There was a time that what made retailers great was that they were the heart of their local communities. A single store that made an impact. That store that everyone bought from, supported and celebrated. However, as retailers expand to more and more stores, the need for brand consistency often leads to the same blanket message in stores across the country. Now, as shoppers trend towards shopping locally<\/a> and valuing the experience, it\u2019s important that retailers get back to their roots. So, here are 7 tips to help you deliver local retail marketing campaigns that drive revenues.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The first step is to create detailed store profiles<\/a> so you have visibility of your stores and everything about them:<\/span><\/p>\n With so many stores, it can be challenging to stay on top of and maintain this information. But without it, you\u2019ll never be able to run effective local campaigns. You need to be able to tap into local events and place the right messages in the right places, but you can only do that if you know what you have to work with in each store.<\/span><\/p>\n Think back to your brand\u2019s first store and what made it great. It may have been the high quality products, the unbeatable low-prices, or a really unique compelling value proposition. But there\u2019s one thing that every first store has in common. It was the relationship between the owner and the community.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Your store managers can replicate that again. They have fantastic insight into the local community, the area and the people. Because they\u2019re part of it, they will be on top of the local events that are happening, the products that sell well in each area, and whether they will expect to be busy on certain days or certain times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re wondering what the most powerful way to not come across as a big corporation is? It’s to have genuinely personalised messages in-store. Don\u2019t just change the name, but create something that\u2019s truly unique, genuine and represents the community. Use social listening alongside input from your store managers to share and tailor messages that appeal to your audience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re a clothing retailer with a store in Scunthorpe, maybe you have your national \u201c50% for Summer\u201d message. Change the signage for that store to \u201c50% off clothing for The Gathering Fest\u201d. It\u2019s a simple change but will make all the difference to your customers.<\/span><\/p>\n Obviously, the above is easy to do in a single store, but much harder with 100 or 1000 stores. <\/span><\/p>\n A great way to facilitate this local messaging, is to create a national campaign and then let your store managers customise certain parts of your marketing. <\/span><\/p>\n Ask your artwork team to provide editable templates so that you maintain brand consistency throughout. If you have a system to manage your in-store campaigns, use auto-artwork<\/a> to simplify this process. This will allow you to easily customise and review artwork in the system, track revisions and get digital proof of sign-off.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Additionally, you will need to agree with your print partner upfront that they can commit to this customisation across prints.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With such potential variation in your messaging, it\u2019s important to stay on top of changes and make sure any suggestions are approved before going to print. If you are managing 1000 stores – or even 100 stores – allowing such customisation is a recipe for disaster without the proper processes in place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ensure you have a system that manages your marketing campaigns from briefing to execution<\/a> and holds all the relevant information about your campaigns. Additionally, you need to provide relevant access to the involved stakeholders. This will ensure you have a single source of truth from marketing, creative, stores and suppliers to keep your marketing campaigns on track.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Local marketing campaigns don\u2019t just live in stores. Your stores\u2019 local online and social media pages can amplify your in-store messages too. Use the same targeted messages to tell your online community following about your in-store offers or events to drive foot traffic to your stores.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n By aligning your online and in-store messages you create a consistent omni-channel experience for your customers that will drive revenues.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Despite all of your planning, things can still change and go wrong with your campaigns. Therefore, you need an efficient feedback loop between your in-store installation teams and head office marketing managers to ensure in-store display compliance.\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Issue checklists with each campaign so you can audit in-store campaigns<\/a>. Additionally, if you allow on-site team members to upload photos, you can see for yourself if displays are installed correctly. And if not, you will find out straight away to efficiently resolve any issues, without waiting for a regional manager to visit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019ve set up everything correctly, you will now be sitting on a gold-mine of information about your stores. You will have a plethora of store information, details of all your campaign data, and your POS data for revenues.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Combine this information for retail marketing campaign insights<\/a>:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n By analysing this information, you can really understand the effectiveness of your marketing messages in different areas, and see the impact your campaigns have.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At Colateral, we empower retailers and brands to deliver impactful campaigns in every store. Our retail marketing software<\/a> enables marketing managers to collaborate with stakeholders to plan, execute and analyse campaigns with full accountability and traceability. Additionally, we give marketing leaders insights from every store and facilitate clear communication between the head office and stores to create powerful messages on a local level.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n1. Create store profiles.<\/h2>\n
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2. Use local knowledge of store managers.<\/h2>\n
3. Create unique messages for every store.<\/h2>\n
4. Customisable artwork templates.<\/h2>\n
5. A single source of truth for your in-store marketing campaigns.<\/h2>\n
6. Activate online and on social media.<\/h2>\n
7. Conduct remote audits.<\/h2>\n
8. Gather insights from local retail marketing campaigns.<\/h2>\n
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Level up your local retail marketing with Colateral.<\/h2>\n