As stores continue to evolve and adapt to the new world of online shopping, so do marketing strategies. For those who still rely heavily on brick and mortar stores for their shopping needs, adapting to online shopping has meant reevaluating their approach to marketing and branding.
In the past, the marketing and branding of retail stores focused on attracting as many people as possible to the store. This led to a barrage of marketing tactics, including discounts, prizes, and promotions to drive traffic to the store.
However, the advent of online shopping has changed all that. Now, with the power of search driving virtually all digital marketing and sales, retailers must reevaluate their approach to attracting potential customers and driving purchase behavior.
In this article, we will discuss how traditional store marketing tactics, including discounts, prizes, and promotions, have been replaced by digital marketing tactics, including SEO, PPC, and content marketing, to drive consumer purchase decisions and actions.
The Power Of SEO
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of improving the organic ranking of a website or blog in search results for specific keyphrases or keywords. When someone performs a search for “dog clothing,” for example, the website with the most relevant, well-optimized content for that keyword (e.g., dog dresses) will appear at the top of the results page.
Since SEO is a long-term, continuous process with many factors that can contribute to a website’s ranking, creating a marketing strategy around this has become more critical than ever.
For those who still depend heavily on direct traffic and walk-in traffic for their retail store’s revenue, the transition to digital marketing has meant the need to improve the organic SEO of their sites. Luckily, there are several tools that can help with this process. For example, Google Search Console, which is integrated with Google Analytics, provides the SEO tools necessary to track and analyze the organic traffic to a website. This includes the ability to evaluate the quality of the traffic, track keyword performance, and create keyword groups for more accurate tracking.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click) Advertising
While organic SEO is free, PPC, or Pay-Per-Click advertising, is one of the most cost-effective ways to gain online traction. With PPC, businesses can pay in advance to have their ads displayed when a potential customer performs a search for their product or service. Google AdWords, for example, is a PPC advertising platform that allows advertisers to set a specific budget and choose from dozens of keywords and ad creative to focus on.
The advantage of PPC is its ability to get the word out quickly and effectively about a business. When someone clicks on an ad, they are usually expecting to be taken to a product or service page with the click of a mouse.
However, despite its effectiveness, PPC advertising is a short-lived strategy. Because it is a paid strategy, businesses must reassess their PPC advertising strategy and plan to continue to invest in this strategy as needed.
Content Marketing
While SEO and PPC are both short-term strategies, content marketing is a long-term, holistic strategy that focuses on creating content that potential customers can benefit from and sharing that content across various platforms.
Content marketing includes both organic content, like blog posts and web pages, and paid content, like product reviews and videos, which are all designed to attract, engage, and educate potential customers about a brand or product. In addition to creating content for organic search listings and social media platforms, like blogs and YouTube videos, marketing teams can integrate content creation into the digital marketing strategy to provide people with valuable information and entertaining videos about an organization or product in order to grow their reach and engagement.
Content marketing is a necessity for retail marketers today. Not only does it provide the opportunity to educate customers about a product or service, but it also gives the retailer the chance to establish credibility and trustworthiness. When done well, content marketing can boost a retailer’s SEO, drive traffic to their websites, and increase purchases. For these reasons, content marketing has become one of the primary vehicles for digital marketing.
Attracting And Engaging Virtual And In-Person Customers
Just because someone performs a search query on a computer screen, it doesn’t mean that they will immediately leave their home and visit a retail store. Although online shopping has changed the way we buy, it doesn’t mean that real-life interactions between buyers and sellers is a thing of the past. In fact, with a little planning and strategizing, retailers can still engage with potential customers and drive purchases.
To do this, marketing teams must shift their attention to online communities and social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, to engage with existing customers and attract new followers. On social media platforms, customers can share their experiences with a business, like a restaurant or store, which can encourage others to visit or contact the organization. In addition, marketers can use social media to highlight upcoming events and promotions, as well as to get customer feedback and understand their preferences. For instance, customers can post suggestions about the type of food they enjoy most or questions about a particular item, and the business can use this feedback to understand what would make them happy and to improve their experience as a customer.
In addition to taking advantage of social media, marketing teams can use other digital marketing platforms, like email marketing, to attract and engage with virtual customers. Email marketing allows businesses to send targeted, brand-relevant emails to customers to encourage them to click and convert.
To ensure a cohesive strategy throughout their organization, marketing teams must also develop marketing automation software, like HubSpot, to track and analyze marketing performance. With this type of software, businesses can segment their email lists and then send targeted emails to those people based on their interests and behaviors. For example, a marketing team can send a sales-focused email to someone who has visited their website previously and signed up for their newsletter, or they can send an anniversary email to someone who has purchased a flower bouquet from them in the past month. The possibilities for targeted, automated emails are endless.
Since email marketing is one of the most popular digital marketing strategies, it is important to note that the success of a marketing strategy depends on many factors, like the quality of the content, the size of the email list, and the type of emails being sent. To drive results, marketers must put in the effort to learn from analytics what are the most effective, targeted emails to send and when to send them.
Developing A Marketing Plan
Having a plan is essential in any endeavor, whether you’re a retail marketer developing a marketing strategy or a business owner who is getting ready to launch a new product or service. Without a plan, you risk becoming disorganized and unpredictable, which can result in major problems. Having a plan allows you to be creative and experimental while also ensuring that you are still making the right moves and don’t waste time or resources.
A plan can also help you identify the goals and metrics you will use to determine the success of your strategy. This way, you can track your progress and ensure you are always progressing toward the right goals and are not getting lost in the process.
Setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely) Goals
Setting specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely goals is an important part of any plan. When you set these goals, you can align your strategy with what you hope to achieve and track your progress toward achieving them. When you set these goals, you also need to identify the key performance indicators you will use to track your progress.
For example, if you want to increase the number of people who visit your website, you can set a goal of reaching 1,000 unique visitors per week. To track this goal, you can use the number of unique visitors, the nature of their visits, and the time of the day they visit your site to set benchmarks for yourself throughout the week. To improve the quality of your traffic and boost your SEO, you can set a goal of obtaining at least 50 blog posts per month. To track this goal, you can use a content checklist to ensure you meet this objective and then review the results of your efforts in your next marketing plan.
The Importance Of Evaluating The Results Of Your Strategy
Finally, it’s important to evaluate the results of your strategy. To do this, you first need to set a benchmark for yourself based on your plan. Once you have accomplished this, you can measure your progress. If you want to see the results of your efforts, you can review your benchmark and decide whether or not you achieved it. This is an important step to determine whether or not you should continue toward your goal.