Marketing Tips for Shoe Retailers

Large companies dominate the shoe manufacturing business with recognised brands mainly geared towards sporting footwear and of course, women’s shoes. Nevertheless, these companies concentrate their national efforts on wholesale and design of footwear when finishing most production efforts overseas. To penetrate this market as a small business owner, you will need to be innovative in your design choices and invent a solid set of marketing strategies to achieve a competitive edge. Based upon your advertising budget, there are numerous techniques you can use to advertise your goods and lots of them are relatively cheap but very powerful.

Develop an online presence and conduct surveys

Establish a well-designed website to display the various kinds of shoes that your business manufactures. Include a functional e-commerce store, complete with a shopping cart, which takes various payment methods. Potential clients have the flexibility to navigate your site in their own time, privacy and relaxation and determine what suits their style and price range. Entice your customers with special deals and promotions, and answer their frequently asked questions. Create additional promotional opportunities by inviting opinions and collecting customer studies — either by follow-up email or on your website, about their shopping experience and your goods.

Hold a fashion show

Hosting a fashion show will create awareness about your shoe line. Hold your display at a time and place convenient to your potential clients, by way of instance, in your premises, a hotel ballroom or community hall. Consider focusing your motif on women’ shoes since, normally, families spend more on apparel designed for women aged 16 and over than any other attire product. Seek the involvement of people who are integral to your marketing strategy, such as local models, fashionistas and journalists to get the word out after the show. If the event is successful, you can elect to hold normal shows in other big markets.

Customer Referral Incentive Program

Put together an incentive program that provides discounts or gifts of your discretion to encourage existing customers to refer their colleagues to buy your goods. You may inform your clients about the referral program after each purchase, though you may prompt inactive customers by steadily communicating via postal mail or email, taking care not to overwhelm them. This strategy makes your client base a sales force. Therefore, be sure you thank them within 24 hours of receiving the referral. Track referrals, especially those that earn rewards. Consider using online monitoring if your referrals are internet-based. Word of Mouth (WOM) is still one of the most powerful marketing tools out there, capitalise on it!

Get on Social Media

Leverage your presence on social networks to allow yourself access to an inexpensive, direct marketing platform to promote your shoe line and reach a potentially diverse customer base. Your social networking site is a more relaxed environment, and visitors are more likely to get in touch with your goods at a personal level instead of perceive your business as only advertising items available. Offer information that your readers will discover valuable and interesting by incorporating text-based content with graphics and videos related to your products, such as an article on how to make women’s pumps feel comfortable. This can generate quality online connections that read, share and discuss your shoes with their particular crowds, forcing repeat business and attracting new clients.

Sponsor Contests

People like winning things and competitions present such opportunities. Go beyond classic advertising and sponsor competitions to draw attention to products like your new range of women’s sneakers for example. As a strategy, the idea is to promote your brand and put your logo and name before the public rather than make money via a hard-sell campaign. For example, you may offer to host a local soccer game or athletics event for students, and give money and gift cards redeemable for purchasing kids shoes online as prizes. Set up highly visible poster displays that encourage your products throughout the event.