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December 9, 2019 By pauline B Leave a Comment

3 Facebook Live Tips to Drive Last Minute Shoppers In

Christmas is 2 weeks away đŸ˜± and, for some, that means one thing: It’s time to START shopping! The good news? While these last-minute customers might be stressed out, you have the chance to save the day. Stores are about to get slammed with crazed consumers, so I want to give you 3 Facebook Live tips that will have them running to your store.

Consider the following before you hit the Live button…

Meet them where they are.
Join their (stressed out) internal dialog. They know they’re behind the holiday 8-ball here. Let them know it’s ok. Hit Live and supportively say, “Hey, if you’re stressed out only a couple weeks to check gifts off your list, spent hours scrolling and adding to your Amazon cart, and still have little to show for it, I’ve got you and I’ve made it super simple.”

Limit options.
Give only 3-5 gift idea suggestions. Don’t overwhelm customers by listing every item you have in-store. Fewer options mean fewer decisions for the customer to make – it’s science. Pick your top 3 selling items (or top 3 items you need to move) and share a few simple reasons why they are the perfect gift.

Make it simple.
Give them the price and the how, when, and where they can buy it. Period, done. If you can gift wrap it to save them time, great. If you can set it aside with a simple comment on the Live video or post, even better. Whatever you can do to make it a simple no brainer, do it.

That’s it! Three simple tips to help your stressed-out, last-minute holiday shoppers take note of (and action on!) your Live and run into your store. 😁

Psst
 Before you go, are you more of a Buddy the Elf or the Grinch? Let me know in a comment below.

via GIPHY

Filed Under: Facebook, News and Updates Tagged With: facebook live, facebook live tips, holiday marketing for retailers, holiday marketing tips, holiday video marketing, market your store with facebook live, sell products with facebook live

December 2, 2019 By Pauline Leave a Comment

3 Tips to Drive Sales This Holiday

Happy December! One month to go and then we’re on to the next decade! Phew. Are you ready?!

Before we ring in the New Year, let’s make sure your cash register is ringing this holiday season. Here are 3 of my favorite tips to help!

  1. Post a Story on Instagram each day. Ok, ok
 Before you think I’m crazy for asking you to post to Instagram every single day during hectic December, listen up. Posting an IG Story can take you just one minute or less. Truly. Your Story doesn’t need to be super professional or polished. Just be you and share something your audience would enjoy seeing. I recommend setting a reminder alarm each day to jump on your store’s Instagram account to talk about one item you’re loving, that’s hot/trending this holiday season or, if running low on something, to create FOMO about. When posting, add your store location sticker (from Story’s Stickers section) and a hashtag sticker of your local area (for ex: #carlsbadca). Boom that’s it! Watch the daily exposure of the awesome gift items you have this holiday season.
  2. Create one video a week on Facebook. If you personally use Facebook, you know that Facebook loves video because they’re always showing video posts. Get into your customers’ feed this December by making a quick video each week. Just one! Similar to your IG Stories, you can share trending items, one-of-a-kinds, top product picks for the week, staff picks or maybe even your own weekly themed event like Wine Wednesday. These videos should be direct, connect with your perfect customer, and feature YOU! If you’re afraid to hit record or even stand in front of the camera, I want you to know you’re not alone! Many retailers feel this way. I encourage you to do it anyway. 😊 And once you do, will you share it with me?! My team and I would love to see your video (and be your biggest cheerleader)!
  3. Promote an Event or Sale with Ads. There’s a good chance you have an event and/or promotion happening this month. If so, I want you to create a Facebook Event Page with the details. Then, create 1-3 simple Instagram Stories with the event details, saving them to your phone. Next, advertise the Event Page and Instagram Stories using Ads Manager to these audiences:
    • Your Likes
    • Your Email List*
    • A Lookalike of your Likes*
    • A Lookalike of your Email List*

This tip might be confusing if you’ve never run ads before. Don’t let it overwhelm you. You can create a quick, engaging video to share the event or sale details and Boost the event on Facebook, and/or Promote on Instagram (depending on what platform you use; advertise on both if you use both). I’d use at least $25 to promote. Then put “Contact the Crystal Media team” on your calendar to either teach you Ads or completely take it off your plate in 2020! It should be a part of your daily strategy.

* You need to set this audience up first if you haven’t done so already.

Ok, now it’s your turn. Pick one item from the above and take action! My team and I are wishing you a very happy and successful December!  

