Creating a retail marketing strategy can be challenging. Retailers are often busy, and when resources are scarce, planning any type of retail marketing effort can seem daunting. To make matters more complicated, a changing economy can tighten your marketing budget, so each retail marketing solution your store implements needs to provide long-term value.
In order to to find these solutions, think about what you want to get out of your retail marketing strategy. You obviously want to deliver an excellent customer experience and generate word of mouth marketing opportunities , and you also want to keep customers coming back. In short, you want your store to be the first thing that pops into customers’ minds when looking for your products.
If you’re having a hard time coming up with a retail marketing strategy, below are some tips and tricks to generate WOM marketing and drive higher sales per square foot:
Create an Interactive Recipe Experience
One way to get shoppers involved is to create an interactive recipe experience. You can do this by creating a station that is manned by one of your employees. The experience starts when the employee writes down the first ingredient in a recipe. Each shopper can then add an ingredient or step to the recipe until the whole thing becomes a goofy mess or a culinary delight.
Once you’ve finished some recipes, post them to your store’s social media accounts. You can even award honors for “Best Group Recipe”, “Wackiest Recipe”, and “Most Complicated Recipe”. Invite shoppers and social media followers to then share these with their family and friends. Who knows? You might even end up with a hit on your hands.
Let Vendors Help With Experiential Marketing
Your vendors often have access to resources for field marketing and will usually be more than happy to help out when putting together a store sampling experience or in-store demonstration. Utilize these resources to craft a retail marketing strategy, and automate the experience to save time.
Experiential marketing puts the customer at the center of the action and allows them to enjoy a hands-on experience instead of simply browsing for items. This type of retail customer experience promotes repeat business and store loyalty, even in the face of a turbulent economy.
Conduct a Review of Your Store’s Ambiance
Ambiance can be difficult to define, but you know it when you experience it. Lighting, music, aromas, and more can create an inviting atmosphere for your customers.
When was the last time you looked at your store’s lighting? Is there anything you can change with your music system that can relax customers and keep them shopping? The nice thing about reviewing these systems is that doing so isn’t as difficult as reworking a planogram, and you can also adjust the ambiance as needed throughout the day to cater to different types of shoppers.
Be Open to Change
The number one thing you can do when crafting a retail marketing strategy is to remain open to change. Different strategies work during different times of the year, and economic circumstances may mean your store needs to adapt its strategy over time.
