Business birthdays are important – for you and for your customers. Embrace the opportunity for a celebration. But be sure to not make it all about making more money. Take some time to embrace the achievement and love it.
Here are my tips for celebrating the birthday of any small retail business:
- Setup a photoboard and invite customer engagement. Let’s say your business is six years old: ask customers to bring a photo showing then at six years of age.
- Setup a noticeboard. Let’s say your business is twenty years. Headline the board with: We want a list of twenty things you love about this town.
- Recognise local heroes. Host an after drinks night in your shop and take a moment to acknowledge and thank local heroes. The number you acknowledge should be the number of years you have been in business.
- Hand out a flyer listing X hidden gems of your region (where X is the number of hears you have been in business). The flyer is your birthday gift to your customers.
- Have cake. Everyone loves cake. If for no other reason than to get to eat cake have a birthday cake.
- Party favor bags. Give every customer shopping on your birthday a bag of treats and favors you have chosen to celebrate your big day.
- The Happy Birthday discount. Offer a big discount to any customer who comes in on the day (or through the week if you wish) and sings, at full voice, Happy Birthday. Sure there is a sales element here – but it is sure to be a lot of fun.
- Say thank you. In your front window, create a stunning and personal display saying thank you to the town. Do it visually, creatively and with a full heart.
A key aspect of these ideas is to subtly remind people that your business stable and can be trusted.