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A retail marketing campaign provides a pathway to expand your reach, connect with new and existing customers, and tell your brand story. With so many different ways you could take a marketing campaign, it’s no wonder many campaigns lack focus and don’t produce the results they should. Creating a retail marketing campaign requires the right tools and a diligent strategy.
Here is how to maximize your marketing and spend your time and budget on the most profitable campaign strategy.
It could be to increase sales, improve brand awareness, or acquire more repeat customers, but define your retail marketing goal. From there, set measurable KPIs to monitor progress. If a strategy is underperforming, make adjustments and pivot.
Look at current sales data from your retail store for the past six months. Evaluate what’s selling and who’s buying. See if you can identify demographics, shopping behaviours, and product preferences. Use these insights as a guide to find what marketing messaging resonates best.
Research what is trendy in retail. Identify emerging products and customer preferences. You may even want to analyze competitors locally and internationally to see what other companies are doing to appeal to customers.
Set up attractive merchandise displays. Focus on an eye-catching entrance and window display. Employ digital signage software to bring bright lights, bold colours, and simple, effective messaging.
Intelligently design the layout so that a customer is intuitively guided through your store, seeing the right products at the right time to maximize your end-point sale. Put similar bundle products together.
Utilize product discounts and promotions, advertised in-store on digital signage, to highlight to customers the advantages of buying with your store compared to going to a competitor’s or shopping online.
Besides the strategies you take, it’s a must to get the message right. Script your message carefully. Ensure it reflects your brand’s value and is aligned with your goals. Clear and consistent marketing messaging is always the objective.
Your brand identity should be firm and set, with the same visuals, font, colours, and styles in your marketing. If you want your store to be recognized, you must continually repeat the same brand identity until it is remembered in customers’ minds.
While thinking outside the box is sometimes essential, a retail marketing campaign should build around the basics. Never blow your budget on a marketing path where the data doesn’t strongly suggest a justifiable return.
There are many social media platforms. Invest in those where your audience demographic is. Look for your audience’s age, gender, socioeconomic background, and location. Ensure any PPC ads you run are also targeted to the right leads.
What you spend in marketing should ideally be paid off by the customers you attract. That said, closely monitor expenses. A marketing campaign should be financially viable at all times and not overspend.
You may not think online marketing is essential if you’re selling offline at a brick-and-mortar location, but it is. Many first-time customers will want to look you up online before ever visiting. Ensure your digital marketing is strong, active, and backed by a fair budget.
A modern retail marketing campaign needs a calendar. Plan out what, when, and where you want to post content, be it your website, email marketing, social media, or promotions on digital signage. Have a plan to ensure your marketing campaign remains timely, with content delivered regularly.
Grow your customer base by chasing new audiences. Use influencer marketing to reach new leads. Local micro-influencers with a similar audience as you, boasting a social following of 5,000-500,000 followers, are often intelligent investments, and endorsement builds trust in your business.
No retailer gets by on a single marketing channel. You will likely have several going simultaneously, such as social media, email, direct mail, referrals, etc. Test and monitor each channel to confirm whether the money you’re putting in is reaping the rewards you want.
Organic marketing involves strategies that pay off in the long term, such as SEO and content. Paid marketing involves ads that get your eyes and clicks immediately. Invest in both as you build interest in your retail store.
With every sale, ask for an email. After you have a customer’s email, you can retarget them later for a repeat sale. Have an email newsletter sign-up on your website and social media. Make efforts to beef up your email marketing list, as this is a direct line to your target audience.
