Fall 2018 Hardlines Strategies

ASK THE EXPERT

What’s Your Plan? Effective Marketing Can Help Bring in More Customers, Boost Sales Y ou put a lot of time and energy toward your marketing efforts.

It’s easy to get lost in the shuffle of the different types of marketing available, especially as digital marketing continues to become more and more popular. So how can you make sure you are making the best decisions for your business? To learn more about what you can do to market your business and how Blish-Mize can help, we spoke with Jason Drury, marketing director with Blish-Mize. You want your community to know about your store, the products you sell and the services you provide.

Why is it important to put together a marketing plan?

Jason Drury (JD): It’s a good way to make sure you’re promoting the right products at the right times. Having a plan of

Are there any marketing trends retailers should know about as they create marketing campaigns? JD: Video marketing is the newest thing now. It’s quick and easy to film a 30-second clip on your phone and post it on your company’s Facebook page. You can use these clips to promote different vendors or talk about products. It’s just a quick little window into your business to let customers see what you have going on. You can do a series of videos and develop a style,

what you want to market and when is great. For example, it’s a good idea to look at upcoming holidays and products you can promote in conjunction with those holidays. I think promotions are so important for customers to look at—not just seasonally, but on the pricing side, too. Remember, if you aren’t selling something in your store, then your customers are buying it somewhere else, so it’s important to know what you should be selling and the best ways to advertise those products.

add a little humor. Post the videos regularly, and soon your customers will be waiting for the next one. How can retailers decide who should be in charge of their marketing? JD: Business owners are so busy and have so much to think about each day. It’s a good idea for them to delegate marketing to a staff member or someone who is savvy with social media, especially in this day and age, when digital marketing is so popular.

4 Fall 2018 • Hardlines Strategies