Aside from a good location with heavy traffic, advertising with local media will prove to increase your overall daily sales. But, what is the best form of advertising and what is the best way to increase your ROI when allocating money to lure people into your salvage food grocery store?
Free circulation newspapers: Every city and town have free publications that are usually available in front of restaurants, gas stations and even big box grocery stores! People love to pick up these papers and read the classifieds and review print ads from local merchants. Call the publisher and ask for a media kit, which will give you pricing for display adds. Do not discount small classified ads when deciding to spend advertising dollars. Expect to spend $60-$100 per week for a decent size print add.
Flier insertion: Most newspaper allow the insertion of one sided fliers that are stuffed in each newspaper; you may have the option of splitting the cost with other advertisers as you add can appear on one side while the other merchant takes the reverse side. Some newspaper even offers “sticky note” advertising where your small add can be placed on the front page for all circulation to see.
Email marketing: Make sure to collect everyone’s’ email address when they checkout at your store. This will allow you to build a list of those who have already experienced the value of salvage groceries. Once a list is compiled you can send out emails when you have specials or promotions going on in the store. Email newsletters are another great way to keep customers up to date with store specials.
Social Media Marketing: Why not consider a Facebook page and Twitter account for you salvage food store? People are connecting with social media and this is yet another tool you can use to keep people coming back through your door. Make sure to post relevant information relating to saving money and stretching food budgets and you will enjoy a large following in social media venues.
Craigslist: FREE online advertising in your local area only takes time to place adds. Do not overdo it on Craigslist or community members will report your postings as spam. Use Craigslist as an online business card to get new customers through your front door.
You must advertise to increase sales and it is best to try different methods to see which one will work best for your business. Try advertising different specials in each method of advertising that way to can measure the results. Coupons work well when trying to measure overall customer reach. If you place a coupon in a free newspaper and after a week count 130 coupons redeemed, you can have a pretty good idea of the adds return on investment (ROI).
