Focus your advertising campaign and speak directly to the customer using plain language, letting them know what’s in it for them. A superstore ad may promise a lot but contain asterisks to the exceptions in the fine print. A local Hudson Valley store ad campaign may counter “there are no asterisks.”

All promotional messages should invite action….tell the customer what to do, call us. As much as fifty percent of co-op budgets are not
being used. Take advantage of matching funds. When it’s time to add pizzazz to you promotion, consult with advertising agencies, writers,
graphic artists, photographers and media buyers.

Or establish an internal ad agency and receive a 15% discount when buying media. Remember, you can’t have both professional advice and a 15% discount. To compete with the huge advertising budget of the mega merchants, think about niches where you can excel. Consider special events; direct marketing and customer clubs.

A successful special event is to bring people in, not to give them a hard sell. Studies show that 85% of small businesses that use direct mail get new business. Done right, databases market locates new customers and tells your old customers that you remember them. Consider starting a frequent buyer program and encourage your customers to buy more from you.

Jim Meyer’s Drugs in Alabama offers free delivery, a convenient drive up window, 24 hour emergency service, and an education center where customers get a wealth of information about health topics. The pharmacy was first in the area to offer blood pressure and cholesterol screenings as well as free information seminars. The result? In three years sales shot up 32%.

Appliance dealers can provide free delivery and hook ups. Retailers can offer complimentary gift-wrapping and delivery. Computer Systems in Missouri towers over the discounters by making sure that their customers purchase machines which will grow with them and sells industry standard architecture that can be easily upgraded. Computer Systems offers clients toll-free support with their purchases forever.

You can’t buy as well as Kmart, Home Depot, or Best Buy, but can chip away their clout by joining a buying group pooling the needs of many small businesses into larger orders with major suppliers. You can then pass the savings on to your customers.

Use variable-pricing strategies to match the large discounter’s prices on items with the highest visibility. If you’re selling the same brand of toilet tissue for $1.29 versing 97 cents, you’re charging 33% more. Customers will come to believe that you’re 33% higher on everything.

You don’t have to lower prices on all of your inventory, just those that are exactly the same as your competitors, which represents typically 10% or 20% of your inventory. This leaves the other 80% to get your margin back up. Simply increase your mark up on all inventory which is not price sensitive.

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