The Ali Dee Show

EP 96: Drive More Foot Traffic: Brick and Mortar Marketing Strategies

• Ali Dee • Season 1 • Episode 96

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Struggling to get customers through your doors? You're not alone. Many brick and mortar store owners are missing crucial marketing opportunities that could dramatically increase foot traffic overnight.

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Speaker 1:

Hey, welcome to the Ali D show. I'm so excited you are joining me today for this incredible episode that I am gearing towards our brick and mortar girlies out there. So my listeners that have a physical storefront you sell physical products with a literal store where someone can walk come in and see you and purchase items from you. This is for you. This is also for you if you've been thinking about opening a brick and mortar, or maybe one day it's something that you would like to do. But what I'm going to focus on in this episode is how to get more traffic to your brick and mortar store. I get this question a lot. In fact, I recently made a TikTok video on this, so I wanted to bring it to the podcast because it is something that's so important that you really understand brick and mortar marketing as it currently sits, because there's been a lot of different, I guess, phases of brick and mortar advertising, marketing, what that looks like, and I think a lot of store owners just aren't up to date on what's currently working. Store owners just aren't up to date on what's currently working. So I'm going to break down my best tips for brick and mortar store owners that are trying to grow and scale their business with more foot traffic, more people coming into their space, more people walking in and picking out items, taking them to the cash register, plopping them on there and saying give me all this, package it up and let's go. Does that sound good? All right, let's get started.

Speaker 1:

So the first thing I want to mention is that, when it comes to marketing for brick and mortar, a lot of times traditional marketing is still a really good option for you. So one thing you're going to want to look at is are there maybe some radio stations in town? Are there maybe some radio stations in town, some magazines, local magazines, local newspapers? You could kind of just start thinking about. This could be an option for you in the near future. On something you would want to consider for your store to get more traffic in, because when it comes to brick and mortar, we obviously really want to focus on local, local, local. So there's multiple ways to do this and I'll go through all of them. But I really want to focus on local, local, local. So there's multiple ways to do this and I'll go through all of them, but I just want to throw that little possibility out there for you. Sometimes radio can be a little bit expensive. So can, obviously, newspaper, but sometimes it's actually a really, really inexpensive way to get your name out there.

Speaker 1:

Another one I just want to pop in again. I'm just covering some traditional marketing really quick, just to kind of get it out there, to put it on your mind. Sometimes you can even rent billboards in your area for a really crazy, insane low price. So not all the time. Obviously it depends on where you're listening to this. If you're listening to this in a major metropolitan city, all of these things are going to be a lot higher price points for you. So it's up to you if it's in the budget or not, and I wouldn't suggest going crazy if it's not very easily within your budget. But for those of you that are in some more rural areas, maybe cities with under 100,000 people, this could be a really good, inexpensive and very effective way for you to jump into the advertising game for your brick and mortar store.

Speaker 1:

So that's the first thing I just wanted to mention is just let's just briefly talk about the traditional options that we have, right? Okay, let's talk about some of the non-traditional options that are quickly becoming more and more. I guess, I don't know traditional, accepted, whatever you want to call it more obvious ways that you need to be advertising right here, right now, or not even advertising, cause what I'm going to be talking about from now on is, um, pretty much all organic marketing. So the traditional marketing obviously you pay somebody to talk about your business, to publish about your business, to get the word of mouth out there. This style of marketing. The next three things I'm going to talk about are more focused on organic marketing, which means these are going to be essentially free for you to do. You're going to have to invest your time, you're going to have to invest a little elbow grease, but at the end of the day, it's not going to cost you a lot of money. So that's why I want to make sure you know and you are fully understanding that this is one of the best ways for you to actually jump into the marketing game If you feel like you're a brick and mortar and you haven't really been seeing the success or the traffic that you've been wanting to see.

Speaker 1:

So the first thing is Facebook. So many of you are fighting me on Facebook and, quite frankly, I don't know why. A lot of you will tell me oh, I don't know, nobody's on Facebook anymore. My audience isn't there, or maybe it's like a little bit dorky, or whatever it is. Whatever the case is that you're telling yourself Facebook is a must-do, non-negotiable. If you are a brick and mortar, you must be showing up on Facebook on a regular basis, because Facebook is the best place, free place to reach local traffic.

