How to Avoid Hitting a Sour Note with Your At-Store Marketing

This week I’ll look at a convenience store chain that really understands how to influence its customers via multiple marketing channels and how these channels crescendo in the at-store environment. Hopefully you’ll take away some ideas on how to better engage your retail customers.

If I asked you to come up with an example of a masterpiece what comes to mind? Usually it is something like a classic painting, opera or symphony. Is it possible for something common to be considered a masterpiece? One only need consider how Apple transformed the common computer to a work of art to answer this question.

Like the common computer, few would consider it possible for a convenience store to be considered a masterpiece. But that is exactly what I found when I visited a Sheetz convenience store (or as Sheetz calls it, a convenience restaurant). Retail marketers, I invite you to continue reading. Do you agree with my conclusions?

As I thought about Sheetz, and prior to my arrival at a store, I thought about what piqued my excitement about their brand - it was a number of factors, or channels, if you will.  I remember how Sheetz fans post fun pictures of their in-store experience on Facebook and how Twitter comments were genuine and full of passion. This was reinforced even further as on my way to a Sheetz as I spotted a billboard reflecting that same emotion on my way to their store.

To put it one way my pre in-store experience thus far had been like listening to a symphony. I had heard the string, horn, acoustic, and keyboard sections all tuning their instruments. They all sounded great by themselves, but what about together? As I approached the store, I studied their building for a moment, I thought about the great colors I saw, the café-style outdoor seating and the “MTO” (Made to Order) signage that made it feel more like a fast-casual restaurant than a c-store. 

As I swung open the door, all of those marketing channels came together, just like a crescendo in a well-orchestrated concert.  Here are some things I noticed that Sheetz did well:

·         Their fun “feel the love” theme was reflected well in-store with bright, visible signage with engaging messages

·         The similarity in their messages was striking. Notice the “2 for 99c” is both on their outdoor advertising and in-store

·         They had opportunities to reconnect with the brand via signage that highlighted social media and online specials

·         The nostalgic look was very consistent in their use of fonts, images, colors and store fixtures

·         Their self-service touch screen menu was easy to use and had POP which explained how to order

After my visit, I came to the conclusion that my experience at Sheetz was worthy of calling it a masterpiece as they executed their marketing efforts well in every channel and didn’t hit a sour note anywhere.  If you'd like other examples of c-stores that do a great job of marketing, see C-Stores: Breaking Bad Habits.

Retail marketers, does your brand connect on multiple channels?  What in-store marketing efforts have you employed that synched all channels together? How has this affected your in-store revenues and bottom line?