Trying to decide on the most important places to allocate your business’s marketing budgets? It will depend on your business model and products of course, but here are the general areas retail and grocery business can most benefit from investing in.
Analytics and Research
A sharp eye on the competition and industry trends is incredibly important. If you’re picking up stale trends that are just hitting mainstream media, or pricing way out of range of your competitors, you’ll lose a lot of respect (and sales) from customers. Only 55% of retailers reported that they see responding quickly to pricing changes from competitors as very important. This needs to change!
Social Media
Social media is one of the number one ways to strengthen your brand in the public eye. The best part? Besides paying someone to run the pages for you, social media is free to use. Young customers gain massive respect for a brand that runs a notable social media page. Think about the hilarity of the “Wendy’s” restaurant Twitter account (look it up if you’re not familiar).
Search Engine Optimization
How are people going to patronize you if they can’t find you in their search engine? Investing in quality SEO work like a blog, link building, and search engine ads can make people aware of your presence in the first place. Make sure you get in that Google map pack!
Shelf-Edge Signage
Now you’ve got them in the store, it’s time to nail the sale. It might require you to move around the next couple month’s marketing budgets, but make an upfront investment in retail signage software. Having the capability of creating quality in-store signage for last minute promotions, new items, and store-specific offerings is empowering. Having your own software and printing methods gives you complete branding control as soon as you need new shelf tags or other signage. Studies have shown that up-to-date, eye-catching, intuitive shelf-edge signage, in particular, can spur impulse buys.
These four key areas of marketing are pretty universal nowadays for retail and grocery storefronts. If you don’t have a strong web presence, start there — and then extend that beautiful branding to your physical space.
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