[WEBINAR] Marketing 2.0 for Retailers: Social, Local, Mobile (SoLoMo) in 2013

This webinar is now available through the One Step Retail webinars page.

In this action packed webinar, retailers will learn key steps to improve their presence and sales through social, local and mobile strategies to produce increased sales in 2013.

Find out how to maneuver the rapidly evolving shopping trends, establish a SoLoMo game plan and utilize existing resources to start your year off right.

February 5^th, 2013 (Tuesday)

11am – 12pm PST
LIVE WEBINAR IS NOW CLOSED 
#ExpandMyStore2013

 

SnapRetail’s Christian Kratsas, Social Media Manager
Take your online traffic and turn it into in-store traffic! Learn how to use Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to get customers to “like” you online and in person!

About SnapRetail: SnapRetail provides a web-based solution that makes it easy for local retailers to engage with customers through email, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. Unique product features such as an interactive planning calendar, monthly promotion kits and hundreds of pre-written and professionally designed templates and social media posts make SnapRetail the choice for thousands of retailers looking for a one-stop-shop for their marketing needs.

PocketYour Shop’s Brian Downard, CEO and Founder
Learn how consumers are shopping in and outside of stores, with a focus on the latest trends in mobile retail and how you can leverage those trends to benefit your business.

About Pocket Your Shop: Pocket Your Shop provides mobile strategy, design, development and management for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

King Retail Solution's Andrew Swedenborg, Executive VP

Learn steps every retailer can take to maximize your retail space, with a focus on maximizing your real estate to grow your customer base and increase your sales.

About King Retail: King Retail’s award-winning environments leave your consumer feeling great about their experience in-store and looking forward to their next shopping trip. As builders, King Retail knows every step and every detail that it takes to realize a design with integrity.

RMSA’s David Downard, Retail Consultant
Find out how to utilize your existing tools and goal setting to manage your store and improve your customer’s experience for increased sales in 2013.

“If you don’t know where you are going, you will end up somewhere else,” Laurence J. Peter

About Dave Downard: Dave has over 25 years experience working with retailers to analyze and improve store performance, helping hundreds of retailers achieve their business goals.


Registration link: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/678248982


Hosted by One Step Retail Solutions, One Step Retail Solutions has helped thousands of retailers nationwide achieve their retail goals through top of the line retail technology. With a consultative and personal approach, One Step is a top resource for 5 of the top point of sale / retail management systems available on the market. Having been in business for over 27 years we have evolved relationships with specialists industry-wide and strive to bring educational resources to our retailers and other retail friends.

We hope that this webinar will help you to start your year off right and achieve your 2013 goals!


SoLoMo image source: socialmediatoday.com

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Customer Receipts - A Valuable Asset for Retailers

In talking to one of our business partners who deals frequently with retail store operations an increasingly trendy concept came up, adding social contact data and even games to your receipts.

It is interesting to note that many retailers are looking for the ability to customize almost every facet of their business, insuring their successful branding is present in everything a client will see or touch.



Since a receipt can essentially act as a promotional piece, some of the ideas to maximize on it's "real estate" are as follows:

* Include your logo, address, phone number, website (eCommerce site) and social links
* Note an incentive to follow on social, perhaps a discount on next purchase
* Promote upcoming sales and events
* (the ever popular) Include a coupon or discount code for next purchase
* Consider using recycled paper and supporting that cause
Note: Use graphics whenever possible and avoid getting too wordy



One Step Retail Solutions is ranked as one of the top resellers and service providers for some of the most comprehensive and state of the art retail POS software solutions in the industry. For a free retail technology consultation, click HERE.

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Retail Marketing Tips

Hi guys! I just attended a very well received social media
webinar hosted by Mari Smith and Guy Kawasaki. Both
are not only experts in social media but have a serious
knack for creating and building relationships. I found
some of their tips to be particularly useful to retailers so
am pleased to be able to share them with you. The full
webinar can be watched here:
http://marismith.com/7smtrends/video.html

Point #1: Listening to your customers.
Going out of your way once can result in a repeat
customer for years to come. Imagine a customer of
yours posts on Twitter “I am in serious need of a (insert
a product of yours here)” and you catch that post. You
then message them or, even better, reach out to them
by phone – VOILA very happy customer and you can
bet they will mention that to at least a few friends.

Morton’s Steakhouse took this concept to a new level
and became one of the top 5 Tweets of the year. For
the Morton’s Steakhouse story -
http://ramonwow.visibli.com/share/lYoR45

Point #2: Not allowing pictures in your store.
Many retailers do not allow photos in store or of the
merchandise. While this makes sense if that person was
going to go off to replicate the item or purchase a similar
style at another store, in the age of social media, the odds
of one posting this image up onto their own sites
(Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter) is quite high.
Girls are forever trying on hats, sunglasses and bling and
posting these pictures for their friends to see, many will
even ask opinions on if to buy or not from their friends.

Allowing photography can open you up to free promotion.

Point #3: Spam vs promotion
Many are concerned about “spamming” their followers. One
point is that that individual did elect to hear about you, your
offers and what you are up to. If you keep your content
relevant, helpful and fun, you are actively promoting, NOT
spamming.

Point #4: Pinterest
Further confirmation that this is a force to be reckoned with.
Please see One Step’s earlier blog for tips on its use.
http://retail-services.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-get-sales-through-pinterest_1530.html

Point #5: What to do if you get a complaint or goof up.
There is a new coined word going around, “flawsome” which
is flawed and awesome smooshed into one word Lewis
Carroll style.
The concept behind this is to not aim for perfection but
staying “real”. How you handle goofs and negative reviews
means more to a customer than being flawless. Per a study
noted in the webinar, many actually prefer to know that there
are some flaws or they feel that the company or service is not
real. Aim for your best but don’t automatically delete all
negativity on your sites. The webinar goes into some tips for
handling negative reviews or comments on social media sites.

