Author Archive
By: Doug Fergusson
June 16, 2010 | 2 Comments
In our recent white paper, we tackle the subject of Local Marketing by defining its role in an overall marketing strategy, revealing the necessary tools for a successful execution, and providing a glimpse into how technology is making LRM more accessible than ever. Here is an excerpt from the white paper describing the necessary tools for local marketing success:
Tools For Success
For Local Marketing campaigns to be successful, operators must have all the tools necessary to execute them. If operators use only some of these tools, results will be less robust. It is the corporate brand’s responsibility to ensure operators are adequately equipped with the following components:
> Accessibility – The technology platform used to view, customize and order Local Marketing materials must be easily accessible to all operators no matter where they are located or how they are wired. A Web-based solution is generally considered the best option as opposed to a program that must be installed locally or downloaded.
> Ease of Use – The Local Marketing program should be easy and fast to use – requiring only minutes out of their busy day. This applies to viewing materials, customizing them, placing an order and understanding what to do with the materials once they arrive. The number of steps in each process should be minimal. And instead of giving users an infinite number of customizable options, provide them with a manageable list to choose from.
> Modular Design – Marketing elements should be designed in a modular fashion so that individual components can be customized. This is where local operators have an opportunity to utilize their knowledge of community, preferences and traffic patterns. The design should also be agile so that marketing groups can send new information and keep marketing materials fresh – without having to design each piece from scratch.
> Cost Effectiveness -The program must be cost-effective. It should leverage a print and fulfillment workflow from many locations, which provides an opportunity for significant buying opportunities and operational efficiencies. Individual orders also should be handled with ease.
> Funding Model – The funding model is something that can be a barrier to implementation. Most franchise agreements require franchisees to invest a portion of their own money, but there has to be an incentive for them to dig into their own pocket when it comes to Local Marketing. Local Marketing is perceived as a field of risk and experimentation, which can deter investment. The most successful models have aggregated everyone’s spend together so that individual risk is minimized. As a result, franchisees are more likely to test new ideasand find success.
> Education – The most important component of Local Marketing is operator education. This includes the mechanics of the system, as well as which customer situations are most conducive to Local Marketing efforts. For example, the franchisee should consider the customer behaviors they are trying to influence and the results they hope to achieve.
You can read the white paper in its entirety here.
And now over to you: do you have any Local Marketing insights you’d like to share?
Permalink | Tags: (Local Marketing, marketing strategy, White Paper)Add Comments | View Comments (2)
By: Doug Fergusson
May 27, 2010 | No Comments
image from NRA Facebook page
I just returned from Chicago after attending the National Restaurant Association Show. If you have never been there, it is quite a spectacle; over 60,000 people were registered for the show and suppliers representing everything and anything used in the food service industry filled over 2.5 million square feet exhibit space. My feet are sore just thinking about it.
There was one common theme that I found everywhere: INNOVATION. New restaurant equipment, systems, supplies and ingredients were presented to provide restaurant owners a means to improve their customers’ experience while driving down costs.
A fascinating talk by Wallace Doolin (former CEO of TGI Friday’s) summed up the fundamental issues that are driving this need in the restaurant industry:
- There are no new drivers of customer growth in the U.S.; the historic expansion of restaurant visits due to two-income families dining out has matured.
- Customer expectations are transforming at ever increasing rates due to rapid technological-driven changes (Internet, social media, etc.)
- The value equation is changing; there is very little room for differentiation in price and quality as the ability to deliver a given quality at a competitive price is being pressed to the limits. Customers are now looking for a unique EXPERIENCE.
The key to solving this problem is innovation. Restaurants that can create a unique experience and continuously evolve to keep it fresh will win. Agility will be a key organizational attribute; identifying new technology and providers that can quickly evolve will play a significant role in the success of these restaurant operators.
Customer interaction also was a topic of discussion at the show. There is a consensus that consumers want a more personalized and interactive experience. This begins in the direct communications with consumers and flows into the restaurant experience. Consumers want to feel that they are being heard, so localization of the store messaging will play a role in shaping this experience.
If you attended this year’s show, I’d like to hear from you. Let me know what interested you in terms of products, trends and discussions.
Permalink | Tags: (conference, foodservice, NRA Show)Add Comments | View Comments (0)
By: Doug Fergusson
April 14, 2010 | No Comments
It’s easy to forget that much of what’s practiced in today’s retail business is based upon a foundation that was set over the last 100 years. While there has been an introduction of technology, such as bar scanning and sophisticated inventory management systems that have improved operations and service, basic marketing techniques have remained relatively unchanged.
