Helping brands sell more requires constant evolution as consumers, customers, sectors and channels change. A big part of getting products noticed lies in actively engaging your consumer. Today, getting the right brand message to the end buyer is critical to drive sales, not to mention ensuring you reach consumers in the most engaging way possible!
From focusing on the most value adding sales activities to being in the optimum place to sell at the right time, what does your brand need to know to engage consumers? We’ve highlighted some key areas that you should be considering in your strategy. Let’s explore some of the common challenges and solutions for brands looking to increase consumer engagement…
3 common challenges brands experience engaging consumers:
- Driving awareness of your product
- Selling to or engaging directly with consumers
- Increasing brand advocacy and organic social influencing for repeat purchases
Engaging consumers really comes down to a few actions that centre around putting your brand in the best position to capture the hearts and minds of your audience. Let’s explore your options on the best way to engage your consumers…
Successfully engage consumers with these easy-to-action solutions
Most brands probably sell their products through retail outlets but how do you guarantee retailers are ready to sell on your behalf when you’re not there? By turning retail colleagues into advocates of your brand, you will ensure that they not only have the training, knowledge and confidence to sell your product, but that they will actively promote it over your competitors. Retailer training and advocacy programmes can be carried out 1:1 or in groups in store and online via digital platforms, making it easier than ever to regularly educate store colleagues on your brand.
Direct to consumer sales or sign up teams may give you the instant results you need, wherever your consumers are. That might be in retail stores, in high traffic areas like high streets, train stations or shopping centres, garden centres or workplaces.
Another great way to engage consumers is with a dedicated brand ambassador team. This team can represent your brand in promotional campaigns, events and sampling activities. Creating theatre around your brand is a great way to maximise sales opportunities during product launches or seasonal peaks.
Or if you need longer term sales support you can also employ teams to staff your retail stores or stalls, ensuring that you have the best on-brand representation.
However, the first step is setting your strategy and picking the right combination of support to achieve your goals. The easiest way to do this may be to partner with an agency who can offer you the best advice and knowledge based on their deep understanding of the markets and channels you operate it. And if that partner can also be flexible enough to adapt to market conditions as and required you’re winning!
Lindsay Hey, Customer Development Director for our McCurrach agency runs teams who have a direct hand in engaging consumers and delivering results for brand clients. She shares two top tips for nailing consumer engagement that guarantee you’ll capture attention and secure the right people to support your brand. She comments,
“Engaging consumers is all about keeping it fresh, exciting and relevant to them. Too many brand messages turn into wallpaper really quickly. You have to capture people's attention and work hard to keep that messaging fresh and exciting. When tackling consumer engagement, you need to pick the right partners within your chosen retail space. Whether that's creative agencies or field agencies like us that can adapt really quickly and are willing to try new things. A lot of our brand clients have been really pleased about the way that we can turn on activity at the drop of a hat because of how agile our teams are - whether they need to rethink structure or objectives. We have the resource to support brands as and when required with a variety of services on offer to engage consumers. We love a challenge and wouldn't ever be really comfortable if we didn't have a pipeline of new challenges in the plan.”
To learn more about how we can support you to engage consumers through direct to consumer sales and sign up teams, brand ambassador teams, sampling activities and events management or staffing follow us on LinkedIn throughout the week as we continue to explore consumer engagement and how brands can overcome common challenges. Get the answers you need to ensure your products remain visible, exciting and most importantly, engaging to the consumers you want to target to increase your sales!
From getting the right mix of permanent and agile teams in place, to support with engaging consumers, our Group of Sales and Marketing agencies are ready to help your brand thrive in every key retail sector.
Talk to us to find out more: https://www.weareavidity.com/contact
