Tying In To Downtown Events: Ideas to Help Your Merchants
•Als PPT, PDF herunterladen•
3 gefällt mir•2,778 views
This presentation was given by Todd Noon, Executive Director of Main Street Vineland at the Heritage Ohio Engaging Retailers Workshop in Defiance, Ohio on March 9, 2011.
Empfohlen
Empfohlen
Weitere ähnliche Inhalte
Was ist angesagt?
Was ist angesagt? (20)
Ähnlich wie Tying In To Downtown Events: Ideas to Help Your Merchants
Ähnlich wie Tying In To Downtown Events: Ideas to Help Your Merchants (20)
Mehr von Heritage Ohio
Mehr von Heritage Ohio (20)
Kürzlich hochgeladen
Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)
Tying In To Downtown Events: Ideas to Help Your Merchants
- 1. Tying In To Downtown Events: Ideas to Help Your Merchants Presented by Todd Noon, Executive Director Main Street Vineland, NJ
- 3. Be Smart!
- 6. Vineland’s Business Prevention Lowlights
- 7. Vineland’s Business Prevention Lowlights
- 8. Vineland’s Business Prevention Lowlights
- 17. “ Welcome to Downtown Vineland. We’re Glad You’re Here!”
- 19. Do Events That Make Sense
- 20. Show the Value of Your Main Street Program
- 32. Now for our “Kumbayah” Moment: Let’s Share What are some of your ideas for tying in to downtown special events?
Hinweis der Redaktion
- Thank you all for coming. As you can see, this presentation is called Tying In To Downtown Events: Ideas to Help Your Merchants. Tough economic times -- small businesses need to do all they can just to survive Downtown events a great way to find new customers, generate extra revenue, and spend almost nothing to do so Don’t be delusional: it probably won’t be easy at first. Need creativity – on part of the business owners and on part of your MS program Here’s an illustration of the kind of creativity you and your merchants will need. CLICK ONCE
- Donna owns the store in the middle of this picture and has been in business for a number of years. “ Best Deals” and “Lowest Prices”. Nobody coming into Donna’s store for weeks. She had to do something, but what? And then it dawned on her… CLICK ONCE
- That Donna is one smart business owner. Unfortunately, I think most of us probably have fewer Donnas in our downtowns than we’d like. In fact, many of us have the exact opposite of Donna. Let’s see a show of hands…. CLICK TWICE
- If you answered “yes” to one or all of these questions, I have good news and I have bad news. CLICK TWICE
- Complain that “regular” customers don’t visit them during an event and ignore the hundreds or thousands of “potential” customers right outside their door. Complain they have no money for advertising yet get angry at Main Street for bringing to the downtown hundreds or thousands of “potential” customers at no cost to them. Used to doing things the way they’ve always done them, and any deviation from that is simply unthinkable. Classic examples of business prevention from my own downtown. CLICK TWICE
- This is a picture from our annual Ribs-n-Chili Cook-off, which brings about 4,000 people to a 1-block area downtown over 4 hours. Virtually every business in the affected block would close at the start of the event. As an aside: worked with 2 businesses this past year – Nail Salon and CrepeMaker. Nail Salon filled all day, CrepeMaker competed, won $250.00 and was filled all day. THEN CLICK TWICE
- This is a picture from our annual Christmas Parade, which brings about 5,000 to the downtown area just one day after Black Friday – the start of the best retail period for businesses. Virtually every business in the downtown would close at the start of the event. THEN CLICK TWICE
- This is a picture from our annual Cruise Down Memory Lane – a classic car show that brings over 30,000 people to the downtown area over 4 hours. Virtually every business in the downtown would close at the start of this event. All these potential customers right outside their doors, and our merchants believed that downtown special events hurt their business. Isn’t it nice to know that you’re not alone? CLICK ONCE
- The good news: sharing ideas to get “more through the door” when there are lots of “feet on the street”. No- or low-cost things your downtown businesses can do to make sure that special events HELP them – not hurt them. We’ll break these ideas down into 3 groups: things to do before the event things to do during the event things to do after the event. And we’ll even invite you to share some of your ideas at the end of the session. Make no mistake: you will still have to hold their hands, walk them through it and, sometimes, even do it for them. But by implementing some of these ideas, your merchants will soon realize that special events represent a great opportunity to build their businesses, make more money and spend very little money in the process. In Vineland, we’ve managed to make significant progress…..think differently about special events………capitalize on the thousands of people who come downtown for our events. But it has not been without challenges. CLICK ONCE
- Meet Al. Al has owned a flower shop in the downtown for over 20 years, and he hated Main Street for every single one of those years. Why? No one knew. Yell and throw us out. Threw out Board President and Treasurer 2 years ago. Caused discord among other business owners and they all complained how events were hurting them. CLICK ONCE
- Our ER Committee visits downtown businesses regularly throughout the year – a great tip from National Main Street Conferences Encourage you to implement. Great way to put a face on your MS program and stay on top of what merchants are thinking. Knowing how Al was, Jeannine took Mayor Romano with her. “ You can’t throw me out today – I have the Mayor with me.” For some reason, Al softened a bit that day. Jeannine asked him why he disliked Main Street so much. His customers – many of whom are picking up flowers for weddings – can’t park at his store and have to walk quite a distance with lots of flowers. I went and visited Al after that and told him that no matter what event we do or when we do it, we will ALWAYS give his customers access to parking at his store for flower pick up. Also, several days before a special event, I visit Al to remind him that an event is coming up and that he should call me if he knows of any customers who might be coming to pick up flowers so that I can make arrangements for them. CLICK ONCE