Mass media (TV, radio) is still a large portion of marketing spend, and direct-to-consumer communications are primarily non-personalized Free Standing Inserts (FSI’s) and mailers. On-premise marketing also continues to be centered on POP signage that directly supports national campaigns with little or no localization.
All of these practices ignore changing consumer behaviors. The New Consumer expects retailers to speak to their individual interests and preferences. This is true of direct-to-consumer communications, as well as on-premise signage at a specific store. These New Consumers want to feel a sense of relationship to the places they frequent. Walking into a store and seeing signage that speaks to your interests and lifestyle gives you a sense of ownership in the store. That ownership can mean the difference between a retail location being a convenience or a destination.
Responding to this need requires a rethinking of the retail space and the way you communicate with customers — both within the store and directly. Consider these ideas:
- Customize each store’s menu boards so it features local customer favorites
- Add signage that speaks to local events (high school teams, concerts, etc.)
- Include signage in other languages that appeal to local demographics
- Localize store signage to reflect community tastes and interests (specific products or traffic patterns)
- Frequently rotate the store’s graphic themes with changeable graphic panels (perhaps with graphics that reflect the community)
- Integrate direct-to-consumer communications (mail, e-mail) with store signage
- Build completely personalized direct communications (graphics, messaging and offers) based upon specific consumer preferences and community themes
There are other ways to create a sense of relationship with your customers. Many marketing campaigns may seem difficult or expensive; however, having the right partners to execute them can make this easy. Focus your attention on expanding your creative thinking and the rest will fall into place.
New Consumers aren’t just interested in relationships; they also have a thirst for new things to talk about in order to feed their social media habits. In my next blog post, I will discuss why agility should be a cornerstone of your marketing program.
Permalink | Tags: (best practices, Local Marketing, marketing, New Consumer, Retail)Add Comments | View Comments (0)
By: Doug Fergusson
March 29, 2010 | No Comments
The execution of large scale POP marketing programs has been a challenge for decades. Most retailers respond to these hurdles by developing extensive processes and procedures that are considered today to be the “proven” approach. While these entrenched methods may be perceived as safe, most oftentimes they are far from ideal as they have not evolved with changes in the retail environment. Are your proven approaches really the lowest risk if they harbor waste and inefficiency?
The execution of POP campaigns can be divided into several overlapping phases:
- Marketing Strategy – The practice of determining which products are of interest to consumers and how they will be sold, communicated and packaged.
- Creative Development – The process that translates the marketing strategy into graphic messages that can be published for printing or online use.
- Profiling – The process of matching specific marketing messages and POP elements to each store.
- Production – The translation of the creative work into actual POP elements.
- Fulfillment – The assembly of a group of specific POP elements that match the exact needs of a retail location into a POP “kit.”
- Shipping – The transportation of each POP kit to each retail location.
- Receipt and Installation – The receipt of the kit followed by the installation of POP elements prior to the start of the promotional campaign.
In practice, these steps tend to be chaotic and very dynamic; it is not unusual for retailers or QSRs to have hundreds of changes throughout the course of a single campaign. Meanwhile, the traditional buying practices of these companies tend to fragment these processes further as they seek to buy at the lowest price. The individual components may be at the lowest cost, but the net result is an inefficient and wasteful workflow.
Consider these opportunities:
- Speed – Based on my experience, more than half of the time consumed to execute a POP campaign is spent waiting for one party or another. What is speed-to-market worth to you?
- Cost – So much focus is placed on the per-piece cost of POP materials, and so little is placed on the total quantity ordered. Does every location require exactly the same items? What is the cost of the “extras” left over after a campaign because you are afraid to run out?
- Time and Focus – How much time does your organization spend trying to coordinate the overall process? Would that time be more valuable spent on your customers?
- Effectiveness – Do your marketing messages speak to local preferences? Are you keeping your campaigns simple just so they are easier to execute?
Consolidating the execution of multiple phases into a single qualified supplier provides the focus that is necessary to attack the inefficiencies inherent in this chaotic process. The cost and time savings that are derived can be sizeable; I have seen some companies save over 20% of the cost of their POP program by rethinking the entire process.
