A great way to differentiate your business online is with your own content. Take out your phone and film that hot product that is easily demonstrated in a video. It works a treat and can show your business off with unique content. Show, don’t tell as they say.
Here is a short and simple video I used a few weeks ago with terrific success.
Years ago I started placing Better Homes and Gardens magazine between the Herald Sun and The Age. I still do it today – because it achieves incremental sales of this broad appeal top selling magazine. I do it Thursday through Sunday. Try it. It is a no-cost marketing tip that is sure to achieve incremental sales.
We have sold four units of a $75.00 item in the last week. It was not until the fourth sale that we realised the connection of the sales.
The first purchase was a result of a Facebook post we published and boosted for $3.00. That purchase was the first time the shopper had been in our store. They visited having asked us a couple of questions about the product at around 9:30pm at night, on Facebook.
A friend of the first shopper was in two days later and purchased the same item.
A friend of the friend was in the next day, purchasing the same item.
The first shopper was back yesterday, purchasing the same item to post to a family member. That is when we learned of the ripple effect value of the boosted Facebook post.
Two factors played in our favour – the boosted post and being accessible to answer a customer query at 9:30pm. Combined, those two things won us $300.00 in sales and a customer who will return.
Being online takes a range of forms. It does not necessarily mean having a website. However, it does mean being accessible when people want to browse and shop.
The data I see, from a range of retail business websites in different retail channels, show that after 8pm is the busiest online sales time in Australia, through until midnight. If you have any online presence, it is vital you are accessible during this time.
Welcome to the new retail paradigm.
Displays that can be seen from outside your business are the most important for they are the ones that set elections. It you have lotteries this will be a challenge because of their location demands.
If you don’t have lotteries, go for it I say, recast your business through your displays for it is the most important in-store marketing pitch you can make.
This photo is a recent display from one of my businesses.
Next time you the a product photo that you plan to use in marketing, make sure it is the best photo it can be.
My advice is to put more than one product in a photo.
Pose the items so they tell a story beyond the products themselves.
Have fun.
Don’t overthink the photo as any social media content is scrolled past in a second or two, unless you are lucky.
In the example here I have a unicorn gift items in front of frame. I felt the two worked well together, playing off each other.
I urge newsagents to serve this coupon on POS software receipts during the WIN A CAR! promotion from Pacific Magazines. Every touch point you can offer for a promotion like this is valuable. Shopper receipts are an ideal way to reach existing shoppers.
Out of store, use the collateral from Pacific. I have used the art below on Facebook from Thursday morning this week to reach people:
The more touchpoints the better for this newsagent-only campaign.
In my own situation these touchpoints include social media, at the entrance to the business, at the weekly magazine display, on receipts and at the counter.
Experience with past campaigns like this one is that the greater the engagement the greater the sales uplift. That greater engagement is on each of us in retail. pacific has provided the collateral. All we need do is use it.
To those preparing to comment here and complain about poor magazine margin and that you have better things to promote – don’t comment. Instead, engage with this proven promotion and leverage incremental business. The alternative is you chase magazines out of your shop. There is no win from that.
I have written here before abut the value of local prizes for driving shopper traffic. This is especially true at seasonal times, such as Mother’s Day. The right local prize can generate net new traffic when it is actively promoted outside the business.
We are promoting this beautiful T2 gift pack knowing that one of our customers will win a pack, as each participating store has their own T2 prize pack to give away to one lucky shopper of Hallmark Mother’s Day cards.
While a more valuable national prize may have a headline appeal, I have found it is easier to sell this prize will be done by one of our customers. That pitch is made even easier when the prize pack is perfectly targeted for a season like this T2 prize pack.
The T2 pack also works as it fits well with our everyday female gift line. It compliments what we offer, making the message of the prize pack valuable beyond the season.
The newsXpress exclusive T2 Mother’s Day prize pack is part of the Hallmark / newsXpress relationship.
The total campaign has a value of in excess of $50,000. I suspect this is the most valuable Mother’s Day campaign in the newsagency channel inn 2017.
Find a wall in your shop and turn it into a mini gallery space for local artists. Make it available at no cost. Choose artists based on what you think works best.
You will help local artists and better connect you with the community.
The photo is from a shop I was in two weeks ago. On the wall they had a small showing of photos taken by a local young photographer. There was nothing commercial about it.
To me, this idea is a not brainer for any regional, rural or high street independent retail business. The more we support our local community the more likely the local community will support us.
The added benefit is the beauty you can bring to the shop.
Be a force for good: support local artists and give locals another reason to visit your business.
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.
More UK magazine publishers support newsagents online than we see in Australia.
Tweets like you can see in the image are common – a UK publisher promoting the latest issue of their magazine and pitching availability in newsagents.
Tweets like this help drive vital in-store traffic.
Every publisher with magazines in newsagencies should be promoting the newsagency channel. The top two ways they can best do this are:
Given the low margin for magazines, it is incumbent on magazine publishers to drive traffic to retail outlets if they want such outlets to continue to stock the low margin product.
Another thing publishers could do would be to provide retailers with easy access to social media friendly collateral that retailers themselves could use on their social media accounts. This needs to be content that meets the rules of the various platforms.
The magazine publishers that should engage with these ideas the most are those with their titles only in retail newsagency businesses. If they are in supermarkets too I don’t care as much. Titles exclusive to the newsagency channel are more niche and more interesting in terms of publishers leveraging their own communities to drive retail newsagency traffic.
What I suggest in this post costs nothing except for a small amount of time. The return should be worth it and would include appreciation from retailers you support.
Your card company is not responsible for marketing the cards you sell. That is your job. It is essential you promote your range of cards outside your business.
Promoting cards outside your business is easy and rewarding. You can attract new customers and get existing customers buying more cards.
Very few newsagents promote greeting cards outside their business. While, selfishly, this suits me, it hurts the disengaged businesses.
Use social media to talk about cards. Do this every couple of days. But be smart, focus on a card you like, include a photo, use the card to shine a light on your point of difference.
Your major competitors will not do this. This is why I say it is an excellent opportunity.
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.
Here at another of my stores is the lease line Easter gift pitch. This also flows to cards, plush and more items that connect with Easter opportunities.
This is the third wave of Easter in this business. The gifts in the first two waves sold out.
We have some of the same items you can see in the photo at the counter as some people need to see things two or three times to get them to register.
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.
Here is how we are pitching Easter on the lease line of the newsagency.
This lease line Easter pitch segues into plush and other items the Easter shopper could enjoy.
We are also promoting the excellent range of new Easter cards on social media to connect with a new community of shoppers who could be first time Easter cared shoppers. We are giving the a reason to engage.
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.
