As a retail store owner, you know the importance of having a consistent flow of new clients. Marketing is your most important tool in achieving this goal.
But what good does marketing do if you don’t have a positive brand image?
This is where public relations come in.
What Are Public Relations?
Public relations (PR) are a vital component of any marketing strategy. Its different types include:
- Public Affairs
- Internal Communication
- Community Relations
- Crisis Communication
- Social Media
- Strategic Communications
PR allows you to get your brand name in the good graces of people who might need to know its presence. Unlike marketing, PR focuses on building up your company’s image to gain credibility. When you do this, you gain the trust of prospects, leading to sales and loyalty.
Knowing this, it’s important to take advantage of it, especially in your business’s early stages. This way, you establish yourself as a reliable entity in your community, gaining more foot traffic and generating more revenue.
Four Ways To Use PR In Retail
The following are four of the ways you can use PR for your retail store:
- Protect Brand Reputation With Press Releases
Every business relies on a positive image as it helps maintain customer trust.
There are multiple instances where a company suffers a serious rollback from a damaged reputation. For example, they may have sold a defective batch of products that caused harm to a large number of people. If this concern becomes viral, it might generate negative buzz around your retail store, putting your overall quality in question.
As such, you’ll have to mitigate the damage to your reputation alongside making settlements. Press releases are the smart way to do this. They function as official statements you can send to keep stories from blowing out of proportion. They also reassure customers that you’re staying on top of the situation.
In this case, press releases provide opportunities to update consumers about the ongoing investigation of the product defect. In doing so, you assure all stakeholders that you’re working on resolving the issue.
When you partner with a PR agency in London or another city, you can easily produce press releases that balance your presentation of facts well. They’re a worthy investment for the long term.
- Establish Yourself As An Industry Leader
Being a leader in your industry means having credibility. People are more likely to trust businesses that strive to be legitimate authorities in their surrounding community.
With public relations, you can make yourself a reliable figure in your locale. That includes writing blog posts on useful topics for your audiences, such as ‘how-to’ guides for new consumers.
Suppose you’re operating a pharmaceutical store. You should try publishing articles comparing various brands of painkillers. Or you can create primers on how commonly bought medicines affect the body and their side effects.
- Attract Foot Traffic By Hosting Community Events
As you already know, foot traffic is vital for your brick-and-mortar store. The more people walk into your establishment, the more likely you make sales.
If you want to increase store traffic, PR is the way. For instance, consider organizing community events. These include health fairs where residents can learn about maintaining good health. Another way to do this is through sale events where you can offer product discounts in your store.
If you can’t finance your event, why not set up booths at local trade shows? You can bring your most popular retail products and give away free merchandise.
Additionally, you may use quick-response (QR) codes to get people to your store. Add the link to Google Maps. Then, when event participants scan it, it directs them to the location of your business.Â
- Create Buzz Through Social Media
Social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok are now the go-to platforms for modern brands. You can reach millions of users through these outlets with your brand story in just a few minutes.
Imagine creating a campaign around your retail store, and it goes viral. That’s a powerful way to gain more visibility for your company.
However, since social media is accessible to all businesses, other brands are also doing it. The secret to getting ahead? Consider partnering with influencers. While some also use this strategy, only a few can pull this off with a lack of resources. But a person with a hundred thousand to a million subscribers can do wonders for your brand.
Picture the following scenario: you’re running a contest on Facebook, and the hosts are two popular influencers. When you announce this on your page, this doesn’t only entice your existing followers. Even the subscribers of those influencers might take part while keeping up with their idols. As a result, this campaign gets significant online exposure for your store.
Summing It Up
Merging marketing with PR creates a positive shift for your retail business. If you’re able to develop a successful PR campaign, you generate more engagement from leads. Aside from that, you maintain a positive brand reputation through thick and thin.
Consider investing in good PR today.
