Connect With, and Colour Your Community

Most of your business will come from the immediate community in which your store is situated. Make sure that you are known and well connected there!

Amazingly, I have been to shopping centres looking for particular shops on a number of occasions, only to find that the people in the other shops – the people who work there – do not always know the tenants in their own shopping centre or mall.

Make a point of doing the rounds of your area, greeting the owners and attendants in other stores. Make sure that they know who you are and where your store is situated. Perhaps you could hand out a small map with a colourful ad for your store – don’t try to say too much, and add a positive statement. People remember something different, especially if it is cheerful.
Consider having a notice board in front of your store. Add a new cheerful comment every day – people will begin to stop by just to read the ‘joke’ or positive comment of the day!

There are plenty of other ways of making you and your store well known in your community – they do not all cost money, but they will all bring people to your store providing you make the right impression on people. Watch this page for lots of effective, inexpensive ways of attracting customers from your community and even further afield.