Seeing benefits of a return to old school marketing
These days when a shop has something new and interesting to sell it is hard to know how best to promote it. There was a time that for Avalanche the go-to platform would be Twitter, which of course we now have to call X.
It is increasingly hard to tell exactly how successful X is at reaching people as without doubt there are many people who now monitor it but no longer want to be seen interacting with posts.
On the other hand Bluesky does not seem to get the traffic that Twitter once did despite so many accounts having either moved there completely or set up a dual account along with X. To be fair I haven’t really had the time or the inclination to have a big push for sales via social media simply because we have been so busy in the shop and with the new website that we launched to coincide with the Taylor Swift x Butcher Billy exhibition that it hasn’t been a priority.
Having said that with so many others posting Avalanche items on platforms like Instagram and TikTok creating great feedback and indeed sales, there is no doubt there is more we could do there to increase sales even further.
What I haven’t lost sight of though is how important the shop is itself especially now we have signage on Princes Street and Waverley Steps, and of course you will regularly see Avalanche posters dotted around Edinburgh. What often seems to be forgotten these days is how successful marketing campaigns were before the internet and social media and poster campaigns played a big part in that.
My particular pet hate is digital advertising screens. It is clear why they are popular with those selling advertising as several adverts can be sold for one space, while in the old days a poster at a bus stop – while often very successful – was a fixed image so the space could only be sold once. For me I’ll see something I’m interested in on the Waverley Steps screens and before I’ve read all the details the image has disappeared.
While not an AC/DC fan, when I saw the digital advert the morning their Murrayfield gig was announced as I got into work, it took me three attempts just to find out what was happening.
One thing hasn’t changed at all over the years and that is how important word of mouth is. While it is good to see the kids coming in after hearing of the shop from their friends in school, it always amazes me when we get people in from all over the world who will tell us they particularly came to the shop after hearing about Avalanche from friends who have visited previously.
Returning customers are also important and we get a lot of people in telling us they are making a return visit often reminding us of what they have bought previously, which is always nice to hear. Because we source so many unusual and hard to find things across a wide range from music to merchandise we have become a destination for Christmas shoppers and during the year those looking for birthday gifts. Hopefully in the coming months we will get the balance right across all these different options.