Thrifting is all the rage these days. Everyone wants to uncover that incredible vintage find without paying an arm and a leg. Today, there are over 30,000 thrift stores across the United States. How do you make sure customers visit yours over another? Here are four tips to promote your thrift store sales.
Start with professional posters
Even in the age of digital marketing, the old-school poster still lives. If anyone can appreciate going vintage (even if it’s marketing tactics), it’s a thrift store owner! One of the best ways to promote your latest thrift store sale is to create posters and put them around town.
The internet is great for marketing, but it reaches a global audience. What good does marketing to someone in a different state or country do for your thrift store? To keep your reach hyper localized, posters are the way to go.
Hang your posters around town in strategic locations, like businesses, public buildings, or even around the street. When people see your incredible sales and vintage deals, they’ll run directly to your store.
However, you want to position your store as a high-quality boutique of everything vintage, not a bargain basement. Make sure your posters utilize a professional design to put your store’s best foot forward.
Since you’re busy running a store, you likely don’t have time to design amazing graphics from scratch. Luckily, there are thousands of free templates for small business posters available from websites like PosterMyWall, making it quick and easy to design amazing posters to promote your sales.
Boost your product photography game
A quick cellphone shot won’t adequately show off your store’s amazing wares. If you want people to see your sales advertisements and say, “Wow, I need that!,” you need to work on your photography. Only top-notch images will do!
Remember, even your sales advertisements are a representation of your brand. Make sure your photos are creative, high-quality, and showcase everything your store is about. Here are a few tips to take your photography to the next level:
- Use natural light to make everything seem warmer.
- Find a plain background to keep the focus on the product.
- Showcase all the best details.
- Use a mannequin or model to show off clothing styles.
- Edit your photos (but don’t overdo it).
And feel free to get creative with your photography and have some fun. You’re running a thrift store, not a boring retail corporation! Show off your store’s personality with every snap.
Decorate your storefront
Tons of potential customers walk and drive right past your store every day. So why not transform your storefront into a promotion for your next big sale?
If you have windows in the front of the store, use the space to create a captivating scene showing off a variety of products. If you get people to stop mid-stride to look at your display, you’re doing it right!
Another great way to draw people in to check out your sale is to have your display spill out onto the sidewalk. Set up clothing racks and tables outside your store that passersby can actually look at and touch without needing to go inside. It basically brings your store to them, decreasing the level of effort to draw someone in. If they like what they see outside, there’s a good chance they’ll come in to see what else you have.
And no matter how good your displays might be, switch them up from time to time. If you make them good enough, people might even visit your store just to see your new displays, encouraging repeat customers.
Get social on social media
Social media is the cornerstone of modern marketing. It’s free and has the ability to reach massive numbers of people with its over 5 billion active users worldwide! But with that many users, it means there’s a lot of competition if you want to stand out.
Remember all those fantastic product photography shots you took? They make great social media content. But it’s not enough to fill your feed with great photos. Social media is meant for being social.
Respond to direct messages (DMs), comment on posts, and join groups to spread the word of your sales all over the internet. The more you engage with your followers, the more engaged they’ll feel with your business — meaning they’ll come running when you post about your latest sale.
Get thrifty with your thrift store sale promotions
Don’t let your sale come and go without any pomp and circumstance! Let everyone in the community know that your thrift store has the goods and that they’ll get an amazing deal with professionally designed fashion posters, some creative product photography, a well-decorated storefront, and plenty of social media posts.
With a little bit of effort and a lot of creativity, the whole town might be running to your thrift store for your amazing deals.