Retail Marketing! Get On Board The Promotional Train
Retail marketing isn’t simply opening a shop and hoping for the best. When you get on baord with some retail marketing ‘how to’ you’ll find more success than if you just cross your fingers and wait.
When you walk into a store, what’s the first thing that you see? Is it the stack of jars rather precariously put together near the entrance? That’s not retail marketing.
Is it the checkout stands where the staff are in pristine uniforms? That’s not retail marketing either, it’s more like public relations.
Or is it the advertising and signage that tells you about each product on offer? That’s certainly getting closer to retail marketing.
Whatever you see first, you need to decide whether it’s important for your own retail business.
As a small business owner, it’s not often that you can take a step back from running the company and get to the grit of the business; the front line.
For your business’ sake, it’s a good idea to get involved in the front line of your retail business, because the only way you are going to be able to assess what your business needs to succeed is to see it for yourself.
You need to be able to speak to customers and spend time learning about what draws them to your store, so that you can start putting together promotions and marketing materials that will make sense.
For example, banners for your business can mean that customers are seeing the offers that are available in the store the moment that they walk in.
It means that while they notice the tidy staff and the jars of food that tower to the ceiling, they’re seeing that those jars of jelly are on offer and will be for some time.
Some business owners find retail marketing promotions far too time consuming, but realistically it’s the life blood of a retail business to be out there and in the face of the customer at all times.
You need to be able to be in the mind of your customers at all times while they shop, so what other ways can you do this?
- Freebies! Everyone loves a freebie. Handing out calendars or shopping list pads with your business name and logo on it means that customers get something useful that relates to retail while seeing your company under their nose.
- Outside advertising should be a priority for you as you need a hook. If you sell a niche product that you know is harder to market, then you need to add a sandwich board or an interesting poster to the outside of the shop so that you can bring people in off the street.
- Get online. You may have a retail store that you manage, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be exposed online as much as possible. You could also choose to be on social media as well as your website, so that your customers can find you to interact with you online.
- Speak to the local press and get them on board with any campaigns that you want to run. When new products come out, seek their help to market it in the local papers, radio and in the local community and you can support the local press as much as they support you.
Be aware of your marketing and how you appear to people, and you’ll always find new customers banging down your door for your products.
Insanely Clever Marketing 