Spring 2022 - 90

RETAIL OPERATIONS
GROWING A MARKETING
PLAN ON A BUDGET
A measurable plan can help identify areas to
improve and focus on what is making money
BY SHANNON POWELL RODOCKER
Contributing Writer
A
nyone working in retail knows how important it
is to closely watch budgets and profit margins.
Marketing can be a major factor in the overall
business equation that will make or break your ongoing
success.
Based on my experience in working with a variety of
thrifty clients over the past decade, I have curated a simple
set of rules to help maximize marketing dollars. Here are
the top lessons learned in a decade-long quest to offer
inventive ways to do more with less.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
I always tell my clients I would rather see them do
one thing exceptionally well than participate in several
marketing activities at a mediocre level.
A website, Google My Business profile and a business
page on at least one social media outlet are considered
a must for businesses to maintain a digital storefront.
Beyond that, you can really create your own rules.
When building an integrated marketing plan, think
through the ways to repurpose content across all marketing
platforms. If you are creating a direct-mail campaign,
make sure to use the same elements in your e-newsletter,
social media, website and in-store displays. Also consider
taking your
top-performing social media posts and
repurpose them by sending out weekly, bi-weekly or
monthly emails. The key is to be consistent.
STREAMLINED BRANDING
Remember, less is more in branding 99% of the time.
A brand book with guidelines outlining the look, feel and
tone of your brand is recommended. When building your
brand, there are a few basic rules to help you focus on the
bigger picture: professionally designed logo, a brand color
palette and a set of fonts to be used for consistency.
FOCUS ON WHAT IS MAKING YOU MONEY
Track how much each marketing element is costing
you and which items are leading to sales. Every piece of
marketing you create should be trackable. For example,
use different coupon codes for mailed or digital campaigns
and for each marketing channel. Pick the winners and
invest more money in those! The goal is to bring in more
sales than you are spending on marketing.
Learn more about our Gift Shop®
Plus contributors on page 12.
Visit the online version of this article at www.giftshopmag.com to see more tips on this topic.
90 SPRING 2022 GIFT SHOP® PLUS
HAVE A MEASURABLE PLAN
You don't need a fancy plan, it can be a simple outline
in a spreadsheet, but it should outline all the marketing
activities you need to accomplish on a monthly basis and
tie those activities to both your marketing budget and
measurable goals. A plan keeps you accountable.
Include line items for website, e-marketing, social
media, digital ads, direct mail, billboards, public relations,
events and telemarketing (text or voice) activities to start.
Each business typically has its own custom items to add to
this list. Remember to build in ways to measure the results
of each item.
INEXPENSIVE RESOURCES FOR MARKETING SUCCESS
Utilize Canva.com, an inexpensive resource, to help
get your brand profile set up. The site has a user-friendly,
professional account option for around $10/month that can
help you create images, flyers, signage, videos and more.
Other sites like Fiverr.com or DesignCrowd.com can
help with your logo design at extremely affordable prices.
You can also contact your local university's marketing
department. Often these departments like to provide
students real-world marketing case studies, and you may
be able to benefit from this.

http://www.Canva.com http://www.Fiverr.com http://www.DesignCrowd.com http://www.giftshopmag.com

Spring 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Spring 2022