The consequences of something going wrong in a POP campaign can be very ugly, so it’s natural to want to hold on to your tried and true approach. However, the retail environment is changing and the opportunities for cost savings and improved speed, flexibility and effectiveness can make it worthwhile to leverage the synergy of services.
Permalink | Tags: (campaigns, marketing, POP, print fulfillment, production, profiling, QSR, Retail)Add Comments | View Comments (0)
By: Doug Fergusson
March 16, 2010 | No Comments
The “New Consumer” is generating a lot of buzz in the retail community, but who exactly are they talking about? The term is being used to describe a range of changing consumer behaviors that are the result of several trends colliding:
- Generation Y (ages 10-27) is beginning to drive retail trends
- Social media has become integral to social interaction
- The Internet is the starting and ending point for most purchases
Gen Yers are becoming influential because of their numbers (they are the offspring of Baby Boomers) and their ages (teens and twenty-somethings have incredible buying power). Because of their emerging leadership position, nearly everything they want or purchase becomes fashionable.
Gen Yers are quick adopters of technology and have made the Internet and social media a way of life. They are more likely to text someone than to call them; they use social media such as Facebook and Twitter more than email; and they spend much more time surfing the Internet than watching TV, according to Forrester’s report, “Building Gen Y’s Multichannel Media Profile.”
Many consumers now use the Internet for virtually every purchase. They research products online, often using blogs and forums for additional product information or reviews. They use the Internet to purchase products they will pick up at a brick-and-mortar store (including QSRs). And whether consumers like the product or not, many are eager to post their opinion online, influencing thousands of peers in minutes.
This different way of communicating and socializing is creating some New Consumer needs and eliminating others. It is also changing the retail game when it comes to marketing to these New Consumers. How do you respond to this changing environment? Localizing your store messaging based upon store-specific profiles is one way to speak to New Consumers.
In my next blog, I will explore some ideas about responding to New Consumers.
Permalink | Tags: (consumer behaviors, Generation Y, localizing your store messaging, New Consumer, QSRs, Retail, store-specific profiles)Add Comments | View Comments (0)
By: Doug Fergusson
February 23, 2010 | No Comments
It occurred to me that my previous posts on the subject of Local Marketing have been directed at the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of local marketing, but really didn’t address the ‘why.’ It is easy to assume that most people appreciate the value of local marketing; however, I think in reality many are far less certain.
Most local marketing activities are initiated by individual store managers or franchisees on trial and error basis to increase revenue during slow periods or increase loyalty with the local consumer. Their methods are often not ideal, and their means to measure results are limited; however, when they find something that works for them, they stick with it.
I see the rationale for local marketing falling into several distinct categories:
- Coverage: Some local marketing approaches provide an added medium for communicating with customers that aren’t covered by national campaigns (i.e. flyers handed out to local businesses or schools)
- Conditions: Local marketing provides a means to speak to specific market conditions (i.e. competitor is offering a special across the street, local high school makes the playoffs, etc.)
- Community: Local marketing enables store managers to customize the store experience to match the interest and tastes of local customers. (i.e. Spanish signage in heavily Hispanic areas, etc.)
While the first two reasons tend to be the primary drivers for campaigns, I am beginning to believe that the third may be the most important. Changing consumer interests, fed by social media trends, are leading buyers to expect a more personalized experience at the retail locations they frequent. These ‘New Consumers’ are favoring locations that have a buzz; how you create and maintain the buzz is the challenge.
In my next post, I will share ideas that I have collected about New Consumers. While much of this information offered by ‘experts’ is speculative, it does raise some interesting possibilities. And now, I’d love to hear from you—what are your thoughts on the ‘whys’ of local marketing?
If you liked this post, you may want to take a look at my commentary on Local Marketing – Setting Goals.
Permalink | Tags: (franchisees, in-store marketing, Local Marketing, marketing, media, social media)Add Comments | View Comments (0)
By: Doug Fergusson
January 26, 2010 | No Comments
I was fortunate to attend the National Retail Federation Expo in New York on January 11-12. I had not attended for a number of years so it was quite fascinating to see what has changed and what has stayed the same.
On the surface, the show continues to be a retail technology showcase; however software, not hardware, has become the centerpiece of the show. I was surprised to see that some of the same business problems that challenged retailers 20 years ago (POS automation, supply-chain management, etc.) are still a focal point of many of the solution providers. There was one clear emerging trend that appeared throughout the conference – retail is changing from being supply-chain driven to consumer focused.
