Make Your Retail Store Irresistible To Customers

We see a lot of concern and grumbling from retail store owners and other business operators complaining about business being slow and yet in many countries we also see those same business owners doing little in the way of enticing customers to come into their store and attract their attention with charming and alluring displays to pique their interest.

Here are some I love.  They are creative, they are fun and they hold promise to the customer of abundance and satisfaction for the person who walks into their space. Here are some that just call you in to see more...

Restaurant - Paris, France

Here is a restaurant that just screams that they use traditional methods of cooking and fresh ingredients. No frozen stuff whacked in the microwave here! 

High end handbag store in Rome, Italy

This life size child's antique horse is just a splendid thing to see and speaks to a time long gone, of hand made quality and artisan products that will last forever and be worth any amount of money you spend on it.

Locksmith

Ancient village shopping precinct - France

No acres of glass here. No turnstiles and no automatic doors. That sign though, says "we're here for you and this is what we do." Nothing more, nothing less. No "SALE! SALE! SALE!" signs here.

Florist beckons with a charming floral entrance 

Like a walk in a garden this florist shop even smells of freshness and beauty you can take home to make your house come alive.

Menswear Store - Rome Italy

This clothing store leaves no doubt that the winter stock is in and they have wonderful products to keep you toasty warm in the chilly months.

Supermarket peach from Sorrento, Italy

This peach, the size of a cricket ball was selected from a box of the ugliest, misshapen and odd assortment of sizes imaginable. It was delicious! A real peach. Not the perfectly standard size and shape peaches that I see in every Australian supermarket - that are hard as rock when you buy them and bruised beyond use when they ripen, and even then are flavour-less.

This peach ... I would go back to the store every day to buy more just like it. The others with no flavour but perfect in form? No thanks. See how our expectations drive our purchases. If my experience leads me to expect disappointment, I stop buying.

Produce store Sorrento Italy

Some shopkeepers don't even wait for you to come into the store - they bring the store out to you. Local produce, fresh, not kept in cold storage, turned over from the farm every day.

Shoppers want to visit stores that are interesting. That look welcoming and that provide the items to purchase that they expect to be able to get from such a store, and to have interesting things to find that are unexpected.  They want to pay a fair price for it - not more than the shop next door and they want to feel like their patronage is appreciated.

The same applies to online shopping. That old website that you had made in 2001 with the shadow text and the animated buttons? No that just won't do. Your website needs to work for customers to use the way they shop in 2013. That means that it renders easily and cleanly on smartphones and tablets as well as computers.

Action:

Look around at other businesses - not just in the same industry as yours. Which shops do you find appealing and draw you in... and what are they doing that is causing you to want to go in there? Identify that.


Take an objective look at your business as it looks through the eyes of a customer.

Get feedback on how your store is presenting.

Is it enticing to customers?
Is the footpath dirty and littered?
Are the windows clean and well laid out?
Is there anything interesting to see and pull people into the shop to look more closely?

And remember to do the same for your online website, your blog and your social media platforms.


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Pursuit Of The Idea

Can you sit down and actually bring those ideas into production? That's the skill to build.




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How To Set Goals - And Reach Them

The Dirty Secrets Business Needs To Know About Social Media

Why You Need To Build Your Mailing List And How To Do It

How To Get Your Local Business Found Online

Are you lousy at self promotion too? 



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Developing A Social Media Strategy

Update: Good strategy doesn't change just because other things in the environment change. A good social media strategy will be flexible, dynamic and fit new information into the responding appropriately as the context changes. For example, as smartphones and tablets become the favourite way to view content online, this needs to be incorporated into the strategy.


A question this week on Quora was a good one and one that deserves some attention from us all, in conducting our business activities. Here's my response.

"My company is a B2B company and we are trying to come up with a strategy around social media. I find it tough to figure out what to include and what to avoid. Are there any factors I should take in to consideration while devising a strategy?" 

I would suggest you start with a clear understanding of the social media environment and a well defined purpose (and expectation) that is realistic and achievable in the first instance.

For those who want to use social media, and those who vehemently don't want to - they need to understand enough to make an informed choice either way and to deal with the consequences of that choice. Whether one is 'using social media' or not they can be the subject of discussion on social media and managing one's reputation online is just one element of this new world.

Basics

Get these right the first time. Know what kind of Facebook page is the wrong kind to use for business. Use the right kind. Don't set up a Twitter page then fail to keep updated regularly.

Remember Your Website!

