What Is Retail Marketing

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Top 8 Retail Marketing Ideas to Boost Sales and Grow Brand Loyalty

Once you set up a retail store, it is time to get the word out to attract customers. 

But how?

Using new retail marketing techniques to reach your audience and communicate your message is vital. They let you break through the clutter, stand out from the crowd, and drive sales!

Direct mail for retail is one of the best options to kick off your marketing strategies. And there are automation tools to assist you with your campaigns and ensure success. 

The purpose of this blog is to explain what a retail marketing strategy is and how to use it more effectively.  We will also cover the top-performing ideas and trends you can use!

Let us dig in!

What Is Retail Marketing?

Retail advertising refers to how retailers market their online or offline stores to attract more customers. They can leverage several online and offline marketing channels to expand outreach and boost revenue.

Your retail marketing plans must focus on spreading brand awareness, converting leads, and keeping customers returning.

The best way to get started is to list your goals, like improving brand visibility or producing a hundred new leads every two weeks. Learning your campaign objectives beforehand lets you select the right platforms for promotions.

It lets you choose the right automation tools to launch your retail marketing campaigns.

For example, PostGrid’s direct mail API allows you to prepare, print, and ship marketing mailers to your audience. Hence, you no longer need to complete the daunting and time-consuming steps in-house!

What Is the Significance of Retail Channel Marketing?

Building a retail advertising plan ensures your store’s survival and growth. Below, we discuss the benefits in more detail.

Strengthen Branding

Your brand’s consistent representation can increase revenue by up to 33%!

And retail marketing lets you hit this goal! A well-thought strategy strengthens your brand image and makes your store recognizable.

You can add direct mail to your marketing campaigns to send high-quality postcards or letters to potential and existing customers. It allows you to stay in their household for a long time and create brand recall.

Beat Competitors

With growing competition, customers have more options in every locality. Thus, retailers must take measures to step up their promotions and leave behind other companies.

Developing a retail channel marketing strategy helps them grab opportunities. It lets them redirect leads to their brand and build long-lasting connections.

Improve Brand Loyalty

Getting customers is only step one of your retail marketing plans. The primary challenge is to retain them to produce repeat business.

Most retail giants like Costco and Walmart get regular customers, irrespective of whether they advertise their products. They already have a large customer base that continues to shop from them.

Your retail marketing tactics can help you build brand loyalty, guaranteeing high sales throughout the years.

The best to ensure your customers choose your over and over is to send personalized direct mail. Address them by their first name and jot down a heartfelt handwritten note. It makes people feel special, and they remember you for your effort.

What Are the Six Ps of Retail Marketing?

Before we dive into retail marketing ideas and channels, let us discuss the Six Ps.

They are crucial to building a framework for your marketing plans and fulfilling goals. 

The six Ps are—

• Product: The product factor can affect your marketing mix the most. It refers to the items your customers desire and need. Knowing their requirements lets you connect with your audience with ideal promotional offers. This factor also comprises related products and line extensions to enhance the products you sell year-round. 
• Price: Your pricing plans must resonate with your target markets. They should also be similar to your competitors to avoid losing customers. Use your retail marketing strategies to promote your products with their prices, educating prospects and motivating them to visit your store. For instance, you may send a small-sized postcard highlighting the best deals of the week, prompting them to grab the offers. 
• Place: Your store location can significantly impact the results of your retail channel marketing campaigns. Parking, transportation options, visual merchandising, and signage are the best ways to encourage people to walk into your shopping center or mall. Leverage your offline platforms, like direct mail, to spread publicity about these location-related benefits. Also, PostGrid’s direct mail services let you send mailers to specific neighbourhoods around your store to help you bag, more sales. 
• Promotion: This factor refers to how you communicate with customers to market your products. Though some marketers believe digital marketing can work well, traditional retail marketing can generate more promising results. Introduce loyalty programs and send coupons via mail to promote retail marketing offers and get better campaign results. 
• Personnel: Your staff members interact with people from the entrance to the counter. These interactions play a crucial role in boosting sales. The floor staff can help customers find products, answer questions, and close deals. 
• Presentation: Presentation consists of everything, from packaging to your customer communications. It is how your target and existing buyers perceive your brand. Direct mail retail marketing can help shape their views and enrich their shopping experience. Add compelling discounts or cashback with tailored messages to drive foot traffic and improve your brand reputation!

Is Direct Mail Retail Marketing Having a Comeback?

Many marketers ask- Can direct mail generate a positive ROI? Isn’t direct mail dead?

Though direct mail is a traditional channel, you can fuse it with many high-tech features to boost performance. Unlike the earlier times, you can automate mailing campaigns the same way as emails.

Your retail marketing results depend on how well you interact with your audience. Give them something to relate to and remember you by, making your brand unique and engaging.

Here are more reasons to include direct mail in your retail marketing plans:

Tangibility

Delivering a tangible product to your customers can motivate them to take action within a limited time.