Over the last 20 – 30 years, most retailers’ investment in technology and management attention has been focused on supply-chain optimization. I don’t think anyone was suggesting that this was wrong; after all, getting the right goods, to the right place, and the right time is essential to good retailing. It’s just that a lot of people are now saying the game has changed.
Consumer-centric retailing focuses first on the customer experience and then builds everything from that starting point – product/menu offering, retail environment, marketing, customer service, etc. Some think that changing this focus is necessary to respond to what is believed to be a fundamental shift in consumer motivation. The idea that many consumers, particularly active social media participants, are driven to retail more for the experience and less to buy “stuff” is very significant.
I can’t say that I have fully digested this concept and what it might mean to retail. However, it does raise some interesting ideas, some of which were mentioned at the show:
- Localization – Stores that are merchandised (product, price, signage) uniquely to reflect local consumer tastes and interests
- Pop-up retail – Portable “stores” that can be moved by truck throughout the day
- Temporary stores – Stores set up for short periods (days or weeks) in response to local market events
- Theatric spaces – Stores that have been designed as “must see” destinations with extreme art and architecture
- Dynamic environments – Retail spaces that change frequently (weekly, daily or even throughout the day) through the use of lighting and changeable graphics to create a dynamic customer experience.
- Fast fashion – New fashion delivered to stores within two weeks of concept
These trends point to a need for agility and speed in your marketing processes; I think these topics are worthy of future blogs posts. Let me know if you agree; send me your comments to blog@synqsolutions.com, and I’ll post them.
Permalink | Tags: (dynamic customer experience, dynamic environments, fast fashion, localization, marketing, National Retail Federation Expo, pop-up retail, product offering, retail environment, solutions, supply chain, technology, temporary stores, theatric spaces)Add Comments | View Comments (0)
By: Doug Fergusson
January 19, 2010 | 1 Comment
This is the final post in my Local Marketing series. I’d like to wrap things up with a few words on Execution.
In practice, I have found that many retailers and QSRs have struggled with their Local Marketing efforts because they lack the technology and workflow approach that brings together all the components needed for a successful program. These components include:
• A technology platform that is accessible to local managers and franchisees
• A process that allows field personnel to quickly and easily order store-specific marketing elements
• Marketing elements that are designed in a modular fashion and can be customized
• A print production and fulfillment provider that has a cost-effective, efficient workflow
• A funding model that takes the burden off field personnel
• Users that are educated on how and when to use local marketing tools
If any of these execution components are missing, the program’s effectiveness will be impacted. I have watched a number of well-intentioned retailers and QSRs spend a lot of time and money putting some, but not all, of the pieces in place only to find that their efforts have yielded few results. If the program is not adopted by store managers, franchisees or field marketers because the delivery system is difficult to use or doesn’t address their needs, it’s a failure of the program execution rather than a failure of Local Marketing.
Remember, an effective implementation requires planning, the right tools and an ongoing commitment to a marketing process.
Local Marketing is such an exciting topic, and I encourage you to continue the conversation. Send me your questions or comments to blog@synqsolutions.com, and I’ll post them.
Good luck with your next Local Marketing campaign!
Permalink | Tags: (execution, fulfillment, in-store marketing, Local Marketing, print production)Add Comments | View Comments (1)
By: Doug Fergusson
January 7, 2010 | No Comments
Once you’ve determined your goals, messaging and audience, you’ll want to consider how to deliver your Local Marketing to consumers. I use the term Media to broadly describe message delivery tools.
I like to divide media into two groups: (1) Off-premise and (2) On-premise. Off-premise media includes any form of message delivery that is not at the store or restaurant, such as: TV and radio ads; billboards; off-premise signage, such as bus stops; direct mail and email; text messaging; free-standing inserts (FSIs); and door hangers. On-premise media includes: window clings, menu boards, pole signs, roof banners, marquis signs, register toppers, counter mats, table-tents, flyers, brochures, bag stuffers, and any other means of displaying a message in-store.
Any of these media options can be used for national promotions (i.e. the same message everywhere), but not all are effective or practical for Local Marketing. Consider first and foremost your desired level of segmentation. For example, TV and radio ad campaigns developed for a specific market might be feasible for very large cities, but unlikely to be considered for a single store. Any of the on-premise media and some of the off-premise options like direct mail are effective for highly targeted messaging, but be sure you have the right building blocks in place to execute them:
- Location profile data
- A means to manage and leverage the data
- Messaging and graphic strategy designed for Local Marketing
- Print and fulfillment process that is capable of delivering individualized messages in the desired media form quickly and efficiently
If you don’t have all of these in place, you might want to investigate your options.