Speaker 1:

So right now, if you're not on Facebook and you have a store, I want you to get on Facebook literally today. Make a page for your business, make sure you are starting to share it with all your friends, invite everybody you know to like the page and start getting active immediately Because, again, facebook is the best way for you to reach local people. So not only with your own page, but here's a good little trick that you could start doing immediately to jump into every single Facebook group that's in your local area and even the surrounding towns. So you're going to want to definitely check out, like breaking news type groups for your community, your town, buy, sell, trade for your town. You know, fill in the blank, town moms groups, really any and all Facebook groups that are locally based. You need to get in there and start being active, talk about your business, get in the conversation, invite people into your store, but you would be surprised how many people will actually come to your store when they realize you're a real human and you're not just, like you know, a random store out there. They can actually see you, trust you, they know you're the owner. This works volumes for getting traffic into your store and it's really interesting because I've seen people just start using this strategy, for example. I say we'll start working together.

Speaker 1:

One of the first things I'll always ask a brick and mortar store is how active are you on Facebook? And the answer is, 99% of the time, not really active at all. It's just like an afterthought, and I'm like, okay, well, watch this, we're about to change the game for you. And as soon as they start getting active on their Facebook page posting pictures of what's in the store, posting pictures of you know, little cute setups, inviting people in, getting into the Facebook groups almost immediately like literally within days to the Facebook groups, almost immediately, like literally within days the foot traffic skyrockets. It's because people locally want to support local businesses most of the time, but they also want to feel like you're part of the community and you are active as well. So it's just a thing.

Speaker 1:

So if you're not on Facebook yet, you need to get on Facebook immediately. You need to create your page, you need to put all kinds of pictures, you need to start asking people for reviews. Really, really get active on Facebook. Again, it is the best and easiest way, and free, unless you're running ads. But we're not doing that. We're talking about free marketing. This is the best and easy way for you to get free marketing using Facebook. So don't poo-poo it. Okay, I know you're over there going oh Allie, I don't know if I want to do Facebook. I'm telling you it's a non-negotiable as a brick and mortar store owner. Okay, so that's number one.

Speaker 1:

The next thing I want to talk about is actually your Google business page. Some of you don't even know that you can get a Google business page for your store. So this way, if someone's Googling like boutique near me, your boutique, like, let's say, they open their phone, right, maybe they're visiting town or I don't know. Whatever the case may be, maybe you're in a bigger town and people are searching for cute stores, cute boutiques. Whatever the case may be, you want to make sure that you pop up on the Google map and not only do you pop up. But you pop up and have a presence Like there's some five-star reviews, there's people that have come into your store, that have left reviews, that have taken pictures. Maybe you're taking the pictures, you're uploading them to your Google business page.

Speaker 1:

I did this when I had a brick and mortar and it was incredible how many people came in and were like, oh, we saw you on Google Maps. We were just driving by because we're in a very high traffic kind of commuting place, so obviously the people in our town were only a few hundred people. They know about the business, but, being on a major highway, we were definitely trying to reach more people that were just passing by or commuting, and so this was a big thing for us is making sure that we claimed our Google ad I'm sorry, our Google business page. Google ad essentially is an ad for you, right? It's a free ad because you can claim your business page. You can do all this for free. You can add photos, you can tell people to come, hang out, whatever the case may be, promote events all the things that can happen right on your Google business page. So if you don't have one of those yet, this is your sign. You need to do that immediately and I believe there's ways that you can. Even you know you can add your website, you can add information, you can add your hours. All these things are so important to have up to date, clear and present and easily findable if that's a real word on Google sorts of things, especially on their phone, or they're going to open up their iPhone map or whatever they use. They're going to go to their map and they're going to see ooh, this looks cute, let's go here. Like, maybe you are a candle maker and you have, you know, a brick and mortar store and you've been wanting to get more people in to see your candles, because you know, once they smell your candles in person, it is a done deal. You've got to make sure you're getting traffic in there by being on something like Google business. Okay, so this is a must do, total game changer. So I really want to make sure you're doing that as well. So first, remember we're getting on Facebook. Second, we're claiming our Google business page.

Speaker 1:

Now the next thing I want to talk about are events, events, events, events, events. Oh my gosh, you need to have freaking events, and I'm not talking about like a sale three times a year, or even like a sale every other month. I'm talking about really exciting ways that you can invigorate your community and get them excited to come to your store and shop. Events can literally be around anything but all the best brick and mortar stores, all the ones that are really successful over the years. What they know is they have to have a lot of fricking events, and this doesn't have to mean like some big, huge bash, some like party where you're renting DJs and spending a lot of money. This could literally be anything, anything like. I always laugh. It could be it's my dog's birthday month. Come to the store and sign his birthday card, okay, whatever the case, you would be shocked how many people get excited about little, cute, fun, small events. So, as I'm recording this message, we're getting ready to head into the holiday season, right, right, this is when you need to ramp up events more than any other time of the year, and I'm talking like you should be having an event almost every single weekend starting in October. Okay, like we're having, you know, trick or treat, we're having costume contests, we're having like spooky Saturday, whatever the case may be, event, event, event.

