You now own a USS partner shop but you don’t know exactly how to realize your turnover potentials? Follow our 100-day-marketing-plan and you will soon see first successes.
1. Preparations
- First complete the settings in your partner shop. There are 5 little tasks you need to do. You find them here.
- Visit one of our free webinars (most importantly a basic course, will be announced by a newsletter)
- Complete a test order to get familiar with the ordering processes
- Conduct a brief market research before you define your price markups (what is your local price level and what surcharge can you justify?)
- Make sure your shop will be found by search engines
- Set up social media pages (e.g. Facebook)
2. Inform your network
- Newsletter/Mailing/Mail stickers: Inform your existing network about your new shop.
- Newsletters: Write newsletters to your contacts/subscribers (btw: some professional tools can be used for free, e.g. MailChimp)
- Mailing:Send out a mailing with a personalized cover letter as well as envelopes and advertising flyers in your corporate design.
- Mail stickers: Stick your news onto your postal letters.
- Email footer: Use your Email correspondence to inform about your new web shop, by adding a banner to your Email footer
- Banner on websites: Integrate a banner on your regular website (if available) and your social media accounts, which redirects visitors to your web shop and turns them into customers
3. Acquire customers personally
Find customers with a particularly high potential within your target group and talk to them face to face (e.g. small / medium enterprises, large sports clubs).
4. Welcome offers
Offer “goodies” to customers that place their initial order (e.g. a free shirt or a free set of business cards). Or reduce the price for a particular product and promote it.
Inform your visitors about your promotions / offers, e.g. by sending out a newsletter, posting it on social media, or using your slideshow images. Inform your high-potential customers in a personal correspondence.
5. Advertise locally / regionally
It’s time to create a local/regional brand! Here are some Marketing ideas:
- Place print advertisement in local magazines / newspapers
- Put up banners at local events
- Place flyers at local retailers
- Sponsor a local youth sports team
- Hand out customer give-aways at local events
- Create a network with local businesses and clubs (z.B. Approach your local chamber of commerce, try to organize a network breakfast)
6. Increase your audience
A large pool of newsletter subscribers and followers/fans on social media channels is the basis of future successes in communication!
Therefore, you could offer a £ 5 discount code for new newsletter subscribers. The same goes for your social media presences: Why not offer that same code to every new “fan” of your page.
7. Advertisement by topic
Besides having a local/regional niche, you might develop an additional focus – not on a certain geographical region but a certain topic. You might for example realize that you have created yourself a decent network with specific sports clubs. So why not intensify your Marketing efforts here and focus on that niche?