4 Ways to Effectively Promote Your First Pop-Up Shop

Pop-up shops have unique qualities: You do not need to hold big credit lines or sign annual leases, while people can experience new services or products in person, which isn’t possible in an e-commerce setting. That said, a pop-up store without foot traffic is wasted space. Appropriately promoting your pop-up outlet is key to intrigue potential customers. Instead of waiting for people to come knocking, take measures to get your brand message across.

While your marketing personnel should primarily aim to develop good relationships with online influencers and capture media’s attention, successful pop-up marketing is all about customer loyalty and acquisition. What is it about your store that should interest them? Is your shop’s design/architecture as appealing as the packaging of our products? Start projecting how to involve your target audience early and build hype around your store.

Here are some tips:

1. Make the Experience Memorable with Creative Branding

Consumers often make critical judgments about how attractive or unappealing your store is by looking at its design and branding, like how unique your fixtures, displays, lighting, and kiosks are. Incredibly, branded flags and umbrellas such as the one offered by Instent.com can enhance the visual appeal of your brand while making your store noticeable from a distance. With such vendors providing unlimited design options and anti-fade printing, it becomes easy to simulate the look and feel of a high-end store. Also, brand recognition is quickly enforced with the company’s logo visible upon these materials.

2. Generate Buzz with Street Teams

You’ve sent newsletters to your subscribers in the proximity and created an event on social media. But how do you break the news to those you’re not in contact with? Building a street team out of your employees or hiring one on a freelance basis is a great way to spark word of mouth among potential buyers where they work, reside and play. All you have to do is identify employees who’re capable of engaging audiences. Let them create excitement by distributing flyers featuring your pop-up’s pre-launch branding. With the right execution, street teams can reach a broader audience and even instill fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) among people who see the message.

3. Arrange Contests

Who doesn’t love to win, especially when they’re out and about? Pop-up store owners can run a contest using social media, and encourage people to share images of your store, or get creative by snapping selfies trying your products, as well as use a branded hashtag for an opportunity to go home with an exciting prize. It doesn’t matter if you give away a gift card or a free product: the idea of walking away as the winner engages audiences and drives them closer to your brand. Make sure the prize is valuable enough to make it worthwhile to invest time in.

4. Don’t Convey Your USP, Demonstrate It

When you have got a unique product that the mass buyer subconscious is clueless about, a pop-up store can give you an idea of how it may perform with real customers while allowing you to gain real-time feedback on its features. Even if it’s just pre-orders that you’re after before you go full throttle with development, giving a live demo or showcasing how your product works at a scheduled time is a great way to gather some early adopters.

Don’t make marketing an afterthought as you think of ways to make your pop-up outlet a success. By taking the measures mentioned above, you’ll be able to benefit from a viable kick start that gets talked about in shoppers’ circles for months.