What’s of paramount importance in retail marketing is the ability to acquire new customers and retain your old ones. This is applicable to businesses that are both in the incubation/start-up phase as well as in the established/mature phases. There are an ample number of ways to efficiently market your business.
Let us discuss how what, when, and why of retail marketing and help you grasp deeper meaningful insights on the tactics you can use to make your business thrive, prosper, grow and diversify.
Retail Marketing – A Small insight – What is it?
Any activity or marketing process of a retailer using strategies and tactics to attract customers and drive sales is called retail marketing.
in-store Retail marketing has 4 key components also known as the 4 P’s Of Marketing Mix – name Product, price, place, and promotion.
Product – Top of the list, we have the product – the physical item that is sold.
Price – Following Product is the price at which it retails – the pricing strategy that a seller incorporates to churn sales. Examples – lower pricing, price psychology like $ 19.99, etc.
Place – Place refers to the area or platform used to sell the product(s).
Promotion – Lastly, promotion is what a retailer does to entice, attract and promote awareness that leads the customer to buy the product.
in-store Retail Marketing Strategies
1. You need to be where your customers are:
Effective retail isn’t just dependent on the marketing campaigns you run. The channels and platforms on which you market are of high importance as well. Even the best sought-out marketing strategies will prove ineffective if you do not cater to your customers in the location they function in.
Analyze where your consumers exist and where they are generating from. Once done, then you can work on ideating your next slogan/initiative.
Following are some areas that you should focus on:
The channels that mobilize traffic into your physical store:
You need to recognize the activities, channels, and media that are drawing visitors to your retail stores. Some common channels may include the following:
- Retail displays and in-store retail initiatives – if you know that in-store activities such as vibrant window displays or large signs are attracting customers, it would be favorable to double on these initiatives.
- Digital Marketing Campaigns – Facebook ads, Instagram posts, Google AdWords/AdSense, etc., and a solid online presence or your endeavors and initiatives online may generate and attract physical footfall.
- Online Presence – People nowadays extensively use Google, Yahoo, yellow pages, etc to search and discover businesses in their vicinity.
- Word Of Mouth – Word of mouth is a huge traffic driver with great potential. Be sure to incorporate word of mouth in your retail marketing campaigns.
2. Devices used by customers when browsing through your eCommerce site:
If you have set up an online store, you need to track the devices that customers are using to browse through your site – whether they are using a computer or taking to mobile devices.
The insights you fetch will help you get more engagement by helping you design your marketing efforts accordingly.
3. Evaluating the performance of your brand across various media and platforms:
Measure and evaluate your performance over various platforms so that you can assess how well your brand is doing. It is worthwhile measuring and comparing your fan base and engagement on various sites or apps. This will help you identify and work on your strengths and weaknesses.
4. Making use of the assets you already possess in your physical store:
It is always better to make use of what you possess already first and then think about trying out of ways to work with new things. If you have already set up shop and you have resources, you could likely use them in your marketing campaigns and initiatives.
Your stock of merchandise:
The best way to make your customers spellbound every time they visit your store is to have an amazing stock of merchandise that lets them know that you are always stocking up the right products. Once you have a hold on the necessary merchandise, think of creative ways to display your products effectively so that they pop and make a stellar appeal to your customers.
Window Displays:
Every retail store is unique and some designs always work better for one and vice versa. The best sort of design depends on your specific customer base. So, make it a point that you are designing your store keeping their patterns and preferences in mind.
Keep changing things and update most of your displays a minimum of once per month. For busy shopping periods, try and change them up every week or every fortnight to bring out the best.
Your staff:
Quick info: Starbucks spends more money on employee welfare and health benefits. More than what they spend on their raw materials- coffee beans.
The above shows that employees who are optimistic and healthy work more with more efficacy and are generally more driven and pleasant. Enthusiastic and happy staff always bring a smile to the customers which helps them persuade them to go to the buying stage and make a purchase.
5. Social Media Leveraging:
When it comes to social media and marketing, also known as social media marketing, there are a handful of platforms and apps that you definitely need to consider and leverage the maximum result – namely Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook.
These are very well-developed consumer-centric networks making them ideal for business to sell their products online. These platforms also have specific tools and ways that help brands promote and sell their products more effectively by reaching a relevant section of the audience.
Facebook:
- Start a new group – Make a Facebook group and invite members to join the group. Keep sending invitations, offers, and sale notices to your customers. This will allow you to constantly engage with your customers and let them know about exciting offers and new product launches. This will help you form and design a new community
- Facebook Ads – If groups are not really making it click for you. Dive into the realm of Facebook ads. This is a little costlier than using groups to your advantage. But this also gives enough more opportunity where you can market your products independently drawing more audiences to watch those ads and tap to make a purchase. This is especially good for launches. Use metrics and analytics tools to measure your performance and make the best of the platform.
Instagram:
Use Instagram mostly to market your products. Since Instagram is a photo-centric visual platform; it is easier to curate a visual catalog. With over 800 million active users monthly, this is a no-brainer.
