Boutique owners are always looking for effective advertising that doesn’t cost them an arm and a leg. Owning your own business generally means that you don’t have the money for a lot of print ads, television ads, or radio spots. Here we’ve compiled a few ways that you can effectively advertise on the cheap.
- You can use vinyl banners outside of your boutique to help advertise sales, specials and promotions. To save money on these types of signs, measure before you purchase. You may not need a really big, expensive sign for it to be easily seen. To decide on font size, draw a letter on a poster board and look at it from the street or walkway in front of your store. This will help you to make sure that the font is not too small to read, or too large to fit with your store image. Limiting the number of colors in your sign will also make it cheaper. Lastly, choose a slogan or saying that can be used year-round so that you don’t have to buy multiple banners throughout the year. For example, a sign that says “50% Off Clearance” can be used many more times per year than one that says “Christmas Close-Out Sale”.
- Participate in local charities and events. Support different causes in your business’s name. Try to create teams for events such as walks or runs dedicated to supporting causes and local charities. Have t-shirts printed for your team, with your company logo, of course, and make sure you’re seen when the news cameras are rolling. Not only will you be supporting worthy causes, but you will also get some good exposure for your boutique.
- Create a blog for your company. Write articles and feature products on your own company blog. Have contests and other online events to get customers involved. Collect e-mail addresses from your customers for your mailing list. Offer discounts for friends referred and send a monthly newsletter. Social networking sites are also great for keeping in touch with your audience and having your fans spread the word about events and specials.
- Pay-per-click ads online are also useful. These are generally inexpensive and you can pay only when someone clicks on your ad. These can give you exposure to a target audience without costing a lot of money up front. You can also put a cap on what you’re willing to spend each month so that you always know what to expect.
- Use signs inside of your store to let people know what specials and promotions are going on. Putting a sign on top of a garment rack puts it up high enough that people can see it from far across the store. Signs on top ofgarment racks are especially effective because they are at eye level. Don’t forget that no amount of advertising could ever replace good ol’ customer service, so don’t forget to actually talk to your customers in person when you see them!
About the Author: John Garvey is on the staff of Only Garment Racks, a leading online source of garment racks including clothing racks. Find a high quality garment rack or clothing rack at http://www.onlygarmentracks.com.