How To Attract Customers to Your Store
One of the biggest challenges ALL retailers face is having consistent TRAFFIC.
How do you attract your target customer to your store and attract them on a consistent basis? This is one of the most crucial steps in running a retail business ( or any business for that matter!). Without people going online or coming to your store, you don’t have anyone to sell to or buy products. Without buyers...you have no sales…without sales…NO BUSINESS!!
There are so many ideas and thoughts on how to drive traffic to your store. And most of them have one solid foundation…MARKETING!
Yes, the “M” word!
Marketing is the key to driving traffic to your business. Without a successful Marketing Plan, you will have a hard time attracting buyers and attracting the right buyers. Yes, the RIGHT buyers. You don’t just want anyone coming to your store. That may sound harsh, but it’s the truth. This is because not just ANYONE is your target customer. You want a marketing plan that will attract who you serve and who your product (s) are made for.
This is a common mistake many new retailers make when developing a Marketing Plan. They want to sell to EVERYONE and end up selling NO ONE! Or they market to a very broad audience ( women) instead of narrowing it down to a specific segment of that audience (professional women making 6 figures that love to travel). See the difference?
Another misconception that many small retailers have is that Marketing and Advertising are the same thing and can be interchangeable. They are not! Marketing is the most important step because it allows you to really dig deep into who your TRUE customers are and what they:
Want
Love to do
Feel about things
Hobbies and interests are
Don’t like
Their spending habits
Please note, that I did not talk about any DEMOGRAPHIC information here. While knowing the demographics of your target customer is important ( age, location, gender, education, etc.) they only scratch the service of getting into the minds of your target market. You need to understand the above ideas about your target consumer and then you need to understand how YOUR brand fits into all of this.
One of the unsung heroes of the Draw part of the D.E.C.I Method is Visual Merchandising. Yes, I said Visual Merchandising. Visual Merchandising is one of the most effective and efficient Marketing tools out there. How much so? So much that the larger retailers spend millions of dollars EVERY year to ensure that they have a sound and complete Visual Merchandising plan.
This is how valuable visual merchandising is to your Marketing Plan:
Key to attracting customers to your store.
Evokes emotion
Connects brand to customer
Sets you apart from competition
The bottom line is that visual merchandising is a group of concepts, techniques, and sales strategies that show up in ways that visually and emotionally connect with your target customers. Once you make this connection, they are DRAWN to your store and want to learn more about you and your brand…shopping and ultimately buying with you!
Now visual merchandising looks different depending on what type of retail business you run. Visual merchandising marketing will show up in different forms and have different standards for online stores vs brick-and-mortar stores. However, the goal and end result is the same...attracting people in an engaging way so your visitors become your customers.
There is a lot more to the Draw part of the D.E.C.I Method. Far too much to go into here. This part of the method is one of the most important because it is the foundation on that everything else is based on. You really need to understand each part and how each one looks for YOUR type of retail. To really get an understanding on how Markeitng, Advertising, and Visual Merchandising all come together you need a detailed, yet simple to follow tool tha you can refer to over and over again.
I have some great news that will fit the bill. Be on the look out to learn more!!
Nichole
