Multi-Channel Marketing Archives - YouCom

Store Opening

Philip Wimbledon — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 20:19:35 +0000

A store opening requires good balancing skills. Often the retailer is new and has no existing marketing content. Even for existing brands who have pre-existing content and social media channels, it can be difficult to create the PR for a new store.

After all, what is so exciting about a new premises where competitive markets mean there’ll be a similar business nearby?

Why should a competitor’s customers go and see your new store?

Take a look at this next video of our brand ambassador Raquel Freestyle. Raquel performs for store openings and product launches with outstanding football trick skills to bring in the crowds.

https://www.youcom.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/140-YouCom-Store-Opening-raquel_benetti_640x1138_1389159255341682692.mp4

YouTube Tag: @raquelfreestyle.

For some new store openings, hiring a celebrity such as Raquel Freestyle may not be viable.

Giveaways are traditionally newsworthy items for local media coverage or social media. You could offer an opening day discount. Or a free giveaway product. These will help attract awareness of your event.

You should also make sure all the relevant store details are on the promotion so customers can easily find you.

Add to this good online listings for those searching for that new store. We recommend Google My Business of course, but additionally there are about 20 other online directories where you can list your new store address and which crucially index into Google’s first-page search results.

Zoom in to the above tweet to see we achieved 61 retweets for our own brand (click on it to go to Twitter).

You can see just how much engagement we’re able to generate for our clients and publishers by the use of AIDA, principally from a good photograph.

Anytime you can include a photograph, you should do it. Tweets with visual content get 150% more retweets, 18% more clicks, and 89% more favourites*.

SMM use of influencers are another way to promote a new store opening and they have even better understanding of the powerful effect from a good photograph.

YouCom Media runs a mystery shopper program of over 500 individuals, many of whom write successful blogs and offer influencer services.

It seems obvious but your brand should become involved in the local community to where you’re having the store opening.

There will be lots of local charities and members clubs, all of whom would like to partner for some publicity and all would welcome news of a new business that for example offers their members some sort of local discount.

Write to the local council and perhaps try to secure the services of the local mayor (after all you are providing employment for local people).

Write an editorial for the local newspaper. Take our advertising in the local newspapers. Most importantly, ensure your business directory listings cover local search keywords.

The hashtag. This is useful for those of us who are getting a little older and need some memory assistance.

But jokes aside, we all need some memory help when we live in a world full of advertising noise. A Tweet with a hashtag is 55% more likely to be retweeted*.

Aim for an easy to use hashtag that is nice and short. Experiment with using humour.

A new bakers store opening for example could use #greatbuns or #hashbrowntag (we liked that one). Research to identify local hashtags that are trending now and see if yours can ‘surf that wave’.

Customised, relevant helium balloons are another great instant ‘awareness’ and ‘interest’ part of AIDA advertising when it comes to your store opening.

Brands can often treat their store opening like dipping a toe in the water but should instead view them as a diving board which could really launch a new store location.

A store opening can set the stage for not just your products or service but also the customer base that you’ll be able to build. You need something that can draw people’s attention for instant AIDA.

Someone like Raquel Freestyle attracts the younger audience to your brand despite many companies vying for their attention.

You should also think about placement before your store opening day to build that awareness.

The messaging you use will be of utmost importance and especially the colour and design used. Contact us for your next store event.

Follow the YouCom Media news posts to see the next developments.

Glossary:

A.I.D.A – Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action [Marketing model]

Data Source:

* Alexandra Sheehan

Some images sourced from Pixabay incl. alexas_fotos & AirAdPromotions

Required reference:

YouCom Media News, Jan 2022, London, ‘Store Opening.’

The post Store Opening appeared first on YouCom.

Brand Marketing

Philip Wimbledon — Sun, 25 Mar 2018 17:30:34 +0000

Our client’s advertising has shown that return on investment has a direct correlation to a product’s market share.

So, a product with a larger market share will deliver better ROI than a product with a smaller market share.

There are exceptions when a small brand can generate higher ROI than those with greater brand presence, but it is not the average. The stronger the brand, the better it performs.

This of course means brands who have reached the top and are the market leader, will need to become very aggressive, very quickly if they see a competitor eroding that market share.

One strategy to eliminate the competition is loss-leading. A large brand will have several key product brands underneath it and the deep pockets that higher advertising ROI brings.

This allows the brand to run one of its lines as a loss leader, under-cutting the new competitor to price it out of the market. Once the competition has been eliminated, it can then raise its price again to a profitable level.

Brand Marketing managers need to give thought to ‘analysis of competitor response’. A good example is the brand Filofax. It dominated the market for years and the short-term retaliatory plans it probably once had, became forgotten. Consequently, when other products suddenly appeared, they lost rapid share.

Brand marketing needs to communicate a brand’s core values. BMW drivers aren’t buying a car, they are buying ‘the ultimate driving machine’.

Mars eaters are not buying a confectionary snack, they are buying something to energise for work. Rest and play’.

The IT manager buying an IBM data system is not buying a tool to store the company’s servers, he is buying the added-values of size, reputation, recognition, awareness, reliability and support.

Many companies offer cut-price unknown equivalents. Supermarkets now offer their ‘basics’ range of similar products at lower prices. Yet consumers still go for the brands.

That is the result of the brand marketing manager’s strategy and long-term vision.

Consumers also recognise something they need from the company’s brand marketing. A man does not buy a box of unbranded basics chocolate for a woman to satisfy her hunger. He buys a brand that communicates something about him to her.

Often, he hopes she will remember something about the advertising of the brand and associate it with him (one reason why a woman will receive a box of Milk Tray on a first date than a pack of Kinder).

Perhaps there is also the brand perception of value leading to her playfully telling him off for spending too much on it.

Or perhaps it’s known to be sold in only a few retailers meaning praise is given for making such an effort towards their relationship.

There are many brands which have failed to make a profit or win shelf space. These are a result of the brand marketing manager failing to integrate all elements of the marketing mix.

“The brand marketing manager needs to use multi-channel marketing strategy to ensure the target audience receives the message that communicates the added-values unique to that product.”

But the purpose of brand marketing is to gain and maintain a loyal customer base in the most cost-effective way that delivers the highest ROI. That will lead to longevity and longevity leads to power.

Power of course is not just the preserve of consumer products and therefore neither is brand marketing. People can be marketed and develop a brand. Celebrities or politicians, business leaders or athletes, they all can become their own brand.

Rap artist Jay-Z famously said he is not a businessman, he is a business, man. When a person develops their own brand to such an extent that they are representing known attributes just by their appearance or name, they become a business in themselves, just like the consumer brand that becomes a market leader.

Successful brand marketing communicates to satisfy the consumers emotional and rational needs. A consumer may evaluate several brands of whisky in a supermarket on a rational basis looking at pricing, whether it’s a blend or a malt, the age of the whisky etc.

But they will also be measuring emotional needs such as social acceptance, the prestige of the brand, the opinions of friends towards a brand, how the advertising made them feel when they saw a brand in a media channel, etc.

The successful brand marketing manager will research and understand the extent their brand satisfies those two needs and develop a marketing approach around them.

The right agency then amplifies that approach.

Follow the YouCom Media news posts to see the next developments.

Glossary:

ROI – Return on Investment

Required reference:

YouCom Media News, Mar 2018, London, ‘Brand Marketing.’

The post Brand Marketing appeared first on YouCom.