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our traditional Hat Teas where hats were de rigueur. We also did fashion shows, hosted expert speakers, and offered hat making workshops. All of this helped give the shop its image and added to the fascination for hats in my area. Unlike my hat supply business, my hat shop never had an online presence. The essence of these examples is to extend goodwill through local promotions. If you can get your customers to trust you and believe in your brand, that alone will take you far.
For online marketing, I will suggest you use the social media platforms with which you are most comfortable. Do an online search to find the most popular social media networks or platforms. This will most likely yield four to ten major contenders. The statistics brought up will vary by city, by country and by the questions asked in each poll. Only you can decide which ones might best suit your business needs. Testing several will help you see what works most effectively for your small business.
those who can assist you in growing your business and together find ways to complement one another to mutually beneficial results.
When considering local advertising, think about who makes up your local clientele and what the boundaries of your local market are. Before closing my bricks and mortar hat shop in 2005, my local market was inside of a 150-mile radius. The shop drew customers from a wider than average area because it was an unusual enterprise. Since it was located in northeastern Indiana, local was, for me, Detroit to the north, Chicago to the west, Indianapolis to the south and Cleveland to the east. Taking a compass and drawing a circle on a map gave me a good idea which larger newspapers were in the area and could be considered for running print advertisements. I did not have deep pockets and needed to choose wisely the options for spending my advertising dollars. I chose areas that had populations already wearing hats: church groups, garden clubs, and historical societies. Through these efforts as well as ‘word of mouth’ my hat shop became a destination. Those that came enjoyed the atmosphere as well as the hats and accessories offered. They wanted the shop to succeed and began to tell their friends and acquaintances about Judith M Hat Shop.
As a hat shop was rare not only in my town, but in my entire state, I also was able to use the novelty factor and garner local news attention. Reporters for print and TV programs were receptive to interviews centred on the hat shop, special events and occasions to inform their audience about an out of the ordinary retail business. Our biggest attraction was
its 25th anniversary. The company strives to supply quality products while encouraging hat making and hat wearing worldwide. Judith is happy to support conferences and contests believing it furthers all millinery businesses when the tradition is affirmed through these events.
Facebook is still the most popular social media platform, but the scene is changing rapidly and you will want to check the current ratings to assist you in choosing what’s right for your brand. A year ago when I was writing my first article the leading platforms I mentioned were Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. In Issue 77 of this magazine, I outlined basic techniques for promoting your business on social media. I encourage you to review that article. Researching for this column shows Facebook still in the lead with YouTube and WhatsApp next in line. These platforms have been around for a while for consumer use and are now being revised to accommodate businesses. YouTube offers the opportunity to create a channel for your business and upload content for viewers to connect with you. The viewer can watch a video about a product and with one click bring up your product to purchase. WhatsApp was designed to connect family and friends in free online communication around the world. It now has a business platform allowing you to communicate with customers through a business profile, offering them support on products and purchases. With live option viewing, you can offer a question and answer setting that brings the client to your bricks and mortar shop or ecommerce site.
As small business owners, we hope to increase the number of followers to our business on social media, and from that, gain customers and grow the business. Knowing which social media sites will garner the coverage you want is extremely important. Does the platform fit your brand image? Is your target audience using that platform? And finally, how much social media can you manage at once? There are many balls to keep in the air while juggling time and money with our abilities and dreams. Remember to return to your Dream Board (see Issue 78) periodically to freshen your vision and revise as desired. Let's keep the dream in front of us always, and make our decisions based on the path that will bring our dream to fruition.
Resources -
www.digitalinformationworld.com/2019/01/most-popular-
global-social-networks-apps-infographic.html
-
www.buffer.com/library/category/social-media-marketing -
www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks- ranked-by-number-of-users/
Do you have questions related to this article? Contact Judith Mishler at
judithmhats@zoho.com
may 2019 | 67
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