One of my friends was planning to set up a retail store sometime back. He was done with the business plan and ready to go. After the work started, and was considerably on track, I asked him about the marketing and publicity. He told me to give him some ideas and so I got on to the task of researching and giving him what knowledge I derived from my research. In case you are thinking of dabbling in retail, maybe this could be of some help. Mouth it All Well, they say mouth publicity is the best way to market and publicize your business. Start off by telling your friends and relatives about the retail store. Ask them to throw in the idea to their acquaintances. Somewhere down the line, you would have gradually created a customer base. Easy and hassle free? Go Net'ty' What is the Internet for? It is such a potent medium of communication, that it can help your business boom to a great extent. Make full use of this amazing medium. Put details of your business on social networking sites, and have a website made of your retail business. Ask all of your acquaintances to check it out. Ensure that the website has maximum information about your business. Go the Offering Way If you have the retail store, try to incorporate some offers to impress your existing clientele and attract new customers. Give discounts and make sure that these are communicated well to your customer base. This is a run of the mill marketing idea, but it works! Publicity on the Go Park benches, buses, and buildings having offices, are good areas to target for promoting your business in the market. If allowed, stick bills in parks and behind buses and so on. Have fliers and small pamphlets ready, if anyone asks. Have your cards ready, so whenever you meet anyone who could be a prospective client, you can just handover the card to that person. Think of creative places to let people know about your retail store. Media Medium Having a press release with all the details of your business and then getting the media to publicize you is another good idea. However, to convince the paparazzi, you would have to make sure that your product is good enough. Otherwise you might get a bashing by the media, and everything will go for a toss. In addition, placing advertisements in newspapers and magazines would further help. Free'dom Who does not want to use things for free? Cash in on that mentality. If your business is of a product which can be used in daily work or the likes, give your relatives and close friends a sample of that product , of course, free of cost. Tell them that their satisfaction is your prize! Okay, exaggeration and jokes apart, if they like what you have given them, you are sure to be referred to the friends of your friends, and to their friends, without you needing to tell them. This can be one of the very effective retail store marketing ideas. Video Gaga In your store have a video on product demos along with a television playing during the store hours. Have live demonstrations too, to give people better idea about the product. Well, if I go on the list of marketing ideas is actually, a really long one! But I would leave you to think of rest of the ideas and grow your business by leaps and bounds! If all this is seems a bit too flashy, just pick a phone and call up all those you know pretty well and tell them to visit your retail store! Oh, yes and don't forget that personal touch! This is where I sign off!