When it comes to finding the right marketing strategy for your retail business you may find it difficult to know where to start. So, whether you have been in the business for years, or you are still trying to find your feet with a new venture, you will need to seriously consider the marketing strategies that will be most effective for your business.

What can often make the thought of finding the right marketing campaign for your business so daunting is that there are many different types of marketing strategies for you to choose from. The right one for you mostly depends on the size of your business, and the industry you operate in, as well as what you want it to achieve. Whether you want to boost your sales or grow your customer reach, the right marketing strategy is out there waiting for you.

Here you will find 3 marketing strategies that your retail business just can’t live without, and our top tips on how to implement them.

Digital marketing

In the past few years, many retail businesses have had to reconsider their marketing strategies and increasingly divert their time and resources towards more digital forms of marketing. This is because of how much of our everyday lives are now digital.

There are two different approaches that you can take when it comes to digital marketing, but these two branches also work great together. Paid advertising is arguably one of the most well-known forms of digital marketing and refers to an online model whereby businesses pay for their advertisements to be shown to users. For this reason, paid advertising is often referred to as pay-per-click (PPC) which means that every time someone clicks on your ad you are charged a fee.

Another digital marketing strategy that any business needs is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), which refers to the process of improving your site visibility when potential customers search online for the services or products that you provide. You may also hear this marketing strategy referred to as organic, as while it can take time and money to develop your SEO strategy, you aren’t charged every time someone clicks like a paid advertising campaign.

Search websites, such as Google will crawl through your website and assign it a value. This includes how easy to navigate your website is, but also how fresh and helpful the content you have is. If your website is deemed beneficial to the user by Google then you can expect to rank higher in the search listings. Most people click on one or more of the top few links on their Google search, the higher up your business is in a search result the more potential customers will visit your website.

Point of sale marketing

This marketing strategy is a form of marketing that most of us have experienced at some time in our lives as a consumer. Point of sale marketing refers to any efforts that are made by a business to boost sales at the moment a purchase is being made. While for some businesses their point of sale could be sitting around the table of a business meeting, or on their internet checkout page, for many businesses it largely refers to the area around their cash registers.

Many retail businesses use point of sale marketing by using signage to advertise their services or discounts, as well as strategically placing discounted items where customers queue to pay for their purchases. Point of sale marketing is so effective as it captures customer interest while they are waiting to pay and can encourage them to not only spend more via impulse purchases but also encourage them to return to your retail business again in the future.

Social media marketing

Most businesses now accept that they need a social media presence if they want to be successful in today’s economy, and this is no different for retail businesses. Therefore, if you have not yet set up a social media account for your business, then we recommend that you do that today. Potential customers often go straight to social media to find out information about shops or products, so you could be missing out on revenue by not having one. However, it isn’t enough to just have a social media account, you also need to include it in marketing strategies by keeping it active and valuable to visitors.

Our top tip when it comes to social media marketing is to remember that your social media account is a gateway to the rest of your business as it can encourage users to visit your website or even your physical store in the future.

By trying out each or a combination of the marketing strategies discussed above, you can help your business grow and develop, while also increasing potential revenue.