Have you checked out the online office supplies store, Poppin? If you think office supplies are boring, guess again. Poppin does an amazing job to make office supplies seem anything but. Here are just a few of their marketing tactics that I absolutely love.
Bright Colors – Their company name is in bright orange and when you go over to their online shop, you are hit with even more neon colors. In fact, they even encourage you to shop by color. Not typical for an office supply store and definitely living up to their slogan.
Simple, But Effective Slogan – I love the simplicity of their slogan, “work happy.” On their site, even the categories have short, fun descriptions, all written in lower case such as “write on” (their pen section), “shine on” (their lighting section) and “finish the room” (their decor section).
Fun, Clever Product Copy – From the whimsical advertising tag lines, such as “Go Ahead, Make Mom’s Day” to the very clever, but to-the-point, one line product descriptions, I wanted to read everything on the site. I especially loved how they changed the section that most sites label, “Previously Viewed Items” to “Deja Vu”.
Poppin.com
Poppin.com
Promotes Their Press – Poppin does a really great job promoting any major press one of their products receives, which always gives a shop instant credibility.
Gives Free Stuff – They have a section on their online shop just for free downloads. PDFs of to-do lists, calendars, even DIY office projects. They really don’t stop trying to make work fun.
Poppin.com
Makes Joining Mailing List Easy – They even manage to make signing up for their mailing list less intimidating with cutesy phrases. Plus, they don’t take you to a separate page. You add your email right there on the home page, hit submit, done.
Other Target Markets – They are targeting not just the home office user, but also the back to school market and the college crowd, all huge markets.
Design-a-Desk Feature – I saved the best for last. Poppin has a feature on their online shop called Design-a-Desk. You get a blank white desk with 9 of their items on it. You select any color or color combo and the photo automatically changes to show you the look. You then hit “Add to Cart” and you get all 9 items, already in the pre-selected colors. They can’t make it any easier.
Poppin.com
WHAT TO LEARN: Adding personality to your shop goes a long way in not only establishing your brand, but making customers feel comfortable shopping on your site, since shopping online does lack that personal sales touch. This is a great way to add it.
© 2013 G.B. OLIVER
ABOUT ME: If you want to learn all my tactics that will get your online shop noticed and your products selling, you’ll find them in my marketing ebooks, available at my Ebook Store.
