Creating A Memorable Brand: 4 Tips For Retailers
With the retail market being as competitive as it is today, separating yourself from the competition becomes even more important.
You have to develop a strong brand that customers recognize and can connect with in order to appear distinct and valuable.
Branding is an important part of your retail strategy. It goes beyond having a logo and a recognizable tagline too. Branding involves everything from customer experience to leaving the right aftertaste, and these 5 tips will help you create a memorable brand right away.
Engage First
Engaging your customers is one of the best ways to build a memorable brand. The emphasis here isn’t on the engagement on its own, but rather on how you engage the customers while they spend time in your retail space.
You want to allow customers to shop comfortably, but you also want to make sure that they can get the help they need at any point. This means greeting the customer in a unique and friendly way but then taking a step back to give them enough room.
The last thing you want is to annoy customers by following them around. While this may work for some retailers, the majority of customers don’t really like being followed around when they are just browsing.
Craft Your In-Store Experience
This brings us to the next tip: in-store experience matters. The way customers browse through your products is just as important as other elements of your brand. Your in-store experience is what will differentiate you from the competitors.
Have you noticed how Starbucks always present a consistent in-store experience? People can always enter a Starbucks outlet – anywhere in the world – and order a cup of coffee in a convenient way. The familiarity is one of the reasons why Starbucks has a memorable brand. Even with a single store, you can create a similar level of consistency and context in your in-store experience. Focus on making sure that all customers are treated correctly and in a consistent manner and you will have a recognizable in-store experience in no time.
Tell A Story
All good brands tell a strong story. For retailers, the best way to tell a story is through the layout of the store and the products you choose to display. Visual merchandising is alive and well as one of the best ways to tell your brand’s story. Rather than using a bland display or leaving your window display untreated, use the opportunity to attract and engage customers directly. You are doing more than just selling products; you are sparking interest and telling a story that best represents your brand.
A window display is only the beginning. Other parts of the store, including the exterior, the store’s layout, the interior design, and the brand elements you add to the retail space, must tell the same story in order to keep customers engaged.
Go Beyond
In-store branding is important, but your branding efforts must extend beyond the boundaries of your retail space. Utilize other instruments to stay at the top of your customers’ minds. A crossover digital marketing campaign or a valuable newsletter will go a long way. For instance, you can run an online campaign that ties well with in-store promotions, such as asking customers to tell their shopping stories and rewarding them with vouchers or free gifts. You can get customers involved in new product design through online channels too.
The combination of online marketing and a well-crafted in-store experience will elevate your brand to the next level. When you combine this last tip with the other tips and tricks we discussed in this article, creating a memorable brand becomes an easy task to complete.
