- Create a budget and stick to it. For those retailers that haven’t done a lot of marketing this year, it does not mean that they should concentrate their typical annual budget in the last few months of the year. Take a look at what you did last year and ask yourself if that was sufficient to drive sales. If it wasn’t, then take dollars that you would have spent earlier this year and put together an adequate plan.
- Set your goals. Are you focusing on reaching the first-time bridal consumer who is looking to propose over the holiday and/or will you be targeting the baby boomers for holiday gift giving? Do not overreach. If your budget will not support appropriate campaigns reaching both audiences, you need to pick one. Once you have built up that customer base, your increased sales will allow for a larger budget the next year to expand into another demographic.
- For first-time bridal, please remember that consumers are researching rings, prices, and stores for months in advance. If your budget allows, get consistent bridal messaging out there as soon as you can.
- Plan your events. What holiday events do you do in your store? If they are profitable, plan to do them again. What other events would be beneficial in reaching your target customer? Set aside a portion of your budget, as needed, to promote these events. Whether you are just reaching out to existing customers or will be doing a media campaign for new customers, determine what the spend will be now so you are not falling into the media rep trap of spending way too much last minute and ruining your return on investment.
- Create a branding plan. If your budget allows, plan for a media campaign to give you consistent exposure to your target audience. This does not need to run every week for the remainder of the year. Look at a two weeks on, two weeks off type of schedule if possible. If your target audience is the affluent consumer, make sure to pay attention to their typical travel times. If they pack up and leave town during the winter, know that and limit your spending to that audience during that time.
- Negotiate your media exposure for the remainder of the year. Once you know what you want and can afford to do, have your media reps submit proposals for Q3 and Q4. Doing this will allow you more leverage for better rates, promotions and other added value exposure.
Thanks to the retail and political atmosphere over the last year we have seen an increasing number of retailers who have not put a marketing plan in place for 2017. They have been doing minimal advertising, such as keeping outdoor boards up from last year but have not really planned what they are going to do in the 4th quarter. Considering it's already late July, the holiday season is right around the corner and these retailers need to get a plan in place as soon as possible!
Getting this plan in place now will reduce the overall time they spend on the marketing campaigns they have for the remainder of the year. Let’s be honest, marketing takes time and effort. We want you to be able to spend as much time on the floor as possible! Tips from the pros here at Fruchtman:
