Our first business column for Vintage Life was published this month. We offer advice to vintage businesses every month which is also a great opportunity for people to get their name into the magazine! We answered 2 questions – here is Keeley’s answer.
“I’ve bought a vintage caravan and have converted it into a vintage make-up studio. What is the best way to advertise my new venture – is it best to specialise in vintage advertising?” – Cat Eccles, Make-up Artist at ‘Kiss and Make-up’
Keeley says:
“What a great idea, I love vintage caravans and this offers a quirky, portable business opportunity, with a different view out of your window every day!
Before you look at advertising you need to decide who you are aiming to attract? Is it people who are into vintage or a wider market? For example, do you want to encourage brides or hen parties? Once you are clear on this you can then look at the suitable ways to promote your business.
Advertising in a magazine like Vintage Life is of course one option, as it gets straight to your customers but this should be only one part of your marketing and promotional plan. Look at other ways of getting your name out there that doesn’t always cost money – social media is one of them.
When I started my business the first thing I did was make sure I had a website as a point of contact, so that when I had spent money on advertising people could find out more about me and my business. It didn’t take long to build an “off the peg website” at a low cost with a logo and printed flyers. These are the basic tools you must consider before advertising, as well as being sure of your product and customers.
Top Tips
- Build relationships and partner up with similar businesses. Find a local photographer and a vintage hairdresser to work with to increase your marketing power- referrals are the best way to get new business
- Contact relevant bloggers to see if they would be interested in writing about your business; offer them a free taster of the experience you offer.
- Get some promotional images of your work and your caravan to show people what you offer. Pictures are great visuals for your website and social media pages too
- Get out and about; show your caravan off and let people see it for real. Try going to vintage events, wedding fairs and festivals taking loads of flyers to hand out.
Before you commit to advertising access if it will get through to the right audience and make sure you monitor the response. Put a promotional code on the advert and ask new customers how they heard about you. Couple any advertising you do with PR activities and mutual sharing with your new contacts.”
For more business advice, inspiration and top tips why not come to our Vintage Academy events. Check out the website for more information. We will be writing every month for Vintage Life so if you have any business questions you would like answering, get in touch!
Join us at 9-10pm Monday for #vintagebizhour on Twitter
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GIVEAWAY TIME!
Our sponsor Tatyanna are generously giving one reader a bag of their choice for simply doing the following:
- Follow Tatyanna on Twitter and share this fact with your friends.
- Remember to add @tatyannaltd and @yourvintagelife onto your tweet so we can see you have followed and shared!
A winner will be selected by random in 2 weeks time. Good Luck!
