Archive for the ‘New Social Business’ Category

Engage Customers through Social Media While In-Store

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

As Location Marketing gains steam through tools like Foursquare, SCVNGR, and Facebook Places small business owners would be wise to begin developing marketing tactics designed to engage customers while in-store. When customers are in your store you have them at Peak Attention in terms of their interest in your business. With most customers being able to access the internet from anywhere with their mobile smart phones, small business owners can engage customers through Social Media while they are at Peak Attention in-store. Now, this doesn’t mean your sales associates should ignore customers while in-store, it simply means a combined approach is now possible at a time when customers are most likely to make a purchase… By engaging customers through Social Media while they are in your store you have the ability to make a big-time impact on their purchase decision.

In-Store Social Media Promotion Ideas

In-Store Peak Customer AttentionWhen it comes to developing ideas for creative social media marketing promotions many small business owners struggle. The biggest things to keep in mind when trying to come up with creative ideas for in-store social media promotions are to keep the tactics relevant to your audience, be creative, and offer something of value in exchange for a desired action from you customers. By keeping these three things in mind, it will be much easier to come up with creative in-store social media promotions for your small business.

Here are a few in-store social media promotion ideas to get you started (these are generic ideas, which should be tailored to your small business and can even be “kicked up a notch” if you so desire):

  • Twitter Picture Contest: With mobile applications like TweetDeck, combined with mobile smart phones, customers now have the ability to instantly snap pictures with their phone & tweet them to their followers. Small businesses should leverage tools like mobile smart phones, Twitter, & TweetDeck to create a Twitter Picture Contest where customers can snap a picture of their favorite product in-store, tweet it, and receive a discount on their purchase.

  • Leave a foursquare Tip: We have written about the power of foursquare Tips for small business owners on the Catalyst blog in the past. Foursquare is a great tool for capturing customers attention while in-store. You can run a contest where every customer who checks-in at your venue on foursquare and leaves a tip will be entered into a weekly or monthly drawing for a gift certificate or another great prize. Although this promotion isn’t directly geared towards influencing a sale, it will engage customers and help you build brand loyalty. If the winner receives a $25 gift certificate, it’s likely that he or she will spend more than that the next time they come in, so it actually may indirectly impact sales.

  • Video Record Your Shopping Experience: Just like most of us have the ability to take pictures with our mobile smart phones, many have the ability to record video as well. Small business owners should leverage this by developing an in-store video marketing promotion. Small Business owners can ask customers to record their entire shopping experience and publish the video to their small business Facebook page. Each customer who participates will receive a coupon towards their purchase.

Benefits to Running In-Store Social Media Promotions

By taking advantage of one of the in-store social media promotion ideas above, or by coming up with your own in-store social media promotion, your small business will benefit a few ways:

  • In-store social media promotions can positively influence purchase decisions, which can lead to increased sales.

  • In-store social media promotions engage customers while they are at Peak Attention, which should increase the number of customers who participate. This activity is great for your social media presence and may entice more prospects to connect with you when they see how many others are actively engaged.

  • In-store social media promotions can build brand loyalty if customers see that you’re trying to provide them with value in a way that’s convenient for them.

2011 Social Media Trend: More In-Store Social Media Promotions

Being that it’s the new year, everyone is seemingly weighing in with their predictions for the upcoming year. Since a wealth of information on social media predictions for 2011 already exists, we’ll keep ours to just this one. Here at Catalyst we are currently working with small business clients on their in-store social media promotions, and we think you’re going to start to see a lot more of it as 2011 presses on. If you’re a small business owner, definitely take some time to consider developing an in-store social media promotion for your small business. We think it will help you drive sales in what looks to be another tough year for the economy.

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Posted in New Social Business, Online Marketing | 2 Comments »

New Social Business Profile: Asher’s Chocolates

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Our latest featured New Social Business is Asher’s Chocolates Retail Store of Souderton, PA. This Montgomery County small business has been using the internet as an effective marketing tool. Asher’s Chocolates has not only used online tools like Facebook in their marketing strategy, but they have embraced the idea of carrying that social behavior through to their retail store.

