Sales Strategy
Spring Clean Your Media Strategy | March 05, 2015 (0 comments)
Toledo, OH—If you haven’t already made your 2015 marketing plan, time to step back and evaluate the details of your advertising strategy. After all, you freshen up your store's inventory and decorations, right? It’s the same with your marketing plan. Every year it needs spring cleaning to get rid of what’s not working and look for new ideas.
Consumers are changing and so are their media habits. You used to be able to do a consistent radio or television schedule with one station and really leave your mark on your target audience. That’s not even close to being true anymore. Consumers’ media habits are fragmented. They watch TV, listen to the radio (local and streaming), and interact with their mobile devices all at the same time. To reach new customers, you need to know who you want that customer to be, and then review all of the opportunities in your market for reaching that person.
We see so many retailers fall into the rut, doing the same thing over and over and over again; and then they wonder why sales are flat or declining. Is last year’s marketing plan the best for this year? For example, did you have an endorsement schedule last year? Endorsements by on-air talent can be great for your business. Loyal listeners feel strongly about products and business that their radio personalities promote. Endorsements, when negotiated correctly, run within content instead of within the commercial break, so your message will reach consumers when they are more engaged in the top of conversation. If you are, are you working with the right talent? Do your endorsement spots sound like a natural extension of the conversation, or do they sound like they are bullet points being read off a script? Have you been doing endorsements with the same personalities for multiple years? Then it’s time to move your endorsement campaign to another station. Reach new listeners and find a personality with listeners in line with your target new customer.
Have you been advertising in the local news programs? If your goal this year is to increase your bridal business, then you need to move those dollars to other media. Local news is not the best place for this initiative. TV is still good, but so are audio and digital options. Review what’s available to you in your area, look at the cost for each option, and determine which will give you the best reach and frequency for your budget. If you can afford to do more than one, do it! For bridal, you absolutely need to stay at the top of customers’ minds. Your message is not going to make the man think that he should propose. Your job is to make sure he thinks of your store when he decides to, and to accomplish that, you need consistent, frequent messaging.
Now, if you had great success with your campaign last year and your target audience is the same for 2015, then you may only need to tweak your plan for this year. Maybe add one more media option to increase your reach. Based on what we've seen with retailers, this will probably mean adding more digital, usually in the form of additional paid search, social interaction, or mobile advertising.
Don’t get complacent with your marketing plan and just renew your contracts from last year. Research your options and make the best choices for this one. Contact suits@fruchtman.com if you don’t have the time, and we’ll be happy help!
Top image: sharonsteelerealestate.com