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Hello everyone,
Just wanted to ask some advice on how you guys get the word out about upcoming trunk shows in your offices. We are thinking of planning a trunk show in the future and I was thinking about doing a facebook advertising post for it but wanted to look into other advertising venues as well. We are not a very big office so cost affordable ways would be appericated.
jc17777
We use the usuals for anything. Postcard mailings work fine. We also email the entire client list (ones that have opted in to emails, anyway) for back to school, and the last week of the year. We always get positive results, and it's free. Between our postcards and emails, our recall system works out pretty well, as does the twice annual email blast. The other stuff can be so hit and miss for a single event, hard to know if people will notice it enough and at the right time for something like a trunk show.
Good luck!
There is a point of diminishing returns with a trunk show. Yes, you want customers to come in so it's a profitable event, but no, you don't want the traffic to be so great that your staff can't handle it. The first time I ran one, we put an ad in a local paper as well as having flyers in-store, giving out flyers to local small businesses, mentioning it on Facebook, and emailing a customized list of patients we thought most likely to buy multiple pairs of glasses. We had 105 patients come in during the five-hour block we had set aside for the show. They bought 55 pairs of glasses between them. Yes, it was an amazing day and we made a lot of money. But we were there until after 9:00 for an event that was to have ended at 7:00, a number of people left because the wait to see an optician was so long, and we were exhausted to the point of feeling ill.Quote:
Originally Posted by jc17777
For future shows, we skipped the ad in favor of the direct emails, flyers, and Facebook posts. It cut the number of visitors in half, but a greater proportion of them bought glasses, and everyone was much happier. The other thing to remember about trunk shows is that they aren't just an addition to your revenues. If you are advertising the show in-store, a certain proportion of your customer base is going to refrain from buying glasses on the day of their exam in favor of waiting for the show. So there's generally a bit lost from the weeks before; it's not all positive.
I love trunk shows, just make sure you're being realistic about how they work and what they gain your practice. The office I'm working for right now is by far the busiest I've ever seen, and I can't imagine a trunk show being anything but a disaster here. We barely have the staff for our regular schedule.
EDIT: It's a nice idea to be compiling a list throughout the year of patients who buy multiple pairs, who gravitate towards designer frames, etc. to use as a trunk show marketing list.
"we were exhausted to the point of feeling ill."
I have been there and it is not a good thing. I think you have it right. I used to work at a place that would have an annual sunglass open house. It became a big production. Food on a grill, live music etc. Patients looked to the even every year. Teens would save their money to buy a "good pair" of sunglasses during the event. The problem was as you stated...opticians ended up being worked to death. No breaks and were there 2 hours after we should have. I prefer to do an in house advertisement. Emails and Facebook, but don't go crazy. Be prepared. It's always better to start off slow and do it bigger next year!
Thank you all for all of the input. I think I will take the suggestion of using flyers at local buisnesses and agree with Ange and not put a add in the newspaper. Im the only optician here so if I ended up getting 100 people I would probably pull my hair out
Hi Angeham, Thanks for sharing the info.
I work for a group of opticians in London and I organised many open days for our practices.
I want to ask you few questions about your trunk shows.
1. What offers did you have for your trunk show?
2. What message did you advertised to call people in?
3. Was the trunk show organised to promote some specific brands?
Regards,
Arsalan