Point #6: Pictures are like eye candy.
Keep the pictures coming. You can even have fun with the
different apps (Instagram is increasingly popular for retailers)
or just grab an image from istockphoto to go with your posts.
Pictures will increase interaction and familiarity.

I hope that this helps you!
Amy Hanson
www.onestepretail.com

Me trying on wraps at a vintage store for my best friend

(just a few weeks ago) to wear over her wedding dress.

I needed to get pictures to send up to her in Portland but

due to a no photo rule I was cut short. I explained the

situation to the sales clerk but she was adamant,

LOST sale.

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How to put your POS to work - POS Features and Integration Study #1 – Marketing

We just recently surveyed the action sports industry and

found that 48% had either no system for customer

management or have not put their existing system to use.

A few years ago we surveyed our retail clients and asked

them what their plans were to market to their existing

customers for the holidays. We were shocked to find that

almost 40% had no plans to do special holiday marketing

to their existing customers and 64% had no customer

loyalty program of any kind. Almost 60% said they had

no idea how to market to their customers using their POS

system. This was something that we set about rectifying

quickly for our clients and we want to share our tips for

success with you.

Your investment in your existing POS system can only

show a return if you learn and utilize the things it can do

for you. So we ask, what tools do you ALREADY have in

place that can help you effectively market? One Step

Retail Solutions, VP Sales, Kevin McAdam has some

tips and information for retailers everywhere.

“Of all the retailers I have talked to over the last couple

of years, ignoring the marketing potential of your

customer base is among the most dangerous decision

you can make in your retail business. Capturing it and

leveraging it is among the best.’

“Many retailers I talk to do virtually zero marketing

because it’s so expensive and because they see so little

measurable return from it. That’s often because it’s

shotgun marketing.”

So how do you AVOID shotgun marketing, how do

you make your efforts pay off?

“Marketing today is getting more and more precise

and as an independent retailer you need to be riding

that cutting edge to stand out. Let’s take a look at

Facebook and how they market to their members.

They know your profile (likes, dislikes, where you go,

what your hobbies are) and so they put advertising

on your sidebar that they know will have the highest

probability of catching your attention.” You could say

that the key to effective marketing is knowing your

client base and their needs.

So how does one find out their needs? How does one

leverage that information in a small to medium size

retail shop without spending thousands of dollars in

research and marketing campaigns?

“First of all, hopefully you have a robust POS system

that can hold large amounts of information about your

customers, because this is literally your gold mine.

Studies have shown over and over again that it costs 5

times as much in marketing dollars to get a new

customer as it does to re-sell to an existing customer.

It’s easy to understand: someone who has already

bought from you knows where you are and what inventory

you carry and, given good customer service, would buy

from you again. You just need to stay in touch with them

and offer them things you know they will buy. (This is why

Customer Loyalty programs work and yours should

definitely marry up with your POS system.)”

Please note that this is as vital for small and medium size
retailers as is it for the big box stores. “Now you need to

collect the information. Usually it’s as easy as telling the

customer that you make special offers to your regular

customers and then offer to put them on that list. Get as

much information as you can, street address, email (assure

them you don’t let anyone else use their email address),

home phone, cell phone (ask if they would like to be text-

messaged if there’s a really hot sale on something you know

they might like) birthday, sizes, color preferences, family

members….anything that you think might help you

promote to them. It might not make sense to try to get all

this information at one time, but sales clerks should try to

help build their ‘profile’ within your POS system” As a side

note, you can also create a sign that has “Follow us on

Facebook and Twitter” and “Check in on Yelp”. Facebook

contact data has become as relevant as an email address or

mailing address.

Marketing ideas made available by having a solid directory

of clientele in your POS system:

- Hopefully your POS system will not only keep a record of

that customer but also the record will show everything they

ever bought from you. This should be an available

customization in your POS. This way, the next time you get

a new item from the designer they have purchased before,

you can easily pull up the list of all customers that buy that

designer and email them that there’s a new shipment in

the store.

- You might even want to have a wine and cheese party to

kick off a new line and invite all the customers that have

bought similar categories in the past, let them know they

can bring along a friend as long as they are added to the

guest list (with their contact data of course).

- For a men’s store, make sure you have their wife’s

contact information so that just before the customer’s

birthday you can email their wife alerting her to the fact

that you have all his sizes and favorite designers.

- For a jewelry store, make sure that you have the

husband’s contact information so that before major

holidays and birthdays you can alert him to an

exclusive sale or offer.

- Reward customer loyalty. You can rank your customers

using the information in your POS system. You should

know which customers bring you the most margin, who

are the ones that buy the most at regular prices, who are

the ones that only buy when things are on sale, and who

are the ones that you make the most money from. Offer

exclusive deals, first pick or even host a invitation only

preview of your new season.

Don’t let it just be an expensive cash register! Learn it

yourself or have one of your employees learn at least the

marketing functions of the software and then put them

to work to increase your profitability.

“I think one of the most important things you can do as a

retailer in today’s marketplace is stop the old shotgun

wasteful marketing and get on the sophistication band-

wagon to precisely market to precise customers that you

want back in your store and that you know will appreciate

and buy the wonderful merchandise you work so hard to

provide.”

If you would like more information on our POS solutions

or for a free POS consultation please contact Amy Hanson

at 818.543.4777 ext 4116 or email

ahanson@onestepretail.com
www.onestepretail.com

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