Cunning Retail Tactics For A Profitable Christmas

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Cunning is what you’re going to have to be if you want to get through this festive period as a retailer. Retail is an industry that’s so hard to break into, and if you’ve done well thus far, then you’re going to want to tackle all the obstacles that you possibly can, as quickly as you can. And despite thinking that this is the time where you’re going to make more money than you’ve ever made before, you might be sadly mistaken. It’s no secret that brick and mortar shops are becoming less popular at the minute. People are far more inclined to do their shopping from the comfort of their own home, or even on the go as long as their mobile is still glued to their hand, which is where it always is. So, you have to think about the tactics that are going to keep your store alive throughout the whole of the festive season, that includes into the new year.  So, keep on reading, and find out what cunning retail tactics we think you should be using.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | Cunning Retail Tactics For A Profitable Christmas

Luring Customers In

Luring customers in is the first item on the agenda, because the lack of customers is what is going to bring your profits crashing down, profits you will have invested into the business more as of late to boost stock and production. So to lure customers in, you need to target the right people, and the right people are those with children. Children are taken shopping nearly all of the time, simply because they can’t be left at home. So to get the shoppers in, you have to grab the attention of the children first, which is best done by getting yourself a santa. Hire Santa is just one company you could use to do so, and it would bring hoards of people into your store. A quick photo with santa, and a big of a nudge from you, and you’ve got them secured in your shop, and chances are they’d buy something!

Picking Sale Times Right

Sales are going to come in thick and fast, and you’ll join a race to make sure that your sale is the one that’s attracting people. So what we’d advise, is to hold one right before Christmas, only a few days. You’re going to attract those desperate shoppers who are looking for a last minute presents, and often a bargain. So holding one before Christmas, rather than waiting until after, might mean the difference between getting profit, and struggling to get it.

Focus On Advertisement

Advertisement is key, and the best way to do so is through visuals that people are going to see often. TV advertisements, radio, and billboards are all popular at this time of year. The more people can see you, the more people will visit you, and the more sales you’ll get. So don’t be afraid to splurge a little where marketing is concerned. Simply putting up posters in the area local to your shop could draw the attention that you need.

Here Are a Few Ways Old-School Marketing Can Produce Results In a High-Tech World

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | Here Are a Few Ways Old-School Marketing Can Produce Results In a High-Tech WorldFinding leads online has become ubiquitous in the modern private sector. Businesses large and small rely on social media, search engine optimization and countless other web-based methods of finding new customers and retaining existing ones. While there is no replacement for the obvious results possible from the internet, it is important for entrepreneurs to remember the reasons more traditional methods of advertising and marketing have remained consistently successful for generations. Keep the following methods in mind to diversify any company’s marketing approach beyond one that merely exists online.

Keep Your Name In Front of Potential Customers’ Eyes

Sure, much of the world is now glued to a smartphone or some other screen at any given time. While flashy ads can capture an individual’s attention for a moment, the ephemeral nature of the internet means the name of some other business is going to replace whichever one happens to be streaming across a page at the moment. In addition to appealing to the fleeting attention span of the average consumer, it might also behoove an savvy entrepreneur to look into more permanent ways to show off a brand or service. Look for bright, high-quality and affordable banners Harrisburg to get an idea of the signs and other displays that can be used to promote a specific event or sale as well as serving as a constant reminder of a business and its importance in a community.

Keep Your Conversion Costs As Low As Possible

On the surface, it can be hard to argue with the claim that online ads can reach thousands of individuals for a few bucks. But as the average marketing guru would argue, the number that truly matters is how many potential customers are converted to actual customers through an advertising campaign. In many cases and across multiple industries, it probably makes more financial sense to invest in a robust physical and traditional marketing program than churning endless capital into online ads.

