What is the best way to increase foot traffic to your business?
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to driving foot traffic to your business. But there is a combination of strategies that impact its success. For that reason, we recommend following those who have come before you. What can you learn from the success of other business owners, and how can you replicate this success for your own growing retail organization?
At POS Nation, we’re proud to be an industry-leading point of sale (POS) system provider, and we’ve worked with thousands of small businesses processing over $2 billion in transactions. Over time, we’ve worked hand-in-hand with our clients and helped them generate new and recurring business. In the years that we’ve been in action, we’ve found the five techniques that can help you increase foot traffic to your business.
Let’s review the top five strategies on how to increase your foot traffic, so you can attract more of your ideal customers and drive up your profits.
How to Increase Foot Traffic to Your Business: 5 Easy Ideas
Before improving your foot traffic, it’s crucial to identify where your traffic problems begin. One of the most common problems small businesses run into is not taking advantage of the foot traffic they already have. Word-of-mouth can spread faster than any advertising campaign. Keeping that in mind, it’s essential to treat your current customers well so they will recommend more people to your business.
The first step to approaching this roadblock is creating high-value marketing campaigns and customer loyalty programs such as providing discount codes and promotions. Managing your promotions takes coordination and organization. Without a comprehensive POS system, this is challenging to manage day to day.
At POS Nation, we’ve seen firsthand the positive impact of managing promotions and tracking campaign results for small businesses. Your POS system should be your go-to inventory management tool so you can quickly apply promotions that drive sales.
Increasing your incoming foot traffic is the next step once you’ve addressed your promotions and sales tracking roadblocks.
1. Storefront Signage
Increasing your foot traffic is not as simple as having a big sign on your business… but it sure doesn’t hurt. Your storefront signage dictates how easily your current and future customers will be able to find your business.
When designing your storefront signage:
- Test out whether your business name is simple and clear
- Use on-brand colors that attract attention
- Reflect what you do clearly on the signage with graphics
- Don’t be afraid to use LED lights, so your signage is visible from far away
In addition to your storefront signage, consider adding window signage to showcase promotions and large, local signage to signal your location easily. The more clear your signage is, the more likely new customers will stop by.
All small businesses, from retail shops to liquor stores, can benefit from social media marketing. Providing educational, entertaining, and trust-building content on social media is a great way to engage your customers and attract new ones.
The first step to starting social media marketing is to see where your ideal customers spend their time online. Once you’ve established what platforms would be the most advantageous for your business, the next step is to establish a social media marketing plan.
Your social media marketing plan should include strategies for content creation, advertising, and branding. The goal is that your content entertains your current customers, your advertisements attract new customers, and your branding aligns with your customers’ wants and needs.
Social media marketing is an excellent way to connect with your audience and gives you an extra outlet for customer service.
3. Print Mailers
Although mailers sound outdated, you may be surprised to learn that print marketing remains one of the most effective ways to drive new and repeat business. The key is finding out if your target market values mailers.
Suppose you’re planning on reaching a population that enjoys printed coupons and weekly sales, such as family shoppers and senior citizens. In that case, direct mailers are a great way to deliver your coupons and promotions.
Print offers for your business can include:
- Newspapers and weeklies
- Direct mail (letters and postcards)
- Print media selection
- Local coupon booklets
There may even be a local bulletin board or community center where people check fliers for recent events and promotions in your neighborhood. Thinking outside the box and reaching your target audience where they spend their time will help you stand out from the crowd that is solely using social media marketing as their only outreach strategy.
4. In-Store Events
Ever wonder why grand openings are such a hit? You’re creating an opportunity and a reason for your target audience to visit your business. The lives of your potential customers get busy, and even if they’re interested in your business and have been meaning to stop by, most consumers need a push.
Suppose you run fliers and local social media advertisements promoting a special event held at your business. In that case, it’s enough of a push to bring new attention to your business and get more foot traffic through your door.
Examples of in-store events include:
- Open mic nights with refreshments
- Live music
- Educational or entertaining classes
- Collaboration with another business
- Small business networking event
- Charity event
- Day-themed events, such as Friday Night Specials or Early Bird Tuesday Specials
As you strategically choose in-store events that attract your target audience, you’ll be able to create local buzz about your business and get your target audience comfortable with your store and your products available. You can also track the success of your special events in your POS system by analyzing the uptick of sales during and after the events at your business.
5. Optimize In-Store Merchandise
Having seasonal and in-trend merchandise enables you to cater to your target customers’ current needs. Your business should attract customers looking for the newest available products, but also interest those customers is your other merchandise.
The key to managing your inventory is your POS system. With the right POS system, you’ll be able to rotate your inventory, manage seasonal products, and analyze your sales. Without an effective inventory management system, your inventory will be challenging to maintain and leave crucial sales decisions up to chance.
The Key to Increase Foot Traffic to Your Business
Out of all the various strategies on how to increase foot traffic to your business, there is one recurring theme: how central your POS system is to your business? Whether it’s managing promotions, inventory, or reliably processing payments, your POS system enables you to succeed one promotion at a time.
On your journey to increasing your foot traffic, you’re bound to run into questions regarding your POS system. That’s why we put together the Retail POS System Buyers' Guide. This guide provides step-by-step instructions and essential information to help you find the exact POS system your business needs.