The mind behind the Asher’s Chocolates Retail Store Facebook Fan Page is Emma Hodgson, the Retail Store Manager. She has changed the way she, and other employees of the store, interact with customers. They now reference their Facebook page in conversations with customers. Many times customers will bring up different things that have been happening on their Facebook page. It gives customers and Emma a reason to engage in conversation, as opposed to the standard, “can I help you with anything?”, which often times makes customers feel uncomfortable and they politely decline. Now, through Facebook, customers and Asher’s employees have connected online, which provides a real opportunity for Asher’s employees to take their conversation to the next level during their in store meeting.

Philadelphia Area New Social Business

Emma Hodgson has been working at Asher’s Chocolates Retail Store for 11 years now. Earlier this year, she had the idea of putting an Asher’s coupon up on her individual Facebook page, as customers began finding her on Facebook to talk Asher’s Chocolates. Once that began to take off, in early March 2009, Emma went ahead and created the Asher’s Chocolates Retail Store fan page. It’s been an overwhelming success so far for the chocolate maker as they have over 500 fans. Asher’s Chocolates is a Philadelphia success story and they’ve been evolving their business along with the times since they opened their first retail store in Germantown, PA in 1892.

Asher’s Chocolates Retail Store is currently running a campaign through Facebook. The coupon has been associated with the following sales:

  • June 2009: 13 purchases
  • July/August 2009: 26 purchases
  • September 2009: 3 purchases

The coupons have the highest average purchase amount compared to any other campaign Asher’s has run including print, radio and internet. Perhaps you want to re-read that statement…especially if you are someone who doesn’t think social media marketing can drive sales. A free tool, in this case Facebook, has driven more sales than any other promotion they have run in the past. Pretty amazing if you ask me.

Asher’s Chocolates Retail Store uses Facebook to the fullest. They have a link on their website to point people to their Facebook page. When they do participate in traditional advertising, such as in the local Clipper Magazine, they are sure to include the Facebook logo so that people know they can find them there.

When I asked Emma how the owners of the store are reacting to the success on Facebook, she said that they love it. She quoted them as saying, “we’re not spending any money on this”. They are exactly right. It simply takes time to maintain the page, as well as, a change in philosophy throughout the organization. Employees need to be up on the latest developments on the page so that they can interact with customers. The marketing department needs to know to put links to the Facebook page on their website and insert Facebook logos into their print ads. Everyone needs to be on the same page when it comes to social media marketing for it to work to it’s fullest potential.

For now, Asher’s Chocolates Retail Store plans to stick with Facebook as it’s sole means of social media marketing. At this point, maintaining one site takes plenty of Emma’s time. That’s something we certainly understand, as we have built Catalyst Marketers around the idea of helping business owners with these tasks, so that they can focus on what they do best. If you haven’t been to the Asher’s Chocolates Retail Store, definitely stop by and visit the “bartenders of chocolate”, as they have so many special products in their store. It’s only right up the street for many of us, so be sure to check them out. Grab your coupon from their Facebook fan page before you go. Click the map below for directions.

Asher’s Chocolates Retail Store is running a photo contest on their Facebook page. Become a fan of their page and participate. Here are the official rules of the Asher’s Chocolates Facebook Photo Contest: Upload your pictures of someone enjoying Asher’s Chocolates. We will pick our favorite 3 photos for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Winners will receive a gift basket or gift certificate to the retail store in the amount of $100 (1st place), $50 (2nd place), or $25 (3rd place). Start uploading those pictures now! You may enter 5 pictures per person. Contest ends ends November 30th, winners will be notified by December 7th! Good Luck!

If you think your business has what it takes to be featured on our blog as a New Social Business, then leave a comment on this post, or email Catalyst Marketers.

