My wife had an Antique Shoppe in Aspen, CO. She too, appealed to me to try and come up with a way or ways to get people into her store.
After agonizing over this for a few days I came up with a ZINGER!
My goal was to get homeowners INTO THE STORE. If I could just get them IN...they would see the wonderful AUTHENTIC Antiques my wife had.
I thought, "WHY would a homeowner want to come into her store?" "WHAT would MOTIVATE them to come in?"
Many of these homes were owned by millionaires and zillionaires. "Could I come up with a REASON to cause even them to come in?" "WHAT could I offer they would WANT to have or see...something they would WANT that NO ONE ELSE COULD GIVE THEM?"
Then it hit; A few years earlier I had taken AERIAL PHOTOS of some homes for local realtors. I thought, "Why not take AERIAL PHOTOS OF HOMES...place the 4 x 6 pics on a board in the back of her shop... run an ad in the paper (4 by 6) saying;
"AN AERIAL PHOTO OF YOUR HOME HAS BEEN TAKEN!
TO SEE WHAT YOUR HOME LOOKS LIKE FROM THE AIR...
COME ON DOWN TO YANKEE CONNECTION ANTIQUES AND GET
YOUR FREE...AERIAL PHOTO!"
Underneath I placed an aerial photo of a home.
I hired my old pilot, Murray, to take me up once again in his 172 Cessna ($65 an hour) A 172 is a high wing where you can open a side window and the draft keeps it open while you aim your camera at homes from 500 feet. I used my old Minolta with zoom lens set at 210 and went up for 2 hrs...going up and back until I got very tired.
I had the 4x6 prints made and placed them on 8, 4x8 pegboards along the back wall of the shop. I made a sign that said;
"FREE AERIAL PHOTOS OF LOCAL HOMES.
SEE IF YOUR HOME IS HERE!"
I had another sign placed on the side which said;
"FREE 11 X 14 ENLARGEMENT WITH ANY PURCHASE!"
I also had another sign that had prices of my enlargements.
Well...the paper came out on Thursday morning at around 8am.
Because I was doing another advertising project I meandered over to my wife's shop around 10:30. When I turned the corner on Mill Street I couldn't believe what I was seeing;
There was a LINE OF PEOPLE...STRETCHING FOR ABOUT A BLOCK...WAITING TO GET IN THE SHOP.
We didn't have cell phones in those days, otherwise I would have known that when my wife went to open her shop at 10am...there was a line formed already...waiting to get in.
I'm telling you...I NEVER saw anything like it. People WAITING to get their free AERIAL PHOTO.
She sold MANY items the next few days...and I sold quite a few blowups.
YOU might want to consider hiring an aerial photographer to take photos of homes say...in Brentwood...and run an ad in the Brentwood paper....and do this for other areas.
It worked like a charm in 1989 in upscale Aspen, Colorado...should work in the LA area too.
Don ALm
Some of my Home-Based Business Programs
http://www.pjbux.com