4 Ways to Market Your Business to Your Community

Being an independent retailer can come with challenges. It may be more difficult to market your business in your community and stand out against the competition, luckily there are a few easy and inexpensive ways to familiarize local customers with your business.

Here are 4 ways to market your business in your community…

1.  Print advertising

Print advertising is an easy way to get people in your community familiar with your business. Connect with your local newspaper to see if you can feature your store in an advertisement, make your own flyers and post them around the community, or print mailers and send them out to the people who live close to your store. You can also print special signage, weekly ads/specials, or even start your own monthly store newsletter to send out to your customers. It is also important to advertise the type of payments you accept, so that customers can be prepared at checkout. If you’re a SNAP retailer, be sure to put out signage saying you accept EBT so that SNAP customers know they can come to your business. If you don’t have EBT or payment type signage yet, check out these signage options from goEBT.

2.  Social media

Social media is an inexpensive, easy way to connect with your community. Try to post at least 3 times a week, with relevant content like weekly specials at your store. You can also get creative and run special social media discounts (i.e., follow us on social media to receive $10 off). Customers enjoy feeling connected to brands and social media is a great way to do this. You can offer customer support through messages, show your customers a sneak peek of what goes on behind the scenes, and even encourage your customers to engage with you by tagging your store on their socials when they post your product, creating captions that encourage customers to comment on your post (i.e., what’s your favorite product – this or that – let us know in the comments below). Ultimately, social media is a great way to humanize your brand and a low-cost way to market your store to your community. Read this blog from HubSpot for more social media tips for your business.

3.  Host an event

If you just opened, host a grand opening event! You can use social media, print ads, etc. to advertise your event to the community – be sure to invite everyone. If you have been open a while, you can still host events especially this time of year. Consider a holiday themed open house or offer last minute promotional pricing. When your opening anniversary comes around, you can host a weeklong event with each day featuring special pricing on store-brand items to encourage customers to visit your store for these one-time deals.

4.  Get involved

Get plugged in to your community. You can do this by networking with other business owners in the area, going to community events, supporting other local businesses, etc.! Many communities have a chamber of commerce, which is an easy way to network with other local businesses. You can also go door-to-door and ask to leave flyers or cards in other local businesses, which is another great way to connect with your community. Becoming a SNAP retailer is another way to connect with customers and become a pillar in your community. Learn more about becoming a SNAP retailer with goEBT’s free EBT resources.

While marketing your business can seem daunting if you’re an independent retailer, these 4 tips are great ways to get started! Every business is different, so be sure to find what works best for you, your business, and your community!

Read more about how independent retailers can support SNAP customers