Industry Specific Marketing Advice

Marketing a Guns and Ammunition Dealers Business

Marketing a guns and ammunition dealers business isn't as simple as it seems. To get noticed, you'll need to invest time, energy, and resources in an innovative marketing plan.

Multiple marketing factors affect bottom line profitability. However, great marketing strategies share a common characteristic.

Strategic marketing tactics can help small guns and ammunition dealers businesses scale their visibility with consumers. The key is to market smart through the consistent application of fundamental marketing concepts.

Media Monitoring

Many marketing techniques are easy to evaluate. Direct mail can be evaluated by tallying the cost of inputs (e.g. a premium mailing list, printing, postage, etc.) and measuring the number of customer responses you receive from the campaign. The difficulty comes when you are tasked with quantifying market presence and brand influence. Fortunately, media monitoring has the ability to give your guns and ammunition dealers business a sense of market presence and other variables that are difficult to quantify. If executed properly, media monitoring can help your brand get ahead of negative messaging and exert greater influence over news cycles.

Marketing Expertise

Don't have a background in marketing? That shouldn't stop you from taking a larger promotional role in your company by educating yourself about today's most effective marketing concepts. Resources are limited and most guns and ammunition dealers businesses need to make every dollar count, especially when it comes to their marketing budgets. Although a learning-by-doing approach is typical in this industry, we advise young marketers to seek the input of experienced professionals before committing time and resources to untested marketing concepts.

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing is one of the most elusive marketing techniques in a small business owner's arsenal. By including viral elements in a campaign for a guns and ammunition dealers business, you ultimately have to cross your fingers and hope for the best. Even though total control is impossible, the right actions at the right times can encourage the viral distribution of brand messages. One strategy is to launch a viral marketing initiative by inviting a select group of customers to test your products and post their experiences on their social networking pages.

Share this article


Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs

Lists of Venture Capital and Private Equity Firms

Franchise Opportunities

Contributors

Business Glossary