Approaching marketing as a methodical, systematic process can help drive people to your new store. We will be discussing some ways to market, though these are not wholly exclusive, and they tend to overlap each other: pre-marketing, viral marketing/word of mouth, paid advertising, and brand-reinforcement.

Pre-Marketing

So, you have a great new idea and are ready to open a new store. Though you don’t have all the fine details worked out, you can still start marketing with some "teasers" (as they do in movie theaters when the film isn’t finished yet). Teasers lead in to the next phase of marketing, word of mouth, but we’ll get to that in a minute. With pre-marketing, you may not have everything finalized, but you want to get people to know that you have something coming, and the simple mystery about it will tend to generate conversation. It’s good at this stage to register a domain name for a website that you can use to release news on the status of your new project. This will make people come back again and again to your site to see if anything new has been released.

Word Of Mouth

Following the initial media buzz, people who think your new business is a good idea will of course talk about it with their friends. This is a great way to generate interest in your new store, because it is all free publicity at this point. At this stage, viral marketing usually only initiated if your new store has some sort of novelty about it, or your marketing materials you have released are funny, controversial, or otherwise worthy of talking about.

Paid Advertising

This can range anywhere from TV ads, radio spots, website banner ads, pay per click advertising, billboards… etc. The list of ways to promote your new store is endless. Generally, you want to partner with high-volume areas where you know many people are going to see/hear/read your marketing materials. Finding good ad space can be expensive, but there are ways to get clicks to your site that are free, including link swapping with a popular website. Put their website link on your site somewhere, and they will put your site on theirs. It is free, and everybody benefits. Pay-per-click advertising can be inexpensive, though if your business area is highly competitive, you may have to pay more to get your ads shown in Google’s Sponsored Search Results.

For ideas on where to look, this e-how article describes how to find "cheap" advertising. It is always best to compare prices when looking for ad space, so make sure to shop around.

Brand-Reinforcement

Ok, so you’ve finally established a name for yourself, and people are doing searches for you in Google, and everything is great… Right? Well just because you’ve generated some initial buzz, doesn’t mean it’s going to last. People in general are always looking for the next big thing, and if you don’t keep ‘em wow-ed, they will tend to drift off to something else. Eventually, if you can re-inforce your brand, and make it something that people refer to on a daily basis, and is constantly talked about, then you will establish not only a successful long-term business, but also maybe even integrate into our culture itself (if that is something you’d like to see happen).

Something I always like to say when describing success: "If people use your product name as a verb, then you know you’ve made it." For example, "I am going to Google that when I get home," or "That picture was Photoshopped." Of course, not every business is going to have that… I mean, we as a culture don’t say "She totally McDonald’ed it all up" or "That guy Wal-Marted himself on that deal!" but the idea of your new store name becoming a household phrase does sound appealing.