Maximize Business Opportunities

Many companies try to get more attention and sales for their products and services. This is doable if they offer a well-designed promotional event.

Brother Love DIY this marketing and sales function lasted for three days in a famous shopping mall. I will use this event as a case study to illustrate how a company can maximize the business opportunities in a limited time and space. I took all the photos in this article.

Sugarcoated theme

Don't hard sell. Pick an appealing theme and relate it to your product. Brothers used arts and crafts, and DIY as the main themes, which attracted media counting the event as a cultural activity and so, the organizer enjoyed free promotion, for example, event information appeared in the newspaper weekend recommendation column.

Good location

A small open area in a famous shopping mall with high stream of people guaranteed is good enough to hold a promotional event. Book the site in the midst of the mall, at the ground floor, with all four sides accessible. The busy sight can attract the curious shoppers at all floors to squeeze in and learn more.

Adopt square or rectangular layout, and divide the area into different blocks for various activities. The longer boundary, in comparison to the circular layout, maximizes the first-sight exposure. The block-setting creates a rich impression that favors longer span of attention and deeper penetration to the guests.

Attractive Display

Arrange a corner to have a pleasant display. The organizer used big bears in a home-like setting to generate a lovely and warm feeling. The charming display soothed the resistance to the business elements involved.

The displays should have some relations with the products, be eye-catching and appealing enough to lure visitors take photos and spend time within the promotional area. Well-chosen size, color and layout of the displays can enrich the small area and beget a favorable impression.

Appealing varieties

Brothers didn't display its sewing machines solely, but arranged joint promotion with other non-competitive parties to offer a wide variety of DIY products to maximize interests. This could avoid being too hard sell and visitors won't get bored quickly.

Competition

Companies should encourage interactions with all visitors to leave a positive impact. One strategy is to arrange a competition that allows easy participation and legal personal data collection of name and email address, etc.

Brothers invited visitors to be the judge and voted for the most likable DIY clothes. Filled in a simple form, participants gave their vote and got a chance in the lucky draw.

Gifts

Everyone welcomes freebies. To be selective and justify the cost, Brothers set a criterion: only visitors who gave the company a “Like” in Facebook could receive the bag of gifts. Response was good. A laptop computer was standby to help people get the gifts. Some people simply used their cell phone to meet the requirement. A large audience base was built in Facebook within a short period, ideal for future promotions.

Workshop

Using the DIY theme, Brothers arranged two workshops in the middle: one was about using the company's product to make a bag; the other one was about making a map-pattern pendant. The activities produced energetic feel and promoted DIY concept that could boost the sales of Brother's sewing machine.

Demonstrations and sales

Show visitors how powerful your product is. Brothers accepted orders and payments from anyone interested in having a DIY bag with one’s own words sewed on it. The orders kept the machine running, a perfect demo to promote sales of the sewing machines and generate income to offset the cost of the event.

There was another counter allowing customers to decorate their DIY bags by stamping. This free value-added service didn't cost Brothers much, but it made use of customer's creativity to highlight the potential of DIY, and the process was appealing to other visitors.

Pack your promotional event with an appealing theme, well-designed layout, interesting combinations, and a lot of fun activities that provoke guests taking actions. Let everyone who enters your area feel ease and spellbound. The reception of your marketing message, sales generation and future promotions will be made easier.

Author's note:

Picking a special theme for your product may attract so many attentions that you could have free promotions, reaching a large number of potential consumers within a short period of time due to the popularity of social network. Look at the restaurant discussed in the following article see if you would like to give it a try.

Niche Marketing: Will It be Digging One’s Own Grave?

With the advanced development of Internet, barter trade is feasible not only to save money but also get to know more people who may suggest a keen demand on a particular product. It's an economic way to build the customer base and good reputation within a community for the startup of a local business.

Barter Trade with The Use of Internet

Niche Marketing: Enter Market with a Franchise

(Appealing Ceiling)

Under keen market competitions, new entries strive hard to get a market share and stay survived. To secure a business easier, franchise can help you. 

 

According to Wikipedia,“Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business…”This article will show you an appealing example, Charlie Brown Café.

(Peanuts Characters everywhere)

The benefits of entering market with a franchise:

1)    Speedy recognition and sales:

Franchise involves famous brands. Fans become the potential customers immediately. People who are neutral to the brand will also give the new entity a try for the sake of gimmick.

2)    Lower promotion cost:

It costs a lot for an individual entity to promote and be outstanding when there are so many other similar choices in the market. With a franchise, joint promotion is often done, in a large scale, benefiting all corresponding branches. The promotion cost is shared and minimized. Sometimes, the trademark is so remarkable that free promotion can be entitled as travel books, blogs and word-of-mouth spread the merits and drew in customers. 

3)    Successful formula:

The methods of doing the business are standardized. Following the procedures, people can learn to be a successful boss or manager easier with fewer trials and errors. Many things come in handy, for example, the inventory, the style of the shop, the products and so on.

4)    Niche marketing:
When the products and services are similar, the specialty of a trademark offer favorable uniqueness, which can secure the business to the category of niche marketing, adding competitive advantages to strengthen the survival of a business entity. 

5)    Higher price acceptable:

If the trademark is adorable enough, price of the products and services can be set higher without the fear of losing customers. Satisfactory experience will enhance customer loyalty in a larger degree.

(Cakes showing Lucy)

 Click into the link and see the photo of A Lovely Charlie Brown Coffee.

Gimmicks of Charlie Brown Café:

1)    With the licensing of the trademarks, you will find Peanuts characters all over, from the interior design, furniture to foods and drinks. Many people will find the layout and products eye-catching, friendly and adorable. Warm feeling could be generated when the customers enjoy reading Peanuts comic scripts and know the characters well. With the expectation of fun, people are likely to give it a try no matter you are a fan or not.

2)    Charlie Brown café is spacious, comfortable and relaxing for people sitting together to eat, drink, chat, read magazines or books and use one’s gadget. It’s a good place for gathering and having fun. Due to the lovely characters, parent will find it more helpful than other similar options such as Starbucks Coffee and Pacific Coffee Company as their children will enjoy the environment far better.

(Friendly and relaxing environment)

Charlie Brown Café can be found in Hong Kong, Singapore and other Asia countries. My photos are showing the Charlie Brown Café in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.

(Charlie Brown on the floor)

Author’s note:

Charlie Brown Café is never the only restaurant that applies niche marketing. Let me give you two more outstanding examples. Due to the nature of the gimmicks, the given examples have their own pros and cons.

1st example: Modern Toilet (The chain restaurants adopt bathroom theme.) Welcome to clink into the two articles below for more details. Just a reminder, do this before the meal.

Are You Ready to Lose Your Appetite?
Niche Marketing: Will It be Digging One's Own Grave?

2nd example: Choco Cat Café (The restaurant adopts cat theme. Real cats are used to attract customers.)

Niche Marketing: Rallying Point of Cats