Real successful retail marketing is cost-free, or at least cheap. You don’t necessarily have to spend much to actually get results, contrary to popular belief. As a matter of fact, you might find yourself seeing more results when opting for the cheaper path. You are able to make much more informed decisions instead of just throwing money at them paid marketing ads. But, what can you actually do?
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What is Retail Marketing?
Retail means selling products and goods to end-users. Sourced from manufacturers and suppliers, retailers distribute the goods to the intended customers in the easiest way possible. Through retail marketing, these businesses set themselves up for success as they get discovered by their target audience.
Free Retail Marketing Strategies
1.Use Facebook as a Marketing Platform
According to a survey, two-thirds of users visit the page of a local business at least once a week. If you are not actively building and engaging your audience, that is free traffic you are pouring down the drain.
If you don’t have one yet, create a Facebook page, list your products and their prices, and use the platform to reach out and answer customer inquiries.
Facebook marketing may be a little complicated especially when the concept of ads come in, but it all boils down to two important things: engaging content and consistency.
2. Tell Your Friends, Family, Relatives, and Everybody You Know!
Never underestimate the power of “word of mouth” marketing especially that 49.8% of new customers come from people who heard about your business from a family or friend.
So go on and invite people to share your business in their network in exchange for value. In a survey of 7,500 small-business owners in North America, Alignable asked what’s the best way to acquire local customers? Guess what? 85 percent said word-of-mouth referrals.
This retail marketing method is free, albeit not easy because it requires you to connect with new or existing customers consistently. It doesn’t have to be a huge chore though because you can aim to connect with at least 1-2 people a day. And that adds up to 30-60 people who get to know your business in a month.
3. Instagram Posting For Product and Store Exposure
Optimizing your business in this day and age is more on the digital aspect. You need to have all the social media platforms at your side and Instagram is going to be at the top of the list. It opens a lot of possibilities due to its user-friendly nature (which has always been the priority of social media) and massive audience.
However, you might have heard people talking about how they have integrated all possible social media platforms in their retail marketing but aren’t seeing any great impact. The most obvious answer would be they aren’t using them to their full potential. Don’t fall to that downward spiral and make sure that you know what you are doing. You are going to feel lost at first, but don’t worry as you will gradually build up on that through experience and research.
For starters, your Instagram account should be a digital manifestation of your retail store. When people can’t come to your business, they have somewhere to go to give them a service that is not less than the actual thing. Post pictures of your products and their corresponding prices, and make sure to make them as visually appealing as possible especially that around an estimated 72% of users in the platform say that they purchase something that they have seen on it.
4. Written Content on Twitter is Great
You might want to consider Twitter when broadcasting your business. People have preferred social media platforms and a huge population opt for twitter. It is more on words, ideas, and is much more straightforward. By catering your account to written content such as announcements and most importantly, polls, you are taking advantage of a huge market. These are the things that are unappreciated in other social media sites like Facebook and Instagram but can actually further spread your business’ footprint to a much bigger audience.
5. Promoting Your Business on Pinterest
The most business-inclined social media platform would be Pinterest. Simply, put up a few boards and post pretty pictures of your business and products. If you want to do more, you can add more informative content. The rest is then done by your audience or followers especially that only 30% of engagement is brand-generated, the rest is all done by users who share and connect with like-minded people. With how the platform is designed to function, retail marketing is all but a breeze.
6. Create a LinkedIn Profile For Better Brand Building
A major social media site, yet is underappreciated and undervalued, LinkedIn is mostly used by people to create connections in the professional field for job opportunities. Though, its range is more than that. There is a lot happening on the platform, from dialogues all the way to discussion groups. With a wide array of both professional and non-professional audience, it is a great place for retail marketing, sharing your content, and building your brand.
7. Be Active in Your Social Media
If you have reached this part then you surely have read about integrating your business into social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. However, having a page shouldn’t be the end goal. You must also do your best to keep them active. The rule of thumb is, the more interactions, the better. Reply to inquiries and messages, make sure to shout out new products or advertise best sellers. Even if you have done them last month, there is nothing wrong with announcing them again. Keep the activity coming as people are more captivated by a business that engages them on a regular basis.
Retail Marketing Strategy: Getting Involved
8. Local Partnerships and Support
While the next store might be a competition, they can also be your friend. What this means is that you are going to want to create connections among similar businesses and partner with them. Have your posters and flyers on their stores while you do the same thing for them. With what you are doing, their customers are likely going to be yours as well. The best part is that creating this kind of relationship is technically cost-free (depending on how you convince them), regardless of how many businesses you get to partner with.
9. Start Selling in Community Events
If you want to give your store attention, you have to be seen and heard by being in a place with great foot traffic, and community selling events like night markets are great for that. There is a hugely diverse audience and even if people didn’t come looking for your brand and products, you still end up giving exposure to your business.
10. Collaborate Collections with Other Businesses
Don’t treat similar businesses as your competition, but instead your partners.
People love collections. So, if you put a group of products together, it is much more likely to get attention. To put simply, pasta noodle sells faster if it is paired with a pack of sauce. It is a psychological response of people to have something as a set. Take advantage of this by pairing your products with that of a different store to turn their customers into yours as well.
