Despite the fact that you have been running your stores for years or have just recently opened up shop, the key to your success lies in getting and retaining customers. You can only do so by effectively marketing your store to many people.
You can offer tons of incentives to attract customers such as discounts and offers, but if the public doesn’t know about it, they won’t be able to get in on the action. Fortunately, using the various tools available these days, you can market yourself easily with the least amount of hassle. Here are some crucial tips on how to do so:
Market Research
Any good marketing strategy starts out with some research. You will need to look into your competitors and what techniques they are using, need to look towards your customers and see how they are reacting to your promotions, and what kind of products the customers are looking for.
This will help you develop a solid base for your marketing plan and dictate the way going forward. Your competitors’ marketing strategy will give you pointers to try out and understanding your customers will make it easier for you to reach out to them effectively.
Online Presence
Maintaining an online presence is paramount in the 21st century. Almost everything is online these days from multinational firms to small businesses. As such, you should look towards creating a robust online presence for your retail store.
Many retailers have online stores these days allowing their customers to shop over the internet which is then delivered to their homes. You should look towards creating a website for that purpose. Moreover, create a presence over multiple social media channels. Facebook and Instagram are best for this purpose but you can always branch out to others as well.
Advertising Materials
To market your store, you will need the materials and tools to market it with. The best way to do that is over digital channels. To catch the attention of your customers, you need something engaging. The best thing for that purpose is a poster that grabs attention instantly and delivers its message without clutter.
A picture is worth a thousand words, with a poster you can say a lot in a few words along with some graphical elements. The image is easier to comprehend for the users and delivers its message in seconds than a text post that needs some time to read through.
To create posters for your retail store, you will need the help of an online designer and poster maker such as Poster My Wall, which can help you create a poster in minutes. There, you can get yourself a poster in a matter of minutes by simply inserting the relevant information and graphics into the online editor and it will create a poster for you. You can then use this poster wherever you may please whether it is traditional marketing mediums or digital platforms. Once you have a poster, the possibilities of its uses are endless.
The retail store Costco used one such poster to advertise a discount offer on some products offered at the establishment around the holidays. The store offered more details in the post description that when and how would customers be able to avail the said discount.
Window Displays
Though digital marketing is the main marketing channel for brands, traditional ways of marketing still have a significant piece of the figurative pie. As such, one of the most effective ways to reach out to potential customers around your store is by putting up attractive window displays.
Take the items on which you would be offering some deals and offers and create a display with signs advertising any discounts. This will grab the attention of passersbys who may be enticed by the discounts and the displays that you would have put up and they will be inclined to shop at your store.
Social Media
Social Media is the best tool at your disposal to reach out to thousands in a few clicks spending next to nothing. Create an active social media presence over multiple platforms and interact with your user base. Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are the main platforms used by retail stores for this purpose. Facebook and Instagram are great for sharing content and Pinterest allow you to showcase the items being offered at your store.
Customers carry out their research over Pinterest prior to making their purchases. By sharing these images of these items with a link to your online store, you can also convert these posts into sales. The same can be done on Instagram and Facebook where you can include links in the description of your posts and stories.
For this purpose, you will need to be creative and use graphics to create image posts to use on these platforms. Using the various online designers like Poster My Wall, you can create some social media graphics posts for your store. It’s as simple as adding the store information and choosing the correct design elements from the online editor and then creating the image. The process takes a few minutes and can be done by anyone, regardless of their level of design ability.
The famous clothing brand Denizen used such a post using graphics on their social media account showcasing some outfit ideas. They used a bordered background and created four squares using some more borders in which they showcased these outfits made from the brand’s clothing.
Your marketing strategy will only be effective if you remain consistent with it. If you only follow the advice listed above partially or for a limited amount of time after which you’d abandon it, then it will not work. To succeed, you must formulate your strategy and stick with it even during times when you wouldn’t need it. However, you should also be open to change as the customers’ attitudes can shift with time. In that case, you can research the market once more to see what works best that you can use as well and use that in your own strategy.