I’m always on the lookout for creative marketing ideas, and here are some I found this week that you might want to try with your small business.

  • I’ve noticed that more and more online stores are getting very creative with their store sections, and customers get lured in almost out of curiosity. For example, I saw shop sections entitled, The Home Care Shop, The Wellness Shop, The Love Shop, Spring Refresh and Selling Fast.
  • I love how this online art store has a section called “Gallery Walls” (I’m pretty sure it’s an option in certain Shopify themes). I have been suggesting this to my art clients for years, as this is a great way to upsell more prints by showing people how they can display many pieces of your art. You just click on the gallery wall you like, and all of the prints, in the sizes shown, are ready to be added to your cart.
  • Nordstrom has an Instagram story called “Follow Friday“. It’s the equivalent of when blogs were doing link sharing with other sites. In other words, Nordstrom will recommend fashion and beauty stylists and other types of Instagram accounts they think you should follow. But it’s a great idea to try on your Instagram, as a way for your business to form alliances using social media.
  • I was in a big brand home goods store, and hanging on a hook they had several paper measuring tapes. I thought this was brilliant, because customers are probably always asking them for a tape measure. So, if you own a retail store, consider this idea as customers can keep the measuring tape (probably costs little to print), which conveniently has your store name and url on it.
  • I love how Barbie® celebrated the start of Black History Month on Instagram.
  • The online store Wolf and Badger uses symbols in each product listing that helps buyers easily identify whether the product meets the sustainability issues they care about. But you could also create icons to quickly convey any key feature, such as free shipping, next day shipping, country made in, female-owned business and so forth.
  • My own ideas: Post something clever on social media for the start of the 2022 winter Olympics i.e. if you sell jewelry, post a photo of some of your rings in the shape of 5 ring Olympic symbol. If you sell nail polish, post 5 shades in the colors of the Olympic symbol. If you sell baby onesies, post one that says “Future Gold Medal Winner”. Get creative!

Need personalized advice about your small business? Maybe you want to start your own business, but don’t have an idea, or know where to start. Feel free to set up a 30-minute phone consultation with me, always followed up with notes of what we discussed and a next-steps action list.

 

 

 

 

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