As booksellers we all strive to have promotional material that customers will use. Much thought is given to how things are produced and where customers can access these materials in the store. This year, for the first year in 15 years, we have not had our in-store newsletter. Technology foiled us and it just didn’t happen. However, we were not left without anything.
This year we inserted the NEIBA catalog in two of our local papers in November. This effort reached almost 10,000 people, far more than we could reach on our own. The catalog is produced by several regional trade associations which helps to reduce costs. Each store received several hundred free and if your store choose to insert the catalog in any papers, NEIBA would reimburse you up to $300. This seemed like a winning idea.
We set up a special display of the books in the front of the store so the books are easy to find. I will say that so far in the season, the books are doing quite well. The hardest part about this catalog is guessing which books will be asked for. There are almost 150 titles in the brochure, and it’s impossible to stock quantity of each title. Every week there are adjustments to the restock order of the books.
The catalog has been a favorite among customers, including this young boy, who actually read through the catalog and picked out two books. Now, that’s what I call effective marketing.