The average American spends over seven hours per day surfing the internet — which makes it one of the best places to meet potential customers and tell them about your small business.
But how can you connect with these casual browsers and convert them into loyal fans of your store?
In this blog, we’ll share five essential digital marketing for retail strategies to help you grow your online presence and expand your customer base, plus our top tips for putting them into action.
How Digital Marketing Impacts Your Retail Store’s Success
We get it: Small business ownership comes with endless responsibilities — and adding something else to your to-do list might not sound appealing.
But digital marketing is crucial if you want to attract new customers, increase sales, and grow your store. It frees you from the limits of foot traffic trends and word-of-mouth marketing, letting you spread the word about your high-quality product selection, set yourself apart from the competition, and share your unique small business story.
Let’s take a look at five digital marketing for retail techniques that you can start today.
1. Understand the Power of Local SEO
Picture this: A potential customer is headed to a housewarming party and needs a last-minute gift. Chances are, they’ll do a quick online search to find a nearby liquor store with an excellent wine selection.
If you sell wine, you want your business to be the first option on their list.
Ensuring that your local customers can easily find your business online is called optimizing for local SEO (search engine optimization), and it’s an important digital marketing strategy whether you’re a liquor store, supermarket, boutique, or any other type of retailer.
One of the first and easiest steps you should take to optimize for local SEO is to claim your Google business profile. From there, you list your business’ name, explain what you have to offer, post your operating hours, and even share a few photos to entice potential customers to stop by.
Having positive reviews can boost your business’ visibility on Google, so ask your most loyal customers to share their thoughts on your profile once it’s up.
2. Embrace E-Commerce
Looking to take your store’s online presence to a new level? Your next step is to create a website for your store and dive into the world of e-commerce.
A well-designed website can boost your SEO rankings, making it easier for customers to find and learn about your small business. Plus, it gives you the opportunity to make more sales.
Instead of making the trek to your store, shoppers can browse your aisles from the comfort of home, place an easy online order, and enjoy the convenience of delivery or pickup.
To launch your online store, all you need is a point of sale (POS) system with e-commerce integration. This tool lets you manage your in-store and online sales and inventory seamlessly, ensuring that customers receive a consistent, excellent shopping experience whether they visit in person or virtually.
We also recommend looking for a POS system and e-commerce platform built specifically for your industry. For example, if you own a grocery store, look for grocery e-commerce software that lets customers place same-day orders for pickup or delivery. If you run a liquor store or tobacco shop, you’ll need an e-commerce tool to verify customers’ ages to prevent underage sales.
No digital marketing for retail plan is complete without a social media strategy.
Since so many potential customers spend their free time scrolling social media, it’s the perfect place to meet and tell them about your small business.
To get started, create social media accounts for your store on all of the major social media platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Don’t forget to upload an eye-catching profile picture and fill out the basic information about your business, like your hours, phone number, and more.
Now it’s time to make your first post. Here are a few ideas to inspire you:
- Share your small business story: Tell potential customers why you decided to open a small business and why you love what you do.
- Highlight your products: Share a photo of your bestselling products to let potential customers know what you have to offer.
- Spotlight your team: Share the friendly faces your potential customers will see when they stop by your store.
Posting the right content isn’t nearly as important as posting regularly, so our number-one tip is to stay consistent with your social media efforts.
You’ve established active social media accounts for your small business — so what’s next?
It’s time to set goals and try new, creative digital marketing for retail techniques. Here are a few ideas to experiment with:
- Launch a giveaway: Ask members of your social media community to like, follow, and share for the opportunity to win a gift card to your business or a bundle of your bestselling products.
- Partner with an influencer: Find a popular influencer who posts about small businesses in your neighborhood, and ask for a spotlight post on your store.
- Try making short-form videos: Short-form videos are the best way to reach new customers on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, so set aside time to brainstorm with your team and film video content.
While planning a giveaway, partnering with an influencer, and creating short-form video content can all be time-consuming, these strategies are well worth it to increase your small business’ views and engagement on social media.
5. Keep VIP Customers Engaged
Establishing your store’s online presence can help expand your reach and bring new shoppers through your door, but a successful retail digital marketing strategy also involves nurturing your relationship with existing customers.
The best way to stay connected with shoppers is to create an email and SMS newsletter that lets them know about your upcoming promotions and new arrivals. Whether you’re announcing a can’t-miss flash sale or welcoming new seasonal arrivals, these messages will encourage customers to visit your store and take advantage of your latest offerings.
Managing your customers’ contact information and sending emails and texts can seem intimidating, but choosing a POS system with marketing integrations can make it a breeze. You can pull contact information from your store’s customer loyalty program, then use a digital marketing tool like MailChimp to create and distribute emails effortlessly.
Related Read: Content Marketing for Small Business: 4 Practical Strategies
Master the Art of Retail Digital Marketing With POS Nation
We just covered quite a bit of digital marketing ground, so let’s do a quick recap of our top tips for attracting customers and increasing sales for your small business:
- Establish an online presence by leveraging local SEO and launching an online store
- Post regularly on social media about your small business
- Stay in touch with your loyal customers through email and SMS
It’s really that simple, and you can make things even easier by investing in the right POS system. POS Nation offers a comprehensive suite of features to help you attract and retain customers, including a built-in loyalty program, a wide range of marketing integrations, and e-commerce integration.
Plus, we have all the tools you need to prepare for a new wave of customers, like a customizable touchscreen interface, speedy age verification for items like alcohol and tobacco, and real-time inventory tracking.
Ready to see how these features can boost your store’s sales? Schedule a live demo today to see POS Nation in action!
