Want More Customers? Be Where They Are!

With its global saturation, the world wide web enables small firearms retailers to compete successfully with giant corporate retailers.

Some retailers use the web to access an unlimited international market, while others use it to increase exposure among their existing customers. Regardless of the method, an effective e-commerce strategy translates to sales and profits. 

Simmons Sporting Goods in Bastrop, La., is a popular outlet for hunters in northeast Louisiana, as well as those from neighboring areas in Arkansas and Mississippi. Like all local retailers, Simmons competes with similar-size retailers for the same customers, and all of them compete with big corporate retailers.

Lindsey Curtis, Simmons’ CFO, aggressively embraces e-commerce to expand Simmons’ footprint far beyond its remote geographic location.

“Our store is 80,000 square feet,” Curtis said. “We try to offer almost everything. We can get guns nobody else can get. We do customer service well, and we’re competitive on prices. We do all those things to compete with bigger people.”

Leave No Stone Unturned

Curtis has worked for the company for 15 years. She is also a Millennial who is steeped in online culture and methodology. She oversees a multi-faceted web marketing strategy that incorporates a dynamic website, targeted emails and a continuous stream of new content on social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit. 

Reddit, an open forum for virtually every topic under the sun, is gospel to Gen Z. To reach that demographic, Curtis says it is vital to have a presence on the platform.

“One of my online guys does a lot on Reddit,” Curtis said. “It has chat rooms with people who are looking for something, and we let them know we have it. We get 50 or 60 orders (a year) from Reddit.”

According to Curtis, Simmons’ website is the centerpiece of the company’s e-marketing campaign. She noted many customers prefer to buy a product from the website instead of buying them in-store. This is hard for older managers to grasp, but it’s how younger people buy things.

“Kids [Gen Z] would rather search online for 30 minutes than make a 30-second phone call,” Curtis contended. “People where we live buy guns online when they get off work, and we also ship guns all over the country. We’ve seen huge — big, big — growth in this area.”

Advertising Hurdles

Navigating firearms-related policies of the various social media platforms can be challenging, Curtis acknowledged. Facebook is notoriously restrictive to gun-related content, as was Twitter before its reboot.

“We struggle the most with trying to advertise online because there are so many restrictions from social media,” Curtis said.

Television stations and newspapers have websites, and they partner with businesses like Simmons Sporting Goods to place web ads. Curtis shared cross-platform advertising with print and broadcast partners is an important part of Simmons’ web presence, but it gets complicated if a web ad conflicts with a media partner’s advertising policy.

“Some of my television stations have taken the stance they’re not going to advertise any AR-15s on their station,” Curtis said. “It’s changing all the time about who will let you do what gun-related.”

Because social media is in a constant state of flux, Curtis’ staff must stay current on which social media platforms are hot and which are not. Ironically, 30-something Curtis says she relies on 20-something employees to keep current on these trends.

“Ask somebody who’s younger than you,” Curtis stated. “First it was Facebook and then it was Instagram. Now we’re doing a lot of YouTube. We’ve got guys who do podcasts, and they’re putting those on YouTube. And, YouTube is more lenient about what we can talk about.”

YouTube is also the gathering place for the most avid segment of the gun-buying demographic.

Email is dinosaur technology in many quarters, but Curtis said e-mails targeted to existing customers are effective.

“We do a lot of email marketing because we can send it directly to customers who want those kinds of emails,” Curtis shared.

Have A Purpose

Tim Shoopman, director of brand communications for H&H Shooting Sports in Oklahoma City, uses the web to generate local traffic for his company’s myriad products and services. 

Web marketing is especially useful, Shoopman said, for bringing customers to the H&H indoor shooting range. However, the company’s outreach efforts also provide access to H&H’s full suite of products and services.

“If you click a link to our firearms training courses, it’s going to pivot to product and price point for brands like Smith & Wesson and Walther,” Shoopman noted. “From there, we can mix in our own internal campaigns, like our ‘Sweetheart Special’ on the range for Valentine’s. Maybe you’d like to come in for a range date. It really does make it easier if you can find an activity that utilizes the gun range.”

Like Simmons Sporting Goods, H&H partners with local media outlets to expose its website to larger and more diverse demographics.

“We do make it a priority to optimize the website and drive traffic,” Shoopman said. “We use services through our media partners for search engine optimization and general web display ads.”

Currently, H&H is running web display ads driving traffic back to its firearms training classes. 

“If somebody on our local CBS affiliate website is reading a news article, there’s a pretty good chance they’re going to see our display ad,” Shoopman added. “Click the image, and it redirects you back to our site.”

Like Curtis, Shoopman must also navigate firearms-related sensitivities that can result in a web ad being blocked. Oklahoma City is a much bigger media market than Monroe, La. (Bastrop). Advertising on a media website owned by a media conglomerate is more complicated than doing business with an independently owned media outlet, he said.

“We work very selectively with our media partners given the fact our industry gets blacklisted and shadow banned,” Shoopman stated. “We’re very conscientious about who we want to work with. We make sure they are aware we are going to show firearms and drive traffic back to a firearms website.”

Keep It Fresh

With so much traffic bouncing back to a website, a website must perform. The design must be dynamic, eye-catching, interactive and user-friendly, according to Shoopman.

“The visual is definitely the most important part,” Shoopman affirmed. “We got the highest amount of clicks on our ads with on-range photography — still images of shooters on the firing lanes.”

Curiously, sometimes a random, seemingly inconsequential image generates traffic.

“People really like the gun safe image Browning provided where their safe is on fire,” he remarked. “It got a lot of click-back traffic.”

Curtis noted Simmons’ website prominently incorporates traditional, successful elements of the company’s presence and image.

“We have a blog that creates content people want to look at,” she said. “We have a big buck contest. The standings are updated every week, and thousands of deer are brought in. People go to the website every day to check the standings and look at pictures of the deer that are brought in. They might not buy something every time, but it gets people to go there multiple times. It’s a huge draw to our business.”

It’s important to change the presentation frequently to keep repetitive visitors engaged, but Shoopman says a website should maintain a consistent look in order to contribute to the company’s brand.

“We try to rotate campaigning and imagery on a four- to six-week window,” Shoopman said. “We do flash sales. We see clicks and traffic spike. If we run the same content all the way through, people get blind to it. We keep it fresh to keep new eyes on it.”

In agreement, Curtis added frequent updates are vital to maintaining a website’s relevance.

“It’s always changing,” Curtis said. “Only so many people live in or close to Bastrop. If we’re going to grow bigger, we have to reach people who cannot drive here. The only way to do that is online.”

Look For Inspiration

Of course, an effective website must have conspicuous static elements, like hours and location, Shoopman said. A website should facilitate easy purchases, but it should not overload a visitor with information. Good examples abound, and Shoopman does not mind borrowing effective ideas from other sites.

“I will freely admit I like to go to the NSSF website,” Shoopman declared. “I look at every bit of every information they have on five-star and four-star ranges. I take what information I can to use for our site. It’s always a good idea to look at the industry and see how you can better yourself.”

How do you evaluate a website’s effectiveness? Is it worth the time and effort?

“We can track direct e-commerce sales, but if I can use analytics and see online sales are higher this month than last month, then I can always marry trends and look at the same information for in-store point of sale,” Shoopman said. “When visitors come to our website, they’re coming for a specific reason. If you can provide a video of the gun range — for your very first time in, this is what you can expect — it answers their question and solves their problem.”

It’s also time you don’t have to spend on the phone instead of tending to a customer who’s in the store.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is this: Generations X and Y (Millennials) are the mature and ascendant markets. They get their information online and they do business online. If you’re not conspicuous in that arena, you will lose customers to retailers who are conspicuous in that arena.

“The firearm industry is still an in-person completion, but if we’re going to capture a younger audience, they’re shopping online,” Shoopman said. “You need to be where they are.” 

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