Unlike emails or social media ads, people can stick a direct mailer to their refrigerator or pin them somewhere for future use. It makes this channel more attention-grabbing and memorable.

Multi-Media Retail Marketing Opportunities

Direct mail is vital to your advertising mix to improve customers’ purchase intent. It lets you create a strong base for integrated marketing campaigns, creating more brand engagement touchpoints.

PostGrid’s API integrations allow you to combine direct mail with your CRM features, making multi-media retail marketing more effective.

Creativity and Better Sensory Experiences

A direct mail piece, like a postcard or letter, creates better brand recall because of its sensory experience.

Your mail recipients can see and feel the item, engaging more senses and encouraging them to complete the CTA.

Adding direct mail to your retail marketing strategy lets you be creative and establish personal bonds with customers. You can use different types and sizes with consistent messages to create a strong brand tone that drives in-store visitors.

Improve ROI

PostGrid’s automated direct mail solutions for retail marketing let you reduce expenses and mail to relevant prospects.

Launch a mailing campaign without hefty investments, improving your ROI.

8 Best Direct Mail for Retail Marketing Ideas in 2023

Direct mail is versatile, with countless campaign options! But many marketers may wonder how to make its best use. 

Below are the top eight ways to use direct mail to boost your retail marketing efforts-

Trigger Mailing Campaigns at the Right Time

Marketing triggers help you target prospects with specific messages when they complete an action. Whether a customer completes five years of shopping with you or a new customer’s first website visit, engaging them can benefit your brand relationships. 

You can use trigger-based retail marketing to gather customer data and draft personalized mailers. It boosts open rates and increases your chances of getting responses.

Here are the triggers you can use:

• Website visit: Send welcome mailers to all new website visitors. It is the perfect opportunity to hook them to your brand and invite them to purchase from you. 
• Subscription renewal: Reminding customers when it’s time to renew their membership is crucial to your retail marketing plans. Initiate renewal campaigns to contact them before expiry with a link to continue their subscriptions. PostGrid helps you add personalized links and QR codes, redirecting recipients to your website. 
• First purchase: Send thank-you letters to improve your retail marketing outcomes and appreciate a customer’s support after their first buy. It allows you to leverage this event to acquaint people with your brand and learn about other products you sell. 
• Shopping cart abandonment: Many customers add items to their carts only to forget about them. Use your retail marketing strategies to send custom mailers to give them a nudge to complete their transactions. 

Use Saturated Direct Mailing Lists

Saturation mailing is one of the best retail marketing tactics to improve sales.

You can connect with everyone in your neighbourhood and inform them about your brand. Since most people prefer shopping from places nearby, there are high chances you can convert these prospects. 

Your mailing list quality is crucial to your retail marketing success.

You may rent or buy lists from a broker. But they don’t guarantee deliverability and responsiveness. 

The best way to ensure quality is to compile lists yourself. PostGrid’s direct mail services help you build targeted mailing lists from scratch before every campaign. 

You may also use our address verification capabilities to cleanse and update your existing databases!

We enable you to compile retail marketing address lists based on

• Location
• Age
• Gender
• Profession
• Income level
• Preferences

Segmented lists simplify conducting saturated mailings with high responses and engagement!

Retarget Cold Leads

Online and offline retailers deal with cold leads that may feel like failures. 

But these leads have conversion potential if you use retail marketing to address their pain points or tap into their interests.

Your cold prospects often purchase from competitors after abandoning their cart on your website or not responding to your offers. But you can win them by keeping your brand at the top of their minds by sending custom and appealing direct mailers. 

Capture your audience’s attention with retail marketing by putting your message in front of the decision-makers. PostGrid enables you to save time with our 2-business day SLA, helping you launch mailing campaigns whenever needed.

Leverage Events to Convert Customers

If you plan on attending or participating in a retail trade fair, you can use this event to contact more prospects. Create a retail channel marketing campaign to send customized mailers with your brand details to every attendee before the event.

It helps people learn about your participation and meet your team members at the trade fair. This strategy allows you to boost your retail marketing performance and make the event a success for your company!

You may redirect recipients to your website and prompt them to complete a contact form. This information can help you plan more tailored and personalized mailings for better engagement. 

PosGrid’s direct mail services can help you send event-related mailings, like invitation postcards, business letters, envelopes with marketing inserts, and more. 

Plan a campaign post-event to follow up with all prospects and clients you meet. It adds more value to your retail marketing efforts, helping you onboard more customers.

Employ QR Code Marketing

Quick Response codes are excellent tools that allow customers to engage with brands beyond reading an ad. For example, imagine printing your marketing message in a newspaper or taking out a billboard ad. Placing a QR code with your ad lets you provide more product details to people, helping them make informed decisions. 

PostGrid enables companies to boost their retail marketing plans with customized QR codes. These tailored tools assist you in tracking individual respondents and guiding them ahead of their buying journeys.

Log into your PostGrid dashboard to access the retail marketing campaign analytics to check how many people scanned these codes to unlock an offer.