Matching the right media to the targeted audience and message can have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the campaign. For example, a table-tent might be an effective way of promoting return visits to a QSR, but is unlikely to have much effect on the size of the order of customers walking into a store. The more media options you have that are “local marketing enabled” the more likely you can deploy successful Local Marketing campaigns. Finding partners with the widest range of capabilities in an integrated delivery system can go a long way towards meeting this need.
Permalink | Tags: (localization, location, marketing)Add Comments | View Comments (0)
By: Doug Fergusson
November 17, 2009 | No Comments
Consider this: One of our customers changed all of the signage and brochures from English to Spanish-only at selected stores that were located in areas with a large Hispanic population. The change worked as those stores are now among the best performing in the nation. The lesson here is that Local Marketing works if – and only if – the messaging is relevant to the audience.
So how do you make your Local Marketing messaging relevant? I’d begin with Segmentation. In other words, what do you know about the consumers who visit each location? Is there a concentration of one or more ethnic groups? Are there certain age groups that frequent your store or restaurant? Is English a second language to a large number of your customers, and if so, what is their primary language? Are there different groups visiting at different times, such as professionals in the morning or soccer moms at lunch?
Once you collect data about current or potential customers, you can use it to build your Local Marketing campaigns. For example, if you have a large number of Hispanic customers, you may want to have Spanish or bi-lingual signs for a given location. You also may want to promote different products that meet customer preferences, such as ice tea in the south. Alternately, you might want to promote speedy service to busy professionals.
Messaging can be as involved as you would like. It can be one-dimensional, meaning that you speak to just one customer attribute (i.e. customers 18-25) or it can be multi-dimensional (i.e. professionals who are Hispanic). The specific attributes that you target and the level of complexity can change over time; I strongly recommend starting simple and evolving as you gain experience. However, make sure the technology platform that you are building upon is capable of handling more complex messaging.
The process of mapping location and customer attributes to messages can be time consuming. But once the rules are set, the ongoing effort drops significantly. Furthermore, linking data sources, such as POS databases, into the messaging process allows marketing strategies like localized pricing strategies to be implemented without significant management support. Speaking from my direct experience, the technology needed to deliver store-specific signage is surprisingly efficient and effective once it is set up.
Good luck with your Local Marketing efforts. If you’d like to share a success story or ask a question, please email me at dfergusson@synqsolutions.com and I’d be happy to share it on this blog.
Permalink | Tags: (localization, location, marketing)Add Comments | View Comments (0)
By: Doug Fergusson
September 23, 2009 | 1 Comment
Local Marketing programs are intended to get “better results,” but what exactly does that mean to you? Understanding who you are trying to reach and what behavior you are trying to influence, are critical to a successful outcome.
Think of Local Marketing as a series of “Micro-Marketing” events within a single store, where each campaign is targeted at a distinct customer interest. Once you accomplish this, you can start framing your objectives. While you can begin with a broad business target (for example, increasing store sales by X %), don’t count on that type of benchmark to get results. The program goals must be as specific as the local marketing campaigns; micro-marketing efforts require “micro-goals.” The goals must state who you are targeting (which customer attribute) and what behavior you wish to influence among these consumers. The more specific you can be about the who and the what, the more likely you will be able to implement a Local Marketing campaign that works.
How specific can you be about who you are targeting? Do you have customer attributes collected that help you identify their interests and preferences? (For example, “parents with young children” would be a much more useful attribute than just “parents” or “customers”) You may be limited in the amount of data that you have collected about your customers, but don’t worry. It takes time, patience and determination to accumulate this type of information. Just start with the data that you have and continue to build upon it.
Do you know exactly what behavior you are trying to influence? For example, are you trying to:
- Attract new customers into a store
- Entice old customers back to the store
- Motivate customers to return more frequently
- Encourage customers to spend more each visit
- Drive customers to buy specific items
- Encourage customers to say positive things about you
- Raise customer satisfaction
Once you have defined a list of specific Local Marketing goals for each store, you are ready to start the process of determining the how of Local Marketing: Messaging and Media. In my next posts, I will explore a range of strategies for getting real results.
