5 Strategies that’ll Heat Up In-Store Sales
Plus, a helpful cold weather word bank at the end of this post.
Burrr…it’s cold, spurring brick and mortar retail customers to hunker down in their homes. To draw shoppers out during plummeting temps, piggyback your advertising messages onto the cold weather.
Why? Because when the weather is extreme in any way, it’s top-of-mind for your customers. Therefore, rather than try and change your customers’ thinking, instead, join in!
Try these 5 cold weather marketing ideas and slogans to motivate customers to leave their warm homes and visit your retail location: 
#1 — Project Warmth
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For retailers lucky enough to have a visible storefront, place an electric fireplace facing outward (I like this particular one because it comes in different colors, has good ratings and it has heat/no heat options). This will attract the attention of passersby and send a subliminal message, “It’s warm and cozy in here, perfect temp for shopping.”
To accompany this visual, use warmth-related words on a banner or sign, such as “Stop in for Our Warmest Sale Ever!” If you do not have passersby visibility, you can still use this approach by taking photos of your fireplace and posting to your social channels. Also, if you have limited space, then opt for a wall-mount format. Keep in mind that many electric fireplaces, such as the latter wall-mount, offer a no-heat option, enabling you to take advantage of the fireplace’s ambiance year-round. (Stretch those advertising dollars!)
#2 — Piggyback onto In-Demand Businesses
If your business is located on the way to gas stations or grocery stores, tie this idea to your messaging.
For Example:
“Since you’re heading out for milk and bread, grab that special bundle of yarn you’ve been thinking about. What’s more, take advantage of our Freeze Sale. We’re offering discounts that match this week’s coldest temps!”
[Related] Weather Marketing Ideas eBook
#3 — Promote Close & Convenient Parking
Let’s face it, if it’s freezing outside, customers will not want to trek very far to shop. Therefore, if you have close proximity parking, proactively let customers know. This is also especially helpful if your competition’s parking is not as convenient as yours. For example, on your website and social channels, have an ongoing promotional headline such as, “Plentiful & Convenient Parking Mere Inches from Our Front Door.”
#4 — Help Those in Need
By launching a community service program now, such as a winter coat drive that brings customers into your store, this allows you to get your messages out using your community’s various advertising mediums for free, including local print newspapers, online community portals, and their respective social media channels, etc. For example, you could team up with the Salvation Army, and piggyback off of their communication channels, such as their local Facebook page or an email list.
RELATED: For more partnership marketing ideas, check out my latest eBook: Duplicate Yourself: Small Business Piggybacking & Partnership Marketing Strategies. Click cover to go directly to the Amazon product page.
#5 — Offer a Strong Incentive
If a customer can purchase something from you “later” and remain home to keep warm, they will. Therefore, you must give them a reason to walk into your retail location.
To inspire customers to step out into the cold, try these two approaches:
- Offer a steep discount
- Offer something very unique or hard to find. For example, if you have only 10 items of a very special product, then promote its limited supply as aggressively as possible. Shoppers will jump off the couch for something that they may not be able to purchase a few days from now.
Attract Attention Using these Cold Weather Marketing Slogans:
- Burrr…Our Prices are Plummeting!
- Warm Up With These Hot Deals!
- Grab These Cool Offers Before They Expire!
- Warm Up During Our Deep Freeze Sale. Take an Extra 25% Off Now Through Friday!
- Refuel With Our Arctic Blast [insert product] e.g., smoothie, java, coffee cake, bottomless hot chocolate, etc.
- Brave the Elements. Receive a Reward. Up To 75% Off at Checkout!
Find more weather marketing ideas inside my eBook: Small Business Marketing & Operational Strategies to Combat Severe Weather. It includes numerous seasonal and weather related promotional sound bites for a variety of professions and industries, as well as storefront strategies that scream, “I’m Open!” and tie to the climate outside your store.
Click the cover to be taken to the Amazon product page.
Handy Cold Weather WORD BANK
Relate to your customers. Use these words within your social and advertising copy:
- Forecast
- Plummeting Temperatures
- Bone-Chilling
- Deep Freeze
- Frosty
- Burrr
- Bitter
- Sub Zero
- Igloo
- Nippy
- Icicles
- Frostbite
- Snow, Sleet, Ice, Frost, Black Ice
- Slippery
- Windchill
- Mr. Freeze
- Winter
- Artic
- Flu, Head Cold, Cough, Sneezing, Hypothermia
- Old Man Winter
- Jack Frost
- Blizzard, Snowstorm
- Polar Bear
- Winter Blues, Seasonal Affective Disorder
- Hibernation
- Mother Nature
- Wicked Winds
- Shovel Up These Savings
Then add a warm word wrapped around your product or service as a solution to the cold, such as: warm, toasty, roast, heat, thermal, hot, thaw, etc.
Here are 2 examples:
“Escape this bone-chilling cold with our warm and snugly slippers! Receive 50% off a second pair when you purchase before [insert date].” OR, “Don’t get left out in the cold! Sign up for our 6-week fitness extravaganza before [insert date] and receive an additional six weeks at 50% off!”
Remember, don’t try to change your customers’ minds or habits; rather, dovetail onto their line of thinking in order to stretch your advertising dollars and speed up in-store sales.
Finally, when you’re planning your cold weather marketing campaign, keep this one key component in mind:
Create reasons for your small business to come up in conversation when two people talk about the weather.
How about you? Do you have any cold weather marketing ideas or additional words to add to the word bank? Please help other small business owners by sharing in the comment section below.
Independently Yours,
Sharron