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As a Retail Advertising Specialist, I work to help retailers grow in profitability through in-store advertising strategies. Every store is unique, and I enjoy bringing fresh eyes and using other store examples to help find the best promotion or event for your store.
STEP 5: ATTRACT Customers
The summer months are starting to hit, and more and more customers are out and about. Look for ways to draw more customers into your store and ways to take your food into your communities to get more customers trying your great products.
Store: Essential Fuels
City: Scottsbluff, NE
Brand: BluTaco
Essential Fuels recently celebrated the one-year store-opening anniversary and hosted a Customer Appreciation Day, as a way of saying thank you to all of their customers who have supported them since they've opened. The event included a car show, free food and drinks, prizes, and a drawing.
In April 2021, they had a 55.4% increase over their sales in April of 2020. April was the HIGHEST month of sales for bluTaco in Essential Fuels since the store opened. AND they are on track for another record breaking month for May! Obviously, this store is doing something right!
Making your customers feel valued reaps a LOT of benefits:
- Increased customer satisfaction. How people feel about you and their willingness to do business with you are closely related. In the eyes of your customers, it’s all about them – they want to feel valued by you.
- Increased value in the market/Increased brand reputation. Companies who have more satisfied customers tend to have better reviews and feedback compared to those who don’t. That’s how you get a competitive advantage in the market and stand out in the eyes of potential customers.
- Increased customer loyalty and advocacy. Customer appreciation encourages customer retention. When a customer feels valued, they are much more likely to come back and even share their positive experience with others, which in turn leads to increased business growth.
- Increased profits. It’s five to seven times cheaper to sell to an existing customer. If you succeed in making your customers feel special, they will come back for more. Customer profitability tends to increase over the life of a retained customer.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Acquiring a new customer can cost 5x more than retaining an existing customer.
- Increasing customer retention by 5% can increase profits from 25-95%.
- Loyal customers are 5x as likely to repurchase, 5x as likely to forgive, 4x as likely to refer, and 7x as likely to try a new offering.
Ways to draw in NEW Customers
When it comes to drawing NEW customers into your store, one of the best things you can do is to get involved in your community. The more the people of your community know YOU, the more they will know your business.
Give away food in the community. If they try it, they will love it!
- Provide food for volunteers of charity events. Do good for those that are doing good, and the favor will be returned.
- Donate meals to local heroes: firefighters, police officers, nurses, teachers.
- Surprise a business in your community with a platter of some of your customers' favorites.
Events
- Host a fundraiser– show your community that you care about a cause that matters to them. Donate a percentage of that day’s sales to a charity or a local cause.
- Host an event night related to sporting events (like the super bowl or world series) or even a local sport team event.
- Run special promotions around holidays and promote locally in the newspaper, on social media, and on signage outside the store: 4th of July, Fathers Day, Labor Day, etc.
- Pop-up somewhere unexpected (local events) – ask your BA about the Champs Chicken/BluTaco Food Truck. Get your food OUT THE DOOR of your store to bring more customers IN your doors!
Sponsorships
Sponsorships help create name recognition in your community & helps build a positive brand reputation.
- Sponsor local events
- Sponsor little league teams
- Sponsor race track events
I can't encourage you enough to just give it a try! Marketing goes far beyond signage or advertisements. Get out there and get people trying your food!
Get Started!
Contact your Business Advisor to talk through how YOU can enhance your Grab & Go program.
MDF@PFSbrands.com | (573)-563-0300