Sunday Marketing Tip: 12 ridiculous marketing ideas from which good ideas for your newsagency may emerge

I was speaking at a business conference last year and was asked to explain how an independent retailer can come up with fresh marketing ideas. Brainstorming is the best approach. Free form, no rules, ridiculous and crazy brainstorming.

In a brainstorming session it is often the most ridiculous ideas which are the best to explore and finesse to suit your needs. They usually come from a place which is unencumbered by business rules.

Sometimes, retail businesses need to look for marketing ideas which are not encumbered with business rules, crazy ideas which challenge how the business looks at and presents itself. This is certainly true for newsagents.

Here are crazy marketing ideas for retail businesses. The list is deliberately provocative. This is to shake up how you see marketing in your retail store and to encourage you to extend your own boundaries. Who knows, innovation could be in this list and waiting for your business:

1. Blackout your windows. Stop passers-by looking in. Make it look as if you have a big secret inside. Tell people they need to com in if they want to see what is so special.
2. Dark shopping. Turn your lights off and let your shoppers shop in the dark. Hand out night vision goggles for shopping. Maybe have some deals.
3. Pyjama shopping. Give shoppers who shop in their pyjamas on a certain day a special discount. It does not matter whether pyjamas connect with your business. The key goal of this idea is to have fun.
4. Invite a business class to develop your marketing plan. Contact a local high school and ask a business class to develop a marketing plan for your business award the best plan a modest cash prize, be sure to retail ownership of all entries.
5. Run an eBay type sale. Set aside a good selection of items and invite customers to bid for these with the highest bidder getting the items. Letting your customer decide fair price for products could open your eyes to the value they attach to what you sell.
6. Cross Dress for the day. Have all employees cross dress for the day. It could be for fun or it could be to say you want to see how the other half lives.
7. Tithe Tuesday. Tuesdays are often slow in retail. Connect with your community and say that ten percent of all sales on each Tuesday will be donated to a local charity. This is sure to get the local charity pumping shoppers your way.
8. Empty the shop sale. Run a sale promising to sell everything in the shop within a week except the fixtures. Kind of like an end of lease or a relocation sale but without you moving. Done well, this type of sale could see you quitting stock which has been on the shop floor for too long.
9. Tell a joke sale. Offer customers a percentage discount if they tell a joke at the counter when paying for their goods.
10. Bring a friend discount. Give each customer an offer at the checkout, if they bring a friend into the shop within 30 minutes they can get a good discount off their purchase.
11. Bring back quoits. Setup a place to play quoits in your store. Give customers an opportunity to play for a discount. At the very least you have a bit of fun in the business. This could be done in an area adjacent to a retro product display – retro is in right now.
12. Run a bake sale, and old-fashioned bake sale for a charity YES inside your store. Place this next to your country collections titles and anything connected with craft.

Before you discard any of these ideas, think for a moment whether they or any thoughts which flow from considering them could work for your retail business. Remember, sometimes it is the crazy and unconstrained ideas which work best.