- Al is much happier today than he was only a year ago all because of a simple conversation. He had a legitimate gripe that no one addressed for years (of course, he never told anyone about it, but it went unaddressed nonetheless). Once we solved his problem, Al stopped throwing us out of his store, stopped creating discord among other business owners and has participated in some beautification events we’ve done. Al is actually a pretty nice guy and we’re glad he’s in downtown Vineland. The moral of the story is simple: sometimes, the best you can do is to get them to stop fighting you. That in itself is a victory. Enjoy it and build on it. And that’s what we did with our next case study. CLICK ONCE
- Like so many other downtown business owners, Brian seemed to dislike downtown events. Regular customers – which averages about 17 per day -- would not be visiting him. Come to Board meetings and complain that special events “kill his business”. Self-fulfilling because Brian would simply close, make no sales for the day and it would be Main Street’s fault. Brian’s not a bad guy. He a very generous, likable man who is running a shoe store that his late father started nearly 50 years ago. The problem was that he wanted the street closed after he made his sales for the day so he could just close up shop, go home, and be unaffected. This same battle went on for years not just with Brian but also with his late father who also served on our Board. My argument that if we do events when businesses are closed, there’s no point in doing them at all was ignored. But I was encouraged that he always said he didn’t oppose special events – just the time we closed the street I made a deal: I compromise on street closing time and he has to try to tie in to special events. Suspected Brian might have needed some help figuring out how to do it, so we offered the help. CLICK ONCE
- The Seafood Festival what we chose as our test run for Brian. Event brings live music……about 2 dozen seafood and other food and craft vendors to the downtown. One of the coolest features of this event is a homemade beach that we build right on the street in the middle of the downtown. As you can see from these pictures, children play on the beach and adults often bring beach chairs to soak up the sun and enjoy some great seafood. In essence, we create the Jersey Shore – which is only about 40 minutes away – in our downtown, and we were going to help Brian’s shoe store capitalize on that. CLICK ONCE
- Set up a table where kids could go to make their own customized a flip-flops – a fashion “must” at the Jersey Shore. Inexpensive flip-flops and some supplies that would allow kids to “bedazzle” their flip-flops using glue. $5 bought you the whole experience – flip-flops, customization, and then the pride of wearing your new creation at the downtown beach. Brian didn’t sell out of flip-flops that day, but he did make extra sales that he wouldn’t have made if he simply did what he always did during special events: close and go home. We showed him that special events don’t have result in no sales for his business. CLICK ONCE
- Brian’s success………….REAL value in special events – business owners just have to be willing to think about how they can be a part of them and then be willing to try to tie in. Brian has stopped fighting special events and now sees them as an opportunity to not only make extra money, but also as a way to generate interest in his business which may lead to residual business at a later date. CLICK ONCE
- All of us – every person in this room – has an Al or a Brian, or multiple Als and Brians in their downtown. Need to find ways to engage them……….help them realize the benefit of downtown events……..or your Main Street program will never realize its full potential. Your first step might be to explain to your Als and Brians that there are 3 key reasons why special events are critical to downtown revitalization. CLICK TWICE
- Reason 1: With special events bringing hundreds or even thousands of visitors to your downtown, business owners have a greater opportunity to generate extra income than they would on a non-event day. This is a day-of-event benefit. CLICK ONCE Reason 2: Not everyone who attends a special event downtown will be shopping; however, they will all be looking at the stores, restaurants and services available in the downtown. Good time and an effort to make your business known during event means people much more likely to return at a later date to make purchases. This is called residual business and it is an after-event benefit. CLICK ONCE Reason 3: successful events…..fun, well-organized and have support of local businesses….get people thinking about your downtown as a destination, rather than as a place to pass through to simply get somewhere else. This means people will be visiting your downtown businesses not just during special events, but throughout the year as well. This is a long-term benefit of special events. Before you get down to the business of helping your businesses, you should make sure that the special events you’re holding in your downtown make sense for your downtown. For example, in Vineland and by sheer chance, we have a very large concentration of wedding-related businesses: bridal shops, formal wear, shoe stores, florists, jewelers, beauty salons and much more. As a result, we’ll hold a Wedding Day in downtown, so it’s very easy for many merchants to tie-in. We’re also becoming a food and entertainment destination, we also do food-related events that help to reinforce that in the minds of visitors. Lunch on Landis…………….explain what it is……only an $80 buy-in…….handouts for this. It’s not always easy to see what your downtown’s niche is: you may need a fresh set of eyes to survey your downtown and see links that might not be obvious to you. Now, let’s get started. As stated before, we’re going to talk about things your downtown business owners can do before, during and after special events. CLICK TWICE