Posted in New Social Business, Small Business | 2 Comments »

New Social Business Profile: Tomasso Trattoria Restaurant

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Here at Catalyst Marketers, we like to turn the everyday business into what we call a New Social Business. To us, a New Social Business is one that uses social tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning, Blogs, E-mail and others to reach customers and prospects, build relationships with them based on mutual trust, and ultimately drive sales growth.

As we interact with business owners in our local communities of Doylestown, Chalfont, North Wales, and others, we come across businesses that don’t require our assistance because they have already created a social business. When we do meet these innovative business owners, we like hear their story.

Here’s a sample of the questions we ask:

  • What online tools are you currently using?
  • What are your goals for each online tool?
  • How are you measuring your goals?
  • Have these online tools benefited your business? If so, how?

For today’s post, we actually wanted to extend our reach past the Philadelphia area in order to find a social business to profile, so we used our own social tools and found Tomasso Trattoria Restaurant, located in Southborough, Massachusetts.

Tomasso Trattoria is owned and operated by Tom Prince and his wife Mary. I want to say thank you to Tom for participating in this Catalyst Marketers Social Business Profile.

Boston Area Social Business

Tomasso Trattoria is getting ready to celebrate their five year anniversary next month. That’s quite a feat for any small business. Congratulations Tom! As Tom built his restaurant, he used his previous work experience, along with a network of his peers, to help him with his marketing initiatives. Shout out to Bob Cargill of @CargillCreative. Tom’s latest strategy for driving more business to Tomasso Trattoria, while at the same time building stronger relationships with existing customers, involves two heavy-hitting social media sites, Facebook & Twitter.

Tom jumped into social media marketing back in February 2009. His goals were to:

  • Attract prospects
  • Build relationships with customers (current & potential)
  • Communicate promotions & nightly specials

He has been using both Twitter and Facebook to accomplish those goals. Now you can find Tomasso Trattoria on Twitter and Tomasso Trattoria on Facebook.

Tom uses the Tomasso Trattoria Twitter page for immediate communication, such as a limited supply specials, fixed-priced menu alerts, and to promote different events and special causes. Soon Tomasso Trattoria will be offering special price discounts to twitter followers, so be sure to keep track of the latest tweets from Tomasso Trattoria.

Tom attributes Tomasso Trattoria’s 2009 Best of Boston award to Twitter. He says that the social tool has helped extend his reach, and apparently, the big boys in Boston are paying attention. Great job Tom!

Facebook has provided Tomasso Trattoria with an environment to interact on a deeper level with customers and prospects. Fans of the Tomasso Trattoria Facebook page receive more detailed information about the menu, specials, events, and recipes. He can put more context around these topics than what he’s able to do through Twitter.

Through the Tomasso Trattoria Facebook page, Tom can learn what customers think of his restaurant, the food, the service and much more. He can build momentum for an event he’s hosting at Tomasso Trattoria. Tom can even run special promotions directly to his Facebook fans. Facebook gives Tomasso Trattoria access to more people than ever before, it allows Tom to share information with and receive information from, customers, and it ultimately drives new and existing customers into his restaurant. All in all, I’d say Tom’s already well on his way to accomplishing his social media goals he and I discussed last week.

Just as an FYI – Tom has also created the Tomasso Trattoria e-newsletter, which keeps his customers informed on new exquisite food and wine selections and any upcoming special events. Sign up if you’re interested. And for those looking for a great Italian restaurant in the Boston area, you should check Tomasso Trattoria, as they make everything from scratch, while using only the freshest LOCAL ingredients for every dish.

Oh yeah, Tom operates a small store, Panzano Market, where you can buy many of the foods used to make his delicious dishes at Tomasso Trattoria.

If you think your business has what it takes to be featured on our blog as a New Social Business, then leave a comment on this post, or email Catalyst Marketers.

Posted in New Social Business | 1 Comment »