The business world is currently populated by entrepreneurs from the millennial generation while the baby boomers now go for retirement. When it comes to vape shop marketing or the marketing of any business in general, one can definitely learn a lot from millennial entrepreneurs.
There currently may be some negative stereotypes on millennials especially because of their work ethics, but their drive for success as entrepreneurs are actually superb. Being in the digital and technological era, these millennial entrepreneurs can evolve quickly to stay constantly relevant in the fast-paced business environment they’re in.
Alex Boyd’s “Millennial Secrets”
Vape Mentors has interviewed successful vape shop owner Alex Boyd, who shared his “millennial secrets” for succeeding in this digital marketing age when marketing an online vape shop. He worked as a marketer for Proctor and Gamble prior to entering the vape business.
At first, Mr. Boyd purchased a struggling vape shop for around AU$14,000 in cash and kept its name but rebranded the shop’s image and brought in new employees. He removed the counterculture environment of the shop (e.g. images of tattoo designs and skulls) and cleaned up the place to be a customer-friendly haven for his frequent shop visitors: the mature customers and the office professionals.
Recognizing the older crowd as his most frequent customers, Mr. Boyd provides the following vape marketing practices to cater to them:
- Remain professional in dealing with them. This includes training employees to address and interact with the older crowd in a friendly and polite manner.
- Keep the counterculture to a minimum and stay neutral when it comes to branding. It’s also best to pick e-liquid brands with visually friendly labels.
- Consider using punch cards and other old-school marketing tools that are effective and low-cost.
Other “millennial secrets” that Mr. Boyd shares when you want to grow your vape shop include:
- Assess how successful brands target the demographics similar to your prospective market and mimic the idea (but don’t copy the marketing strategies to avoid trademark infringement) even for your low-end e-liquids
- Encourage customers at the point of sale to “check in” on their phone in order and/or leave an online review to receive discounts instantly. This is Mr. Boyd’s way of staying relevant online while working around the strict regulations on the online advertising and promotion of “tobacco” products.
- Let your retail customers push the marketing when you’re wholesaling. To do this, you give them free marketing materials and products which allow them to promote the brand.
- For effective brand handling, create a character with a story that your target market can relate to. You will then have to generate hype behind the brand while making sure that everything stays consistent.
Advantages of Being a Millennial Entrepreneur
As previously mentioned, vape shop owners or any business owner in general can gain vape shop marketing strategies from millennial entrepreneurs. Here are two valuable lessons to gain from them:
- Embrace digital marketing and advertising. Millennials have no aversion to digital media considering that they’re surrounded by mobile technology for most of their lives.
- Maintain an open mind by encouraging out-of-the-box ideas from employees and embracing creativity. Millennials have access to the Internet at a young age, allowing them to research different perspectives outside of their family and friends.
Browse through our blog for more vape shop marketing tips and insights.
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