Finding the most effective and replicable ways to attract and then maintain a solid customer base is essential for the survival of any business and ultimately it is the key to your success. There rarely is an easy, inexpensive, and perfect strategy that will drive customers right to your front door day after day.
Attracting new customers and triggering interest from your previous customers is an art, not a science. There is no magic marketing “silver bullet” that will work for you in every situation. The best that you can do is to invest as much time and energy (and sometimes even a modest budget) into your marketing efforts to make sure that your marketing is working at least as hard as you are.
If you do no marketing, it is likely that your business will develop at a very slow pace. If you do some marketing, you increase the chances of your success. If you try multiple methods to market your business, the odds of potential customers noticing you and your business increase exponentially.
No matter what marketing you do, never spend a bunch of money on any one marketing effort until you have tested it to make sure that it works. Once it has proven itself, and created measurable results, then expand into a larger effort. Ask me how I know this. If you blow your entire budget running the same ad in several newspapers, only to discover that the ad does not draw any customers, you are back at square one.
You are behind the eight ball at that point, in fact, because you spent money and have no new orders to show for it. Test any printed or digital marketing, especially paid advertising, on a small scale to make sure the headline, offer, layout, and the message are doing their job. Once you know the marketing is effective, then go full steam ahead. Here are several marketing strategies that you can apply in your embroidery and apparel decorating business. Even implementing just one of these strategies is much better than doing nothing.
Newsletters
Create a newsletter for your business. There are many programs and services available that simplify the process of creating a newsletter. You can print them yourself and mail them, send them by email, or post them on your website. Use a newsletter to touch base with existing customers and to attract the attention of new customers.
If you have a brick-and-mortar business, why not partner with several neighboring businesses and publish a newsletter that features all of the businesses in the neighborhood? Have each business owner contribute a small article about a new product, service, or some news that would be of interest to the combined customer base along with a time-sensitive coupon. Participating business would mail or email the newsletter to their best customers, display the newsletter in their businesses, and share it on their websites and social media.
Use the coupons to help track the effectiveness of each issue. You can also ask for permission to display the newsletter in various locations around town, such as doctor’s offices, dentists, the public library, grocery store bulletin boards, laundromats, church bulletin boards, and other public spaces.
If you would like to see some examples of email newsletters, send me an email at jennifer@nnep.com.
Coupons
Run coupons in your local papers or newsletters, in your local “community flyers” or even on placemats at the local diners. These display coupons often bring in new business. Offer a coupon on your social media. Tweak the coupon until it starts getting results. Always add an expiration date on the coupon. If no one uses the coupon, it is time to change it.
Try offering a “baker’s dozen” on golf caps on one coupon. If that does not attract business, offer a different coupon that promotes golf shirts at a great price, or sweatshirts, or some other product.
Test each coupon for its effectiveness. When one coupon outperforms the others, see if you can determine why. Was it the actual offer, the design, the language you used, or was it simply just a coincidence that six copies of this particular coupon were redeemed the first week it was offered?
Ask your customers where they saw the coupon, and if they had ever noticed any of your other coupons before this one.
Be the expert
Partner with your customers by being their “apparel advisor” instead of their “shirt dude” or “jacket lady.” Offer a free “brand image consultation” for a new customer. In this consultation, evaluate what they are currently doing and then offer suggestions on ways to enhance their image with your embroidered and decorated goods.
Position yourself as the expert, the one person who can help them develop a look for themselves, their employees, and their entire company with your custom and branded apparel. Every time you meet with them, build upon their previous purchases with products that will complement those past purchases.
When they buy golf shirts in the spring, come back in the fall with suggestions including sweaters, sweatshirts, and jackets that will coordinate well with the golf shirts. Help your customers develop a curated line of apparel for their staff and even their customers. When you support them with this approach, they will see you as part of their marketing and branding team, and that is a much different and more valuable role than thinking of you as their “shirt guy.”