Speaker 1:

Not only does this A give you a reason to continually be showing up on these Facebook groups and on Facebook talking about what you have going on in the store. It also shows you're a very active and exciting store. You're not just hanging around waiting for customers to come in. Remember, when you're a brick and mortar, people are coming in to shop, to get an experience, to have fun. They got their handbags and their wallets ready, okay. They're not coming in there just to, you know, mope around. Most of the time they're coming in because they want that feeling of what it's like when they walk inside a brick and mortar to shop and that happiness. You sell happiness, okay. So you got to really be in the business of selling happiness and fun, and that's what events can do for your store.

Speaker 1:

So, again, for Christmas, this could be like you know, as you get closer to Christmas, this is like Christmas cookie night, cocktails and candy canes. You need to start thinking of themes and events that you can do every single weekend. Again, nothing huge, right? If you're doing Christmas cookie night, it's just you getting some Christmas cookies from Kroger, putting them on a cute platter, maybe having some you know punch or something whatever to go with it, maybe blowing up a few balloons, but we're. You know we're not getting crazy every weekend. You can get crazy if that's your thing, but like minimum, you need to at least be having some events, to be driving people into your store and giving you a reason to always be promoting what's going on at your store.

Speaker 1:

And where people get burnout is when they don't do stuff like this, because they're either showing up saying the same thing you know, with the same pictures and the same boring blah, blah, blah, and they don't have any excitement in their voice and they don't. They aren't selling happiness and fun. Okay, you got to sell happiness and fun as a brick and mortar or whatever. Your thing is right. You have to be so excited about people coming into your store to experience it. You're the leader, you're the one setting the bar of what they can expect when they come shop at your store. So if you are showing up with excitement, enthusiasm, guess what People are going to pull up ready to shop. But if you're showing up on Facebook and not even at all, people aren't going to feel that fun energy that's going to make them actually want to get in their cars and drive over to your store.

Speaker 1:

So it's really important, as brick and mortars, that you were doing these minimum things right. So you have the traditional marketing option that we talked about in the beginning, which is still great if it's in your budget, right Radio, tv, billboards, magazine, newspaper. That's where you're paying someone to speak about your business, to publish about your business. The second option, which I'm always a fan of and does incredible work, is the local options that are organic and free. Right, we have our Facebook, our Facebook groups, we've got our events that we talked about and we've got our Google business page. So that is kind of like your first and basic steps making sure that you're covered at least minimally in these areas. Now, if you want a bonus tip, here's a little bonus you could download an app like Nextdoor app, which is free, but it is a very localized app and there's some other ones out there that may be better fit for you and your business. But download a local app, something like Nextdoor, where you can again get your business in front of the people that are within a 20 mile radius or 10 mile radius or three mile it depends on, obviously, if you're a rural or in the city. Again, but you want to get people in your immediate shopping zone to know about you and you got to think locally.

Speaker 1:

Stop spending all your time trying to break into the Instagram game or the TikTok game for local business. Can it work? Yes, is it way harder? Yes, the easy path is through the ones I already mentioned, right, facebook, google, events. The harder path. That's going to make you feel very frustrated. In fact, I even just heard someone say like I have been trying to get this going on TikTok and it's just been frustrating and it's not working. It's because TikTok isn't really designed for that as much as something like Facebook is. So, is it possible? Yes, is it going to be harder? Yeah, so why don't we just do the easier thing? Right, at least start with that and then we can add on these other layers to improve your visibility.

Speaker 1:

But again, for right now, as a brick and mortar or maybe you want to open a brick and mortar or you're thinking about it, or even if you have like a pop-up shop somewhere, this is something you want to really consider to grow your in-person traffic. All right, well, thank you so much for listening. Per usual, please let me know if you have any questions. Don't forget we have our free training coming up. Money Maker, there is 77 of you inside now. 77 people there's probably more I haven't even checked today to see how many are joining but 77 so far are inside of this incredible free training. We're going to start on August 25th. We're going three weeks where I'm teaching you my seven figure formula the same formula that I use on repeat to build multiple seven figure businesses. I'm handing it all over to you, so I will see you inside. I'll put the link under this description. You can also go to my Instagram at allydceo and you can get the link there, but I am so excited to welcome you inside this free challenge.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for listening. Hopefully this helped DM me. Let me know if this was a good episode. I don't think I've done something like this before. So, like I said, I just saw the need for it on TikTok and that's honestly where a lot of the podcast comes from is you guys commenting and telling me your needs. So please continue to do that. Love you. Talk to you soon, bye.