Independent Retailer Month 2013 – just 16 days to go! #indiemonth #indieretail

With Independent Retailer Month (JULY) starting in just over 2 weeks, I wanted to share a full update to ensure all those retailers, groups of retailers and whole areas who are getting involved have access to all the information they need! This is quite a long one, but take the time to read through as there’s loads for you here!

Tell us about any events or activities you have planned for #IndieMonth

I’ve seen loads of people talking on twitter about the promotions, activities and events that they are planning to celebrate Indie Month (please use #IndieMonth if you are tweeting too, so we can spot the info and retweet you!) The problem is you aren’t telling us!! If you don’t email us details of your activities we can’t promote you. We have a whole page dedicated to promoting ALL events – see www.independentretailermonth.co.uk/events and we will be actively engaging consumer-facing press to alert them to all of the activities, nationally and locally. If you aren’t on the page then we can’t shout about you! Please take a look at the page and then email us details of what you are up to.

Also, if you would like us to post any press releases about your events as a blog, please email that to us entitled “Guest Blog for Indie Month” and we’ll start to get those published here as soon as we have the content…

Stuck for Ideas? Maybe we can help you – there’s still time to get involved!

I’ve spoken to a number of people this week who are stuck for ideas – don’t let this worry you, here are some things you could do to create an indie month event in your store or community:

Speak to the local council or town team and see if they can help you to put something together to help promote the local indies throughout July – you don’t have to launch on 1^st, you can do something later in the month!
Speak to your brand suppliers – they might be able to help you with support for promotions that will attract customers and increase sales of their items through your stores throughout July (they might even be able to roll this out to ALL their other indie retail customers). Last year Dulux ran a promotion in all of their colour and advice centres, it worked so well they are running more promotions across all of their brands and ALL of their indies – so it works!
Speak to any of the trade associations or buying groups you are a member of – see if they can help with ideas and support. Certainly ask them to get in touch with us if they’ve not come across us before so that we can provide them with information that they can share with all their members – the more people behind it, the better it will be for everyone!
Speak to the local press and see if they will run a feature to encourage customers to the area. You can use the PR kit mentioned below…

You will also find materials for download on our website to help you make the most of the campaign. In particular see:

Webinar recording introducing the campaign – https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/791490110
A downloadable ideas guide – ideal for anyone thinking of taking part http://www.independentretailermonth.co.uk/resources/how%20to%20get%20the%20most%20out%20of%20independent%20retailer%20month.pdf
Artwork for the 2013 campaign – Mentioned below (Free resources) you can download campaign artwork from our Dropbox folder – posters, thank-you cards, logos and the “I “heart” Indie Shops” window sticker – see https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hrxx2tey7jms770/sqUMsHLUDA?lst
The events page – www.independentretailermonth.co.uk/events. As mentioned above, tell us what’s going on in your area!

Don’t forget, it doesn’t matter if you are a single store, a small group or a whole town – if you want to get involved with Independent Retailer Month you are very welcome! If you need any further support, please contact us!

Press Release Template and Guidelines – to help you promote your activities

We also have been able to provide you with a fantastic press release template, complete with use guidelines, that has kindly been created by Chicken/Egg. Chicken/Egg are sponsoring the campaign by donating their time and expertise to help us, and all those involved, to promote the campaign to the media, locally and nationally, increasing consumer engagement and driving footfall to all those areas taking part.

You can download the template, which has very clear guidelines, as an editable word document via http://db.tt/yTeBRHyB

The guidelines give really fantastic advice about how to achieve coverage in the local media of your choice. However, if you’d rather get some extra PR support from the team at Chicken/Egg, they are offering preferential rates to all those who would like their help with Indie Month promotion. Email Karen@ChickenEgg.co.uk directly to find out more.

FREE resources – Window posters, thank-you cards etc…

If you visit www.independentretailermonth.co.uk/resources you’ll find a link to our Dropbox shared folder where you can access and download ALL of the resources – we have posters for both UK and Northern Ireland (with our respective local supporters represented on each) as well as thank-you cards for your customers, the press release template, an ideas sheet and all the branding for you to use as you see fit.

Please take advantage of these resources, and, should you want to create something bespoke for your town, then our designer, Sophie Boulton, is more than happy to help! Like Chicken/Egg she is also offering preferential rates to any indie month supporter who wants some specific promotional materials created. You can email her via enquiries@dvisionone.co.uk

Donate to the campaign, without it costing you a penny!

Did you know that you can help to finance the campaign by signing up, FREE, to O2 Priority moments? If you’ve not tried it yet, please do… When you do O2 will donate a cash sum to support the campaign on your behalf! As we’re unfunded, except what our sponsors give to us, this is really valuable to us.

