Promoting a Local Store

Our group decided that we were going to promote Mary Contrary, a local privately owned store in downtown Greensboro, NC.
For outdoor advertising we plan to make a chalkboard in the alley between Mary Contrary and its neighbor Shakra's spa. We will create the chalkboard out of black chalkboard paint and we will have a bucket of chalk available for our customer's kids to be able to play. This technique will also bring new customers in to the store and make our store more known. When children stop to play, their parents will be lured in to the store out of curiosity...plus, just as the shop Just Be... is known for the bubble machine on the outside of the store, we will start to be known for our chalkboard. The chalkboard will also have the name of our store painted on the top left corner and on the top right corner the item of the day will be posted daily and any specials or promotions that the store has for that week will also be displayed..this way customers are aware of what is going on in the store before they enter.
At Mary Contrary we will also give out bookmarks or magnets of Mary's Posy people to every customer. If a customer spends up to $25 they will get a bookmark and anything over $30 they will receive a free magnet. Mary's Posy people are especially made by Mary herself out of flowers from her backyard...the Posy people are then photographed and scanned onto our bookmarks and magnets. Customers can also buy plates and other decorations with Mary's Posy people printed on them. These bookmarks and magnets will start a viral marketing campaign for the store when other people see our customer's Posy People and become curious as to where they were purchased, etc.
To further our promotion of Mary Contrary we will also start a customer mailing list and each customer that gives the store 5 new customer names and emails will receive a special discount offer and each of the new customers will also receive the special offer. There will also be emails sent out monthly to let our customers know of the events and specials going on each month and to advertise special offers.
We hope these new strategies along with our monthly advertisements in local magazines such as downtown mags and women's mags (skirt) will further promote our local store and create a new customer base.