- Develop a Catalogue of Products: With the help of Instagram posts you and create a curated catalog of your products. Also, post pictures of how they can be best used.
- Hashtags: Hashtags are the Instagramming way of using labels/tags for people to find your posts that are relatable to a particular line of thought/attribute.
- Stories: Instagram stories are an excellent way to drive sales for your business. It helps you to extensively connect, interact, and engage with your followers. This feature comes in handy to give a shoutout to your new post and highlight specific events or even for giving out announcements and notices.
6. Make use of SMS Marketing techniques:
A great way to engage and help your customers recall your brand is using SMS marketing to your advantage. On average every person reads SMSs and their mobile inbox regularly. SMS them small snippets of info to keep them tuned to your brand. Keep your message short and crisp. Also, do not blast your customers’ phones by sending bulk messages.
This will make them lose interest and in turn, get irritated at the sight of getting a message from you and they might even unsubscribe from your mailing list Occasional messaging is a good way to do things right.
7. Promote and manage the business through business partnerships and tie-ups:
Tying up with nearby businesses can help you bring out the best of your marketing campaign and reach out to the maximum range of audiences. This is a great way to partner with other businesses and also get your name out to people who can come in person and shop.
8. Tie up with stores in an area whose customer base collides with yours –
If you have businesses that share the same set of customers with you, you can partner up with them and ask them to give out your coupons or vouchers, and you and the same for them. This helps in building better B2B relationships and also in building a better brand reputation in the market. This helps both of you grow and diversify your business in the future.
9. Partner with stores that operate on the same radar:
If your store is located in a particular area, you can ask the stores that exist around you to offer vouchers and coupons to their customers. You too can do them the same favor. You will directly be reaching out to newer customers this way as they will refer your brand to them bringing you more traffic.
10. Partner with a charity or local NGO to put up an event:
You can also tie up with a local nonprofit organization to put up an event addressing a cause. This will help you build a reputation and also show that your business is aware and responsive to bringing about a change for the betterment of the society that it operates.
This way you can also reach out to people and make your goodwill go higher in the market. Customers these days are drawn to social issues and are conscious to take a step forward and bring about a change.
11. Spice up your email marketing game:
Email marketing has proven to be a very effective weapon and a very diverse marketing channel. It is rather cost-effective as it helps you reach out to a big chunk of people and send messages in bulk. Make sure that the emails are as personalized as possible.
For this, you need to first Segment your customers.
You can specifically target customers who have not yet made a purchase by sending them personal introductory or first-time buyer offers which will draw them to make a purchase since they will be willing to avail of the special offer.
Another great way of email campaigning is to send your brand’s story to your customers and make them engaged and excited to know more about your brand. Also, this is a great way of promoting brand recall without walking that extra mile.
12. Influencer Marketing
Since your business thrives out of the year 2020, another killer way of acquiring a new customer base is via sponsored ads. You need to reach out to relevant influencers and partner with them. This will require you to sign a contract with a particular influencer or role model over social media.
They in turn will promote your product or brand and recommend you to their audiences. People are wired to act according to the recommendations and referrals they receive from their nearest and dearest – ones who they trust.
13. Referral Campaign
Another great way to acquire new customers is by designing a stellar referral campaign. Here, you can ask your customers to refer to their friends and family and persuade them to make a purchase from your brand. They, in turn, will receive benefits in the form of cashback, points, and rewards based on the number of people they can refer to.
Verdict:
Acquiring new customers is surely a herculean task for small and medium-scale retailers and businesses. But with the help of the above-stated methods, you can design a great strategy or campaign which will act as a multiplier effect to churn and convert new customers.
Promotions, events, and mobile marketing techniques can also be coupled with the above methods to build a robust marketing campaign. The key to success in retailing is trying out all kinds of stuff and mingling them with each other to bring out the best of strategy.
Constant honing and improvisation of strategies are crucial for the growth and sustenance of your retail business in the long run. Do not be scared to change and be dynamic to adapt to different patterns or changes in the market you are operating in.
Here are some Important Frequently Asked Questions:
How fast you can achieve results depends on a multitude of factors. Assessing your business environment and creating a strategy that best suits and caters to optimize your campaigns for the best result is necessary.
Business is a funny and engaging game. The key to achieving the best results in business is dynamism. The ability to react and adapt to change the right way at the right time is of utmost importance. Try and balance out on both customer retention and customer acquisition strategies at the same time.
The best way to address disruption and promote ideal Business Continuity is by taking each step mindfully. There is no need to rush. Reduce your profit margins, and play the game of numbers. Gradually you can work on increasing your margins. First, you need to activate sales to keep your business going.
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“Business, marketing, and Branding – these three words describe me the best. I am the founder of Burban Branding and Media, and a self-taught marketer with 10 years of experience. My passion lies in helping startups enhance their business through marketing, Branding, leadership, and finance. I am on a mission to assist businesses in achieving their goals.”