Open house
If you have a brick-and-mortar business, host an in-person open house at your business to bring new people through your door. Many chambers of commerce offer monthly gatherings, usually at the business locations of various members. Offer to host a future gathering. Have the machines running, the display area filled with current samples, and catalogs available for browsing. We forget how fascinating it is to see the machines when they running.
Your fellow business owners are likely to be fascinated, and once they know where to find you, they will come back when they have a need for custom embroidery. If you are not part of the chamber, host your own open house. Send out invitations or post flyers to announce it and invite the local newspaper. Make sure you encourage your existing customers to stop in and bring a friend.
Contests
Contests are a fun way to attract the attention of new customers. Embroidery lends itself very well to a contest format. “Guess how many stitches” is a classic theme. Run an ad in the local paper with a printed version of the design and invite the public to stop in to see the actual embroidered sample and submit their guess. Offer the winner a free shirt, sweater, or sweatshirt with a stock design of their choice. For the cost of the ads, one shirt, and one stock design, you could attract a large number of new people to your business.
Make the contest fun and even maybe a bit wacky. Select a unique design for the contest or run it in wild colors. Or go with something traditional, such as the local school mascot. Really talk it up around town. Post flyers on the bulletin boards at the grocery stores, laundromats, library, and everywhere else you are allowed to in town. Post it on social media. If you can get a buzz going around town about your contest, then your effort is working.
Contact the local paper to see if they will cover the contest and feature the winner. Maybe you could even get the local paper to run a photo of the contest winner holding or wearing their winning item, along with the answer to the contest in the accompanying blurb. If you begin an annual or even quarterly tradition, you might be able to create a phenomenon that will work over and over again.
Customer referrals
One tried-and-true method to find new customers is to ask your existing customers for referrals. Many business owners are intimidated when they even think about asking for referrals. When it is done correctly, your customer will be flattered that you asked, and may volunteer names without hesitation.
The secret to asking for referrals is in how and when ask for them. When a customer picks up a job, and is thrilled with your work, that is a prime opportunity to candidly ask for referrals. Ask if they can think of anyone they know who would benefit from the same kinds of products. Ask for permission to use the name of the person who gave you the referral. Most importantly, be sure to follow up on the leads you receive.
Wear your work
Be your own best marketing. Wear your best embroidery around town, on your personal time. I lost count long ago of how many business cards I have handed out at the grocery store, waiting in line at the bank, and sitting on the sidelines at my child’s events and games all because I was wearing some eye-catching embroidery.
I often wear custom bold, embroidered, rhinestoned, or sublimated tops when I am bopping around town. I have a stack of fleece and button-ups for the spring and fall that are the bulk of my weekend wardrobe. Make sure you (and your family) are wearing your work whenever appropriate. Take the time to decorate your apparel so that it will be noticed! Even my four-year-old knew to say, “Mommy did it; ask her!” It is the perfect setup to offer the interested person a business card or ask for theirs.
The follow-up was to then extend the invitation to stop by so I can show them “what I can make for them.” This is a key phrase — I do not mention sales or selling, or even embroidery. Many of these folks did stop in and became long-time customers, simply because I was so casual and sincere in my invitation. One lady told me she was so curious to “see what else I could make” that she stopped in the next week. She made the trip specifically to come to my business as she lived well past the other side of town.
No matter what strategy you use to build your business and attract new customers, fine-tune each effort on a small scale before investing in that effort on a larger scale. Let each strategy have a fair shot at working before you try something else. Most importantly, remember that unless the person seeing your message requires your embroidery at that exact moment, it does not matter anyway.
Some of these marketing strategies are old school, no doubt. You may stand out MORE using them, instead of solely relying on social media, for example. These strategies have been around so long because they work. The secret to attracting new customers is to keep your company visible, memorable, and accessible so that when the potential customer does have a need for decorated apparel, you are already on their mind.