 

Filed Under: Holiday Marketing, News and Updates Tagged With: holiday advertising, Holiday Marketing, holiday marketing tips, holiday video marketing, instagram stories, retail videos, social media holiday marketing tips

November 25, 2019 By Madeline Goode Leave a Comment

Stories are the New Form of Window Shopping

Gone are the days of consumers lackadaisically peeking into stores for gift inspo. Shoppers, especially during the holiday season, are demanding more convenient and seamless shopping experiences. While global eCommerce continues to grow, brick-and-mortar retail stores continue to thrive as consumers still purchase in store for two main reasons: to see products in person and for the emotional benefits. That being said, before going into stores, people are looking for gift ideas on social media. We’ve been talking about the significance of Stories, so if you’ve been waiting to get started, now’s the time!

Facebook’s 2019 Holiday Marketing Guide outlines some key statistics to keep in mind during your holiday marketing planning:

  • 69% of people find Stories on Facebook and Instagram to be a great way to discover and become familiar with new products or services.
  • 62% of people become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in Stories.
  • More than a third of Millenials and parents said videos created by social media influencers helped them choose what to buy.
  • 48% of global holiday shoppers message businesses to find out more details about a product.
  • 43% of global holiday shoppers message businesses to purchase a product.

Stories present a huge opportunity for your business, so make sure you’re utilizing them. Below are some Stories best practices to help keep your business at the top of the consumer’s mind:

  • Post to your Story at least once a day to make sure you’re staying in front of your customer. Use location and hashtag stickers to increase your discoverability.
  • Stories can (and should) be more authentic, organic, and unpolished. Try “behind the scenes” and Live content. People love to see the “human” side of your business and it will help build a connection.
  • Use Stories to showcase what you have going on in the store- post products, limited-quantity items, and event or sale info. Around the holidays, suggest gift ideas to get your followers thinking about your business for their holiday shopping.

Most importantly, have fun with it! Stories are a great tool to connect with your followers. Posting consistent, relevant content will help keep your followers engaged with your business so that come holiday gift-buying time, they turn to you! Share in the comments how you utilize Stories!

Filed Under: Holiday Marketing, News and Updates Tagged With: boost holiday sales, Holiday Marketing Content, holiday marketing for retailers, instagram stories, social media holiday marketing tips, what should you post on instagram stories

November 19, 2019 By Erika Castorena Leave a Comment

Why Brick and Mortars Are Losing Out If They’re Not Paying Attention to Online Search

We could bore you all day with stats about how important online search is.

But take it away from stats for a minute and think about it on a personal level. When was the last time you looked up a product or a business on your phone? Maybe you were looking for a specific product or for dinner recommendations or a new takeout coffee spot.

Whatever it was, you did exactly what millions of people do every single day.

You looked up information about a local business. You did your research. You found a store that had the product, you booked a dinner reservation, or you ordered coffee from a café because you liked the photos of the storefront on Google Maps.

This is exactly why brick and mortars are losing out if they’re not paying enough attention to online search.

Why online search matters for brick and mortar stores

If you don’t do e-commerce, it’s very easy to dismiss online search. After all, SEO is confusing, right? So why waste all the time and energy figuring it or running digital ads or paying someone to do it when you already have too much to do?

Well, for one: how customers shop has changed.

Only a decade ago customers didn’t have nearly as much choice. They went to a mall or local stores and bought what they wanted. If they wanted information or recommendations, they’d talk to friends or staff. Which is exactly what customers still do – except on a massive scale. The internet is the great connector.

Customers can go online to find better deals or faster deliveries. They can take to Twitter or Facebook or search engines to look up reviews or product information.

Now, they don’t need you anymore. If you don’t have what they want or if they can find it cheaper somewhere else, they can get it online or use their phone to find somewhere that has it.

Before, that wasn’t an option.

Now, you need to play to that.

Remember those stats we mentioned early?

Well, Google’s Global Retail Insights Survey found some interesting things:

  • 36% of online searchers wish retailers would do a better job of sharing product inventory information.
  • 45% said that they go to the store instead of buying online when they want something quickly.

It’s pretty clear why this matters to brick and mortar stores: not doing online search means you’re losing out on customers – which means you’re losing out on revenue.

Which means running your store gets that bit harder – and being an independent retailer is hard enough already without making it even more difficult!

In short, brick and mortars need to work on online search because it:

  • Helps customers find information they’re looking for.
  • Creates new traffic for your website – which can lead to new customers in your store.
  • Makes you look more credible. With more people than ever using their devices to find store information, having a website helps enormously in building trust.
  • Creates a better experience for customers.
  • Gives customers a new way to find you.

