Hardware Store Marketing has come a long way since we were kids. I can remember the local neighborhood hardware where the owners knew my name…and that was right in New York City, not a small town. The store is long gone, and there’s a nail salon in its place.
In those days the store sold all the basics: high quality tools, and supplies that seemed to cover everything we needed.
Today, life is different…and much more challenging for New York hardware store owners: stores have grown to be huge warehouses, filled with housewares, plumbing supplies, and even appliances and furnishings. And to support that inventory, marketing has to bring in a steady stream of customers.
Hardware Store Marketing now includes…
…lots of advertising and promotional tools that didn’t exist just a few years ago: Loyalty Programs, YouTube Channels where you demonstrate tips, Social Media posts to “DIY” customers, and a website armed with SEO/SEM/Retargeting and more. Where retailers could thrive by offering quality, service and value, they now have to try window displays, hold “hands on” events, and involve the community, just to try to keep up with Big Box Home Stores and the impersonal (but cheap) internet.
Make every experience better: improve your Hardware Store Marketing
Here are a few tips that may help improve your marketing plan:
- Make your store a destination: give workshops for both kids and adults.
- Talk with your customers and get to know them, and why them come in. Try to recognize specialty items they need, that aren’t found on the internet
- Make it personal: anything you can sell, they can find on the Internet. So do what websites can’t: introduce yourself to customers, and if they’re receptive, talk about what they’re buying and why.
- Staff your store with knowledgeable employees who also “get” how to provide great service.
- Be attractive both outside your store (to attract business) and inside (it’s a key to increasing retail sales in any store)
- Does your location have foot traffic passing by? Tempt them to come in with Window Displays
- What happens when your phone rings? It probably does right when you’re helping a customer at the counter…so the caller has to wait on “hold.”
Hold on to the caller, and make the experience a good one with custom marketing messages on hold. Click here to learn more about them.
Hardware Store Marketing has to be good.
The days of assuming that your neighbors will shop at your store are gone. They’re just as likely to drive to the local Warehouse Depot Store, or order from Amazon. Marketing is your key to survival. Make the most of every experience.
For a list of great articles on Retail and Hardware Marketing click here. They work in New York State, and wherever your store is.
Or find out how advertising on hold can make your telephone system a more efficient marketing tool, click here. Or call us and we’ll tell you more: In NYC call 212-355-6980. Nationwide, call 800-862-8896.