So, your showroom is all set up.
Displays are in and looking great.
Staff are poised and ready to start selling.
Processes are set and in place.
You just need customers.
There are many different ways to increase your brand, both online, and also in the “real world.”
Online
Platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, Houzz, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, TikTok etc etc are excellent places for showcasing your work.
You can provide images, showing the customer's journey, from the initial home measure to the finished project. And you document every step in between.
Previously, if you wanted your work showcased, you would be reliant on a magazine selecting you to submit a case study to the editor.
Nowadays, we are all editors of our own magazines.
You decide what does and doesn’t get shown, and you can post as much or as little as you’d like.
And even more important than showcasing your work on social media, is letting people get to know you and the team.
Now, I have a confession to make, I hate promoting myself via video or audio online.
You’d be lucky to see a photo of me that isn’t my stock image that gets attached to everything.
But people not only want to see the amazing results you can give them, they want to see the team behind them.
Results show the posts that show the people behind the business usually get a lot better engagement than photos of completed projects.
Alongside the fantastic jobs you have completed, make sure you have plenty of fun posts to show the customer why they should be shopping with you.
It could just be the difference when you are being compared to your competitor.
Now, learning the algorithms for each and every social media platform is like a science.
Hayley Simmons from KBB Digital is an absolute expert in this field, and whenever I speak to her, it just makes me realise how much is involved.
When, where, how and who to post to.
Marginal gains are very important in social media, and somebody like Hayley knows that it’s better to post at one time than another.
Also, there are things such as commenting on other peoples posts, what to share and what not to share, and the importance of links to and from your own website.
If this isn’t an area you know well, employing somebody to manage your pages could see a massive upturn, for little outlay.
Paid advertising seems to bring mixed results, but I hear more people complaining than praising the campaigns.
Customers like to see authenticity, and they are acutely aware when they are being sold to.
Post a good mix of content, and often, and all it will do is increase your brand awareness.
Other Channels
As well as social media, there are many other options for promoting your showroom or business.
I run a training course that goes through 50 Low Cost Marketing Ideas to promote your KBB business. (I could run another course with the 5000 I tried that didn’t work !)
When I worked for large national retailers, I usually wasn’t given a local marketing budget and much of what I did had to stay below the radar.
But I had massive results from very cost effective methods.
Here are just three of my top ideas …
Thank You Gift
If you are giving the customer a “thank you” gift at the end of their project, try not to give flowers, wine or chocolate.
Flowers die, chocolate gets eaten and wine gets demolished.
Give the customer something that will be a permanent fixture in their new kitchen, and a constant reminder.
An engraved chopping board, an embroidered apron or similar will make sure there is a permanent reminder to their experience.
It will also provide a talking point when friends of your customer visit to see their new room.
Childrens Colouring Competition
Have a pile of wire frame or hidden lines kitchen drawings ready with some crayons for any children that walk in with their parents.
This will keep the little ones busy while you have some time and space to talk to the customers without them worrying about what the kids are up to.
You can then turn this into a colouring competition, where entries can be completed along with names, addresses, email details and telephone numbers, so that when the entry doesn’t win, you have the parents' contact details to send a consolation prize of a free Quooker tap (for example) with every kitchen purchase.
Label Everything
It may seem simple, but label everything !
As you can imagine, my office is full of brochures, flyers, suppliers pamphlets and more.
Most of these are picked up when I am visiting retail outlets, but a large proportion of these have no details of where I got them.
Customers will pick up a lot of information when they are visiting your showroom, but they will also be visiting at least two or three showrooms.
Make sure your details are all over everything that will leave your premises.
Everything they look at needs to have your company name looking back at them,
A lot of coverage for the price of a label.
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