- Clipper Marketing
- June 5, 2024
Why Advertising is Crucial When Opening Your Business
Embarking on a new business venture is a leap of faith. Advertising can help you take the risk and roll the dice.
As per data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 20% of recently established businesses fail within two years, while 45% falter within five years. Only about 25% of new enterprises manage to reach the 15-year milestone.
Advertise or Risk Being Overlooked
Advertising serves as the lifeblood of your business—its absence often spells short-lived survival. It fosters a deeper connection with your customers. When an ad resonates with a consumer on a personal level, it may prompt them to frequent your business more often. More importantly, advertising ensures that you reach the right audience, informing them of your existence, your offerings, and where to find them. Consider the catchy jingle from a car or mattress store commercial that sticks in your mind; when you need a similar product, you’re likely to visit that “jingle store,” whether consciously or not. This illustrates the potency of effective advertising—it compels consumers to choose your establishment.
Think of advertising as the educator and your consumers as the students—you must enlighten them about your business and its offerings. For example, a dentist’s office adorned with infographics about oral health provides tools marked with the dentist’s logo, reinforcing the information displayed. Similarly, a kitchenware brand might share a social media video demonstrating a clever cucumber-cutting hack. When consumers try and succeed with the hack, they associate it with the brand, enhancing brand loyalty. Repetitive advertising, coupled with reliable products and service, not only attracts and retains customers but also outpaces competitors vying for your market share. Consistent messaging builds trust and loyalty, ultimately translating into sales.
The Importance of Directory Listings
In today’s digital age, a staggering 97% of consumers rely on the internet as their primary source of information about local businesses. Listing your new business on prominent local directories such as Yelp, Bing Places, and Google My Business significantly enhances its visibility to potential customers searching for your offerings. Maintaining accurate and consistent business information—including name, address, phone number, website, menu, and operating hours—across these directories fosters trust among your audience. Additionally, how you engage with reviews on these listings is pivotal, as it reflects your commitment to customer service.
Being featured in directory listings not only boosts your business’s search engine visibility and local search reach but also ensures your presence on web mapping platforms like Google Maps. If you require assistance, there are service providers specialized in managing directory listings, facilitating the claiming of ownership and streamlined dissemination of information updates across platforms
How to Advertise Your Grand Opening
Prepare for a grand unveiling! As your business is on the cusp of opening its doors to the public, it’s time to celebrate in style. However, to ensure a bustling crowd rather than a mere trickle of guests, you must ignite excitement early on. What imaginative endeavors will draw in the masses? Consider adorning your windows with vibrant signs, enticing giveaways, enticing 2-for-1 deals, and playful games (why not offer pony rides for added flair!). Extend invitations to fellow local business owners—an excellent opportunity to mingle with both competitors and community members alike. Picture strolling past a pizzeria and catching a glimpse of a chef expertly tossing dough—does it not awaken your appetite?
For service-oriented businesses lacking a physical storefront, such as a lawn care company, ingenuity is key. A cost-effective approach involves securing a booth at or sponsoring a local event, taking your grand opening festivities on the road. Here, you can engage with potential customers firsthand, heighten brand awareness, and gather valuable contact information.
Ensuring that your advertisements reach the right audience and resonate with them content-wise is paramount. With strategic targeting based on demographics, geography, preferences, and interests, you can refine your outreach efforts, achieving precision rather than casting a wide net.
Ultimately, the opening of a new business represents your dreams and aspirations—it’s a venture worthy of investment and promotion. Whether you opt for the methods outlined above, devise new ones, or combine approaches, the goal remains the same: to captivate your audience, spark word-of-mouth buzz about your exceptional business, and leave a lasting impression. So, when it’s time to unveil, do so with gusto—let your grand opening reverberate with excitement rather than mere whispers.
Hey, What’s New?
As your business flourishes, the natural next step is expansion—a new location beckons. Once again, your marketing strategy holds the key to sustaining growth. Initiating advertising efforts early, well before the grand opening, is just as crucial as staffing the new establishment. While online advertising presents a viable option, consider exploring unconventional avenues, especially if budget constraints are a concern. Picture this: perhaps you’re launching a new spa branch and enticing prospective clients with complimentary 15-minute massages upon joining your mailing list. Pursuing local accolades, experimenting with guerrilla marketing tactics, initiating a blog—when combined with paid advertising—can yield significant exposure and draw attention to your new locale.
New Location, New Offerings
Advertising your new location is crucial to alerting both existing and potential customers of your business’s expansion to a fresh area. People are inherently drawn to novelty, especially when it’s an extension of something familiar. Your new venue may boast a wider array of offerings not available at the current site. Picture this: perhaps the new spot boasts a coveted liquor license and houses an in-house brewery. It might feature additional private rooms tailored for birthdays or other special occasions. Moreover, the new locale could cater more to families, with amenities like a dedicated play area or a selection of items tailored for a younger demographic. Alternatively, imagine a venue with a stage, hosting live entertainment or themed nights like karaoke—an enticing prospect indeed.
How to Retarget Without Cookies
With Google phasing out third-party tracking cookies, privacy-conscious consumers are embracing the change. However, marketers face a challenge. Now, the focus shifts to sourcing first-party data for retargeting ad campaigns—whether it’s promoting your new location or boosting sales. One effective method is capturing email addresses during transactions, enabling retargeting through email nurturing campaigns or sponsored posts on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Additionally, with access to a consumer’s physical address, you can employ direct mail for retargeting purposes, complemented by programmatic display ads across all devices within the households you target. Regardless of the retargeting strategies you adopt, maximizing first-party data collection is paramount. In this scenario, more data equates to greater effectiveness.
Channel Spotlight: Email Marketing
Email stands as a universal and arguably one of the most effective means to engage with current customers. According to studies, a substantial 86% of consumers express interest in receiving promotional messages from businesses they engage with, with 15% welcoming daily emails at the least. Moreover, email proves invaluable in achieving various marketing objectives.
Notably, email serves as a potent lead generation tool, nurturing leads into sales and acquiring new customers. It fosters engagement, facilitates communication of rewards and referrals, and more importantly, nudges potential customers towards conversion. From informative newsletters and warm welcome messages to timely reminders for abandoned carts and exclusive limited-time offers, email constitutes an indispensable component of modern marketing campaigns. Furthermore, when integrated with direct mail, email marketing results in a 25% increase in consumer spending.
