The Do’s and Don’ts in Retail Marketing

Retail businesses require much more in-depth knowledge of your customers and their changing preferences and needs. You must create buyer personas and ensure you understand the pain points driving them to buy what you sell.

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Statista reports there are about 442,597 brick-and-mortar retail stores in the United States. Most of these are convenience stores. The number does not include e-commerce stores owned by Americans.

When it comes to marketing your retail store, there are some clear do’s and don’ts to keep in mind. We’ll talk about what you should do and then what you shouldn’t do. We also have ideas for what you might want to try instead.

Do: Know Your Audience

The better you understand your customers, the more likely it is you’ll choose products they want to buy. You also will know which emotions to tap into when advertising and where to reach them most effectively.

Spend time digging through your internal data to find patterns from past buying behavior. Survey your top customers and find out what needs aren’t being met. Use demographics and psychographics to create a buyer persona.

Pay attention to changing trends in your audience segments. Over time, your core customers might change as you reach various demographics.

Do: Highlight Your Strengths

Every business has a unique value proposition (UVP). What makes your brand better than your competitors? Showcase your UVP on product packaging and store displays.

Remember that emphasizing your strengths grabs user attention, so show off with the display design and your messaging. Try to find elements other brands don’t have so you stand out. Marketing messaging should align with your UVP.

Do: Have a Plan

Your marketing will never be effective if you go at it haphazardly. Create a calendar that considers upcoming sales, holidays, and other pertinent events. Ideally, your marketing department should coordinate with sales to make sure they are getting the news out about new products and specials.

Create a marketing calendar for six months to a year at a time, but make it flexible enough to tap into current trends and changing circumstances. Leave space for user-generated content (UCG). Including UCG on your blog or social media posts helps your customers feel involved and heard.

Do: Focus on Reviews

About 89% of consumers say they read reviews before making a purchase. They might hop online to read about your retail store, or they might check out reviews on the product they plan to buy.

Part of your marketing strategy must include seeking reviews and highlighting the positive ones. For example, you could email people after a purchase and ask if they’d like to leave feedback. Obviously, you should never tell them what to say or even if it should be positive or negative. If you’re doing other things well, the reviews will be good.

Pull out snippets and post them on social media. Add testimonials to your landing pages. Show off how happy your customers are to bring in new ones.

Don’t: Advertise What Isn’t in Stock

If you plan to come up with a big advertising push for a product, make sure you have enough to meet demand. There are few things as aggravating as being sold on something, and when you try to order it, the online store is empty.

Instead, coordinate with your buyers and watch inventory when launching a marketing campaign. Make sure supply meets demand. Have a backup plan in place in case you pre-plan and still run short. Is there a similar item you can offer at a discount if the person would like to try it instead?

Don’t: Forget to Upsell

Upselling helps increase the average amount a customer spends in your store. Marketing can coordinate with salespeople to figure out what items work well with others. Make sure you have enough to cover demand, as mentioned above.

The sales team should always ask if the customer would like Item B to go with Item A and be ready to push the benefits of the product. For online promotions, the marketing team should always cross-sell. If you advertise a new jacket, include a photo where the model wears a matching scarf and offer a package for the “complete look.”

Upselling can mean the difference between a $20 sale and a $30 one. Over time, the little add-ons make a difference in profits and can push your retail store to the next level.

Don’t: Ignore Email Marketing

People love personalized emails with offers geared to their likes and dislikes. In surveys, 74% of people say they hate being sent irrelevant content. Take the time to segment your audience. Send offers that they want to see.

You can further enhance your email marketing by using the person’s first name, sending them a birthday greeting, and pointing to things they might like based on past purchases.

The world is increasingly impersonal. Adding a few details and dividing your subscribers allows you to create something highly targeted to each segment of your audience.

Get Creative

Although retail marketing is a different beast than marketing for other industries, there is still room for creativity. Pay attention to what other marketers do. If you think something might work for your store, go ahead and give it a try.

Track results carefully with A/B testing. When something works well with your audience, repeat it. When it falls flat, remove it and try something different or replace it with a tried-and-true approach.


Eleanor is editor of Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.

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