Promotional Windows: Merchandising in the 21st Century
Remember the good old days when your merchandising consisted of making sure your product lines were fully stocked and attractively displayed in your dealers’ retail stores? While retail presence is still important to many brands, there’s a whole new kind of merchandising going on nowadays—online. Increasingly, customers are using the Internet to decide what they’re going to purchase and where, and this isn’t just true of online shoppers. In fact, since 2008 a clear majority of consumers seeking to purchase goods and services locally used Internet search engines to research products and find the websites of local retailers. Just like merchandising in a brick-and-mortar store, you want your brand displayed prominently and your products well represented online. Promotional windows make it simpler than ever to achieve great exposure on your dealers’ websites, driving sales and building your brand’s profile.
Most of your dealers probably have some sort of web presence, but the quality of their websites and engagement with their online audience likely varies widely. Some of your dealers may have slick, expensive-looking websites that are updated daily, while others have little more than a landing page with an address and phone number. Some dealers offer a little information about their physical store, while some feature a large online catalog of products they sell. This diversity of sites offers a challenge to any brand hoping to stand out amongst its competition. Any good merchandiser knows the key to driving sales is to rise above the rest, so how is it possible to elevate your brand equally on such a wide array of websites?
Promotional windows have solved this problem by offering a way you can build attractive, feature-rich advertisements to be featured on your dealers’ existing websites, but are designed and maintained entirely by you. In the past, many companies would use simple banner or text advertisements for their promotions. These worked well for driving sales, but required updating all of the websites in their dealer networks every time a minor site change to a ad, promotion or product information had to be made. The great thing about these windows however, is that you control them centrally! Your dealer simply inserts a single line of code into their website. Then, whenever you make changes, they’re automatically updated across your network with no need to contact your individual publishers. Talk about convenience! You’ll notice earlier I said “feature-rich.” No, I’m not talking about flashing lights or spinning logos. Promotional windows offer a wide-range of incredibly useful functionality, and can be easily tailored to engage potential customers quickly and reliably. You can make your window do just about anything; some of the more popular functions include video, slideshows, promotional deals and social media connection links. You could even offer a rotating “deal of the day.” Using these tools, your brand can elevate itself to the forefront of your individual dealers’ websites while engaging with their local market on a meaningful level.
The goal of using these advertisements is to convert your dealers’ web traffic into store traffic, and ultimately sales. In competitive markets where there are many dealers offering similarly positioned products, it’s especially important for your brand to connect with the audience through your dealers. This is one reason it helps to get creative. It’s possible to use your windows to elicit a response from consumers that will engage them on a level above simply viewing your ad. One creative technique might be to offer a printable voucher or coupon within your window that customers can redeem at the local dealer. This creates a level of commitment with the customer that can drive sales in the real world. After all, you might have the nicest looking advertisements around, but if they never convert viewers into customers, they can’t be counted as a success. Your dealers will love these windows as well. By offering an attractive, engaging advertisement designed to bring potential customers into their physical location, you’ll be driving their sales as well. In addition, the simplicity of inserting a single line of code into their websites that never has to be updated is sure to excite them.
Promotional windows are just one aspect of a digital marketing platform. Implementing a digital platform offers many other benefits as well, and solves the classic problems inherent in communicating with a large network of dealers and building your brand on a national level. The use of digital marketing platforms is on the rise as more and more companies realize it’s the best way to engage a national audience through a diverse dealer network while retaining brand cohesion.
