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Views from Across the Pond

Attract New, Different Water Garden Customers

Blog post and pictures by Trevor Cole

Bringing in a well-known local artist (Don Howard) for our Tailgate Party gave the event an 'exclusive' feel.

Stepping out of my comfort zone gave Across the Pond the opportunity to attract a new and different group of water garden clientele.

Our customer traffic drops dramatically when there’s a football game on. Following the old adage “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” I tried something different this year. I offered a Tailgate Party at the store, and the crowds came and shopped. 

What do tailgating and football have to do with water gardening? I discovered that the two mix better than one might think.

Some of my employees convinced me to purchase the exclusive rights to a print from Don Howard, a well-known local artist. The print depicted the University of Alabama’s 2009 National Championship win. I was skeptical at first. Then I thought, "Why not try to appeal to a different type of customer, one we normally might overlook because their interests differ from my own?" My wife scoffed and, though this was completely outside my comfort zone, I took the leap.

We arranged for Howard to do a print-signing at the store. When choosing a date for the Tailgate Party, we discovered that the legendary late Coach Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant’s birthday fell on a Saturday in September. What better day?

Our stores also sell smokers and grills. What better excuse to show them off than cooking for the customers? We enlisted one of the grill manufacturer’s representatives to come down and demonstrate. We crafted an event around football and dubbed it a Tailgate Party. 

We promoted the Tailgate Party in TV and radio ads, but we concentrated on the sports market. I was the guest on a leading football radio show, which was completely foreign to me.

We provided a live radio feed from the store the day of the Tailgate Party. One customer said she came to store on specific instructions from her son who lives in another state. When he drove through our area on his way to the Alabama game in Tuscaloosa, he heard the radio broadcast from “someplace called Across the Pond.” He immediately phoned his mother and asked her to run out to our store and get three signed Howard prints. She did as instructed and made three trips to the cash register, with her arms ladened with non-sports-related merchandise. That’s when I knew we were on to something.

Game-time was at 6 p.m. We advertised our Tailgate Party for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., giving people plenty of time to try us out and finish shopping before the game. For most of that time, our parking lot overflowed and our cash registers rang.

At minimal cost, we entertained the crowds with free barbeque -- demonstrated and cooked on grills we sell -- and red velvet cupcakes with vanilla ice cream. We had a football trivia contest and gave away a free signed print to the winner. We sold enough prints by lunchtime to recoup our initial investment and start turning a good profit -- in sports memorabilia no less! Having Howard present created an enormous amount of goodwill and gave the Tailgate Party an ‘exclusive’ feel.

We sold more than art. We brought new customers to the store, ones who browsed and shopped and marveled that they’d never thought to visit before. Those new customers will tell their friends about their positive experiences. These are people we might never have touched if we didn’t step outside our comfort zone and reach out to a new and different market.

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Attract New, Different Water Garden Customers

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Great Marketing Story! Eric, Redlands, CA Posted: 10/17/2010 10:16:55 PM