The Grinch Who Stole Retail Marketing Effectiveness

Barely a week removed from Black Friday and just days from Cyber Monday, retail marketers are already checking just how “black” Black Friday was and are adding up their earnings from Cyber Monday.  They are also reflecting on how their marketing efforts resonated with their customer: what they did right this year and what needs to be changed moving forward.

Like any retail marketer, I wait with eager anticipation during the days leading up to Black Friday so it is no surprise that last Friday morning, I arrived at my local upscale mall just as it opened. With camera and notepad in hand, I was eager to take several pictures and jot down my observations, but within a short time, disappointment set in. 

There were plenty of creatively designed window displays filled with festive holiday colors, artificial snow and cozy looking scenes. But after seeing what retailers promoted on digital channels,  lacking was much of a sign of coordinated marketing efforts between digital marketers and in-store marketers within the same brand.

The lack of coordination reminds me of the story line from Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch Who Stole Christmas The Grinch was inspired to ruin Christmas for the citizens of Whoville because of all the “noise, noise, noise” of Christmas. He then schemed and then concocted a dastardly plan to ruin Christmas for all.  Do your holiday marketing efforts reflect more “noise” than they do a peaceful coordinated harmony?   If not, below are tips that will help you: 

1.       Integrate online, digital and in-store channels.

If I had looked at your brand’s website, Facebook page and other digital channels, prior to Black Friday, would I have seen an incentive to shop on Black Friday or would I only have been encouraged to buy online?  Offering digital coupons - redeemable in-store – is a good way to get traffic to the store.  Additional discounts could be offered by encouraging customers to register with your brand, thus giving your CRM valuable data to be mined later.

 

Another thought would be to harvest the power of social media. What if you offered in-store deals if your customers and a handful of their friends checked in on Foursquare at your store on Black Friday? Other possibilities include allowing in-store customers to scan bar and QR codes so that they can get additional information on the product or brand.  With all of these ideas, in-store signing is essential to communicate a cohesive message to the customer. 

2.       Does your cause draw customers in-store?

Even if your cash registers are ringing at a higher rate over the holidays, don’t let your cause marketing efforts fall by the wayside.  A worthy cause, promoted seamlessly across multiple channels appeals to a customers emotions and brings them back time and again. 

3.       What can we learn from in other retail segments?

Retail segments all have their strengths and I am a big proponent of learning from our retail counterparts. The quick-service restaurant industry, for example, has a tremendous advantage over other retailers when it comes to omnichanelling their marketing efforts. Have you taken a look at how your colleagues in the restaurant industry market to their customers? While the target demographics for a quick-service restaurant customer differ from that of a high-end retailer, one can still learn from their overall strategy. For example, in this blog note Subway’s efforts were dialed in when they effectively “omnichannelized” their marketing efforts. 

Reality check

Are these ideas worth some additional thought?  Or when reality sets in do you think that putting these ideas into action is insurmountable in light of the challenges you already have in the retail marketing process?  Some of these challenges are addressed in these excellent blogs Curing the Fragmentitous Blues  and Top 5 KPIs for At-Store Marketing.  

Happy holidays and happy retail marketing!

 

How to Destroy Your Brand with Poor At-Store Marketing

In the brief history of this blog, I have taken occasion to highlight retailers which do a great job of connecting to the customer via spectacular at-store marketing. Unfortunately there are plenty of retailers that do a poor or inadequate job. I believe it is necessary to call them out as it helps us learn what not to do.

1. Confusing and Cluttered Environment
In a sense, it is understandable why marketers want to promote all of their products at the same time. But the result is often a cluttered environment which results in a confused or overwhelmed customer - such as the examples we see here from with Dairy Queen and Hartz Chicken Buffet.

Dairy Queen

Hartz Chicken Buffet

Instead of this POP clutter, concentrate on promoting your core brand products, other items will sell just fine around the main items.

2. Non-distinct POP
One example of retailers that fail to set their brands apart is auto parts retailers.  Take a look at the photos below and see if you can tell me at first glance which one is Advance Auto, which is O’Reilly and which is Auto Zone.

Couldn’t tell?  Neither could I. It would be better for auto parts retailers to be unique with their signage. For instance, develop a consistent theme or aesthetic that is unique to your brand. Utilize this aesthetic in all of your marketing channels (including at-store marketing) to ensure that consumers will recognize your marketing and associate it with your brand at every touch-point. Good branding, along with a well-thought-out marketing strategy, inspires loyalty in consumers.

3. Hastily made POP 

Nothing is worse than hand-written POP that is hastily written and placed.  While this may be effective for moving merchandise quickly, it has lasting detrimental effects on overall brand image. Subconsciously, it devalues the brand in the minds of the consumer, therefore hasty POP may actually drive customers away from your stores. Ultimately it screams to consumers that there was no strategy or thought put into this signage. If this grocer really thought through their at-store marketing, they would have known there would be leftover Halloween candy. Why not plan for this well in advance and have professional-looking signage and marketing messages ready?

 These have been just a few examples of poor execution in at-store marketing.  In a day when retailers are fighting tooth-and-nail for customer loyalty, brands can ill-afford to be sloppy.  Marketers, have you seen at-store marketing that makes you cringe?  On the other side of the coin, what retailers inspire you to be loyal to their brand?