As a final note, please keep in mind that Local Marketing is not an event, but instead is a process of defining the who, what and how of targeting the interests and preferences that drive customers to act. Developing this process into a business routine with the right tools can make your efforts easier to accomplish – and prove to be a significant competitive advantage.
Permalink | Tags: (marketing, segmentation, setting goals, targeting)Add Comments | View Comments (1)
By: Doug Fergusson
September 3, 2009 | No Comments
Store profiling is a critical part of local marketing. As you may know, store profiling is the process of collecting information about a retail location with the purpose of creating more targeted and relevant messaging.
There are an endless number of attributes that can be profiled for this purpose, such as:
- Physical Attributes – Store type (free-standing, mall, in-line), drive-thru capabilities, store size, layout type, etc.
- Merchandising Attributes – The types of signs, fixtures and sizes
- Product Offering – Details regarding specific product lines or menu offerings
- Price Points – Specific product prices by store
- Consumer Demographics
- interests
- age groups
- ethnic groups
- language
- Regional – Weather, landscape, seasonal
- Local Signage Ordinances – Laws on exterior banners, posters, yard signs and other marketing materials
- Location – Proximity to high school, hospital, office buildings, highway
Collecting this information is a gradual process. I have found that most clients have some of this information; however, the data often is scattered or incomplete. It is amazing how much information is available if you collect all the data held in spreadsheets and departmental databases throughout your organization. This data can be gathered and loaded into a location profiling database (Synq Solutions calls this process Intelligent Profiling) that can be leveraged immediately for marketing purposes. The idea that you can use the data that you already have, and then work to improve and expand the depth of your location profiling data is a key concept of successful local marketing.
Building your profile database is an evolutionary process. It is also one where you have to weigh the cost of collecting and maintaining data against the marketing benefits. For example, if you want to obtain a very accurate picture of the merchandising configuration of each of your stores, you could have a team of specialists visit each location and collect that data; however the cost of this approach could exceed $500 per location. Alternately, you could mail paper surveys or conduct telephone interviews to store managers at a much lower cost. While this approach wouldn’t be as accurate or complete, it may make the most business sense.
Demographic data on your customers can be obtained by analyzing population data from third-party sources or it can be collected through direct surveying of your customers. The trade-off between data quality and cost is the deciding factor.
I generally recommend that clients start by using the data they have or obtaining it at a low cost. Then, as you learn to use the information to build and execute effective marketing programs, the value of improving the data quality will be more than offset by the cost of collecting the information.
This evolutionary approach requires flexible tools, so make sure you have partners with capabilities that allow you to quickly adapt your profiling database to new approaches as your needs change.
I have explored the concept of Location Segmentation and the many ways that you can collect information for Profiling; however, doing any of this without a goal in mind is likely to end up with bad results. In my next post, I will talk about the goals of Local Marketing and how they can affect your approach to Segmentation and Profiling.
Permalink | Tags: (demographics, marketing, merchandising, profiling)Add Comments | View Comments (0)
By: Doug Fergusson
August 20, 2009 | No Comments
I’d like to explore the various components of Local Marketing by beginning with Segmentation. If leveraged correctly, Segmentation can open a windfall of Local Marketing opportunities for retailers.
Before I go any further though, I’d like to define Segmentation as the set of attributes that separates one consumer (or group of consumers) from another. This whole subject can become very confusing if we don’t separate the two major forms of Segmentation that are applicable in the retail world:
- Location (or Store) Segmentation refers to the collection of information about the population of consumers that might visit a particular retail location and leveraging this data to drive sales at that store.
- Consumer Segmentation refers to the collection of information about a specific individual and using that data to target messages to that person.
In this post, I’d like to focus on Location Segmentation, which is an emerging trend within the retail industry. In practice, many QSRs, fast casual restaurants and retailers still address their customers at the store level as a single, unified group of consumers with identical tastes and interests. However, they do so knowing that the consumers who visit each location are different from one site to another. They have plenty of data that supports this fact, so the question I am always asking myself is, why?
I believe these marketers perceive obstacles to executing Local Marketing programs, such as:
- How do you segment your customers?
- How do you collect data about these customers?
- How do you categorize, store and manage data on a location basis (profiling)?
- How do you leverage this data to deliver relevant messaging?
- How do you execute a Local Marketing campaign store by store?
Together these questions seem overwhelming and lead these marketers to oversimplify their marketing approach. This generally translates into a “one-size-fits-all” approach or store categorization approach (i.e. soccer-mom store, young geek store, etc.), both of which are very limiting. The key point is that Location Segmentation does not have to be one-dimensional; multiple and independent customer attributes can be collected and leveraged differently for each location.