Other ways to track your retail marketing program’s performance are to add pURLs, coupon codes, and custom phone numbers. They let you tie every response to a specific campaign, determining your response rate and ROI.

Introduce Loyalty Programs for Your Existing Customers.

56% of Canadians are active loyalty program users!

You can use this statistic to your advantage by developing and promoting these campaigns for retail marketing to retain customers for years.

For example, you can offer ten free points to every buyer who shops for items worth $50. Customers can redeem the points after reaching a hundred or thousand. 

Align Your Offline and Online Marketing Channels

One of the best retail marketing strategies is combining online and offline platforms. A standalone campaign can help you produce positive results temporarily. But integrated advertising programs let you get valuable leads for long-term outcomes.

You can boost your engagement rates by linking direct mail with email and social media marketing. 

Integrate our direct mail API into your marketing CRM to combine your campaigns and launch them simultaneously. It helps your company reinforce its retail marketing message and spread awareness.

Focus on Your Content

Your brand’s direct mail content can make or break your retail marketing campaigns. Please keep it simple and short, enabling readers to grasp your message and act on your offers.

You can use a catchy heading to summarize your message. Ensure it solves a problem or offers a solution to customers. 

Use bullet points, infographics, and tables to make your postcards or letters visually appealing. Also, you may add customer reviews and real-life stories to build trust and authority!

Then, guide your audience through by using an upfront retail marketing CTA. It tells them what to do next if they want to buy your products.

Please don’t forget to add your contact number, website link, and store location, helping prospects easily reach you.

Retail Marketing Trends to Stand Out and Succeed

Retail promotions evolve as new technologies and tools come into play. You can leverage trending marketing approaches to get ahead of your competitors and onboard more customers. 

Benefit from Big Data

Big Data refers to the insights and analytics you collect from large data sets. 

It supports retail marketing campaigns because most systems capture complex, high-volume customer information.

These data-fueling analytics come from store websites, apps, POS (point-of-sale) systems, and payments. You can use these insights to change the way you communicate with customers. 

PostGrid integrates with your favourite tools to help you leverage big data for your mailing campaigns. It guarantees high engagement for your retail marketing programs because you can provide customers with precise solutions.

Big data can use your audience’s offline and online buying history and choices, allowing you to create personalized experiences at every touchpoint. 

Print Personalized Maps

You may print personalized maps taking prospects from their doorsteps to your store. It is one of the most effective ways to tell them how close you are to them!

Personalized maps add to your mailer’s visual appeal, grabbing more attention for your retail marketing programs. You can add a Google Maps link below the map, pushing people to visit your store the same day.

Many companies include driving or walking distance instead of printing a map, which is also effective for retail marketing campaigns. The idea is to help prospects learn about your company and complete the CTA. 

Add exciting cashback or discount offers motivating people to use the map and reach your store! 

Conduct A/B Testing

Improve your retail marketing outcomes by testing direct mailers and recording what best suits your brand.

You can experiment with different direct mail types, sizes, CTAs, colours, and offers. 

Some mailers drive excellent results, allowing you to understand your audience’s preferences. Try sticking with similar layouts or formats to continue making your retail marketing campaigns successful.

PostGrid helps you launch direct mail marketing campaigns without minimum and maximum volume restrictions. Hence, you can always print and ship small samples to test their effectiveness, channelling your large-scale efforts to the best use!

Set and Achieve High Retail Marketing Results With PostGrid’s Direct Mail Solutions.

Our turnkey direct mail services help retailers send effective and trackable mailers to their audience. 

You can create new leads, engage current customers, or win back old buyers with direct mail. 

And PostGrid simplifies the mailing process, allowing you to improve your retail marketing ROI. 

One of our clients in the retail industry wanted to conduct a win-back mail marketing campaign. They wanted to target all customers who haven’t purchased from them for a while—with amazing welcome-back offers!

The challenge was to launch a personalized campaign speaking directly to the customers. Our client wanted to add the reader’s name, city, and the number of months since their last purchase. 

They wanted their retail marketing message to look like this-

Dear John, 

We hope you are doing well. Since we haven’t heard back from you in the past seven months, we wanted to inform you about our new April offers. 

Our Albert Street store in Toronto will offer a flat 15% discount on all purchases. You can call us to place an order or visit us between the 1st and 30th of April to benefit from it!

Thanks and take care!

PostGrid enabled the client to complete variable data printing without extra costs or effort. We automate all tasks for your direct mail retail marketing campaign, allowing you to bring your vision to reality. 

Here are more features the client used:

• Address verification: PostGrid helped the team validate mailing lists before the retail marketing program to avoid mail returns. It enabled them to save time and money on reshipping. 
• Per-piece tracking: Our direct mail automation solutions allow clients to check the delivery status of all sent items. Thus, they can stay updated and measure campaign results on time. 
• Pre-built templates: You can download our HTML and PDF templates to create mail artwork. They simplify making last-minute changes and customizing your retail marketing mailers. 

Sign up to learn more about our features and how PostGrid assists you in launching your retail marketing campaigns!

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