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TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015
should try. That’s how I make sure the
store doesn’t become stale.”
Leverage the Power of the
Internet and Events
Horvath is intrigued by the thought of
using TV and radio for advertising and
marketing. “I’ve always thought about
doing radio commercials, and of course it
would be awesome to do TV because I’ve
been here for a while now and we still
have people come in and say they didn’t
know we existed,” he notes. However,
his expertise with IT and his limited
budget make it a lot easier—and more
cost-effective—for him to leverage the
power of the Internet and social media.
The web has proven very effective, giving
him a lot of bang for his buck.The store’s
website (cigarstationtn.wix.com/cigar-
station) was built using Wix, a popular
DIY website-building service, and
Horvath has also made full use of social
media hotspots like Facebook, Twitter
and YouTube to post product-related
comments, insight and videos, and to
drive traffic to regularly scheduled events
at his store.
Ironically, the most old-fashioned
marketing method of all—physical
outdoor signage—has proven to be the
most problematic in Horvath’s marketing
arsenal. “Spring Hill has a city law for
small businesses that prohibits signs out
by the road; you can only have one out for
90 days of the year,” he explains, noting
that when he unwittingly exceeded
that limit in the past he heard about it
from town officials. “That’s obviously
not enough, especially when you want
small businesses like this to succeed in
your town, but they just don’t want signs
cluttering up the road.”
Instead, Horvath supplements his
Internet promotional efforts with loyalty-
building efforts. He regularly holds events
at Cigar Station, including monthly
“smokers and steak” nights, a TV drama
series showing, a weekly movie, and
football showing three times weekly.
“We try hard to get as many people as we
can to each event and we also do private
parties,” he says.
To reward regular customers and
convert new attendees into returning
customers, Horvath uses Echo Daily,
a customer-reward program, and its
built-in email promotion tools to award
customers points for every $1 spent.
Once predetermined point levels are
reached, customers are rewarded with
discounts. Additionally, Horvath gives
discounts to people who text the store by
cell phone.
Horvath has enjoyed great success so
far: his reputation as a local tastemaker
and a reputable business owner landed
him Spring Hill’s Most Likeable
Business of the Week award back in
2012. But even with smart marketing
and great products, he remains concerned
about the state of the local economy.
“This whole year has been extremely
weird; I can’t put [my] finger on it,” he
comments. “Even the talking heads on
TV can’t figure it out.
“I was just listening to a discussion on a
major media outlet and they were trying
to specify why the Black Friday and Small
Business Saturday sales numbers were so
low if the economy is on the rise. But they
can’t because it’s not just one thing,” he
says. “People are cash poor right now—
that’s what I feel and see, and that’s how
my customers are acting. It’s not just
tobacconists though. People aren’t going
out and supporting restaurants, bars or
grocery stores either. It’s everybody. I
talk to the other small businesses in the
area and they are feeling the same thing,
but at the end of the day, I just have to
keep selling cigars.That’s the name of the
game: to just find a way.”
TBI
trench marketing