July’s Mastermind discussions were jam-packed with helpful insights and information for the Marketing and General Managers. We had a full house at both meetings, and we were able to dive into the weeds, come up with tangible solutions to some of the problems our Innovators were facing, and create a sense of unity in issues or concerns that hardware stores across the country are facing.
Key Takeaways
In our Marketing Mastermind, we talked about some really positive results that our Innovators were seeing from utilizing Local Lift Max or PPC and how this marketing tactic is just going to continue to get better over time as more data is collected. In our General Managers Mastermind, we discussed and brainstormed ways AI can help create more efficiency in your hardware store. We also talked in-depth about hiring and job descriptions. Ready to dive in? Let’s go!
Marketing Mastermind Takeaways:
Starting a new marketing tactic is not easy! Especially when it comes to something as complex as PPC or Local Lift Max. Not only are you diving into a new platform that you’ve never seen before, but you’re also learning new terminology and trying to figure out ROI in the process.
PPC and Local Lift Max
Here are some things that our Innovators said were helpful in the learning process:
- $8/click is great, but it’s no longer accurate in terms of Local Lift Max because it uses different parameters. You’ll probably see $30-$40 per click as your average.
Corporate is leveraging Lift Max to cover wider, branded terms like “Ace Hardware near me” and sales-related items for which you’re competing with other brick-and-mortar stores. - Maintaining your Local Lift is still a great solution for specialty departments like RENTAL, and specialty products for which you’re competing more with eCommerce companies like Amazon.
- If you have a limited budget, prioritize broad search terms for departments, then services, then products so that you can start to measure your success rates, giving you small wins and avoiding big losses.
While PPC and Local Lift Max look like they’re performing well, the question was, “Are these customers coming to us anyway?, “why are my returns diminishing?”, “how can I see the new dashboard?”, and “can someone help make sense of the reporting?”
The answer is that you need a lot more information to make any decisions and that most of that info comes from small factors like town population, YOY revenue shifts, store size, competition based on geography, search volume for specific keywords and phrases, and other basic PPC best practices. Similar to a 401 (k), PPC is best measured over time, with a minimum of 6-12 months to start to understand trends. Always keep in mind the long-term goal of steady growth vs. quick wins. Just note there is typically a 15 to 30-day lag in reporting from Google due to their inconsistent billing cycles. So, give the data time to aggregate before making any significant changes!
Does Your Hardware Store Need a Mascot?
We then went down a slight rabbit hole and moved on to the topic of mannequins. How we went from PPC to mannequins is still a mystery, but it’s worth noting that thinking outside the box when it comes to marketing effectively!
One of our innovators bought a mannequin called “Rental Ron.” Rental Ron is dressed up in ACE hardware gear and staged around the store to promote rental equipment, deals, and new products. The locals love it and come in-store to see what Rental Ron is up to next! The moral of the story here is that mascots are effective as long as you’re consistent with them. We know of hardware stores that have made their hardware store cats local legends. What is a mascot you can have that will drum up engagement and pique your community’s interest?
Wondering How to Grow Followers On Social Media When It Looks Like You Maxed Out?
The last (but not least) thing we talked about was how to gain more followers when you feel like you’ve stalled out on social media.
Here are some suggestions that were effective for our Innovators in the past:
- Use the social media platform for what it’s there for – connection. People want to connect with other people. Engage and connect with local businesses and community members.
- Take 20 minutes each day and make it a practice. Like fellow business page posts (i.e.- your local newspaper, visitor’s bureau posts, contractors, etc) comment on them, and do this consistently. Commit to this for 12 months, and watch your followers grow!
- What inventive programs are you running? Things like giveaways, events, passing out event flyers, and saying, “We’ve got five more events coming up. Be sure to follow us on social media!” go a long way.
Stay tuned for an in-depth resource on how to gain followers on social media!
Helpful Resources:
- PPC Best Practices
- Check out some of the mascots from our Hardware Innovators:
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- Rental Ron
- Handyman Hardware breaks out the Grinch every Christmas to support their extravagant Christmas display!
- Morris, the cat, is a local legend and has made his way to billboards!
General Managers Mastermind Takeaways:
Now, let’s dive into the General Manager Mastermind! We started the call by discussing some wins and worries for our Hardware Innovators.
One of our Innovators has implemented Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), and it has completely transformed their five stores. They’re operating more efficiently, know their priorities, and are rowing in the same direction like never before.
A key to their success is having very specific meetings across all their stores. So, leadership-level meetings, individual stores will meet, and some key functions/personnel will meet to discuss what’s working and what’s not.
Then we started to discuss job descriptions across stores and how they’re not cohesive and need to be updated with the current vision, mission, and showcase the store culture. One innovator created a Leadership Handbook that she referred to as “Running the Business for Dummies” that holds everyone’s job description, and then all the processes for that job description are added so if that person were to ever suddenly leave the store, there would be clear instructions for someone else to follow. It was recommended, when writing a job description, to start more broadly around responsibility and what someone is accountable for (merchandise, operations, people development) vs a typical job description which might waste one manager’s talent in certain areas because it is too specific. Ideally, it should be easy to say, “At the end of the day, you’re responsible for the team to produce vs you have to manage personnel.”
Then, we dove into the topic of the day, which was AI and how to utilize AI to become more efficient.
Here are some ideas that our Innovators came up with:
- Generate marketing ideas -enter the prompt “Give me 10 ideas for marketing ideas in X area”
- Content writing – although we recommend using it sparingly so as not to hurt your Google ranking
- HR questions, “How do I have a conversation with an employee in a hardware store who might disagree with a transgender hire or a recent promotion or how to demote.”
- Ai will spit out ideas on how to frame a conversation that you don’t necessarily know how to handle
- It’ll give you tools to have healthy conversations
- Writing letters of recommendation for younger employees
- Creating incentive programs for different departments
- Building lists for B2B sales team
- Building scripts for B2B internal team members and OSR’s
- Grammarly is great for the leadership team to communicate clearly (clarity is caring)
Helpful Resources:
- To learn more about EOS, check out these links:
- L10 Meeting Structure
- Stand Up Meetings
- For specific questions related to your business, connect with Rand to discuss the EOS in’s and outs
- Originality.ai – Aim for around 75% human-written content.
- Chatgtp.com is our go-to for AI writing, but don’t become too reliant on it!
- Grammarly
- Need help with finding the right staff member for the job? Here are some helpful resources:
- Here are some options for learning more about your prospective hires Prevue, DISC, or Talent Dynamics
- HR data software that tracks and creates measurable ways to improve performance, control turnover, and find ineffective management processes
Does the idea of a monthly meet-up with other retail hardware stores sound valuable to you? Would you like to share resources, ask questions, and participate with your peers on-demand through an exclusive Slack channel?
Email us at hello@hardwareinnovators.com to get access to the Slack Channel! The best part? It’s 100% free and puts you in touch with hardware store general managers and marketers to ask questions and get immediate feedback from what worked at other hardware stores!
Join Us on August 21st for our Next Mastermind
For August, we’ll have two groups that meet: marketing and GMS.
Need help signing up? Send us an email: hello@hardwareinnovators.com
Are You On Board?
Does the idea of a monthly meet-up with other hardware stores sound valuable to you? Are you interested in sharing resources, asking questions, and participating with your peers on-demand with an exclusive slack channel?