Make sure your website is optimized for search - and for the people who
will use it! - Most that I see are very poor - on both counts. (Never
mind they may have cost a lot of money from an expensive web designer).

Never, never let a stranger be in control of your business online. Get informed and get interested.


Not Just What, But How

It is important to understand the etiquette of online interaction and also the ways to leverage time and effort without putting those to whom we are connected offside. (Easy to do!)

Putting up a Facebook or Twitter Page ( and with the correct configuration and naming protocols) all need to be considered and that is just the beginning, the strategy behind this needs to support the objectives and while platforms are free to use there is always a cost in time and resources and budget need to be allocated for this purpose. Expect this and include it in your plan.


Social Media Policy

Some things to consider on creating a social media strategy:

Your social media policy - needs to be fair, realistic and training done with employees so that everyone is clear. Also needs to be in line with employment legistation so that you are not overstepping and writing in clauses that you have no right to demand. Suggest your policy begin with an intention to be open to the opportunities of social media, as well as the potential downside.

Hoary Old Myths

On the matter of Control - some employers think they can dictate all manner of things to employees and restrict their access to social media during work hours and this will keep them in control of their staff members. This is quite a silly assumption. Firstly, because you have no control now, secondly, because such an environment may just guarantee that good candidates won't want to work for you. Lastly - they can access anything they wish to via their smartphones and a combative attitude is not going to deliver a harmonious outcome that leverages the best available opportunities that new media can deliver.

Your Social Media Stategy:

• A social media policy
• A Clearly articulated purpose and vision
• Select appropriate platforms
• Allocate a budget
• Who will manage it?
• Time and resources that need to be allocated
• Which KPIs you are going to measure
• How you will measure your results
• How you will manage (an enhance) your reputation online
• How you will integrate your social media with your conventional marketing
• How thoroughly your social media activities should permeate throughout the operations of the business (Which department will handle this? Will all departments be involved?)
• Ways you can adapt social media to help you improve how customers interact with the business
• Ways that you can use social media to improve communications within the business and strengthen the team
• Managing and monitoring the plan
• Reporting - how often in what way
• Integrating platforms to allow transfer of content seamlessly, but in a regulated way (not spamming)
• Understanding that social media is not a broadcast medium! It can't be all just about YOU!
• Design for the type and quality of the content to be delivered by social media
• Who will create the content?
• What amount of content should be (can be) generated and by what frequency?
• Modes of content that can be made available - articles, blogs, ebooks, video, podcasts etc
• Integration with website

Engagement

People follow people so it is important to remember that there needs to be engagement and if multiple people contributing to the social media for the company, there is merit in these being tagged to the individual who is posting at any time. Be interesting. Be interested.


Not Just For Christmas

There is often a thought that a social media strategy is a one-off, trial kind of activity that we do. It is not set and forget and it not even a funky thing to do any more. It is become expected. If you are not visible online, for an increasing many, you just don't exist. So get accustomed to this being a new marketplace. Devise a plan that brings your existing customers along with you and if you are really smart - introduce them to those who can help you help them develop their own online presence. This is where the magic is, and this is where most fail to connect the dots.


See Also:
Check Your Website For Roadworthiness

Think Social Media Is No Use For Your Business? Think Again.

How To Get Your Local Business Noticed Online

Purpose Then Strategy - Case Study Starting Your Website


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Tying Shoe Laces Masterclass

Things are easy when you know how - but sometimes it can be tricky to get to the stage where we are able to do things automatically.

When you have children you discover there are quite a few things that present some new experiences which can take a while to be mastered. Tying shoe laces is one. Now you don't want your kids growing up to be adults who are forced into confining their footwear to just velcro fasteners or slip-on loafers so here are some ideas to help you help them get started on the right foot.

Both of these videos share a common element. They help address that issue of keeping the loops available while the rest of the process is undertaken.

This first video makes the role of the loops prominent... a good start. Maybe you can improvise something for holding the loops in place.



This second video is a bit more basic but does the job.


Test them out. These are two different strategies to accomplish the same end result.
How does your strategy that you've been using for this compare?

Action:

The real take-away lesson from this is that there are all kinds of strategies that people use for doing common tasks. Sometimes we have a great strategy that works a treat. If you have one of those for something, share it. But if you have been using strategies that aren't working so well for some things, it is great to know that you just need to find a better strategy. Maybe one that someone else might be using already, and try that. See if that gives you better results and know that you can get better at doing most anything, if you find a good strategy to use.

