Everyone knows that most traditional retailers are struggling in the current digital age. Just last week there was a news item about the desire of small businesses to reduce the VAT rate to 19%. It is clear that retailers are getting desperate. And not without reason. Every time I walk through the city, more and more buildings are empty. Will the end of pleasant shopping in the city center soon be over?
The biggest threat to retailers are developments in the field of e-commerce and digital media. They often think so themselves. Understandable, because anyone can open a webshop and offer products at very attractive prices. After all, a virtual store is much cheaper than a nice building in a prime location. And then there are the large well-known internet stores, such as Coolblue. They also appear in news reports almost daily, with the big difference that these are very positive news reports. Coolblue wins one award after another and their customers are happy with the good service.
A major threat?
No, an excellent example of how it can be done! It should serve as a source of inspiration. If shops in the city centre would make optimal use of the possibilities of digital marketing, then there are insane possibilities for success. The recent research that DTG recently had carried out by TNS Nipo showed that a quarter of the smaller companies in the SME sector have a website that is older than four years. And 28 percent have no website at all. The conclusion of the research is that these digital stowaways are missing out on potential turnover.
introduction coolblueThere is no point in complaining. Something has to be done before it is too late and that will not happen by itself. It will certainly not happen thanks to a VAT reduction. The retailers will have to take the initiative themselves to survive. I will give five digital marketing tips that every entrepreneur can score with.
Tip 1: Get to know your customer
Shopkeepers do their utmost to get new customers, but it is often much more effective to get to know your existing customers first. Know who they are and find out what their needs are. For a baker selling a birthday cake, it is a small effort to ask who is celebrating and to congratulate the customer. I have never experienced that. If the baker remembers that, he can ask each year in the coming period whether he should make a special cake again. The customer will be surprised. This customer becomes a 'fan' of this bakery and therefore an 'ambassador'. Word of mouth advertising is still the strongest form of advertising there is.
Of course, it is almost impossible to remember everything. So now comes the digital tools. A good CRM system works wonders. Many retailers (especially chains) already work with digital newsletters. For this, the customer has to fill in some data. Often, the only thing they do with it is send out a standard newsletter with a pre-announcement of the sale. That's it .
What a missed opportunity! A newsletter that is personal and meets the needs of a customer will be read much better. For example, a car dealer should not place offers for new models in a newsletter if it is sent to someone who bought a new car last month. This should not happen again for another five years.
Jack & Jones
Tip 2: Build a community
By building a community , you as an entrepreneur can stay in constant sweden mobile phone number list contact with your (potential) customers. A very popular place to build a community is Facebook . Many retailers already have a Facebook business page. Although, business page. Far too often I see it happen that entrepreneurs have simply set up a private page as a business page. If not every status update is set to public by default, the (potential) customers will first have to become friends in order to be able to see the message.
A real Facebook business page is immediately visible to everyone, even if people have not yet 'liked' the page. This also makes it appear in Google results, unlike a personal profile, which is completely shielded from Google. The biggest advantage is the statistics, which show exactly what kind of people actually visit that page. If that is not the right target group, adjustments must be made.
Finally, there are of course the possibilities for advertisements. A traditional company with a Facebook business page is often asking for trouble. Having a Facebook page is using social media. However, it is still far from using digital marketing. You see it happening all the time. A contest creates many followers on the Facebook page. These are not fans, but people who want to win something. Most of them win nothing and remain as followers of something they actually do not like. So that is not of much use to you. It is precisely about being able to constantly serve your fans. Find out what they think of the products, talk to them. Ask what they want and surprise them with good content.