{"id":4216,"date":"2009-06-26T17:15:01","date_gmt":"2009-06-26T17:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicityhound.com\/blog\/?p=4216"},"modified":"2025-06-05T16:15:05","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T16:15:05","slug":"retailers-guide-lists-clever-ideas-for-in-store-promotions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/marketing\/retailers-guide-lists-clever-ideas-for-in-store-promotions\/","title":{"rendered":"Retailer&#8217;s guide lists clever ideas for in-store promotions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-4219\" style=\"float: left;margin: 5px 10px\" title=\"retailers-guidebook-cover\" src=\"https:\/\/www.publicityhound.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/retailers-guidebook-cover.jpg\" alt=\"retailers-guidebook-cover\" width=\"180\" height=\"270\" \/>If you&#8217;re a retailer who&#8217;s looking for some clever ways to do fun in-store promotions in\u00a0this sluggish economy, and\u00a0you&#8217;re on a tight budget, pick up a copy of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Retailers-Guide-Frugal-Store-Promotions\/dp\/1441467246\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A Retailer&#8217;s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions<\/a>\u00a0by Carolyn Howard Johnson.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s part of her <a href=\"http:\/\/www.HowtodoitFrugally.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;How to do it Frugally&#8221;<\/a> series. When\u00a0it comes to marketing on a shoestring, Carolyn knows all the tricks.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On Pages 67 and 68, she lists some &#8220;frugal oopmph builders&#8221; that will also create a buzz in your community.<\/p>\n<p>Here are her ideas. Many of them cost nothing or nearly nothing.\u00a0 Some of them will even make your event profitable.\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Make your event so much fun or such a good deal that people won&#8217;t want to put off their purchase until later&#8212;or better can&#8217;t because the purchase is an essential part of goings-on. A Make It and Take It event falls into this category.\u00a0\u00a0(A local ceramics shop that lets people make their own pottery can host a special &#8220;Make a Jewelry Dish\u00a0for Mom&#8221; event just before Mother&#8217;s Day. Invite a local reporter to bring her kids and report on it.)<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Provide an ambiance that&#8217;s different. Include color and scent and sound. There&#8217;s nothing more delightful than a real Christmas party with wassail, carols, and the scent of evergreen. Forget those things and it&#8217;s just another hard sell. (Include a description of the colors, scents and sounds in your press releases!)<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Use a unique invitation. Send your customers one adorable earring for a Ring in the New Year party. (Include an earring in the invitation you send to a local reporter or blogger.)<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Let your refreshments sell additional products. Put packets of the cider you use for the cider near the punch bowl with a sign announcing the price. Have the host who ladles the punch talk about how easy it was to make and mention that the do-it-yourself packets are available for purchase. Stack tins&#8212;festively wrapped and ready to go&#8212;of the rum cakes you served up in finger-sized cubes nearby. Good signs are a must. (Off the recipe for the do-it-yourself packets to the food columnist at your local newspaper, and let her know about the in-store promotion.<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Feature a tasting table of all kinds of other goodies you sell.\u00a0If you don&#8217;t sell foodstuffs, get someone who does to set up a table in trade for publicity at your event. (Many people will JUMP at this chance to participate because they hate doing their own publicity.)<br \/>\n\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Ask favored customers to help rather than hiring extra people. It is easy to get someone to be the honored punch ladler. Reward them with a gift and a public thank you. (Send a letter to the editor of your local weekly newspaper and include the names of people and businesses you&#8217;d like to thank. Also thank them on your Facebook page, by writing on their Facebook wall, and by complimenting them at other social networking sites where they hang out. See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicityhound.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">11 Ways to Avoid Missed Opportunities on Facebook<\/a>.)\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bricks-and-mortar store owners can\u00a0find\u00a0lots more tips in my article on marketing tips for hardware stores\u00a0and 13 publicity ideas for retailers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Carolyn, by the way, has three decades of experience as founder and manager of her own chain of stores. She has also been a New York publicist, and a retail consultant and journalist.\u00a0Follow her advice, then be ready for the rush of customers.<\/p>\n<p>The book, published by Thinking Store Press, is $17.95.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;re a retailer who&#8217;s looking for some clever ways to do fun in-store promotions in\u00a0this sluggish economy, and\u00a0you&#8217;re on a tight budget, pick up a copy of A Retailer&#8217;s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions\u00a0by Carolyn Howard Johnson. It&#8217;s part of her &#8220;How to do it Frugally&#8221; series. When\u00a0it comes to marketing on a shoestring,\u2026&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/marketing\/retailers-guide-lists-clever-ideas-for-in-store-promotions\/\" class=\"rmlink\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","iawp_total_views":4,"wds_primary_category":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[623,328,607,610],"class_list":{"0":"post-4216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-marketing","7":"tag-brick-mortar","8":"tag-event-publicity","9":"tag-promotions","10":"tag-publicist","11":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Joan Stewart","author_link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/author\/jstewart\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42073,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4216\/revisions\/42073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}