Stay connected to your customers all year round using three important tools in print marketing
Unfortunately, the retail space is going to be unpredictable into 2022.
But your brand doesn’t have to be.
A healthy business—like a healthy body—is a balance of strength and flexibility.
A strong retailer has a focused brand, merchandise that fits its audience, and unrivaled customer service. A flexible retailer has a multi-channel marketing mix, trusted vendor relationships, and actionable customer data.
The big question is: how do you market stuff that may not be at the store when your customer is?
Easy.
By staying in front of your customers, building value, and creating/maintaining relationships without trying to “sell” anything at all. Here’s how to leverage your trusted printer to help you keep your marketing funnel flowing.
Stay in front of your customers.
There are so many ways to leverage your printer partners to maintain strong customer relationships.
Catalogs and direct mail continue to bring huge value to the retail marketing mix. But what if you’re not sure when certain products will be on the shelves or available through your online shop?
Send that direct mail anyway, but make it a compelling and beautiful publication. Or send a simple but clever postcard. Mail a series of coupons that can be used anytime for any product. Try partnering up with other retailers in your area to send a fun reminder about the neighborhood or the shopping complex.
Click here to read why walking maps are such fun and effective marketing tools.
Build value.
Sure, retail is a give-and-take operation. However, if inventory is unreliable, focus on building value, which means tipping the scales toward giving for a while.
Remember the compelling and beautiful publication you're going to send to stay in front of your customers? Add value by including high-quality content that speaks to your customers' needs, wants and interests.
Do you sell cooking utensils? Send a look book that includes real people using those utensils to make original recipes you can’t find anywhere else. Or choose an influencer in your field—an up-and-coming food blogger, a popular creator on recipes.com, or a nutritionist on YouTube—to anchor your publication.
Another way to build value is to direct consumers to the online version of your publication, which can be updated with coupons, sales, and specific content as products come in.
Click here to learn more about Journal Graphics’ value-added digital publication services.
Create and maintain relationships.
If you are staying in front of your customers and building value, you are doing a great job creating relationships. Here’s how you maintain them:
Data. Data. Data.
With data-driven marketing, you can effectively and inexpensively target each customer with direct mail.
With the data you HAVE, consider including personalized features such as:
Coupons and rewards specific to the customer’s buying habits
Incentives for active social media fans
Product catalogs relevant to the past purchases
A map of your nearest business location
Obtain data you WANT using these tools:
Offer valuable freebies in exchange for an email address or a quick survey.
Print personalized discount codes or URLs on direct mail to track clicks.
Use well-designed QR codes to entice customers into an online experience.
By partnering with a reliable and versatile printer like Journal Graphics, you can create and maintain consumer relationships that pay off.