Waiting for customers at your swanky new store? After you've invested a ton of money and energy into setting up a new store, here's what's next on the line of tasks for you - advertising. More often than not, the marketing and advertising aspect of your business is totally sidelined, which may leave you wondering as to why you aren't minting money the way you thought you would. Marketing - especially if you're a brick-and-mortar business is both challenging, but easy to achieve with the right tricks up your sleeve. We have identified that local marketing techniques work best in boosting your sales. Here's how:

1. Get a temporary street team

There are scores of college students looking for gigs to make some quick cash during their holidays - simply hire some friendly and outgoing youngsters, get freebies you can offer your potential customers and get the ball rolling. Unlike data collecting sales executives who take a customer's number and call them numerous times, a street team’s only purpose is to make sure people know your store exists. Free food samples, or giving out small samples of your products along with all your contact information and social media handles does a ton of good for your brand identity. Not only does it make easy for a customer to recognise you, but the retention rate is higher. You could even switch up your offerings based on the season or occasion - think cooling drinks during summer or cookies during the winter.

2. Always Tag your location on social media posts

Ever explored Instagram stories based on the hashtags? This is an excellent way of putting your business out there. Simply tag your area name or city name along with all your Instagram stories and posts that you put out - we suggest at least five, small stories tagging your location everyday. With the app gaining supreme popularity all over the world, you would be attracting local crowds and tourists as well. It is truly surprising to see the number of people who discover you through social media - via Facebook or Instagram. The best part? It's totally free! This is ofcourse, for organic content, unless you want to push out sponsored posts.

3. Understand your customers

For any of your advertising strategies to work, you need to understand who your ideal customer is - what is their age? what do they do? what is their purchase power? what are their likes and dislikes? Rather than making a generic advertisement that isn't targeted towards anyone and everyone, find a niche audience for your products and services, and advertise accordingly. If your niche is a twenty-something young woman - all your promotional offers should be attractive to her - throw in small freebies that you can buy in bulk to giveaway. These little investments not only make your customers happy, but make sure they keep coming back for more.

4. Take advantage of your city's local flavour

What is the vibe of your store? Does it blend with the average customer in your city? Does it attract eyeballs from the locals? For example - Hyderabadis are known to wear their love for Biryani on their sleeves and Bangaloreans love their beer - make sure you include a local flavour in your messaging so people can relate to it - in turn relating to you and your business. The more familiar you can get with your average customer, the better for you and your cash register.

5. Invest in newer forms of advertising

Street teams, social media and great messaging are tried and tested methods that work. With new technologies coming into play, all these tricks combined with techniques like hyperlocal advertising will elevate your branding game. Imagine taking a cab ride to a part of town you know nothing about, but see advertisements about the restaurants, cafes and stores in the area on a screen fitted in the cab. This is what hyperlocal advertising does for your customers - instead of intruding into their mailboxes and messages, it simply advertises your business where they're most relaxed and more likely to respond to the ad. A little investment that yields maximum returns - we totally recommend!

Want to make a great hyperlocal advertising campaign? Get in touch with us at info@signagego.in or simply give us a call on our number 7331123777