Publicity Hound Kevin Jackson of Chicago, Illiois writes:
“I recently opened a men’s specialty store that does NOT focus on clothes. Rather, it’s a lifestyle concept that sells skin and hair care products, accessories (watches, belts, etc.) and home furnishings (bar accessories and the like) designed for men. I think this is a unique concept and would like to get the word out to the media in my market.
“I also plan to get customers involved in the community by offering specials in support of a different charity each month. For example, one month I’ll provide a discount for customers who bring in old cell phones that can be donated to shelters. Another month may encourage people to bring in non-perishable food items that will be donated to the needy.
“In addition to fashion reporters at the newspapers and magazines, are there other opportunities for me to spread the word?”
Kevin, Since I also do PR in Chicago, I can at least give you a few places to go after for PR.
1) WLS-TV. Ask for Darah Languido, the Morning Show “Best of Chicago” producer. She is awesome to work with and this may be of interest to her. They love doing lifestyle segments. If she’s not interested, ask if their mid-day news producer would be.
2) Chicago Tribune—I would contact the editors of the “Q” section. They also have a lot of lifestyle segments and your store would DEFINITELY be a great fit.
3) Chicago & NorthShore Magazines—Again, both really lifestyle focused and affluent readers who would respond well to your store. I would recommend starting with Jeff Cockrell at NorthShore Magazine. He’s the assistant editor and really easy to talk to and very, very helpful.
4) WTMX “The Mix” radio station—Eric & Kathy (morning talk show hosts) would love your concept. I would call “Swany”, their producer and tell him you want to come in and talk about your store. They might poke jabs at you, but all in good fun and you’d get a lot of PR out of it.
5) If you are planning on donating to charitable causes each month, plan to do a monthly press release to all the local media about what you are doing. You will most likely get mentions regarding it. I would then do a few “post-event” press releases where you could send a few pictures and a small release on the success of the event.
I hope that helps! I couldn’t resist helping a fellow Chicagoan! Good luck. I’ll make sure I stop by soon!
Since women tend to make many of the purchasing decisions, host a special ladies shopping night for Valentine’s Day so they can get the special person in their lives the right gift. You could donate a portion of the evening’s proceeds to a women’s related charity. Make sure you send out press releases announcing your event!
There is a daily email newsletter called Daily Candy that does city specific shopping/dining/doing suggestions. The Chicago version is pretty cool. They highlight new stores, great places to get gifts, restaurants, etc. See if you can get them interested in an article about your new boutique. They did a piece on a friend’s studio and he received a lot of business from it.
I’m really excited for you, Kevin – we had a retail business which was lots of fun, and your sounds like a wonderfully unique concept!
Ditto: Jil’s comments – dailycandy.com can really put you on the map! You may also want to start building relationships with Cargo, GQ and so on, as you have something very unique. And work with your vendors – when a product is mentioned in a magazine editorial, there is usually a store mentioned where it can be purchased.
Another place you could get big buzz is by hitting some of the trunk shows that charities hold in the Chicago area usually around the holidays (they are forever looking for men’s stuff) – the Allendale School has a great one in November (more info 312-458-9343) as does the University School in Milwaukee (414-352-6000). Don’t forget the colleges locally – for a very small fee, most of them will let you set up a table and sell stuff and get the word out (call the student activites office and ask about becoming a vendor). Any businesses you could partner or co-market with (gyms, car dealerships, golf courses/clubs, etc.)? Anything you could do at train stations (a captive audience!)? Could you hold a party where a bartender comes in and, using your stuff, teaches guys (and their significant others) how to mix drinks? Massseuses using your products? How about holding a private shopping night for a particular charity and donating 20% of the revenues back to them – easy, fun and worthwhile!
Many people check out your web site before coming into the shop itself. (By the way, I had a very hard time finding your web site, and no luck at all on finding your store info on google, local sites or the yellow pages. It only came up under a Chamber of Commerce listing when your name was mentioned.) When you further develop your web site, I recommend having purchasing capability – e-commerce became a huge part of our revenues and expanded our reach nationally. Your store becomes your warehouse and it doesn’t take much more effort to get things sent out. I would also make it an aspirational lifestyle site – where a guy can learn to make a great martini (using your barware, of course!), etc. – you want to give them a reason for coming back as often as possible. Make sure you take every opportunity to get the e-mail information of every willing customer that comes into the store or hits the web site, as e-mail is a very inexpensive and effective way to build that relationship (check out constantcontact.com or campaigner.com).
My brother just moved back to Chicago – I’ll make sure he stops in! Good luck!
Why not host a poker night?
The Publicity Hound says:
If I were you, I’d do two things:
—Send news releases about unusual products to special gift guides, such as Father’s Day sections, published by newspapers and magazines. Not sure which media to pitch? Check out the Gift List for Holidays, a handy subscription service that sells contact information for 250 newspapers, top magazines, even TV and radio stations that feature gifts. Read more about it at http://tinyurl.com/9es8y and be sure to check out the tips I wrote for this website on how to pitch gift guides. These journalists are HUNGRY for your news.
—Submit a brief–a short item about your store—to inflight magazines for airlines that serve Chicago. It’s great tourist information the magazines might be happy to include if they’re writing a larger article about Chicago. Or write a brief about products you sell that are perfect for men who travel. See “Special Report #29: Fly High with Publicity in In-Flight Magazines” at http://tinyurl.com/6uz9g
why not do makeovers, a la ‘queer eye for the straight guy?’ offer to make over some local celebrities, athletes, politicians, etc. as well as some ‘average joes,’ who may be intimidated about using the products in your store. you can offer personal as well as home makeovers.