A good retail marketing strategy can improve business for retail stores in every industry, no matter the size. Get started with these 20 amazing retail marketing ideas that will help you expand your reach and connect with your customers.
1. Do A Tour Of Your Studio Or Office
This is a great way to share details about how you work and introduce your employees to your customers.
This tour can either be in person, or online. Facebook Live allows you to reach a bigger audience without having to worry about the crowd.
One notable example of this is when Instagram showed off their new office in New York.
2. Send Out Something Personal
Reward your most loyal customers by sending out some handwritten thank you notes or goodies. This fosters brand loyalty and makes it more likely that they’ll make another purchase.
For example, Chanel sent this note to one of their customers after helping them make a purchase.
You can do something like this too. Find out who your best customers are, and send them personalized notes to show them you care. They’ll appreciate the effort.
3. Send Out Product Samples To Potential Customers
Let your potential customers know what they’re missing out on. Sending out samples to someone thinking about making a purchase can push them over the edge.
Sending out samples:
- Lets them see how useful your product is
- Builds customer loyalty
- Helps consumers make buying decisions
- Increases brand exposure
4. Put Your Favorite Social Media Handles On Your Business Card
Make sure your customers know where to find you online. You can promote your social media profiles by including your handles on your business cards.
This design template from Brandly shows a great example of what this might look like.
Doing this helps you grow your follower base and opens the door for more engagement on your social media content.
5. Try Some Urban Marketing Ideas
If you have a physical storefront, find creative ways to spread the word about your business in your area. You can use chalk on sidewalks, posters, or even window displays.
Here’s an example from Alexander Keith’s Brewery and how they used sidewalk chalk to promote their business:
This blog post from The Cyphers Agency goes into more creative, low budget, guerrilla marketing tactics.
6. Use Google Reviews
79% of shoppers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Make sure you monitor those reviews and reach out to those who were unsatisfied with your business.
In addition to that, thank those who leave positive reviews. You may even create an incentive for customers to leave positive reviews on Google, just like G2 Crowd did.
Recommended Reading: 13 Ecommerce Marketing Strategies That Will Boost Your Sales
7. Perfect Your Elevator Pitch
Can you explain what your business does and why it’s helpful in 20-30 seconds? If someone asks you, you need to make sure you have a great hook to pull them in.
Craft your elevator pitch so if someone asks you what you do or what kind of products you have, you’ll be able to answer clearly and confidently.
Below is an example of a 30-second elevator pitch from Ladders:
8. Develop A Word Of Mouth Customer Referral Program
Similar to online reviews, personal reviews are very important. In fact, 92% of consumers trust referrals from people they know.
Creating a word of mouth referral program can help facilitate organic conversations about your business. This also allows you to paint yourself as a prominent business in your neighborhood.
9. Partner With Similar Businesses
Partnering with similar companies or blogs can help you make connections to others in your industry, just make sure they aren’t a direct competitor.
One notable example is Dolly and Crate and Barrel. They partnered up to offer easier furniture delivery for Crate and Barrel customers. This improved customer experience and helped solve a common issue.
Other benefits of retail partnerships:
- Build Customer Loyalty
- Exposure To New Audience
- Product Expansion
- Shared Resources
10. Focus On Experiential Marketing
Retail customers don’t just want a product; they want an experience. Focus your energy on efforts that customers can walk away from and remember for years.
Experiential marketing, also known as “live marketing” tends to play on the five senses and allows the consumer to play along with whatever is happening.
Here’s an example brought to you by Oreo from the SXSW Festival in 2014. They put up a booth that 3D printed uniquely flavored cookies for attendees to try.
The flavors were determined by what was Trending on Twitter at the time. People would tweet which flavor they wanted someone to try, and the 3D printer would create it.
11. Offer Free Wifi
You might not choose your favorite coffee shop because of the free wifi, but it sure helps. Offering free wifi provides a great opportunity to plant your marketing messages and promos on your customers’ phones while they sign in.
You can use wifi marketing to collect customer contact information in exchange for the wifi. Then, you can use this information to send out promotional texts or emails.
12. Put Your Product Where Your Customers Are
If your customers aren’t coming to you, go to your customers. Analyze where your customers are and what channels they’re using, and then place your ads in front of them.
Are you on the same social channels your target audience is on? You should be. Cover all the bases and make sure you incorporate retail displays, online listings, and digital marketing into your retail marketing strategy.
Recommended Reading: How To Find Your Target Audience To Do Better Marketing
13. Host A Community Event
Raise awareness about a problem that your product or business helps solve. Make it fun and actionable so that your customers or readers are able to take what they learn and put it into practice almost instantly.
Anthropologie frequently hosts pop-up markets that feature local artists. These events have involved many topics, including animal rights, fashion shows, and even physical wellness.
14. Take Advantage Of Your Display Window
Think of a cool way to present your product or business to the world.
You could:
- Place a window decal over the window
- Work from the display window
- Present products in a fashionable way
This example from Timberland shows how color and balance can create an effective display. It even goes along with the tagline, “Classic Meets Color”.
15. Hold A Customer Photo Contest
Get your customers involved in your retail marketing efforts and create a contest for them.
Have them submit pictures of them with their favorite products, and give the best image a gift card. You can use the images as social proof and broadcast all your happy customers.
Here’s an example of how Cremahh did it:
16. Create A Loyalty Program
Get your customers to keep coming back. Loyalty programs can help you retain existing customers while attracting new ones.
They also help build emotional connections between your business and your customers. The best part is that they’re super easy to create.
Here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Choose the best kind of program for your business
- Point based, partnership, or tiered
- Define how much money you can invest into your program
- Introduce incentives to start
- Measure customer satisfaction
- Adjust your strategy if needed
17. Package Your Products In A Way That Mirrors Your Brand
Ensure every part of your packaging mirrors the message you want your brand to convey.
For example, Victoria’s Secret wraps your purchases in colorful tissue paper and then puts them in a matching bag.
Now you just have to think about how you are going to implement this retail marketing idea.
Here are some things to keep in mind:
- How do you want your customers to feel when they come to your store, blog, or social platforms? (Example: happy and content.)
- What do your customers find to make them feel _____ and _____(Insert your answer from above).
- Will wrapping them a certain way make them feel special? How so?
18. Monetize Your POS
POS, or point of sale, refers to the register or checkout point in your store. This area is a key place for you to broadcast some of your smaller, more affordably priced products.
Grocery stores do this all the time. They place gum, candy bars, or anything fun near the registers so that impulse buyers will make a bugger purchase.
19. Run Geo-Targeted Ads
If you want to make sure people in your community know about your store, you can try running geo-target ads. Google allows you to run ads in a specific radius of a geographical area.
You can use these tips to ensure you’re reaching people in your area:
- Test out different areas
- Get your timing right
- Double-check your location options
- Exclude undesirable locations
- Use Google Trends
20. Create A Pricing Strategy
Make sure your prices are just right for your customers. Set your prices too high, and your customers won’t come. Set them too low, and you won’t have much of a profit margin.
The general retail marketing rule of thumb is to charge double the price you pay for it. You can also use promotional pricing and sales to attract customers and clear out older merchandise.
The below example from Marketing Tutor shows a variety of pricing strategies you could use.
