In our retail businesses, with such a diverse mix of products and specialisations, we have wonderful opportunities for hosting closed-door events.
Each event can target a special interest or a demographic niche that is of value to you. Each is an opportunity bring new people to your business.
This type of marketing activity is 100% on the retailer and not suppliers.
While I like Yours Retro, it is a pity there was not better advance communication well in advance so we could factor this new title into a broader retro display is we wished.
Whereas in the past a magazine launch would work in isolation, today it needs support from outside the category and engaged retailers can do that thanks to access to a broader range of products.
To support Yours Retro we have access to a wonderful range of retro products, including products for the era featured on the cover. However, leveraging such an opportunity takes time. Also, it has to be part of the marketing calendar. Not engaging us in advance loses the opportunity.
All magazine publishers need to understand where they fit in our world today. Whereas in the past the magazine was the destination purchase most of the time, that is no longer the case. Retailers get that. Plenty of us look for opportunities to support magazines in broader marketing initiatives in our businesses.
I get that publishers want to keep launched under wraps until the last minute. However, doing this denies and engaged retailer the opportunity to engage beyond doing only basic stuff.
Magazines are different for n newsagents and supermarkets. Where supermarkets see the magazine as a basket extension, newsagents have the potential to be more engaged. Achieving that requires publishers to be more engaged, beyond posters and a display competition as those things are so yesterday.
Easter is less than a week away, here are some simple marketing tips you could engage to try and find new shoppers for this season. Some are new, some are from by 2015 tips
If you act in an average way for Easter expect average results.
Small business retailers tend to like marketing they can see. Like the ad in the local paper or the catalogue in letterboxes.
You seeing your own marketing is irrelevant. In fact, it is as irrelevant as many catalogues stuffed in letterboxes.
The best marketing today is about accurate engagement measurement, faster delivery and more immediate in-store engagement.
Take the old-school catalogue . Artwork, printing and delivery will take three to six weeks and cost you or your marketing group around $1,500, maybe more.
In many locations, that $1,500 could have funded 30 Facebook campaigns reaching 5,000+ people, carefully targeted with accurate data on engagement.
While catalogues play a role, that role today is far less than two years ago.
A newsagent told me they liked the catalogue because they could see it whereas they could not see a Facebook post. Their loss, as I told them.
This photo is a terrific example of how to promote cards in the front window. This is a wonderful display – attractive, engaging and emotional. Look at the detail in the display. Whoever did this took care to tell a story. This is a perfect pitch for cards to people on the street out the front of this business. Inspiring!
Click on the image for a full size version you can zoom in on.
We can sell more cards in our businesses.
As I mentioned yesterday, Hudson News in the US is a terrific business with well run retail stores that are consistently good at what they do.
I got to one of their stores yesterday in an airport location and saw the perfect pitch for this location of the business.
In the photo below note how they use the front of the store to attract shoppers while their shingle, their name, remains old school.
The main traffic driving unit at the centre of the entrance is promoting travel accessories for those listening to music and watching content on their devices.
Magazines and newspapers are there in the product mix but not front of store, not even where passers-by can easily see them.
This image and what Hudson News is doing is a good example of what I have written about here plenty of times, using products to tell people about your business, to attract them to the store.
The future offer businesses is less about the shingle and more about how the business under the shingle behaves. A brilliant named business that is not forward acting will be a poor business. A forward acting and shopper centric business with a name drenched in history will have a brighter future.
Engaged suppliers often have access to videos that are ideal for use on social media. Use these on your business Facebook page and elsewhere to leverage their professional and often fun content for promoting your business.
Here is an excellent example of a video ideal for promoting your business. Who doesn’t want to watch people playing with these new things that are arriving in-store shortly? This video is perfect for the marketing tip I offer today.
Four years in and the discount voucher loyalty program continues to be the best loyalty offering in the business.
Managed automatically by the software, the vouchers provide to shoppers encouragement to increase their spend in the visit or to come back soon for another purchase.
Customers continue to respond with delight. This is because more than a third of shoppers we see are first time or infrequent.
I call the vouchers front end loyalty because they put the incentive in front of the customer to get them to act beyond average. Most loyalty systems only reward the customer after they have jumped through the hoops and carried a plastic card around.
The discount vouchers are easy.
The vouchers are particularly useful for habit based purchases such as magazines, greeting cards, collectibles and similar where a customer can comfortably purchase more as they know they will want the additional purchase at some point in time.
I had a shopper yesterday who purchased a bag and a bow and received a voucher for $1.00. They used that to purchase two cards and with that they received another $1 voucher. They used that to purchase a $20.00 item for a future birthday.
The business gave away $2.00 for an additional $33.00 in revenue to a customer who is not local and will not be back in the centre any time soon. The additional GP earned was $18.45. I am happy for this to cost $2.00 as banking $16.45 is better than banking nothing.
If this was the old-school points based offer they’d have to sign up, visit a few times and then maybe get enough to get a discount. That is why points based loyalty programs are regarded as past their use by date and no longer relevant to retail today.
Things are moving faster. Shoppers want more and sooner. Social media has educated people to seek instant gratification. Discount vouchers provide this.
The engagement with discount vouchers is across demographic groups and this another thing to love about them. While different demos respond differently, they all respond positively and valuably for the business.
So, my marketing tip today – embrace discount vouchers and make more money in your business.
I shop this video at my shop on the weekend. Watching it you can see how the floorspace is zoned to appeal to different demographics, how we use key international brands to attract choppers and how we pitch the business as it’s own thing and not as a newsagency.
Take a look…
I share this here to show how we are using brand name products to attract shoppers from the mall and to pitch, through the products, that we are not the business they may think we are.
We are have had terrific success with non chocolate items for Easter for years, often selling out weeks in advance of Easter. Our range includes limited-edition collectible plush items valued at $200 or more. In fact, we have been successful at attracting new shoppers by promoting these. And, yes, the $200+ item sale is easy with the right product.
I was thrilled to see this sign in my local coffee shop on Monday this week. I am often on the phone when there ordering coffee. It works, I don’t disrespect them and they don’t disrespect me.
I think some retailers get too hung up on the mobile pone thing. As long as you can complete the transaction who cares if they are on the phone? Not me, I am happy there are there shopping with me.
What I love about this campaign is that its is positive and inviting. It turns what is often a negative situation in retail into a positive.
Good on the people who are behind it. My cafe owner got the sign from his local Snap Printing outlet so it may be a Snap thing.
Sure it can be frustrating if the conversation on the phone slows the sale. My experience is that it usually does not. The key is to look beyond the default position of being angry or frustrated that a shopper is on the phone. Suck it up, take their cash and appreciate having a customer to service. That’s good pragmatic customer service in my view.
When promoting on social media try as much as practical to pitch multiple product categories. From what I see greeting cards are too often forgotten by newsagents in promoting their businesses.
Displays benefit from including cards as there are cards for every occasion. This lack of engagement in marketing could be a factor in newsagents seeing declining card sales while others are seeing growth.
The more (relevant) product categories you include in a marketing pitch the more likely you are differentiating your business from competitors.
One way to pitch the local focus of your business if to have a locals special, locals sale or a locals special day. Regardless of what you do, pitching it for locals, people who live locally, if a way of demonstrating being local in your focus. If you promote this on social media, use one or more of the the many hashtags that promote local.
The engagement from this post noting the passing of Carrie Fisher is a reminder of the importance of approaching social media posts thoughtfully. Consider a post a conversation or an entertainment, and not as an attempt to sell. Selling will lose you followers.
People want to be entertained. They want to feel good. They want you to add value to the few seconds they give you of their life.
Not a cent was spent on this post.