What's something that you wish you could do better or more elegantly?

Test yourself out and see how you can use a new strategy to master that skill at last.

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Your Business Media Hub

Did you know that the internet opens up your big chance for every business - whether you run a large corporations or a family business on Main Street, Anywhere, to present your business to customers wherever they be, either around the world or across the street if you sell to local customers.

You don't need a huge budget. You don't need a special degree. You don't even need to buy special tools. You just need to have an open mind and an attitude that puts the interests of the business over any personal inhibitions that you may have.

You do need to apply some resources to build your very own media hub.

You can add good content (information) to the internet by a range of means. First is your website. Then your social media platforms. This may be Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, YouTube, and many others. You may use all of these or just some of these, depending on the type of business you conduct.

No matter if you are a B2B business, or a B2C business. The way you carry out your strategy may differ but the basic way to develop your own businesses public relations, news desk, customer contact point, and information service for your business remains the same.

Now isn't that exciting!



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The Story Your Business Has To Tell

Yes even the most 'boring' company has a story to tell, and online is the place to tell it.

Business owners often confuse what they sell with the limit of what there is to say about their  business. That's not true but it is widely held as a belief.

The issue is not one of a business that has no story it is an issue of a lack of a creative approach to seeing the business as a customer might, and taking for granted those things that the business owner knows so well, but customers don't know.

You can't get much more boring than flour. Right?

Here's what one flour producer managed to make of their story.


What's your story?

Understanding your story is great for developing interesting marketing to capture the essence of what you do and what customer love about your business. But the secondary benefit is sometimes the main benefit. Understanding the story you have to tell, lets you understand who you want to know your story and who will care about it. This is a marker for a great customer. And getting great customers and keeping them happy is what business is all about. Whether that is online or in the street.

How can you develop your story and integrate this with your operations and marketing?

Now this is simple, but that doesn't mean it is easy. You might need some help and that's okay too.

What will you do today to make a start?

 
 Related
Develop A Strategy For Social Marketing
Check Your Website For Roadworthiness
Think Social Media Is No Use For Your Business? Think Again.
How To Get Your Local Business Noticed Online
Purpose Then Strategy - Case Study Starting Your Website
  Quick And Dirty Business Review


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Great Question!

Out of the blue today I found myself in the middle of someone else's blog. Paul Hassing writes a very nice blog over on MYOB and today the topic was on interview questions. You'll find that here .

Questions are funny things. Not all questions are equal when it comes to getting down to the nuts and bolts of why you asked the question in the first place!

So what makes a good question?

The first place to go when you want a good question to ask someone else - is yourself. What purpose is there in asking the question? What is it that you really want to know? What's important about this question? What will knowing the answer give you?

Critique Your Own Questions

• What is the purpose of the questions I will ask at this interview?
• What precisely am I looking to understand by asking these questions?
• Does this question align with that purpose?
• Does this question have a trap set in it?
• Will this question put my candidate in a position where they have to guess what I want and just tell me what I want to hear?
• Is there a better way to ask this question?
• Is there a different question that would be more useful?
• I really need to know the answer to this question because... (insert answer)
• What's my objective means of measuring the responses to the questions that I ask?

How we ask questions and the quality of our questions is just one aspect. The next hurdle is in interpreting the answers that we receive.

When you ask questions that are not concrete with measurable, quantifiable, or verifiable answers then you are out in no-man's land without a compass. You have to translate that answer into something that is meaningful for you and that can leave a wide gap between what the person meant when they responded and what you thought they meant when you heard it.



Facebook Foolish

Which brings me to another issue that is more and more a factor in hiring and that is checking Facebook and social media platforms. In the same way, the information that may surface (leaving aside legalities and ethics) is subject to interpretation. Not everything that you see online is real or true and not every situation that looks bad on social platform, tells you anything about the ability of that person to show up and perform  in an excellent manner in the specific role for which they have applied.

Indeed, the worry is that many who are vetting the sites for this information may have little or no experience of the online environment and no knowledge of how to reasonably make judgment about work suitability or competency, based on irrelevant information from a completely different non working environment.

Over time we have been reminded that 'we don't know what we don't know'. Just as tricky, is separating what we assume we know, from what we just think we know.

Ask yourself if you really have done enough to know your questions are the best ones to get you the information you want to know and that this is information that you also need to know.  Make sure you are not asking a bunch of questions that don't further your purpose while failing to ask the questions that really do matter.

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