Opportunities to Grow Your Cigar Shop Brand

Growing Your Cigars Shop Brand

When it comes to growing a thriving cigar shop business you should pull out all the stops. Perhaps your business is in a small town and there isn’t much local competition. Being in the only outlet in town isn’t enough to become truly successful. It’s important to let know people you are around, but it’s also important to have them associate you with good products, good experiences, and an overall good vibe. Let’s look at what it takes to make your customers feel good about buying cigars and cigar-associated products from you.

Good Cigars

Without fail, every cigar lover has his or her favorite cigar. For some, it’s the way the cigar smokes. Others are looking for that taste that hits the high spot in their senses. The size is important as well, if they only have 20 minutes to smoke they aren’t going to want a bigger smoke like a Churchill. Offer good cigars and a reasonable selection so your customers can find the right cigar for their unique tastes. People can be passionate about cigars and are likely to spend extra for something they like.  In the end, your customers are going to associate your cigar shop with the quality of the cigars you carry.

Good Accessories

Cigar smokers need more than just cigars. For many of your customers, smoking that cigar is a passion. They treat the experience as an important part of their day. You have an opportunity to add to this experience by providing them with quality accessories. Stock good brands like Visol Casati, Teshiuk, Xikar, and Lotus. There are likely local brands that will work well in your shop. Once again your customers associate your shop with the quality and variety of the cigar accessories you make available for sale.

Good Experience

Most places that have banned smoking allow smoking in local cigar shops. Providing a great place to enjoy a cigar is a huge opportunity to grow sales and your brand. If our shop is a dingy smoke-filled hole in the wall then that’s how your customers and the locals are likely to think of your cigar shop. For your customers to enjoy the cigars you sell them you need to set the environment.

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Comfortable

Providing your customers with a clean comfortable place to sit is a good start. Leather or faux leather works well and does not hold odors that are likely to stick to your customers. Keep enough room between chairs. It’s more important to have a few very happy smokers than a bunch of cramped and grumpy patrons. Keep the ashtrays emptied as best you can, if you attend any quality cigar show like the PCA in Las Vegas you will note the ashtrays are emptied very regularly. 

Clean the Air

When I attended the PCA Cigar Show this last summer, many show patrons visited my booth looking for a solution to keeping the air clean in their cigar shop. One cigar shop owner after another told me how when they introduced clean air in the shop; sales went up, people stayed longer, and patrons brought wives and friends. Their customers saw their shop in a better light and their BRAND grew. We make the largest line of smoke eaters in the USA. We also offer customization to our smoke eaters to allow you to further grow your brand. 

Grow Your Brand with Customization

To help cigar shops grow their brands we introduced customization for many of our products. We worked with shop owner Shane Mayer to design a customized WM-RC2 smoke eater for the Cigar Vault. This product helps Mr. Mayer grow his brand and provide customers with clean air. 

Not every detail of the Cigar Vault logo could be incorporated into the WM-RC2 design. We shared revision changes until a design was finalized that both LakeAir and the shop owner could agree on.

Now I would guess you might ask just how much extra that customization costs. We do this for any customer for an engineering design fee of $125.00. If extensive designs are required there could possibly be a slightly more significant fee. 

The combination of clean air and showing a touch of class through customization goes a long way to raising people’s perception of your shop. The way people perceive your cigar shop is really what your brand is all about. You should use every means affordable to you to positively influence their perception and in the end your brand.

Other Ways to Grow Your Brand

Work on local SEO results

Creating a Google My Business page will go a long way to establishing your brand locally. A company Facebook page is another avenue to let people know you are around. These days starting a website is very easy. Use a platform like WordPress to get one going quickly. 

Use Social Media

After establishing that Facebook page post to it regularly. Add photos of your cigar shop. Talk about events you plan and you can advertise them locally for a low cost. Instagram, LinkedIn, and Snap Chat are other social platforms that are easy to set up and allow you to grow your business and Brand.  

Start a Blog

A blog is a great way to create a dialog with your community. WordPress websites make blogging a snap. Take a few minutes each week to share the passion you put into your cigar shop. You can invite others from the cigar world to share thoughts on topics that are important to your customers. Showing your customers you are about more than money establishes your brand above and beyond commerce. 

Make a Video Presence

Today’s cell phones have become a video suite unto themselves. With a little bit of planning, you can post videos to platforms like YouTube and Vimeo. These services are free in most cases and allow you to create a live essence around your brand. Videos don’t have to be long or flashy. Make them interesting to promote your cigar shop and what happens there.

Expand your Product offerings through Affiliate Programs.

Oftentimes you can’t afford to carry all the products you would like to in your store. You can offer a larger selection of cigars through cigar affiliate programs like “Famous Smoke Shop Cigars” If you would like to offer LakeAir smoke eaters to your customers you can sign up for the LakeAir Cigar Shop Affiliate Program. By expanding your products you will increase the cashflow to your business and maybe even more importantly, you will grow your brand