Keep Your Profile Consistent and Clear

The temptation always exists online to revamp and reinvent a brand to reflect current trends and metrics. In contrast, the reason some of the world’s oldest brands are now household names lies in their consistent representation in ads over a span of decades or more. Investing in offline marketing can help build some of that invaluable capital within the community and beyond.

Advertising is always changing, but the points outlined above show how some approaches remain successful regardless of the current business environment.

Seven must-haves of a marketing communication strategy

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article|Marketing|Seven must-haves of a marketing communication strategyAs an owner of your business, your first and foremost goal is to attract maximum revenues and sales. Unless you master this skill, your business will always go through uncertain scenarios and yearn for stability. Do you know why some of the brands are particularly good at this job? it’s because they have crafted an impeccable marketing communication strategy.

Marketing communication strategy is a broad term that covers so many small aspects. However, you should not miss out on the following must-haves while designing a marketing communication plan for your company.

Identify Your Target Audience

If you don’t have in-depth information about your audience, you can’t expect any of your marketing campaigns to be successful or even come close to the desired results. The same stands true here. The more information you have about your customers, the better it is.

You can develop buyer personas around questions like:

  • Who currently buying your products?
  • Which geographical location is adding most to your bottom line?
  • Which pain points are pushing people to purchase from your brand?
  • Which age group and gender are more inclined towards your products?

Answers of these questions will give you a complete picture of your target audience. You can find out more about your online customers through Google Analytics and other tools.

However, in case your brand is fresh and lacks the necessary details to build buyer personas, you should invest in surveys and researches. Once you have identified the target market, you don’t have to be an exceptional salesman to deal with customers. When people are getting what they are looking for, why you would have to influence them?

Come up with an effective branding message and Be Consistent

Every famous brand has done and achieved this. Brand messaging is something that can be dubbed as the philosophy of your brand. The brand message is what appeals to the audience, makes them curious and eventually pushes them to buy your product.

Begin with the tagline. It should be woven into words in such a way that people do not have to put any effort to remember it. Apart from that, you should craft a single paragraph conveying your brand values and the mission you want to accomplish. You can even assess the effectiveness of the message with a certain group of people before finally settling for it.

Remember, people will forget your tagline if you don’t repeat it everywhere. So being consistent is very important. Be it your social media accounts, website or application, your tagline should be all over the place to represent your business.

Uncover your business objectives

Increasing sales, expanding reach, and building brand awareness: all of them are the key objectives for any business. Some owners would like to take one thing at a time. They would pick one objective first and then the others will follow. So if you happen to be one of those businessmen, it is obligatory for you to outline the particular objective you want to achieve first and then move on to the second one and so on.

At times when you are trying to incorporate too many things in your marketing campaign, people don’t get a clear message and walk away out of sheer confusion. How can you be successful when people don’t know what you are trying to convey to them?

Focus on the unique selling proposition

A unique selling proposition (USP) means emphasizing one factor that makes you “unique” from the rest of the competition. Here, you need not mention the features which people readily find in the other products. In other words, USP is a problem that nobody can solve better than you.

When you want people to change their old brand and shift to yours, the first thing they ask is “what makes your brand different than the others?” That’s where USP swings into action. People won’t come to you unless you address their pain points better than others. To sum up, a compelling USP separates you from “noise” and gives you “voice”.

Pick the right marketing mix

Today, we have too many podcast hosting sites to market a brand. We are no more limited to billboards, print media or TV advertisements. There are options like email marketing, content writing, social media and much more. However, the drawback of having too many alternatives is that you could pick the wrong medium where you may or may not find your targeted audience and end up wasting your resources.

For example, if you choose to market your brand on social media then you have to realize all social media channels are not the same. What appeals to a Facebook user might not charm an Instagram user. That’s where you have to pick and choose very smartly. Make sure you don’t throw all your eggs in one basket. Always market on a variety of platforms for good results.

In order to be on top of your media campaign, you need to have a calendar by your side and schedule your posts at optimal times. if you feel confusion, SEO service in Singapore can help you to design the best digital marketing strategy that will make a clear strategy for you to woo your online customers.