- In Vineland, we have created OPED teams. OPED stands for Organization, Promotion, Economic and Design (the 4 points of Main Street). We have volunteers from each of the 4 committees work with businesses to help them tie in to special events. We select only a small number of businesses that actually want help. Org vols – might help by committing volunteers to work a register, serve as outdoor help; they can help prepare a press release about something interesting the business might be doing during the event. Promo vols – help come up with ideas about how the businesses can tie in. The flip-flops that Brian sold came from our Promo Committee volunteers Economic vols – can help the merchants develop effective strategies for the event, i.e. price points for special merchandise, creation of offers to be posted on the Main Street Vineland website, etc. Design vols – help the businesses look good during the event. They make suggestions about displays, decorations, how to make a festive atmosphere, etc.
- Plant the seed: a few weeks in advance…………….items near their cash register or in their window that fit with the theme of an upcoming event. Raise awareness of the event and allow your merchants to tell their customers about what they might be doing during the event. CLICK ONCE Print fliers: advertise in-store specials being offered during the special event. Place in customers’ bags a few weeks prior to the event so that people are aware of the event and what is going on in their business. If your downtown has a printer, or if your Main Street program uses a local printer, arrange to have the printer provide a discount on fliers for your downtown businesses. Also, not all merchants are tech-savvy. If you’re able, offer to help them design a flier. CLICK ONCE Work a contact list: all businesses should maintain an email list of customers………….opportunity to market and advertise directly to their customers at little or no cost. Send an email and let customers know about the event, what specials are being offered that day and perhaps offer a coupon that is valid only during the event. Staying in contact with customers makes them feel valued. CLICK TWICE
- Prepare coupons for the event: pass out the coupons at the event. If your MS program is able, offer to have a volunteer hand out the coupons for your merchants during the event. This has the added benefit of demonstrating the value of your Main Street program to your businesses and it shows that you’re a real partner in their success. You can also earn some money for your Main Street program if you put together a coupon book, sell space in it to your downtown merchants, and pass it out during the event. We’ve typically made about $1,000 per event with very little effort…… handouts for this CLICK ONCE Set up cross promotions: who knows that this is? A great way to maximize customers. Merchants who sell products or services that are complementary should be encouraged to join forces and pass out fliers or coupons for one another from their businesses. Our MS program can identify which businesses might work well together and then facilitate the process of setting up a cross-promotional relationship between those businesses. Examples: clothing store with a jewelry store or hair salon……………bridal shop with a florist………….restaurant with a bakery or liquor store CLICK ONCE Send press releases: Outside of the time spent writing them, press releases are free! If a business is offering something substantial or has something unique going on during the special event, local media are more likely to give free publicity. If your MS program is able, you can help businesses develop ideas and then help them draft press releases about them. CLICK TWICE
- Make sure businesses stay open: Your merchants can’t make a sale unless they’re open. Although special event visitors aren’t necessarily a merchant’s regular customers, they are potential customers. CLICK ONCE Have a sidewalk sale: it’s amazing how simply moving some merchandise from a store to the sidewalk catches the eye of passersby. When possible, merchants should be encouraged to offer items that complement the special event (like sunscreen, flip-flops, tanning lotion, etc. during our Seafood Festival). CLICK ONCE Have a special in-store sale : should last only for the duration of the event so that it creates a sense of urgency……….should be substantail enough to motivate people to go inside. If you have a stage and microphone at your special event, make announcements throughout the event about what specials or sales your downtown businesses are having. This will help drive event attendees into the stores. CLICK TWICE
- Have a special in-store contest: merchants may want to consider this as part of the “special in-store sale” noted above. A simple contest like guessing the number of something in a jar (related to the event, perhaps) is a great way to capture customer info. Have participants enter their name, address, phone, email and birth date (no year needed) on a slip of paper, along with their guess. Winner can receive a gift certificate to use during a future visit. The customer info allows the merchants to build a database for marketing. By getting a birth date, the merchant has the opportunity to send a birthday card with a coupon – giving them another reason to come back to the business. CLICK ONCE Offer “Just Looking” or “bounce-back”coupons: h and these out to every person who enters their store and invite them to come back. Remember that people are more likely to respond to “dollars off” than they are to “percentage off” promotions. CLICK TWICE
