With 89 billion business emails sent each day, it’s tough to guarantee that any one email gets read—even one that has great content like yours. What’s a music retailer to do? At the 2014 NAMM Show, small-business guru Barry Moltz offered 10 ideas to help music stores stand out and ensure their emails get seen. Here are those 10 tips.
As construction for Gist Piano Center's Lexington, Ky., store came to a close, the company needed to get customers and media to visit the newly expanded facility. James Harding, Gist's president, decided to throw a chocolate party. The event, which cost $500, attracted 300 people, jump-started the lesson program and resulted in two piano sales—one of them a grand.
Today's digitally armed consumers have adopted showrooming as part of the buying process. Using brick-and-mortar stores to check out products and later purchase them online is becoming more common. There are productive ways to combat showrooming, so you can get those customers browsing and buying in your store. Kenny Smith shares a few ideas that top retailers have successfully implemented.
Every December, Damm Music Center hosts a holiday concert called "The Best Damm Christmas Concert." It gives Damm Music's team an opportunity to showcase their talents and also raises money for charity. According to Kevin Damm, company president, the concert legitimizes his staff as musicians and gear experts in the community. "And each year, we get to play Christmas music as a band for 200–250 people," he says.
Instrumental Music Center of Tucson, Ariz., hosts a Rummage Sale on Black Friday weekend every year. The promotion not only clears out old inventory before year end but also gets new and existing customers into the store. And in 2013, the company did three times its normal weekend business during the sale, according to co-owner Leslie Faltin. Her total cost: $600 (which included lunch for staff). Find out how she did it.
In less than one minute, Don Tegeler of Tegeler Music shares his big idea: Hold a benefit concert on Labor Day for your non-profit organization of choice. This year, Tegeler hosted a concert to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project. "I do a lot of business from people that just came in after they saw the event," he says. "They wanted to support me because of what we did."
James Harding, president of Gist Piano Center, needed a way to drive customers into his store during the busy holiday season. So, he invited local students to come in and record their own CDs of holiday music on a high-end digital piano. His investment: $68 and a little effort. The promotion ended up bringing in 48 local students, and he sold three high-end digital pianos.
Brian Reardon of Monster Music keeps a steady stream of students coming through his lesson program during the summer months. His secret? A spring promotion that couples a discount on summer music lessons with a free acoustic guitar. The promotion also keeps his teachers busy during the slow time and has been a major source of students year-round.
The fourth quarter can be challenging for independent music stores that don't have huge advertising budgets and private-equity funding. So how do you compete with Black Friday, Cyber Monday and all the other deals being thrown around during the holiday season? Gabriel O'Brien of Larry's Music Center in Wooster, Ohio, offers up his best ideas.
When the recession hit, large retailers began offering more layaway promotions. Brian Reardon of Monster Music in Levittown, N.Y., decided to capitalize on that awareness for the holiday season. Learn how he used the power of layaway to make closing deals easier—and, ultimately, to boost his holiday sales.