IT
MARKETING FOR MERCHANTS 101 With digital marketing spend in the UK growing to £35.84 billion in
2022, Charlotte Jewell of
MarketingForMerchants.co.uk considers why independent merchants seem to be reluctant to embrace their “digital branch”
W
hat was your favourite television program as a child? Bill and Ben? The Clangers, or maybe the Wombles? My
personal favourite was Barney the Dinosaur and then, in later years, Dexter’s Laboratory. If you’re old enough to remember these, then you’ll remember the days of the printed Yellow Pages and the Free Ad’s newspaper. You probably still get the odd leaflet drop through the letterbox, but remember when the floor would be carpeted in glossy advertising material every morning (and straight into the bin thereafter)?
Digital Demand
Although we’ve moved on from a lot of traditional marketing tactics, Trade Journal and Hobby & Leisure Magazine advertising still features strongly in 2023. This is because they have so much more to offer the consumer than just adverts. They contain relevant news, help, analysis and guides aimed at their audience’s wants and needs.
However, even these publications are supported by a digital equivalent. Better for the consumer as they can be read anywhere and shared with friends and colleagues, better for the journal and the advertisers as it increases the audience reach, and better all round for satisfying the digital consumption requirements of most of the UK population.
These magazines also embrace social media to reach their customers, because they know that around 84% of us (that’s 57 million people) use social media for an hour or two a day. That’s a 10% increase in the last 5 years. And there’s been a 34% increase in online sales since 2008 – interestingly, those of pensionable age were the biggest growth sector.
It’s not news though, is it? Anyone with an IQ greater than their shoe size knows it’s a digital world, or if not, soon will be. So given this fact, why do so many smaller independent companies spend a disproportionately low amount, in time and money, in the digital arena?
Your Online Branch
The customer’s need for immediate access to materials for tomorrow’s job, or the “social nature” of meeting liked minded trade for a bacon sandwich, mug of tea and a discount have made the merchant industry a slower converter to the online shopping world. Note – slower not static.
You may have already taken the leap into the world of eCommerce but have seen a disappointing level of accounts signing up. There’s a myriad of reasons why an eCommerce site in the building trade may succeed or fail. It could be a poorly designed site, the wrong product set, the fact that the merchant does not have the logistics, nationally or locally, to support it or that the site hasn’t been promoted well.
However, whilst eCommerce is a slower burn for the merchant, surely, a no brainer, especially if you have a fair share of smaller jobbing builders and trade, is to have a customer portal where the client, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week can self-serve their copy invoices, statements, pay off their account and check their product prices for quotations they are producing that night? As a “digital expense” the customer portal not only increases a service level but also helps with reducing your administration, plus provides the perfect draw for clients to visit your website, see what open days you have on, view your special offers and read the latest company news.
Give Them What They Seek If you haven’t yet invested in eCommerce, but your company “brochure” website features the typical half dozen pages with contact details, about us, meet the team and pictures of your branches, then who can blame your client for only visiting it once (or maybe twice if they forget your phone number or email address)?
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Using the example of the trade journals and hobbyist publications - if you want a regular audience, then give them what they seek. Give them product usage guides, promotions, customer portals, local (and local is key for the independent merchants) relevant news articles and case studies.
In its own right, your website should be useful enough to your customer that they keep coming back for more, and attractive, informative and user friendly enough to encourage new prospects to get in touch. But this brand-new mobile-friendly, beautiful and engaging website simply will not be found by your customers unless you make it easy to do so, and proactively promote it. There are many ways to promote your website, but they generally fall under two headings; Inbound Marketing (bringing customers to you) and Outbound Marketing (reaching out to them).
From experience, most merchants have a handle on Outbound Marketing. You already have your website URL on your company stationery, your email footer and on your trucks and vans. So today we’ll focus on Inbound Marketing:
Inbound Marketing
Put simply, this is all about attracting your customers to your website or social media pages, with the ultimate goal of having them contact you in one way or another. It means making your website easy to find, and full of the type of information your ideal customer is looking for.
This is a “slow but steady wins the race” strategy and requires consistency and planning. But it pays off – inbound marketing
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net April 2023
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