The Best PR possible

There are so many experts telling small business all the right ways to bring people through the door. Whether it is an e-mail campaign, print advertising or direct mail. There are so many conduits a retailer can get involved with, yet the experiment of knowing what and which works can be expensive and not necessarily fruitful.Our experience as retailers for near 18 years has found that all types of marketing have some benefit. Often, the effects are definitely proportionate to the amount of money spent. Promotional sales can also get tricky for retailers. We must have the willingness to commit to extra inventory and provide a healthy depth of discounts that will be offered to the client. There also must be time to prepare the store for dedication to the event.

The one given, to any marketing campaign, is that they all have an end. What we have found important is to not overlook ways to maintain an ongoing event. These are things that our staff can always promote or talk with clients about. We at Mig & Tig generously donated a whole house of furniture to a family in need on Extreme Home makeover.
There was goodwill and the benefit of exposure on international television and the internet. Both Mig & Tig and Mortise & Tenon created a design challenge and funded a scholarship for Harrington Design School in Chicago that ran four months. Mortise & Tenon runs a non-profit theater in their store dedicated to helping returning vets through the arts. Mortise and Tenon also donated furniture to a needy family in Chicago that was orchestrated by Leslie Carothers on Twitter. These are events we have engaged in that we found fruitful for our business and have enjoyed giving back to the community on our small scale.

We now have created Yourfurniturelink.com, which is free to wholesale manufactures. This is a way for consumers to find great products that isn’t offered by the big box retailers. This helps manufactures to hopefully promote their brand awareness and capture lost leads. Lost leads for the manufacturer in turn to the the local retailer is one of the reasons we created this site to begin with.

There are so many small ways to create goodwill and powerful PR for a business.
Whether it’s sponsoring local kids sports, a school fundraising event, donating to a local shelter or furniture for a habitat for humanity project. We believe being involved in community creates an extra dimension to a stores brand.

It’s great when a client comes in to the store and mentions a local event we are doing. It is an instant conversation point. Building in your community and having your team be part of charitable giving also helps morale.

Whatever way each retailer approaches PR it’s important to create a long tail to every event. The more a retailer can generate buzz the better chance, next time a client is looking for furniture your name will be first to mind. That’s the best PR possible.

http://www.yourfurniturelink.com/
http://www.migandtig.com/index.php
http://www.mortisetenon.com/