Tips for Breaking Through the Consumer Retail Static

The world of retail has been going through massive technological disruptions and seems to be constantly evolving. As a part of this, competition across all industries seems to be more cutthroat than ever before, and under performing retail businesses close every day.

Conversely, consumers are much more desensitized to marketing efforts and frequently tune them out. Over 50% of consumers report that it is easy to ignore ads and it is so instinctual, that even toddlers have been found to skip ads when they can. Cutting through this static to gain attention can be a challenge, although there are strategies to increase your effectiveness.

The Importance of Differentiation

The only way to truly stand out from competitors is to differentiate your brand. While most retailers already believe that they have the best customer experiences and services, over half of shoppers feel that they are failing in their delivery across channels.

Understanding this disconnect is the key to differentiating your brand and getting a let up on your competitors. A successful marketing strategy for differentiation can include several strategies.

Embrace Change

Changes in retail management strategy, technology, marketing efforts, and consumer preferences mark today’s retail landscape. This change is inevitable – and those who embrace it will be far more likely to thrive than those who resist.

Some of the biggest names in retail in past years are now finding that they are in a trend of closing stores, much of which can be attributed to an inability to change their sales strategy to meet today’s market. These names include Payless, RadioShack, Sears, and JCPenney, among others.

Understand Your Brand

Knowing your brand, and then creating a message, or story, around it, can create a powerful emotional connection to the consumer and the general public. As a pioneer in brand storytelling, Nike perfectly embodies how successful this strategy can be. Their ads have never been about selling something. Since 1999, with their Michael Jordan campaign, their story has been focused on connecting with consumers – and it has paid off hugely. Their name and tagline are among the most recognized brands in the world.

Understand Your Customer

To truly connect with an audience, you have to define them and then try to understand how your product can fit into their lives. While it can be worthwhile to appeal to a broad audience, it’s a good idea to keep in mind who your actual consumers are. And when developing advertising, you need to go beyond the surface level questions of how they are buying and what they are buying to find out why they are motivated.

This is vital in creating lasting impressions.

Follow the Data

Data science is essential to the entire process of your marketing strategy. It is the only way to find out the reality of what consumers are doing and why they are doing it. There is often a huge disparity in anticipated action and actual actions. The only way to determine how well your strategy is working is to look at the data and use it to inform any changes.

The retail industry has never been as competitive as it is now, and the reality is that brands have to find effective ways to differentiate their product or service from their competitors or they simply won’t survive.

Those who continue to pay attention to market changes and fine-tune their strategy in order to effectively deliver their messages have a far greater chance of profitability today than those who do not!