- Hold customers’ packages: some people resist making purchases during special events because they don’t want to carry them around. Holding packages is an easy way to close a sale and provide great customer service. CLICK ONCE Have an open house or in-store demo: effective for service-related businesses to introduce themselves to the public. Have a brief sign-in form to capture the names and addresses of everyone who attends so they can follow up after the event and stay in contact throughout the year………….pass out fliers or business cards to all who attend. A downtown accountant might have people stop in to pick up a list of often-overlooked tax deductions. Our downtown vacuum cleaner shop can have Vacuum Cleaner Races at our Seafood Festival, designed to show which ones pick up sand the fastest and best. A recent study indicates that over 80% of people who plan to attend a live demo are likely to bring friends and family – making demonstrations even more profitable! CLICK ONCE Modify your service and call it something else for the day: ideal for personal service businesses like nail salons or hair salons to do. A nail salon might set up a table offering “10-minute Total Hand Makeovers”. Rather than providing the full-blown nail salon service of prep, buffing, seal coating and decorating, the salon can provide a simple coat of any polish the customer chooses along with a sealer for one low price during the event. A hair salon might offer “Beads and Braids” for children, and selling the experience by the inch. The possibilities are limitless! CLICK TWICE
- Watch the “curb appeal”: sweep outside…………clean the windows………keep the walkways free of clutter. No one would invite company to their house and no do some cleaning first, would they? A special event is an invitation for people to come to your downtown and the individual businesses there. Merchants should do a little “house cleaning” to make things look inviting. Fresh flowers and balloons………quick, easy ways to bring some color to any storefront. If you have a florist or party supply place in your downtown, talk to the owner and see if she/he will provide a discount to any downtown businesses buying items to help beautify their place for the special event. CLICK ONCE Build your mailing list: business owners should take every opportunity to get names and contact information from event attendees. Building a mailing list will allow them to communicate directly and inexpensively throughout the year with their customers. CLICK ONCE Sometimes simple works: CLICK ONCE
- Frank and his wife Lynn are the 3 rd generation owners of a small shoe store in downtown. Like many business owners, they’ve felt the effects of a difficult economy. Lynn is an art lover who enjoys oil painting….has many friends with the same interest. In the past few years, she has displayed original paintings by local artists in the shoe store. The 2 nd Friday of each month, Frank and Lynn stay open late to host “art shows” in the shoe store. Sometimes they sell a painting or two, and sometimes they might even sell a pair of shoes. While this combination shoe store/art gallery is a message in itself about adapting in difficult times, I’m introducing you to the Martinis because they did something incredibly smart yet incredibly simple during a special event last year: they placed a small easel, decorated with a few balloons, in front of their business. On the easel was a sign that read “Art Show Today”. Had more people in his store on that Saturday afternoon than he had on any other Saturday afternoon for the past several years…..sold a few paintings, sold a few pairs of shoes and had a chance to talk to people who ultimately became first-time customers. And they accomplished all this with an easel, 4 balloons, and a 3-word sign. But most importantly, they accomplished it because they remained open and tried to tie in to the special event. CLICK TWICE
- Follow up: if your merchants collected names and contact information during the event, they should reach out to them. Even if they didn’t purchase anything during the event, sometimes a follow up is all that is needed to make a sale or close a deal. CLICK ONCE Stay in contact: it’s easy and inexpensive………….email newsletter programs such as Constant Contact and iContact………let people know what is new, conduct consumer surveys to find out what customers are looking for, or let them know about upcoming downtown events. Between newsletters, merchants should maintain contact and inform customers about sales and specials through email, snail mail and social media. CLICK ONCE Be part of planning other events : business owners have a unique opportunity to organize them in ways that best meet their needs………..they have a real stake in its success………….far more inclined to put some effort into tying their business into the event. As Main Street professionals, you should let your merchants know when your Promotions or Events Committee meets and encourage them to get involved. It will make your job – and your life – much easier. CLICK TWICE
- Don’t give up: Businesses need to keep at it and accept that not every promotional idea will work every time. They should try different things. Keep what works and get rid of what doesn’t. Your Main Street program should take an active role in helping business owners develop ideas and strategies for tying in to downtown events. CLICK ONCE Start working your pre-event ideas again: downtown events aren’t on a timeline – they’re on a time circle. What does this mean? CLICK ONCE
- It means that each of the 3 categories highlighted in this presentation – pre-event ideas, day-of-event ideas and after-event ideas – should flow seamlessly into each other without stopping. A business owner can start at any point on this circle at any time and be successful, as long as they work at it. CLICK TWICE