Determine success metrics

As they say “what can be measured, can be improved”. You must measure your performance to know where you are heading so that if the performance is not up to the mark, you can improve it. The list of various key performance indicators (KPI) is given below:

  • Social media shares
  • Number of website visits
  • Number of leads generated
  • Mentions on social media
  • Backlinks acquired from quality websites
  • Retention rate on your website
  • Number of followers on social media channels

As you can see, every platform has different criteria for performance. There are so many other metrics that we have not mentioned here, for example, likes and retweets. It is because relying on these metrics will not do any good for you.

Communicate your success to people

Once you are done with measuring your success, make sure you share it with your audience. It is a way to thank your consumers and make them feel important for being part of your success journey. Of course, nobody would like to be a part of a failing business. That way, not only old customers will show more faith in you but new ones will also start to engage.

The final verdict

As mentioned above, a marketing communication strategy is a blend of a variety of things. You can’t take any of them lightly. From the first to the last step, all of them need to be undertaken with thorough planning. We have sketched out the must-haves of an ideal marketing communication strategy, you just have to implement them and wait to be awed by the results.

Building A Strong And Successful Retail Brand Image

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Brand|Building A Strong And Successful Retail Brand ImageWhen it comes to attracting customers to your retail business, again and again, there are several areas that you could focus on to make a real difference. Having good levels of a varied choice of popular products will help you to a broad extent. However, having a recognizable and memorable brand will make sure that your company sticks in the mind of your customers and will help them to remember and choose you in the future.

A Visually Recognizable Store

A recognizable storefront help to create a lasting impression in the memories of your customers. This means having a bold logo that represents what your brand is all about. While you don’t need to have anything literal in your logo that shouts about the type of products you sell, if you’re a new company or your name gives no indication of the type of products you sell, this may be a helpful option.

Hire a graphic designer to create a logo and signage for the front of your store. Having well-designed branding will make a big a big difference when it comes to creating a lasting and professional impression.

But branding should not just be on the front of your store, you need to remind your customers where they are when they are inside your store. Branded signage can be used around till points, shelve-edge graphics, branded point-of-sale, posters, and if possible, on your product packaging. Using branded carrier-bags, till receipts, and promotional material will also help.

A Team That Meets Your Brand Standards

Branding is not just about your logos, store fit, and promotional material though. Your team should also represent your brand in both their appearance and how they approach your customers.

Having a distinctive image for your team is crucial as it will make your team identifiable. Whether you want your staff to wear a uniform is up to you, however, if you choose to allow your team to wear their own items of clothing then you should set some standards to ensure that they meet your brand expectations. Consider getting custom lanyards to let your customers know who is a team member.

Setting out your customer service expectations is crucial. This means working out how you want your customers to view the service experience. Instilling your ethos in everything that you do is important. If your brand wants to stand for value, quality, great service, or its ethical stance, then you need to pick the message that you want to put across in your branding.

Social Media

Your business needs to think about how the brand is represented on social media. Having a presence on the major social media sites is crucial if you want your business to thrive. When you use these sites, you should make sure that you are maintaining a standard of communication that is in keeping with the message that you want to put across to your customers. This will mean deciding the type of tone that you want to communicate using, as well as the types of posts and interactions that you will be providing.

The Ultimate Guide to Throwing Events for a Business

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | The Ultimate Guide to Throwing Events for a Business EventThe U.S. has about 32.5 million businesses, although the exact number depends on just how you define a business.

With millions of other businesses to compete with, how can you ensure yours stands out? Throwing events is one surefire way to get noticed.

However, a business event can quickly become a business disaster if it’s not properly planned out. If your event is badly organized, out of touch, or otherwise unimpressive, it can actually be worse for your business than not having an event at all. They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity, but for small business owners, that doesn’t ring true.

