You already setting up your business and it’s running; have a great location, well-manage inventory, hardworking employees and some loyal customers, but you may be stymied when it comes to determining the next steps to growing your business. Use these helpful tips about how you can successfully get to the next level in your marketing strategy without breaking the bank.
Important: Things you’ll need for Growing your retail T-shirt business is an online store and business newsletter tools.
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Ask your customer how they found your business. Most customers will be happy telling you where there heard about your business mostly advertisement, or from friends. If you find that advertising attracted more customers, keep doing what you are doing. Don’t cut back on advertising; do more of it, if possible, as it is clearly working for your business.
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Identify your target market and aggressively advertise specifically to those people. Advertise in the magazines they are most likely to read, attend an event or trade show where they may be found, and leave brochures or fliers in places they are most likely to congregate.The best and fastest way is internet marketing. You can choose your keywords or phrases relevant to your target market. Many providers exist today; however, Yahoo Search Marketing, Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter are the most predominant providers of this service.
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Build and maintain customer relationships. The key to successful marketing is maintaining your current customers so they continue to come back and tell others about you. Offer special discounts on occasion to frequent customers and, depending on what type of business you have, consider a frequent shopper’s card, where customers earn something special rewards for making a certain number of purchases. Also, consider offering some type of savings each time they refer a new customer to you.
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Create a newsletter. Keep customers informed of sales and new products via a basic newsletter. A newsletter can be sent monthly or quarterly, and if you are looking for the most affordable way to reach customers, consider an email newsletter. Collect email addresses from customers upon checkout, telling them they will receive your newsletter.
If you are searching for simple email marketing software that provides a platform for your online marketing campaigns, we encourage you to use our friends at iContact.
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Don’t ignore the Internet–have a presence on the web. If you don’t have a website, you can use this refference on how to create an online store. Your retail business can reach an entirely new market from across the globe with e-commerce. A presence on the Internet is often the fastest way to grow a retail business. Another option to increasing your web presence is to sell your products on third party company such as spreadshirt, cafepress, eBay, Amazon.com, Yahoo store and ProStores
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Host a special event that will draw in customers and media. This could include donating a portion of the day’s proceeds to a local charity, or having a “family day” with games, prizes and a local radio station broadcasting live from your store. If you are creative, there are a variety of events you can hold at your store. A few weeks prior to the event, send a press release to local television and radio stations as well as media.
Based on statistics from Internetretailer.com, all merchandising categories tracked in the Top 500 web-merchants registered double-digit growth in 2007, with the fastest growth rate coming from the specialty/non-apparel segment, which expanded online sales by 47%! That is a significant growth and means you’re products have a place in the online selling arena. WebStore’s integrated marketing services can help you get selling online quickly.
*Source: Revenue Today (www.revenuetoday.com)
