interested in learning about an existing store’s neighborhood – keep reading.

Technology has made things so much easier for marketers. Within minutes you can learn a little about the people who live in your trade area.

Visit http://www.census.gov/. To the right of the screen you’ll see Population Finder – it should be the first field. Enter your store’s zip code and then state. Hit zip code on the screen that appears. And then Fact Sheet. This will give you a snapshot of your zip code.

What does this information tell you?

Age – how many people have children at home under the age of 18? Is it more of an “empty nester” zip code?

Race – do you offer items that appeal to a certain ethnicity? Do you need to change your offerings?

Households - In addition to the total number of households, you can find out how many people own vs. rent. If there are a lot of renters, you know you are in a transient area. Or maybe there are a large number of apartment/condo complexes. Also good to know -- so you can tailor marketing programs to this group.

Want to a more current look at your neighborhood? Visit http://realestate.yahoo.com/. Hit the Neighborhood tab at the top and then enter your city, state and zip. This will give you information like spending per capita per category and updated demographic information.

The whole process will only take 10 minutes or so – definitely worth finding out topline information about those who are potential and/or current customers.

One Person Can Make A Difference

A client sent this video to our attention. Please take a moment to watch it.

It should serve as a reminder that as human beings, we really can make a difference in the world.

And as business owners, we hope you are inspired to empower employees to bring new ideas to the table. And to implement those ideas.

One gesture can change the course of how your corporation does business.

Happy viewing.

http://www.stservicemovie.com

Local Store Marketing Featured on Reality Show

Last week’s Apprentice was a neighborhood marketers dream!

Creating a new bowl for El Pollo Loco, from the ingredients to the name, was the task for each of the teams. Not only did they have to create a product that would appeal to consumers, but they had to market it inside and outside the four walls.

Both teams took a very different approach. One dreamed up a bowl made with chicken and fruit (yikes). And they spent hours laboring over ingredients and a name.

The second team spent most of their time creating in-store POP and brainstorming ways to sell the product. And they developed a bowl with ingredients that were popular with El Pollo Loco’s core customer.

Who won? The team who focused on sales and marketing (of course).

Team members sampled the new product in the drive-thru prior to customers ordering. At the register, they suggestively sold the new item. And team members visited a local car dealership, informed them about the new bowl, took their lunch order and walked away with a big sale. That sale is what made them this week’s winner.

That is the essence of neighborhood marketing – doing a “meet and greet” with a local business, telling them about your product and walking away with a sale for the day. And most likely new customers who will visit you again and again.

Don’t be shy about getting out in your trade area and meeting potential customers. I promise you it will be worth the effort.

Happy Marketing!