TALKING POINTS
Stand out from the crowd
By Jake Voelcker, owner, Bicycleworks
get it started? Nowadays, conventional advertising isn’t enough to excite people. The world is awash with adverts and people ignore a lot of them. To boost word-of-mouth referrals, we need to go the extra mile. But what can a small independent shop or company do to stand out from the crowd? One of the best ways is to leverage exactly that smallness, that localness, that independence. Here are some practical ways you could get this going in your business:
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Partnerships We have had a couple of really worthwhile partnerships with local councils and universities. Not only does this have the immediate benefit of selling bikes to these organisations, but also there is an indirect benefit: their staff and students hear about us and become customers, and sometimes this continues for months or years afterwards. For example, Bristol City Council has a fleet of e-bikes, including some of our models, which they lend to businesses and individuals to encourage sustainable travel. Naturally, some of these users love the bikes and subsequently purchase one of their own from us. More than that, it’s also free advertising: everywhere those bikes go, and everywhere that the council promotes them, is a great promotion for our brand as well.
www.bikebiz.com
e all know one of the most powerful forms of advertising is word-of-mouth and it’s great when it happens organically – but can you give it a nudge to
Does your local council have a green travel team or a sustainability department? Does a college or university near you encourage students to avoid car use? Their staff are probably crying out for a friendly local bike shop to help them promote the cause.
Collaborations As well as partnerships with organisations, could you collaborate with local artists or musicians to broaden your appeal and reach a wider range of potential customers? We were recently asked by a local band if they could use our shop as a space to record their latest music video. Why not? They get a new, interesting backdrop for their video, while we get access to their followers and fans as well as a cool video to share. Could you collaborate with an artist to create a uniquely
painted bike, which could then be auctioned or raffled to raise money for a local charity? In one campaign, you have access to two new audiences, and a newsworthy story for which you can easily get media coverage. Approach local high street businesses to find one who will
display your bike in their window. Cafes, health centres, estate agents, solicitors... all these
may like to have something tangible to fill their window space, and could even be willing to do so at no cost, because being associated with cycling gives their green and health- related image a boost.
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