James,
While I do not run a wargaming business I do run a fly shop and would like to have some input for you. Out marketing budget is extremely limited and there are many things you can do on a grass roots level to drive your business. We have been able to increase sales in the past year by 34% by instituting these initiatives and others I won't detail as they would be not practical for an online retailer.
1) Advertising-Make sure you have a catchy looking banner for more clicks
2) Posting sales on forums-I rarely post any type of sale on a fly fishing forum as I believe it just looks like you're trying to make a sale. However, if you posted a tutorial on painting ACW infantry and linked it to your website, then just happen to have all of your ACW figures on sale, it would certainly move some product for you.
3) Direct Marketing-I can't begin to tell you how valuable Constant Contact and Facebook are to our business. Email captures are a tough thing but you will be able to grow a list over time. I feel like our direct email marketing is successful because it doesn't always necessarily talk about sales. We have fishing reports, upcoming seminars, pro tips etc. For a wargamer you could have tutorials, figure reviews, terrain building, AAR's, etc. This is once again a soft sell and you sprinkle your sales pitch in. This will keep people opening your emails as opposed to just deleting them. The more value you add for the customer, the better off you are.
4) Direct Marketing with Facebook- So the other bullet was getting long so I started another. We use Facebook to simply stay in front of the customer. Posts don't necessarily have to be about sales. They can be anything from what's new in the shop to how your favorite sports team is doing. Getting customer input is great as it establishes a connection with that customer and others. We try to make our posts very personal and establish those emotional relationships with the customer. People can buy their products anywhere, they key is to make them want to buy from YOU.
5) Conventions-I would imagine conventions are a lot like our fly fishing shows. Some will be great, some will be a bust. Maybe talk to friends in the industry and find out what shows seem to be the most profitable. As the convention directors what manufacturers return year after year. If there is a convention with a lot of repeats, they are probably making money, and that is a show to get in on. My experience at weekend shows 1st day are the buyers, 2nd day are the lookers, and 3rd day are the ones looking for a deal because they know you don't want to haul anything home.
Final note, you will do a lot of marketing that will be impossible to track how many sales you glean from it. The first year may be rough but once you establish that customer base you will see sales consistently rise year after year. Personally I am just getting back into wargaming after a 4-5 year hiatus because of work and time constraints. I can't seem to find any manufacturers or websites that really, really doing a good job with their marketing. Maybe I'm just missing them. Hopefully someone else can point out a business that seems to have a successful marketing strategy and you can look at them for inspiration.
