Marketing Your Retail Store in the Recession - A Retailer's Survival Guide

The newspapers and media are full of bad news about how the
economy is in a recession. They actively promote how bad times
are, which only makes it worse for the retailer. As the general
public become "convinced" that times are so bad, their impetus
to shop is lessened.

As such, in times like these, retailers must work hard to get
their marketing in place. Now, more than ever, marketing budgets
need to be optimized, and in many cases increased, to stimulate
the demand for products that get consumers out of their house
and into the store.

Below is a "top ten" list of marketing activities that can be
applied to any retail business, to ensure its success in these
times.

1. Email Marketing – Don't use your own emails, market via a
service. Make sure you can measure the stats of the campaign so
that you can see what does and doesn't work.

2. "Meaningful" Events – Survey your customers to find out what
would bring them into the store, and then get your vendors to
cover the costs. Not every trunk show will bring out your big
spenders. Find out what will.

3. Better-than- average Website – Shoppers want to see what they
could see if they were in your store, without having to spend
money on gas. Make sure your website reflects your best side,
and shows significant amounts of merchandise. Even if you don't
have an e-commerce site, you have to show your products.

4. Direct Mail – it still works. Make sure the artwork matches
your website and emails. Try mailing gift cards, especially as
the holidays get closer.

5. Get on the Phone – call your customers as goods arrive.
Never think of it as selling them. Think of it as doing them a
favor – as if you were calling your best friend because you saw
something they'd like. Develop the relationship!

6. Press Releases – find a newsworthy event, and broadcast it.
Come up with reasons such as exclusives with vendors,
anniversaries, special sale events (tie it to the Meaningful
Events in #2) and announce it to the free PR sites on the
internet.

7. Article Marketing – article directories exist on the
internet, and they are dying to get your content! Write articles
that contain the information an informed consumer would have,
when buying your products. These lead people to your website,
and to your store.

8. Pay Per Click – Despite what you've heard, it is possible to
make money here. But you have to know the ropes. Study it or
find someone who knows it. Do small tests, and when the
campaigns work, feed them.

9. Blogging and Social Networking – this is an up-and-coming
method of marketing. Some of our customers swear by it. Get a My
Space page and test it. Get one of your staff to maintain it.
Test the results.

10. Marketing Plan – if you do any of the above things, just
one time, you're guaranteed to have spent money and not gain
customers. The secret to successful marketing is "consistent
repetition across all activities."

By applying these simple techniques (along with having a
completely balanced inventory), retailers can weather the storms
of the recession, and come out of it in better condition than
when they started.