All you have to do is:

Visit https://www.o2priority.co.uk/local/ and register
Create a “moment” *this could be any special offers you are running exclusively for Indie Month*
Email champion@retailchampion.co.uk to confirm that you’ve done it… and they will give us a cash sum as a thank you!

You do need to remember to tell us that you have done it as this is the only way we can “claim our reward”…

This campaign can’t keep going without some financial support. The beauty of this is that it’s a win-win – you get to try out a fab FREE marketing tool AND make a cash donation to the campaign without it costing you a penny!

Finally, this blog… www.independentretail.wordpress.com

As well as promoting your activities via the blog we’re also keen to celebrate independent retail by sharing your success stories throughout July. We want to spread all the good news you have (to counter all the negative news about high streets) and shout about it in order to boost the spirits of all indies. We also want to spread word about the great ideas and innovations you have to engage and retain customers, and hopefully this will inspire others to try similar initiatives too!

If you want to write a guest blog please email me – it should be about 500 words, plus a brief biog about you as the writer. It can also include a couple of images and should be focused on a positive message or valuable experience!

You can read a variety of guest posts and useful advice on this blog, including loads of helpful information from our sponsors – take a look around!

Phew – That’s it! I said it would be a long one, but I hope it proved useful. I look forward to hearing from you regarding your indie month activities very soon!

About Clare Bailey

Clare Bailey, The Retail Champion (formerly Clare Rayner), is one of the most well-known and respected retail experts in the UK. With unrivalled knowledge in retail, high streets and consumer matters, she offers unbiased, independent content – whether engaged as a professional speaker, for broadcast media, or for a written feature. Clare is a business woman, entrepreneur and founder of several small businesses. Having been born into a family of successful business owners, it was inevitable that she’d eventually jump off the corporate treadmill and step out on her own! Today her brand portfolio includes The Retail Champion, The Retail Conference, the Future High Street Summit and the Support for Independent Retail campaign. In addition, she is co-founder of Mobaro Retail UK and a non-exec director of Beed Virtual Assistant Services. Having started her career as a fast-track store management trainee for McDonalds, she went on to work with leading retailers such as M&S, Dixons and Argos. She moved swiftly into management roles before being headhunted into senior consulting roles with global software giant SAP, and international management consulting brand, Accenture. Her corporate background in senior retail, consulting and technology roles, coupled with her experience of creating and running her own business, has enabled her to be equally capable whether consulting to global brands or micro businesses. This unique blend has not only positioned her as a leading expert in all things retail, but has enabled her to add meaningful commentary and insight to the debate around the future of the high street, and, how technology is driving fundamental change in the way consumers, and businesses, interact. Clare has become an influential voice in her field, which has resulted in her becoming a regular media contributor and sought-after conference speaker. Often seen on Good Morning Britain, BBC Breakfast, Sky News, and Chanel 5 (to name a few), Clare speaks on a myriad of retail, high street and consumer issues – but is particular adept when it comes to explaining the context behind retail trading results, newly released data, and government stats, in a palatable and informative manner. In addition to broadcast and conference speaking, Clare is the proud author of two best-selling business books published by Kogan Page - The Retail Champion: 10 Steps to Retail Success, published July 2012 and How to Sell to Retail: The Secrets of Getting Your Product to Market, published February 2013. She has provided contributions to various academic texts, including Retail Marketing Management (published by Pearson). With an engaging, conversational yet informative style, Clare writes for press and content agencies, providing features, articles, blogs and opinion pieces as well as contributions to white papers and reports. However, when the situation demands a more serious style, Clare can deliver - In 2016 she wrote an extensive report for a major insurance and risk law firm, as a retail expert witness, to support a public liability suit. She found that project particularly enjoyable as it played well to her strengths – assimilating large amounts of data and information, identifying the key points and articulating that in an understandable manner. When not on TV or speaking at conferences, Clare’s “day job” sees her supporting consumer-facing businesses through her consultancy services. When asked to describe what she most loves about retail consulting it is typically the opportunity to “dig deep”, getting “under the bonnet”, in order to leverage the business data to uncover the insights that lead to “lightbulb moments”. She also loves working on business change programmes that centre on improving the processes and systems to increase profitability by supporting more rapid, better informed decision making, improving the customer experience, or simply by become more efficient and streamlined. In this respect she considers herself a “business engineer” with a brain that works like a relational database! Due to her years of experience, her logical, objective approach, her quick, rational thinking, she is known for being able to cut through complexity, seeing right through to the crux of issues, finding creative solutions that others may have overlooked. As if all that wasn’t enough, Clare is a working mum, juggling a home life in rural Lincolnshire with her partner, their 5 kids, 4 cats, and geriatric Labrador! For all enquiries, contact Clare directly on 01727 238890 or email champion@retailchampion.co.uk.

View all posts by Clare Bailey →