Local Boutique: Online Marketing Tips
Do you have a local boutique that isn’t making the revenue to keep you in business? Do you have a small local customer base to keep you in business but you want to experience more growth? With the amount of local marketing resources out their for boutiques these days, now is a better time than ever to grow your boutique with internet marketing. The following online marketing tips can help you create and/or boost not only the foot traffic to your store location but your online traffic as well, creating the increased customer base that you have been wanting.
1. Boutique Style Web Presence. Your customer base potential is enormous. Every city in every state in every part of the world has a large base of people who live for boutiques like yours. With the percentage of people shopping online for their next outfit pushing 50%, it is only going to increase. This doesn’t mean you have to have an elaborate online store but a simple website designed after your store’s look is all you need to start. A few pages including a little about your self, what type of items you have available and a contact page with your store’s location is sufficient. If you like to blog or would like to start, this opens up a whole other area of marketing potential.
2. Online Marketing Campaigns. If you haven’t already created a social media account for your boutique, now would be a good time to. With all the social media options out there it can be a little overwhelming. Again, start simple with a Facebook or Twitter account. They both include step-by-step instructions on how to completely setup your account. Social media accounts are just another way to market your boutique’s website, location, new items, sales and promotions that you may have among many other things.
3. Business Affiliate Connections. Once you have a solid basis for an online presence with your boutique’s website and social accounts, it’s time to start networking with other local businesses. That doesn’t mean go talk to your competitors but more so to other local businesses that can influence your customer base who aren’t directly related to your industry. One great opportunity for your boutique is to befriend a local tailor. The tailor can advertise your boutique and your items in their shop and you can do the same in yours. This relationship can be taken one step further by coming to an agreement where you can offer a percent off of tailoring when people buy clothes from your store that need altered.
If you complete these steps you will be well on your way to gaining more exposure to your boutique in more ways than one. If you feel like you don’t have the time or expertise to carry out these steps, you can always hire someone for a fraction of the cost you would spend on traditional marketing. Your boutique is your passion so have fun utilizing these small business marketing tips and enjoy!
