Branding Your 4 Walls & Beyond
Image: Aurielaki / Adobe Stock
Are you making the most use of your brand? Of the almost 600 stores I have visited, the majority would do well to expand the use of their brand inside the four walls of their store. Is yours one of them?
Take a moment and walk into your store (through the customer entrance), take three steps in, stop and look around. Is it obvious what store you’re in? (The signage on the entrance door doesn’t count.)
Studies have shown customers walk fastest from the parking lot through the front door. Then, after taking a few steps in a store, they’ll slow down to look around (well past the front door). Many stores put manufacturers’ logos (or worse yet, banners) on the walls. If the manufacturers are not paying for that space, it’d be better to advertise your brand in these spots.
A Store That “Gets It”
One of my favorite stores for marketing is Black Wing Shooting Center in Delaware, Ohio. (Black Wing’s Marketing Manager Kayla King really has this place dialed in.)
Walk through the front door and the Black Wing logo with its mission statement is on two walls — one of them is so large they have guests take pictures of the wall. Besides logos in the retail store, Black Wing’s indoor ranges have the facility’s logos on walls and the range waiting area has another huge one on a wall.
King also hits apparel hard, commenting, “Our logo apparel is a marketing strategy for our brand and our business. We want it to be affordable and wearable with lots of options because those T-shirts, sweatshirts, candles and hats are all walking advertisements presented by your biggest fans!”
She continued, “When someone sees a Black Wing logo ‘out in the wild,’ it will sometimes spark conversation and friendship centered around our brand. When someone takes the initiative to buy a Black Wing logo item, it’s the ultimate compliment because they look forward to wearing or displaying that item as a conversation piece — which is absolutely a key marketing strategy.”
One of her keys to apparel sales is rotating and updating the styles. Having one style of hat or T-shirt doesn’t cut it. Not only should branded apparel fit in with the upcoming season, but there should also be varieties of the item. Take the basic baseball cap. Some want a curved bill, others (which I don’t understand) want a straight bill and others prefer trucker style. You need to offer choices and colors to spur sales. Black Wing offers many, many styles of hats, shirts, sweatshirts and jackets. (You could probably wear one a day for over a month before it repeats.)
I am a huge proponent of having a logo on as many items as possible. Although, my good friend Glenn Duncan, owner of Duncan’s Outdoor Shop in Bay City, Mich., may have taken it a little too far. When my son, Grant, was born, Glenn made sure my baby came home from the hospital wearing a Duncan’s Outdoor Shop bib. To this day I think the kid likes Glenn better than me.
Make It Fun
Are your giveaway logo items being used to their maximum potential? One way is to put some fun into them. For example, instead of just handing someone a free hat, let them win or earn it. To win one, allow the customer to “spin to win” on a wheel when they buy a gun or purchase a membership. The prizes on the wheel can be a hat, T-shirt, water bottle, etc. See a customer walking around the store wearing a national chain competitor’s hat? Tell him you want him on your team and offer to trade him one of yours — and tease that his old hat will be used as a target.
Think about having different price points and varying quality of logo apparel. Giving away free apparel costs money unless of course, you’re using co-op dollars (see Hank Yacek’s article on co-op dollars in the Nov. 2023 issue of SI1), so give away less-expensive items vs. higher-quality ones available for purchase.
Having your logo on eye and ear protection is natural, and not just for ranges. What better place to have others see a shooter supporting your brand than when the consumer is actually participating in the activity (i.e., shooting)?
Offering ear protection for all shooters — including kids —in the latest colors with a logo will help move some product. And, please, not just pink for ladies — include purple or baby blue.
Use Branded Items For Charitable Donations
Another idea for those with ranges: use logo eye/ear protection to create a package for local donations. I learned this trick after attending a Ducks Unlimited banquet where my donation was a gun rental, a box of 9mm ammo and range time. When it came time for my item, the auctioneer held up the little business card-sized range pass and mumbled what was in the package. Not very impressive.
Next banquet, we added eye/ear protection with our range logo and a large certificate printed on heavy paper. This time, the auctioneer held up the eye/ear protection and certificate and the package went for more than double the previous banquet.
In my experience, less than 25% of these packages are ever used. By including eye/ear protection, they’re at least more likely to be used — even if it’s just to wear while they mow the lawn.
Are You Offering Shooters’ Bundles?
Speaking of packages and bundles, if your store or range does not offer shooters’ bundles, I highly suggest starting. Ideally, more than one price point should be offered.
Shooter bundles typically consist of a range bag, eye/ear protection and a cleaning kit. Everything in that kit can have your logo on it. Pyramex, Radians, Pro Ears and Walker’s all offer logo eye/ear items in a variety of styles and price points. Pro Shot and Otis offer cleaning kits with your logo. Bulldog can supply range bags with a logo, too.
Besides working great for giveaways, logo eye/ear are perfect for any shooters’ bundle. The beauty of these bundles is threefold.
First, they save time when staff is busy. As associates wrap up the firearm sale, they can inquire if the customer desires a good, better or best bundle — saving the time of selecting each item separately.
Second is customer convenience: A newer shooter walking around your store may not know what they need, and can be too intimidated to ask for help. It sounds silly a consumer would be intimidated to ask for help, but think about going into a lingerie store to buy something for a lady. Would you be a little nervous — maybe even a little scared — to ask the salesperson for help? There are customers in your store all the time who feel the same way. Make it easy and take a little stress off them by offering shooters’ bundles.
Third is all the marketing benefits of having your logo on these items that are visible at the point of use. As mentioned above, cleaning kits are another awesome place for a logo. Not only do they look good on display in your store, but the real benefit is when the customer is cleaning their firearm at home — your logo is in their face while they’re interacting with it.
Worth The Extra Effort
Branding starts outside. One of the best marketers I have run across is Magnum Shooting Center, with two locations in Colorado Springs, Colo. Magnum has a great logo (bright orange and black), which really stands out — and they use it to the maximum. In front of both facilities, customers are greeted with a massive circular entrance towering above the roof and a large, brightly lit Magnum Shooting Center logo. Step into the range and the front wall of the range, behind the shooters, is used to promote memberships and products.
Todd Lockburner, co-owner of Magnum Shooting Center, said, “We spend a lot of money on in-store signage; it’s refreshed monthly.”
How many stores can say they have a program to refresh signage monthly? This is one of the processes to keeping your branding top-notch.
Lockburner uses OtterText to keep the brand in front of his customers. Earlier this year, he offered a free range pass to get people to sign up for the texting service.
Final Thoughts
If you own a range the opportunities are endless. Consider adding logos on shooting benches — guests can’t miss it while handling their firearms.
City Arsenal in Greenville, S.C., just upgraded its range and added their logo to the new benchtops of the motorized shooting benches in each lane. Sprague’s Sports in Yuma, Ariz., did an awesome job using co-op dollars to place their logo and other brands on the floor forward of the firing line where shooters will see it, plus any pictures taken will have the logo.
A final comment on branding: All stores and ranges should have branded signage posted on the inside of bathroom doors for customers to see as they open the door to exit the restroom stating, “Don’t forget your firearm.”
1. shootingindustry.com/discover/dont-cop-out-from-co-op-challenges
