opinion

How to Use Event Marketing to Drum Up Profits

Successful retailers are always looking for cost-effective ways to find new customers for their store or website. Sales and specials are great, but are they the most effective method of ensuring long-term, repeat clientele? Event marketing is an extremely cost-effective method of creating your own memorable, branded experience for new customers.

The term “event marketing” is a fancy way of saying “doing stuff” with the customer. Put simply, any sort of direct engagement, activity or interaction with a customer or prospect is what’s involved. That can range from the spectacular to the simple – but the objective is always the same: create a positive brand experience for your potential or existing customer. You want to create a memory for this customer, something that makes your business stand out from your competition to make sure the next time this person needs something they’ll come back to you. It’s hard to create those on Amazon. If you want to lock down those anticipated new customers coming from the Fifty Shades of Grey premiere, now is the time to start using brick and mortar to your advantage.

Put simply, any sort of direct engagement, activity or interaction with a customer or prospect is what’s involved. That can range from the spectacular to the simple – but the objective is always the same: create a positive brand experience for your potential or existing customer.

You’ve got a store, essentially a venue – use it. Several retailers have successfully integrated holidays or pop culture events into their stores / showrooms to create unique and different shopping experiences. A game, a couples workshop, a treasure hunt, a themed costume event, a strip-off, an Instagram race, etc, etc. Take a look at the calendar, what’s coming up?

You don’t have to necessarily be married to calendar holidays to build event your marketing themes around – make up your own. Steamy Saturdays? Maybe after closing there’s a VIP invite-only, Steamy Saturday “after hours” event. It’s a workshop, lecture, or VIP sales event that teaches X, Y and Z and features brands A, B and C. Participants get a video/link of the event, and are given a “You go girl!” bag, packed with samples from vendor sponsors along with a VIP Steamy Saturday card entitling them to earn rewards and discounts on future purchases.

Event marketing promotions are not revolutionary, difficult or costly – they just require the time and planning to do them and to do them often. Since they are relatively inexpensive, you can keep tweaking them to see what’s most effective in generating new long-term customers – not just quick-hit sale spikes. The one thing we can all agree to as the business begins to shift, is that adaptability will likely be key for everyone’s retail survival – so having the ability to experiment and implement new marketing tactics as they are needed will only put you in a better position.

Brian Sofer is the digital marketing director for Pipedream Products. A marketer for over 20 years, Sofer has implemented effective integrated marketing strategies for a diverse range of clients in the adult, music, action sports and smoke industries.

Related:  

Copyright © 2024 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More Articles

opinion

How to Advise Beginners on Shopping 'Animal Play' Toys

An important aspect of sex that doesn’t get talked about enough is exercising our imaginations. Letting our minds run wild gives us the chance to try new positions, play with new parts of the body, add toys and accessories, or even create a completely made-up fantasy world where we can pretend to be an entirely different species.

Rebecca Weinberg ·
opinion

Strategies for Navigating Content Restrictions on Social Media

Welcome to the “seggsual” wellness industry, also known as the “s//xual wellness industry” or “s-eggs-ual” wellness industry. Why so many aliases? Because mentioning what we actually do can torpedo our marketing efforts on social media platforms.

Scarlett Ward ·
trends

A Look at the Global Trends Shaping the Pleasure Products Industry

Multiple factors are shaping the pleasure landscape, including technological advancements, innovations in product design and sustainability, the impact of digital marketing and ecommerce, and the varying degrees of openness toward sexual wellness the industry encounters across different territories.

profile

WIA Profile: Kate McGregor

Ask Kate McGregor’s colleagues and co-workers, and they will likely tell you that she was always destined to do great things, wherever she landed — but that they are glad McGregor’s path led her to the colorful world of vibrators and butt plugs.

Women In Adult ·
profile

Electric Novelties Execs Reflect on Company Origins, Mission

When Zach Goode first crossed paths with Electric Novelties over 20 years ago, both he and the company were deeply entrenched in the apparel world. Goode was handling sales for a friend’s novelty T-shirt company, Sik World, while Electric specialized in sexy lingerie and clubwear.

Ariana Rodriguez ·
profile

Sensual Distributors Ltd. Blends Real-Life Love Story, Passion for Pleasure Biz

This local brick-and-mortar is a “mom and mom” operation led by co-owners Alana Thompson and Angini Singh, a lesbian couple who overcame their country’s strict, religious culture to create a sexual wellness boutique that serves their unique community.

Colleen Godin ·
opinion

How History Drives Marketing Strategies Today

Thanks to the efforts of activists, sex educators and members of marginalized communities, products like sex toys, lubricants and adult films have become much less stigmatized, and much more visible and accepted in the public sphere today.

Hail Groo ·
opinion

BAFTA Nominations Highlights Importance of Gender-Neutrality

While the Brit Awards have paved the way for gender inclusivity by introducing gender-neutral award categories, it has recently been confirmed that the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards will not follow suit.

Scarlett Ward ·
opinion

How to Explain Wax Play to Shoppers

When it comes to candles in the bedroom, most folks think of them as a great way to create a sexy ambiance. For folks who enjoy wax play, however, candles are also a kinky way to heat things up. While it may sound daunting to the uninitiated — because, you know, fire and hot dripping wax — wax play can be a fun and accessible sensation-play option, as well as an excellent intro to BDSM.

Rebecca Weinberg ·
trends

An Inside Look at the Decision-Making Process of Expert Merchandisers

Buyers in the sexual wellness industry bear a weighty responsibility. They must strike the perfect balance between meeting customers’ demonstrated needs with tried-and-true products, and staying on top of the latest trends — and that is only scratching the surface.

Show More