Southern Jewelry News

Store events on a budget

11:50

January

2008

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Article Autor: David Rodgers

Marketing Concepts

Everybody loves a good party, but the thought of holding a store gathering usually leaves owners thinking about dollar signs quickly flying away. However, with a little pre-planning and a few good ideas, you can hold a low-budget event where everyone walks away a winner. Here are five easy and inexpensive steps that will help you host a successful and profitable store event.

1. Come up with a theme

This part is relatively easy. The theme could be a store’s anniversary, a holiday celebration, customer appreciation day and/or an extra-big sale. For the anniversary party, consumers won’t check your store’s records to see if the party is actually on the anniversary. Pick a good time of the year for you, and hold it then every year. If the theme is a big sale, make sure the prices aren’t too low, because you should have a large number of people interested in buying, and you might be able to pull a larger profit if the items are discounted just a bit less. For holiday parties, it is wise to pick a holiday that already has a large amount of sales (few are interested in a jewelry store’s “Washington’s Birthday Extravaganza.”)

2. Decorate your store

This can cost as much or as little as you’d like. The simplest way is to buy three sets of items: balloons in bunches with paper weights tied to them, streamers which you can hang from the walls and the ceiling, and signs made up to identify the party for those who are confused about the streamers and balloons. The signs will be the most expensive of those items, unless you have an artist as part of your staff or family. Otherwise, it is wise to hire an artist (or use stencil-ish equipment if on a tight budget). You can also save the signs for years to come.

3. Live Entertainment

You might be able to find this for free. Here’s the secret: high schools and colleges are often looking for places for student performances. Contact the music directors and ask if there are any exceptional small ensembles. String quartets and similar groups might be your best bet, because they usually play elegant sounding music at a reasonable volume. If you want to go the professional musician route, generally a solo keyboard player or harpist will do the trick without being extraordinarily costly.

4. Caricaturist

People like to be caricatured, and it gives them something to take home and keep. Often they’ll even frame them. Make sure before the event that you let the caricaturist know two things: be flattering in the drawings (don’t highlight a big nose or gapped teeth too much) and draw the name of the store on each picture. This way, whenever it is looked at, it becomes a free advertisement for your store.

5. Refreshments and Speeches

Refreshments might be one of the biggest costs of the party, however, ask the caterer if you can get a discount by prominently displaying their name and business cards at the refreshment table. Speeches can be quite informal. Unless you choose to have a stockholder party (and you probably don’t have shareholders), keep speeches quick and include humorous, entertaining, or uplifting stories. If you need a microphone and a speaker, this can often be borrowed from a friend or neighboring business for no added cost to the party. However, when in doubt leave speeches out, and let the party-goers have fun on their own.

The upsides of a party are many. They can bring in a lot of sales. They can start a lot of positive word of mouth about your store. They can give people a good feeling about your store. And they can help forge better relationships between you and your customers. The only downsides to the party are cost, which doesn’t have to be that big, and the clean-up, which should take very little time if all of your employees pitch in. Here’s to your next store party!

David Rodgers recently signed on as the Business Director for the JewelryTalk column program. He also owns DR Jingles, a radio advertising firm specializing in jewelers and small businesses. Contact him at jewelrytalk@yahoo.com or (248) 514-9376.