11. Sponsor an Endorser or Influencer
When talking about endorsements for retail marketing, you don’t necessarily have to shell out a lot of money. With the social media age, there are a lot of self-made endorsers with a huge following that don’t ask for much. Just give them an item and they can showcase or feature it on their platform.
Finding the right influencer is crucial. Look at what their general fan-base is composed of and what content they market. Don’t settle with just anyone, have someone who is inline with your products to ensure that their audience is a probable market for your business.
12. Reaching Out to Customers with Blogging
Creating trust among your current customers is the best way to have more. However, how can you actually do this?
The fool-proof approach is to make them feel that they are part of something bigger and that they matter. This is where blogs get in the picture. Talk about challenges, dilemmas, and how the customers have been a part in every step of the way. Blogging is an excellent inbound marketing method. The closer people feel towards a brand or store, the more likely they are going to be loyal to it, and it isn’t going to take long before new customers will feel the same as well.
13. Donation Campaign Brings Business Visibility
Having a donation campaign creates huge visibility for your business due to several reasons. First, a lot of people are interested to donate or take part in it, not to mention how fast such programs are shared in social media. When your campaign is being effortlessly marketed, so is your business. Second, people have more respect for stores that are inclined to help, resulting in new and loyal customers. Third, you get to partner with other organizations that will further forward your campaign and that increases your connections.
Innovative Retail Marketing Strategies
14. QR Code Integration for Better Digital Visibility and Retail Marketing
Going digital is the best way to maximize the visibility of your business in this era. Other than getting into social media, another growing trend is QR code integration. Statistics have proven again and again that QR codes are getting more relevant every year especially in retail marketing. With a scan of an image, people can be conveniently directed to a wide range of possible content, from videos to promotions. Say goodbye to those large posters and hello to QR code images which puts everything on your customer’s hands.
Despite how technical it may sound, using a QR code generator is not all that complex. Not only are they as easy as a click of a button, having them won’t break the bank. Introductory features are mostly free and you have the choice to go the extra mile with budget-friendly pricing.
15. Retail Marketing Through Instructional Videos and Guides
The internet is a huge database for content. Years ago, people would have to seek professional help for almost anything, but now, they first search the internet for solutions. You are going to want to take advantage of this huge market by creating instructional videos and guides that are inline with your business. Have a dry goods retail store? Teaching people how to read labels, how to budget, and what are the best products are just some of the possible content you can have. People who started out as looking for answers now find themselves seeing your store, spreading your business footprint.
Retail Marketing through Community Participation
16. Get Into Reddit
You might have heard about reddit even if you don’t have one. Chances are, you only saw screenshots of a certain thread going viral on Facebook. This should be enough to tell you how powerful the social media platform is in regards to publicity. This can be attributed to the fact that Reddit has a wide range of specific topics and subtopics. If you know your things, you can start a series of threads that revolve around your business as a retail marketing strategy. More frequently than not, you are going to receive huge feedback from a large online community of interested people.
17. Online Contests Aimed to Spread Business Visibility
Everybody loves free stuff. Well, it isn’t technically free but if what people only have to do is share a post or tag their friends, that’s basically just the same thing for them. The best part about this is you don’t have to shell out a lot to get participation. Even individual basic products can easily make rounds on the internet from people who are hoping to win.
18. Online Business Awards Give You Credibility
Remember those times when you get into a clinic and you see all those certificates? Even if you don’t understand what each of them mean, you know that it makes the place more credible. The same concept applies to your store. There are online business awards you can apply for wherein you end up getting a badge of some sort. Put these on your social media pages or on your physical store to boost credibility and public interest.
19. Referral Incentive
Word of mouth is great, but an incentivized word of mouth is better. How this usually works is that customers who bring in friends who also make a purchase can receive a discount or free stuff. Before you know it, it has created a domino effect, resonating throughout your local community and creating you widespread visibility.
20. Events, Classes, and Programs
Starting a business means that you somehow know certain things. Capitalize on this knowledge by having classes or events that aim to teach people. It can be about the basics of business development or planning, or if you have a retail store, talk about how to manage a supply and demand chain. Offline programs can be an excellent inbound marketing strategy! While most people won’t be coming to your program to buy stuff, by the end of it, they would have known your store and developed a sense of loyalty.
21. Business Cards and Other Small Giveaways
The idea is simple, print out amazing business cards and give them away to your customers or to passersby. If you have a little more budget, then find things you can produce and personalize and give away as well such as ballers, handkerchiefs, and stickers. This actually works. Just look at brands like Apple and GoPro giving away brand stickers along with their products.
Retail Marketing: Get Started Today
A couple of years ago, starting and marketing a business is going to cost you some money, but that is no longer the case today. There are a lot of alternatives which you can opt for cost-free or for cheap that will help you bring visibility to your business. It might take a little bit more effort, but in time, it will make all the difference to improve and grow your business. You just need a little bit of patience and before long, you are going to be in a position wherein you can compete with more sophisticated marketing strategies. Though, there is a shortcut with the help of the best retail marketing agencies. Contact us today for a free strategy consultation.
