August 31, 2020 Posted by Pocketstop in Other Social Share
Optimizing your shopping mall’s marketing budget to seem bigger is something every center wants to do to maximize revenue and profits. In an age of Amazon, marketing is an essential to drive customers to visit your shopping malls.
You can make your marketing budget seem bigger without having to lie or act shady. All it takes is knowing where you are coming from so that you can plan where you are going. How was your foot traffic in the previous quarter or year? What type of mall shoppers would you like to retain and/or attract? Where can you capture the most attention?
Benefits of these considerations could include:
- Streamlining your marketing process
- Increasing your return on investment (ROI)
This article will explore top ways to stretch your company’s marketing budget to grow revenue and profits.
Know what you want to achieve and set goals
First, have a plan. Think about what you need to do in order to achieve the success you want. A good shopping mall’s marketing plan simply details your to-do list, with costs and due dates that help you and your budget stay on track.
Consider building a team to help you set and achieve your goals. These don’t have to be full-time staff members; you can find eager, talented freelancers who can help you with tasks like marketing, content writing, search-engine optimization, graphic design and administration. This can help you assemble an army behind you who can get you the results you’re seeking without adding burden to your full-time payroll or shopping mall marketing budget.
Use social media wisely
You may already have social media pages for your shopping mall, but the real benefit is learning how to work them to your best advantage. When you grow your following with relevant posts, you’ll solidify your shopping mall’s presence online and increase consumer connection and confidence. The idea is to keep your posts consistent and beneficial to the customer, and to listen and respond to them when they interact (engage) with you online.
The winning key to wise use of social media is engagement with your followers. Posts that get responses — comments, shares, likes — are the ones that get traction online. How? Ask questions, and ask for comments. Then respond to the responses. That’s online engagement at its most engaging.
Another wise social media strategy is similar to what any retailer would do with a customer: recognize them, acknowledge and appreciate them. Thank your followers for their posts — often; like, follow and share their messages too. Followers and customers who feel appreciated and acknowledged will build loyalty and build recognition.
Set a smart content marketing strategy
Build a schedule, month by month. How do you want to communicate with your customers, and when (social media posts, email blasts, newsletters, texts)? Write your marketing content in advance, giving it some thought so that you don’t have to generate it while racing the clock.
Before you create a strategy for your shopping mall, find out what your shoppers want — and when. That’s the content subject matter you’ll want to address — anything else won’t engage them.
If you need to quote or link facts or related content, be sure it’s from a reliable, generally trusted source, such as a news organization or a government agency. Stay with the experts with a proven track record.
Make friends with keywords, which help readers find you in their searches and keep your rankings high on search engines. Research the words and phrases that are most searched, and use them in your content.
Keep your content fresh and current. Stale, old posts are not appealing or encouraging to prospects. Your shopping mall’s followers need to know that you are committed to your business, and have a passion that you want to share with them regularly. There should be new information, trends, angles and opinions that can constantly keep your followers engaged and returning to your posts.
Also, if you stop posting — or post inconsistently — your rankings may begin to fall; the more content you post, the more you can keep your ranking high, with your content (and your business) staying in front of people.
Find a social media influencer
In the old days, this was called a celebrity endorsement, but today, social media stars with large followings can help you build recognition and value.
A social media influencer is just that — someone who influences people by talking about specific products and services and engaging their followers. No two influencers are exactly alike, and the influence comes from their organic (usually charming, sincere or funny) personalities and personalized pitches. Their followers can often range into the tens of millions, giving your message a wide reach that you may not be able to achieve on your own.
Often, influencers will feature a “branded post,” which highlights a paid-for product or service
Instagram is usually the platform that attracts the most social influencers, but don’t rule out other platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter.
Consider public relations (PR) as a strategy
Public relations utilizes strategies that help attract attention, build awareness and a positive image, and reach your audience.
First, consider your shopping mall’s audience. Who are you trying to reach? Then learn the best way to reach them by considering:
- The apps they use
- The social media platforms they prefer
When writing content, speak in the language of your customers. In most cases, they’ll appreciate simple, straightforward content that illustrates the many ways they can benefit from your shopping mall. This could include convenience, affordability, and even a sense of community (something Amazon can’t offer). Repeating this theme in social media posts, newsletters, emails and special promotions will drive the point home, again and again. By doing this, you’re doing PR!
Planning live events, while maintaining safety protocols in the age of COVID-19, at your center can be a very effective PR strategy. Offer free food, music, readings, celebrity appearances, giveaways, parties, and even free movie nights. Ideas like these are pure PR, raising awareness and building customer loyalty.
Partner with your retailers
As a center owner/operator, your natural teammates are your tenants, who want the same success that you do. Stay in communication with your shopping mall tenants, and swap suggestions and strategies on how to increase foot traffic and capture more attention (it will cost you nothing). Ideas may be floated that would not have occurred to you but could be just the strategy you’re looking for.
Each day, week or month, let one of your tenants bask in the spotlight as a featured business. You can help that along with additional in-center advertising and posts on social media.
Pull out all of your superpowers to help individual retailers succeed in your center: shopping mall marketing software, free WiFi access for customers, mentions on your website and mobile apps, social media posts, regional advertising, and special event planning. It works out: the more exposure for them, the more exposure for you.
A rising tide lifts all boats.
Automate your marketing
Yep, marketing your business is a real calorie burner, but nowadays, software can do a lot of the work for you. Use these strategies properly and they can become invaluable to your marketing plan. Set up your system now, and reap the benefits for a long time to come as your marketing works for you.
Automating your marketing is much easier than it sounds: you simply schedule your messages automatically, in advance, to coincide with sales promotions and in-store events.
Bottom line
Staying on top of your marketing strategy is more urgent than ever. It’s the process that will expand your customer base, increase loyalty and recognition, and grow revenue. In the digital age, the name of the game is not just getting attention, but earning the attention of your customers and prospects.
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