How to Market Your Skateshop to Skateboarders

Hey Josh - My husband and I are opening up a skate shop in __________. [don't want to alert any competitors] I’m in charge of advertising. I recently read a post of yours dated June 06 in which you made a few comments on how poorly skateboarders are marketed to. Do you have any tips? Our budget is small so I have to be smart about it.

Thanks in advance -

Jeannine

Hi Jeannine, I certainly have some opinions on this, but my advice isn’t worth a darn unless it works, so take it for what it’s worth and don’t be afraid to discount it entirely if you get the feeling it won’t serve you.

1. Research your target market. That is, get out there and talk to skateboarders. Lots of them. Ask them what they like about other shops and what they dislike about other shops. If you don’t talk to at least 10 then you might only get a small part of the picture, since there are different types of skateboarders. If you don’t talk to skateboarders and you don’t understand the culture then you will be seen as a fraud within ten seconds of any skater entering your store.

2. Talk to parents of skateboarders. After all, for the most part they’re the ones who are keeping you in business.

3. Don’t just go ahead and do what either of the two above groups say. One misunderstanding in this world is that we often assume that people know what they want. This is often not the case. Sometimes somebody will say they like something, and they really think they do, but in reality they don’t. Just to give you an example of what I mean, you might talk to 10 skateboarders and they all say they like shops that have black walls, bare metal and wood, and loud music, and you would probably be inclined to believe that this is what they really like. However, you might then build your shop and paint your walls white and have a light wood floor and make the place look more like Banana Republic than Hot Topic and you might actually sell more product that way. What comes out of a customer’s mouth is one thing, but what really matters is what comes out of their wallet.

Now I don’t know whether black paint or white paint is better, I’m just saying you shouldn’t always trust what the customer tells you they like.

4. Word of mouth is the best advertising. Word of mouth advertising doesn’t cost anything, and it’s the best kind of advertising. If you can get your customers to tell other potential customers about your shop then you’ll be sitting pretty. I’ve never seen this done in a retail environment, but there’s this thing that’s common online called “affiliate marketing” and here’s how it might work for you…

You offer your customers the chance to become “affiliates” or unpaid salespeople for your shop. For example, you set up a program wherein if some kid refers $1,000 worth of business to you, you’ll give them $100 credit at your store. How you track that is up to you. You could give the kid a simple code that he passes out to his friends, and maybe you give them a free sticker if they come in and tell you the code, or you give them 5% off, or whatever you can do so that they remember to give you the code so that you can track the purchases and give the credit to the right person. And maybe you don’t do this forever, maybe you just do it for a month or two. The key is that whatever you’re giving the affiliate has to be motivating enough that he will actually go out and spread the word.

5. Branding. Start out with a good brand, please. Don’t call your shop “X-treme Board Sports” or “Radical Wave” or “Totally Awesome Skateboards” or “Super Kewl Hot Dogger Zoom Skateshop.” Keep it simple. “Dave’s Skateshop” is just fine. You don’t have to get that creative. Just keep it simple and normal. Your name is more likely to hurt you than help you anyway.

Once you’ve got the name, don’t create a stupid logo. Again, keep it simple. Don’t have drawings in your logo. Just the text is best. That is, just the name. You don’t have to have a picture, you don’t have to have a symbol. If the name of your shop is Dave’s Skateshop and your logo is “Dave’s Skateshop” in a font that looks like something from 1930’s major league baseball then you’re doing just fine.

6. Public relations. PR is sort of like word of mouth. Find ways to make your shop worthy of being in the news. That is, in positive ways, of course. Local papers will write about just about anything. If your shop is special for some reason based on location, size, shape, has a skatepark in the back, is being run by a military veteran with no legs, etc. then it’s more likely to get written about in the papers.

Here’s a tip: Write your own newspaper article about the shop. If you don’t think it’s very interesting, find ways to make it interesting, or find ways to make your shop more interesting. Then send the article around to all the papers in the area.

7. Sponsor events. Figure out how to get skate teams to come to your shop and do demos. It helps to have a large parking lot. Figure out how to hold a contest at the local skatepark, or have one in your parking lot. It doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. You could hold the “Dave’s Skateshop Annual Flatbar Contest” in front of your shop, and just have flatbars as the obstacles, which aren’t expensive, and maybe you even have people bring their own flatbars. Advertise the event at the local skatepark, in your shop, in the newspaper, at the high school, etc. and you’ll get tons of kids there.

Well, I could come up with more ideas but I have to run. Hope this is helpful. If you have any more questions feel free to post them as comments below and I’ll respond.