When you are running a Retail Store, one of the mindsets you are working with is a customer always being able to tell themselves, ‘I’ll go next week.’ When your store front is always there the urgency to go shop isn’t. One way to create urgency is of run a sale, but if you run sales all of the time, you will train your customers to wait for the next one to shop, then you are always cutting into your profits. Also, if you are creating handmade goods you don’t want to overuse sales because it sends the message that you are over pricing to begin with - and you are not!

So how do we create urgency without running a sale? Well one hope is that your products are so in demand that announcing restocks pushes people to shop before you run out, but if you aren’t there yet, the best way to create urgency in a retail setting is by creating special events that customers don’t want to miss out on. 

Event Possibilities

Here are some possible event ideas for your store front. Some need to be organized by the store owner, and you can always offer to help organize the event if you want to see it happen. Speaking from experience when a vendor comes to me and wants to put time and energy into something that not only helps them but drives traffic to the store, I’m always grateful. Other ideas are things you could do yourself with the store owner’s permission.

Market Events - The biggest event would be a market event where the store invites vendors who aren’t already a part of the store to set-up for a day. Get a food truck to come out, maybe some music and create a festival atmosphere. This appeals to customers because it is a pop-up event that isn’t available all the time, but while they shop the pop-up vendors they will be shopping with the resident vendors as well. We have these in our store a few times a year and they are always a big boost to sales. 

Sip n Shop Events - These are usually a couple of hours held after work around a holiday of some sort, or at the change of season. There are typically light refreshments served as a draw and maybe some live music. We usually offer a Free Gift with Purchase or another purchase incentive that is only available during the event. It is a way to pull people into your store durring certain hours for a quick sales boost. Also make sure that you spend a lot of time refreshing the store and stocking product before these events. The goal is to pull customers in to see what they’ve been missing in hopes that tye will not only come back more frequently but leave the event talking about how great it was so that their friends and family want to come check it out.

Demonstration/Open House Events - This can be a store level event, but it can also be a small event that you schedule and promote yourself to drive traffic and sales in your booth. If you are creating your own products, or selling products for customers to use (paint, transfers, etc) then you can schedule a Demonstration Day where you will work on projects so that your customers can come watch you work, ask questions, and get to know you as an artist. When you have these events you will also get the attention of other customers in the store who didn’t come specifically for the event because they will be curious. This is a great time to get interested folks on your email list and plant the idea of your products in their minds. I usually have either a gift with purchase available for these events or a discount code that can be used at a date in the future, so that they have a reason to come back.

Classes - Holding Classes or workshops is great for your business. You walk your students through creating their own project and it’s essentially a guaranteed sale, but that process is a great opportunity to get people on your email list to keep them informed in the future. You also have the opportunity to ‘upsell’ them by offering a discount on purchases made that day. In addition to the sales benefits with the people in the class, you also have an event to market which can get attention from people who aren’t able to attend and put you and your storefront top of mind, so that hopefully they come by to see you soon!

Maximizing Event Reach

Events are a huge part of our marketing plan at my store, and I use classes and demonstrations regularly in my own business to get folks to come in and see me! Here are the things to consider when planning an event.

Scheduling - Pay attention to holidays and any other community events already scheduled when you are choosing a date for your event. Once you’ve picked a date be sure that you are giving yourself the proper amount of time to advertise and share the information. 

For Large Market Events you will want to announce the date no less than 6 months in advance to start accepting applications and taking sign-ups for outside vendors. You also may need to book your food truck farther in advance than that depending on their popularity and where you are. 

Sip & Shops and Demonstration Style Events can be announced 2-3 weeks in advance because there isn’t as much coordinating that has to be done, so they don’t require quite as much prep, and you don’t want to announce it so far in advance that your audience forget about it by the time the event arrives.

I always schedule class dates one month out to give participants the opportunity to plan for them. Many people have busy schedules and need to be able to plan to attend. This also allows time to remind my audience if tickets are still available close to the event date.

Advertising - There are a lot of ways to get the word out about your event and I recommend that you do as many of them as possible to increase your reach and visibility. Remember, even if someone doesn’t attend the event, if they hear about it it serves as a reminder that your storefront is there and drives traffic around the event as well. 

ALWAYS create a Facebook Event. The Social Media Platform shows local events to a lot of people and it is a tool you can then use to share to even more groups and invite your friends and family online!

Facebook Groups and Local Clubs are another great place to get the word out about your events. If there are local FB Groups that you are a part of you can share the Event with those folks, you can also use the invite feature to send direct messages to people in your circle. If there are local groups you can send a flyer to, that is a great option too. Bulletin Boards at Local Libraries can be a great place to hit. 

Hopefully you have an email list and you are sending regular emails through it. Adding Event information to those emails is also a great way to remind the customers who are definitely interested in what you are offering!

You can also send information about the event to your local paper, local TV stations and any other local news outlet. Many of them have community calendars that you can add your events to and reach more people. 

Making an Impression - It probably goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway. You will often get first time visitors at your events, and it is important that the day of the event you are making a great impression on these customers. Customer Service should be top notch that day. Inventory levels should be high and everything should be as clean and appealing as possible. The goal is not only that they make a purchase that day, but that they want to come back again and again.

Bring them Back - When events are a big part of your marketing, make sure that when the event day arrives, you are ready to tell customers about the next big event. While you want them to come back in between events. If they are having a great time, telling them to mark their calendars to do it again will be well received.

If you are having an event make sure sign-ups for your next market are live so people can apply that very day while it is fresh on their minds. 

If this is a demonstration and you want customers to come back. Maybe have a coupon or discount code for future use that you give to anyone who makes a purchase that day.

If you are holding classes, make sure your next class has been announced and the registration is live so that these students can sign up for the next one!

Now it’s your turn! Think about how you can incorporate events into your business. Todays Download is a set of checklists for each event type that you can use to make sure you are making the most of your event!