Digital marketing has widened the array of possibilities for all industries, especially for retail, as customers are becoming more and more interested in engaging with their favorite brands via their mobile devices. Whether you are starting out or have already been in the retail industry for decades, redefining your marketing strategies based on modern trends and customer needs is mandatory for successful brand development. As a retail shopping center, your marketing options are more plentiful than those of a small shop or an online retail business, but also more difficult to implement if you are doing it without a clear and personalized strategy in mind. Without a comprehensive understanding of customer demographic and the profile of your retail business, the outcome of marketing strategies won’t align itself with your ROI goals and objectives.
It is estimated that by 2022, the number of total retail sales in the United States will reach an impressive $6.03 trillion. For your shopping center to keep up with industry trends and not be left behind by its competitors, you need to make investing in marketing a top priority. In order to do that, you have to understand the position of your retail shopping center, both within the industry but also in your local community.
The Initial Stages of a Retail Shopping Center Marketing Strategy
Shopping centers have their roots in ancient times, when communities were in need of a uniting center, in which they could not only find the products and services they needed and engage with merchandisers, but also interact with other members of the community. Throughout the years, no matter how much shopping centers have evolved, the essence of tying communities together remained. Therefore, keeping it in mind when drafting your marketing strategy will result in better outcomes.
Assessing Your Current Strategies
Before coming up with a new marketing strategy for your shopping center, you need to first assess all your current strategies and campaigns, and use that data to either update or start from scratch. If your current marketing solutions don’t offer the possibility of gathering and analyzing feedback and real-time data, you will need to use a shopping mall marketing software solution. A solution like M360 allows you to streamlines multi-channel marketing execution, delivers personalized messages to shoppers at the most influential moments, and provides user-friendly reporting on KPIs that matter.
Draft a Common Marketing Strategy with the Businesses in Your Shopping Center
In order to cater to the needs of customers, the marketing strategies of a shopping center need to be tailored based on the strategies of the businesses that operate on the premises. Also, drafting a marketing strategy revolving around common sale days or events that will involve all businesses can help you build a strong foundation as a retail shopping center. Customers adore not only the idea of finding everything in the same place, but also not having to come back in different days for promotions at different stores.
The Development and Implementation of a Retail Shopping Center Marketing Strategy
Once you have gathered all the information and metrics you need in order to draft your plans, the next steps are to further develop them with the help of shopping mall marketing software solution. Building a retail shopping center marketing strategy doesn’t stop at writing the plans, it needs to be followed by a professional implementation and real-time monitoring of all metrics. Customers visiting a shopping center are looking to engage not only with the brands selling their products there, but also with the shopping center’s cultural and community-centered approach. Shopping centers are still highly popular, yet in our modern times, there competition for customers’ attention is gaining in intensity with the development of more and more malls.
Therefore, staying one step ahead of your competitors means more than offering a space in which people to browse for products, have coffee, or see a movie. It means you need to offer them a personalized relationship that will not only work towards your financial goals and objectives but also build your brand’s identity. But how can your retail shopping center build its marketing strategy accordingly?
Implement Your Strategies Based on Modern Marketing Solutions
In order to implement your drafted plans and strategies and drive sales, you will need to use marketing methods that are a bit more inclusive when it comes to customer demand and lifestyle than traditional marketing methods. SMS marketing is one of the most effective retail marketing methods, especially when paired with other solutions such as proximity marketing, given that text messages have a 98% open rate. Don’t rely on email marketing alone for campaigns in which you need your customers to interact with your shopping center by either participating in a loyalty program, offering feedback, or attending an event, as most marketing emails end up in the spam folder.
Use Social Media to Market Your Shopping Center
Creating social media pages for your shopping center is not enough to engage with your customers on the internet, as it would mean that you are waiting for them to find you. Instead, make sure that those pages are always updated with information about your events, sales, and other news such as the opening of a new store, or the launching of a new collection. If you are offering a new service, let your customer know by way of social media, but also text message marketing.
Other Activities such as Contests or Concerts
Aside from the regular sale days and launching events, you can get the attention of your customers with activities such as photo contests, holiday-themed activities, events for children, concerts, and any other activities that your customers and community would be interested in. In order to properly organize these activities, you need to have a thorough report regarding your customer demographics, which should be updated with new information regularly. Segment your audience in order to better target people in accordance with the events you are organizing.
Given that shopping centers are no longer located at the outskirts of cities, and that a community can be served by more than one mall, shopping center marketing strategies are of utmost importance of your business. Whether you are looking to drive sales, increase marketing ROI, improve your brand’s identity, or gain new customers, a modern and custom-tailored marketing strategy can give you the competitive edge you are looking for. Make sure to always stay-up-to date with data on customer satisfaction and analyze methodically the feedback your are getting from your ongoing campaigns.
