Having an ice cream shop nowadays is like joining a world championship competition. You’ll literally have a lot of competition. And there are a lot of big names like Ben & Jerry’s and Baskin Robbins.
If you’re just still thinking about opening an ice cream store, you might be in fear that your business will not be successful considering the competition. Well, you don’t have to worry, you can still do things to join the big leagues.
In this post, I’ve compiled 10 excellent ways to market your ice cream business. These are super effective and easy to do. So, read on if you want to effectively promote your business.
Here are 10 ways you can promote your ice cream business:
- Be Active and Promote Your Shop on Social Media
- Start Delivering Ice cream in the Neighborhood
- Come Up With Unique Flavors and Toppings
- Upsell By Offering Other Products
- Offer Regular Promotions and Special offers
- Attend Food and Music Festivals
- Host an Ice Cream-making Event
- Sponsor Parties
- Partner Up with Local Grocery Stores
- Create a Referral Program
Be Active and Promote Your Shop on Social Media
The future of marketing is social media marketing. And, since the advent of social media, it has become an integral part of everyone’s everyday life. So, in a way, if you utilize social media to market your ice cream store, you are not only making your shop a part of everyone’s lives, but you are also saving a future spot for your shop.
Social networking is a kind of word-of-mouth marketing that can influence over 80% of users in their purchasing decision. That’s why it is the most effective and efficient way to market your business.
Social media marketing has several advantages:
- It helps build brand recognition and awareness
- It helps you understand your customers’ preferences
- It provides a platform for you to share the story of your business
- It helps establish customer loyalty
- It provides responsive customer service.
- It helps you connect to potential investors and partners.
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Start Delivering Ice cream in the Neighborhood
Online shopping has become popular since it’s really convenient, especially these days. It’s also become a great alternative for businesses to increase sales. It can also help you extend your ice cream shop’s reach.
But since it’s the ice cream we’re talking about, you might think that it’s a risky approach to deliver your products. It’s understandable since it can affect the quality of your products.
No worries, here are some tips that you can follow in delivering your ice cream:
- Use Insulated Packaging – This can help protect your ice cream from extreme heat. You can check IPC’s EcoLiner Insulated Pouch. Their insulated packaging is super effective and eco-friendly.
- Use Dry Ice – This method is proven and tested. It helps to keep the ice cream frozen.
- Consider Using Gel Packs – This is an excellent backup coolant since it lasts much longer than dry ice.
- Limit the Transportation Duration – Doing this will help reduce the need for dry ice and gel packs. You may accomplish this by being aware of potential sources of delivery delays, such as holidays.
- Monitor Your Delivery – Tracking your products is important to reduce delivery risks. You can also make sure that your carrier is effective and offers excellent service.
Come Up With Unique Flavors and Toppings
Being distinctive will undoubtedly set your ice cream store apart. And one of the simplest ways to make your store stand out is to put extra effort into your flavors and toppings.
You can be more inventive when it comes to your ice cream flavor. For example, you can try unique combinations like coffee, donuts ice cream, and cereal and milk ice cream.
As for the toppings, you can come up with unusual but super awesome toppings like popcorn, ground espresso, pretzels, bacon, and french fries. These will surely make your customers wonder and want to try your product.
Upsell By Offering Other Products
An ice cream shop can sell other products too. This is a great way to promote your ice cream products while also increasing revenue.
Here are some other products that you can consider putting on your menu:
- Crepes
- Coffee
- Waffles
- Softdrinks
- Milkshake
- Sorbet
- Frozen Yogurt
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Offer Regular Promotions and Special Offers
Offering promotions and special offers will easily attract more customers. I mean, who doesn’t love promos like coupons and discounts?
You can try these commonly used deals:
- Buy One Take One
- Free Shipping
- Membership Rewards
- Value-added Offers
Attend Food and Music Festivals
Join the crowd! You can effectively promote your brand by setting up stalls at food or music festivals. Do this, and I’m sure you’ll increase your brand’s visibility. And if you have an ice cream truck, then that’s easier.
You can follow these steps in setting up a stall at festivals:
- Find Events to Attend – You can check websites, network, and use event searching tools like Stallfinder and Peddle.
- Review Your Finances – Make sure you have enough budget and the total cost of the stalls is worth it.
- Set UpUp The Stall – Secure a viable amount of stock for the whole event, as well as essential equipment like cables and floor matting.
Host an Ice Cream-Making Event
Why not organize your ice cream event if you don’t want to go to events? This is a great way to promote and make your ice cream shop stand out.
This is also an excellent way to establish a connection with your customers. It invites creativity, fun, as well as teamwork within your ice cream business.
You can even make the competition a regular thing in your ice cream shop. For example, you can set up a permanent sundae bar in your shop to encourage customers to be more creative and create out-of-this-world combinations.
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Sponsor Parties
Make your ice cream the life of the party. You can do this by sponsoring birthday or corporate events.
This is a wonderful approach to help attract young consumers as well as partners and investors. You can start by offering catering services where you can serve your unique ice cream flavors.
You can follow these tips for throwing an ice cream party:
- Offer Ice Cream Cone Party Hats – It wouldn’t be a party without party hats. So, you have to make sure you bring along some to the party, especially if it’s a birthday party.
- Set up an Ice Cream Photo Booth – This is a perfect addition to an ice cream party. It appeals to both kids and adults.
- Offer some Ice Cream Games – Some games would bring more life to the party. It is also an excellent way to establish a connection with your customers.
- Put a Lot of Thought into Your Menu – The products you bring will affect your ice cream brand. So, you have to make sure that you’ll only serve the best flavors.
Partner Up with Local Grocery Stores
I SHERBET that you have seen a free taste booth for ice cream in one of your local grocery stores. And I’m sure that you have tried a product from a free taste booth and thought, “I need to buy this one.”
According to Dan Ariely, an economist at Duke University, free samples give us a sense of desire. For example, if you are given a free taste of ice cream it would significantly increase your cravings.
That is why you need to partner with your local grocery stores and set up a free taste booth. It is an effective way to reach more customers.
You can also think of setting up a sundae bar in one of your local restaurants. This is a great way to acquire more business partners.
You can make your ice cream tasting booth even more spectacular by incorporating the four senses, and here’s how:
- Smell – You can effectively attract customers to your booth with an enticing smell to make them interested in your brand. Although you can’t smell ice cream, you can use toppings like cookies or other products like crepes.
- Taste – The primary goal of your booth is to attract customers by letting them know the taste of your products. So, make sure that your free ice cream tastes like no other.
- Sight – Make your entire booth eye-catching and Instagrammablee. This will make bypassers go to your booth and take a scoop and a snap.
- Hearing – Play some classic ice cream truck tunes as well as catchphrases.
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Create a Referral Program
This is also an excellent word-of-the-mouth marketing strategy. It is an effective and efficient way to spread the word regarding your ice cream brand.
According to a study, before making a purchase, at least 82% of American customers seek advice from someone important to them. This study also found that 88% of all Americans want to get compensated for recommending a product.
That’s why it is ideal to create a referral program. It’s simple: in addition to enticing people to purchase a cone from your ice cream business, you also encourage them to spread the scoop and suggest your products to others.
You can follow some of these referral marketing tips:
- Schedule it Properly – You can’t just go ask for referrals every time. That’s totally ineffective. The best time to ask for a referral is after your customer buys a product.
- Provide the Right Compensations – Your referral program won’t mean anything if no one is interested in it. You have to provide the appropriate incentives to your customers.
- Create a Community for Your Brand – You can give your customers content to share like blogs and social media posts. You can even create online groups to establish a strong connection with your customers.
- Utilize Social Media – Use social media to your advantage. This is also an easy way for your customers to recommend your brand.
- Make an Easy Process – Referrals that are hard to do are unattractive to customers. So, make sure that your program can be done in a minute.
- Use Referral Links – This is a common and easy method for referrals. Customers can just copy and paste your links and proceed to share them with their friends.
Conclusion
All in all, here are 10 excellent ways to promote your ice cream business:
- Be Active and Promote Your Shop on Social Media – This is the most modern and effective method to promote your ice cream business.
- Start Delivering Ice cream in the Neighborhood – You can increase your ice cream shop’s sales by having delivery options.
- Come Up With Unique Flavors and Toppings – Promote your ice cream brand by offering out-of-this-world flavors and toppings.
- Upsell By Offering Other Products – You can have other products on your menu like crepes, soft drinks, and coffee.
- Offer Regular Promotions and Special Offers – Promote your ice cream shop by offering great deals.
- Attend Food and Music Festival – You can promote your ice cream brand by joining the crowd.
- Host an Ice Cream-making Event – Make your ice cream shop more exciting by hosting an ice cream-making event and adding a sundae bar to your shop.
- Sponsor Parties – Make your ice cream brand the life of the party. This will attract customers and investors.
- Partner Up with Local Grocery Stores – This is a great way to increase your brand’s visibility and business partners.
- Create a Referral Program – This is a great word-of-the-mouth marketing strategy for an ice cream shop. You can use social media, create a community, and use referral links.
Frequently Asked Questions
The usual promotion techniques that are used to market food are 1) Having health or nutrient claims, 2) Having bright, eye-catching visuals, 3) Creating memorable slogans or catchphrases, 3) Offering free or exclusive prizes, and 4) Having celebrities or cartoon characters as spokespersons.
Although ice cream sales are lower during the colder season, you can still increase your ice cream sales through 1) Partnering with businesses that are good in winter, 2) Social media, 3) Serving good products, 4) Visual Displays, 5) Discounts and 6) Unique holiday flavors.
To learn more on how to start your own ice cream/gelato business check out my startup documents here
This blog post is provided for informational purposes only. The information contained is not intended to constitute legal advice or to substitute for obtaining legal advice from a qualified attorney.
Hi! I am Shawn and I am a happy individual who happens to be an entrepreneur. I have owned several types of businesses in my life from a coffee shop to an import and export business to an online review business plus a few more and now I create online ice cream/gelato business resources for those interested in starting new ventures. It’s demanding work but I love it. I do it for those passionate about their business and their goals. That’s why when I meet a ice cream/gelato business owner, I see myself. I know how hard the struggle is to retain clients, find good employees and keep the business growing all while trying to stay competitive.
That’s why I created Ice Cream Business Boss: I want to help ice cream and gelato business owners like you build a thriving business that brings you endless joy and supports your ideal lifestyle.