But don’t let the risk of a failed event scare you away from trying. To ensure that your event gets you the right kind of recognition, you just need to plan ahead properly.

Not sure how to promote an event successfully, or how to make sure the event goes well on the day of? We’ve got you covered. Here’s our complete guide to throwing events as a business.

1. Lay out Your Goals

One of the hardest parts of planning a business event is knowing what kind of event it should be. To decide what the main event should look like, it’s often easier to work backward from your goals or desired outcomes.

Why have this event? Is it to thank your current customers, turning them into repeat customers?

Is it to get the word out about your new brand? Is to have an exciting place for a big announcement?

Once you know your goal, the type of event will soon become clear. For example, if you want to get the word out, you could consider having an open house with free refreshments and entertainment. If you want to reward your current customers, you could have an exclusive after-hours shopping event with special discounts just for them.

2. Lock Down the Basics

Now that you have your goals or “why” together, you need to nail down the “who, what, when, and where.”

In addition to knowing what kind of event it’ll be, and who it’ll be for, decide who on your team will take charge of different aspects. Figure out your location and set a date.

Make sure the date is far ahead of time so you can prepare. When it comes to event planning, it’s best to start early, especially for big events.

3. Create a Promotion Calendar

Now that you know your event basics, you have a timeline to work with. Take the time you have between now and the event date, and create a calendar for promotion.

This means you’ll also need to decide how to promote it best. Social media always works well, but email, text, mail, and other tools can also help.

Add each promotional method to the right places on the calendar. For example, you might start making monthly social media posts about the event now while you’re six months out. But when you’re two months out, you could bump it up to biweekly posts, and send a save-the-date mailer to your current customers.

4. Work Word of Mouth

Although it may not go on your official promotion calendar, word of mouth is an important part of promotion too.

Make sure to talk up the event to everyone you meet. Train your employees to do the same. Consider giving them a short “script” so they can easily pitch the event essentials.

Talk to customers, other business owners, neighbors, and anyone who you think may be interested. Consider carrying a stash of flyers to hand out when opportunities come up. While this can’t replace your promotion calendar, it can be more successful than you might think.

5. Stick to a Budget

When you’re early in the promotion game, you may not need to think much about a budget. Unless you’re paying to reserve a venue, most of your early promotion and planning will probably be free or inexpensive.

However, as time goes by, the event will become more pricey. You might need to order promotional merch, hire a catering company, or pay local bands or speakers, for example. Without a budget, your event can quickly become impractically expensive.

Set your budget early and make sure it’s realistic. Try to foresee every possible expense, but leave some flexibility beyond the essentials too.

If your budget is tight, you can still have a great event, but you might need to compromise. For example, instead of the fully-catered meal you imagined, maybe bringing some food trucks to the parking lot will be more realistic for this event.

6. Make a Day-Of List

You’ve meticulously planned everything else out so far. So don’t leave the day of the event up to chance.

Make a list of all that needs to happen on the day of, when it needs to happen, and who’s responsible for it. This schedule will keep you and your team on track.

Of course, unexpected things during the event can throw the schedule off a bit. It’s important to be flexible too. But having a map to guide the day will ensure nothing major gets forgotten.

7. Have a Follow-Up Plan 

Finally, the event doesn’t end when everyone goes home. You’ll need to follow up, see how it went, and start planning your next event.

Send out an email to attendees with post event survey questions to learn what went well and what could’ve been better. Offer a thank you to those who attended, like a discount or free trial.

Then, start planning the next event using what you learned! Whether you make your last event a regular occurrence or plan something totally new, you’ll be able to make it a success thanks to your prior experience.

Ready to Start Throwing Events for Your Business?

With this guide, you’re ready to start throwing events that everyone will look forward to.

A good business event is a great experience for your customers, your staff, and you. These events are crucial for keeping your brand ahead of the competition, so start planning yours now!

Looking for more ways to grow and improve your brand? Our insights might be just what you need. Check out our other blogs to learn more.