Collectible bear event in Melbourne

We are hosting a special collectible bear event in Melbourne later today at my newsXpress Southland store from 2pm onwards, at Westfield Southland.

This is a premium collector event that includes several activities through afternoon and evening. We have an expert who will share how bears are designed and made, another with wonderful knowledge on the exclude hand made in UK Willow range and bear collectors keen to share their passion.

To keep participants refreshed we have arranged cake and coffee from the Fergusson Plarre located opposite us.

We have promoted the event as a Facebook event, using social media to attract new shoppers.

While we are targeting collectors, we are also seeking to attract those who do not currently collect buy may collect. Oh, and by collectors, we mean any premium plush collector – of bears, dragons and other characters, people who are happy to spend anything from $100 to $750 on a purchase.

A core goal of this event is to find new shoppers people who would not usually shop with us and who may not shop in a newsagency. The event and the marketing of it play against assumptions, they challenge what people expect and through this have them look at us differently.

I think this is something we need to do in our businesses – we need to range product, host events and market the business ignoring what people expect from our type of business. We need to not allow our shingle or shopper expectations for our type of business restrict shoppers we can attract or what we can achieve.

We will know by tonight how the event has gone. Success will be measured by revenue, new customer contact and feedback from those with whom we have connected through the marketing, and this has been happening through the last two weeks. In fact, the learnings already have been terrific.

FYI here is the text of our social media marketing yesterday. I share it to show the style we are going for:

We are very excited to be bringing the beautiful range of hand made in the UK Willow Bears to Westfield Southland (in Melbourne) tomorrow from 2pm for a very special showing. If you love beautiful bears you will not want to miss this event at newsXpress Southland. There will be cake. www.willowbears.com.au

If you happen to stop by and check out the event, be sure to introduce yourself.