Marketing Best Practices For Your Next Retail Event

The goal of a retail event is to increase sales, whether you’re rolling out a new product, opening a new store or trying to increase sales to meet quotas. The challenge for many is marketing the event in a world where you’re competing against online sales and offline rivals. Here are a few of the marketing best practices for your next retail event.

Market the Event

It isn’t enough to advertise a grand opening of a new store or re-opening of an existing one. That happens often enough that it isn’t news, and you’re competing with everything else in the news feed your customers are watching. Improve ROI with event marketing, making the event you’re promoting attractive to the public and worth the while to come visit. For example, make it a party with giveaways, gift packs and entertainment. Or just give them a reason to come by such as giving them free samples and giveaways for the first few people in the door. You’ll get more social media coverage by mentioning free stuff. Alternatively, you can combine the event with a fundraiser for charity, guaranteeing the charity will market the event. You can also leverage that to get legitimate news organizations to cover it. For example, offering a mattress to a shelter for every ten sold or giving 10 percent of all sales on your first day open to the charity of your choice will get you mentioned in the newspaper and even TV news.

Integrate Online and Offline Marketing

Offline marketing includes flyers posted in public places, mailers sent to everyone in the area and radio ads. Online ads can include social media posts and search engine marketing. You’ll get the most out of the marketing dollar by combining the two. At a minimum, market events online as well as via offline. Post new store openings and sales on social media as well as through conventional marketing channels. You should also promote your online marketing to customers, though this shouldn’t get in the way of the main goal of the event — selling. For example, give people a discount if they like your Facebook page while they’re buying the product or if they download your app

The greatest combination of the two is local SEO and location-based advertising. Don’t just promote your sale at a specific store on a universally visible social media page. Promote it to the followers in a given region or give people an incentive if they come in response to a notification via your app such as a freebie if they show up after you send a notice via the store app

Take Advantage of Unusual Locations

Consider marketing your product or service in unique locations to build brand awareness and increase overall sales. Giving away freebies and coupons at a public holiday celebration is one approach. Co-marketing with a complimentary product or service and setting up a pop-up in front of or inside their stores is another. If you’re supporting a charitable event, give away freebies and marketing content as well, especially if it mentions your other charitable work. For example, branded water bottles and T-shirts that mention both the charitable event and your firm will advertise your business to both those who take them and anyone who sees them.