Once marketers embrace the idea that an endless range of consumer attributes can be associated with a location, including age groups, ethnicity, product preferences, general interests, lifestyle, price points and any combination of these attributes, they can be leveraged for marketing on a store-by-store basis. As a result, some very interesting marketing possibilities will emerge.
All of the technology and processes needed to deliver store-specific messaging exist and are proven. They include:
- Online store profiling database tools (we call Intelligent Profiling),
- Dynamic page composition tools that can build store-specific POP
- Digital printing technology that makes it cost effective to print one sign
- Fulfillment processes that efficiently and quickly assemble store-specific kits of POP elements.
The only thing missing is the commitment to shift to a new way of thinking about marketing to customers. If marketers can make the leap of faith that the obstacles aren’t as big as they appear, the rest is very straightforward.
In my next blog, I will discuss how store profiling data can be used in practical Local Marketing efforts.
Permalink | Tags: (consumer, location, segmentation)Add Comments | View Comments (0)
By: Doug Fergusson
July 23, 2009 | No Comments
While I’ve heard the term “Local Marketing” used widely in our industry, there isn’t a consensus as to what it means. Generally, retail marketers define their Local Marketing initiatives based on the specific tactic they are using, such as local media advertising, local charities, store-specific promotions or direct marketing. Some organizations even have complete departments or field organizations dedicated to this purpose; however, whenever I ask about the details of these programs, I am met with wide-ranging descriptions of what constitutes Local Marketing. Almost always, these interpretations are far too limiting and ultimately, hamper the programs’ effectiveness.
I define Local Marketing as the strategy and actions that communicate to your customers in a manner, and with a message, that is relevant and meaningful based upon localized differences. The goal of Local Marketing is to drive favorable customer behavior as a result of this more targeted communication.
The key dimensions of Local Marketing are: Segmentation, Media and Messaging. Segmentation refers to how one group of customers is differentiated from another. Media refers to the form of communication to be used – local advertising, POP signage, coupons, direct marketing, etc. Messaging is what you say and how you say it in a manner that compels the targeted customers to act.
The success of any Local Marketing initiative depends on these elements working together, yet the sequence by which each is developed plays a key role in the initiative’s long-term effectiveness. Segmentation comes first, followed by Media selection, and then Messaging. A fourth dimension, Measurement, is essential to drive the growth and evolution of the Local Marketing effort.
- Segmentation identifies “who” you are targeting.
- Media selection determines “how” you will deliver your message.
- Messaging establishes “what” you are communicating.
- Measurement collects data that can be used to guide future cycles of the program.
Local Marketing programs can be initiated without complex segmentation and messaging, while using a single media type. However, these programs should be designed to support a more sophisticated, data-driven messaging system that will evolve over time.
Too many companies are failing in their Local Marketing initiatives because they start with mass-marketing tools and processes but can’t support further segmentation as the need becomes apparent. Local Marketing is not an event or a campaign, but instead should be a continual and evolving process.
In my next blog post, I will explore each of the Local Marketing dimensions, along with my thoughts about state-of-the-art of Local Marketing tools and processes.
Permalink | Tags: (direct marketing, media advertising, promotions, segmentation, store-specific, strategy)Add Comments | View Comments (0)
By: Doug Fergusson
July 10, 2009 | No Comments
Welcome to Executing Innovation, the Synq Solutions blog. This feature will be used to share ideas, answer questions and provide information about innovation in our industry. Look for updates on industry trends like cost reduction, localization and shifting marketing media. We’ll also address business problems, as well as specific uses of technology to drive solutions for your company. If you have a specific question or topic that you’d like to know more about, please email us at blog@synqsolutions.com, and we’ll try to address it in our next blog post.
We hope you will find this blog to be a valuable tool in your quest to stay informed about our industry. Our company is founded on technological innovation, and we strive to bring the latest ideas to you so that your company can save time and money on the execution of your marketing campaigns. Before you leave our site today, please visit the Synq Advantage, which explains how we use innovation in our QSR and retail solutions, as well as in the production of our training materials. We also will continue to publish new case studies and white papers. Please bookmark this blog and check back soon for our new series on Local Marketing, which we’ll begin posting next week. This series will explore the various meanings of “local marketing” and all of the issues that stand in the way of real business results.
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