When you look at it like that, why wouldn’t brick and mortar retailers consider improving their online search presence?

So how should retailers reach customers with online search?

While in-store marketing is super important, it becomes even more powerful if you get more people in your store.

Makes sense, of course!

So what tactics should you use? Two stand out.

1. Search engine optimization for brick and mortar stores

Search engine optimization (SEO) helps your store get found online – which is to say: it helps more potential customers find you.

SEO can be complicated, but it’s often sold by experts as being more complicated than it is so that businesses will hand over their hard-earned cash.

The big thing you’ll want to rank for is ‘[your type of store] near me’. Ideally, you’d also want your products to turn up in search too, though that can be difficult and time-consuming – especially if you have thousands of products.

Search engine optimization breaks into three main types:

  • Technical SEO.
  • On-page SEO.
  • Off-site SEO.

Technical SEO can, as the name suggests, be quite technical – it involves URL structuring, how pages link, and site structure. Most brick and mortar stores won’t need to get into this side of it.

Instead, on-site SEO and off-site SEO should be your calling cards.

You want to use SEO to tell Google and search engines like it what you do and who are so that it knows to show you in relevant search results. At the very basics, your website should have a homepage with information on who you are and what you do, as well as an ‘about’ page.

You’ll also want to make sure that you have certain keywords – words people look up – appearing in important parts of your site: in meta descriptions, in title tags, and more. If you’re not sure how to do this, ask whoever developed your website.

Having a blog is super-useful for improving your on-site SEO if you blog about topics relevant to your industry. It helps Google to see that you know what you’re talking about, and gives potential customers more ways to find you. Plus, it gives you more things to talk about on social media.

Off-site SEO includes tactics that aren’t on your actual site but that helps people find you – so for example, using social media or paying for advertising that sends traffic to your site.

If you want to know more about SEO, start with this blog:

  • SEO 101: 11 tips you need to know to optimize your site – Search Engine Watch.

2. Get your products and store online

One of the hardest things for retailers – especially if they don’t do e-commerce – is getting all their products online.

Finding photos, information, and descriptions can be very, very time-consuming, especially if you have thousands of products.

Up-to-date product information is a big missing step for a lot of retailers. Think about it: have you ever looked up a certain product near you only to be shown an Amazon result or a product that doesn’t say if it’s actually in the store?

Tools like Pointy join the dots for retailers as it shows up-to-date stock information on a Pointy page – an online storefront that shows the store’s products, stock levels, and directions to the store. All a retailer has to do is connect Pointy to their POS and scan their products as normal.

Brick and mortar retailers should also set up a Google My Business profile. This is a free Google tool that create a profile on Google and Google Maps to show valuable store information like opening hours, contact details and more.

Of course, it’s also useful to ask customers to leave a review on Google as more reviews shows that the store is trustworthy and helps with appearing higher in search.

Online search is a potentially huge avenue for retailers to reach new customers. Other digital tactics like social media are still very important but the big bonus of online search is that it has intent: if someone is searching for “bookstore near me” or “bbq grill California”, they’re probably thinking about buying a book or a BBQ.

It just becomes a question of do they see you or a competitor in the search results?

While figuring out the basics of SEO and improving your online presence can be a big learning curve, it’s super worth it for brick and mortar retailers who are looking to reach a new audience.

 

This blog was written by Lisa Sills. Lisa is a content strategist at Pointy. She’s passionate about the world of digital, books, and all things retail. When she’s not in world, you’ll find her cycling, traveling or curating her cat’s Instagram.

Filed Under: News and Updates Tagged With: how to show up in search results, local search, online search, show up in google searches

November 18, 2019 By Jess Austin Leave a Comment

Use FB Live For Game-Changing Small Business Saturday Results

Launched less than 10 years ago, Small Business Saturday is now a full-blown movement. It encourages people to shop locally, gives a boost to holiday sales, and connects your community. As you and your business prepare for the big day, make sure social media is an integral part of your strategy. I want to pass along one easy tip to take your SBS social to the next level: Facebook LIVE!

Going live increases Reach and Engagement, and produces great content that lives on after it is live. It’s an easy way to connect directly with your Followers and share what is happening in your business and at your store. We know it can be intimidating to go Live, but we promise it’s worth it. All you need is your phone (and decent lighting!). Here are some good times to hit that little red button:

👉 The Night Before: Walk through the store showing new products, products part of a special SBS promo or sale, or Event activities (food? drinks? giveaways?).

👉 During: Broadcast throughout the day highlighting must-have products, engaged customers, or fun Event happenings. 

👉 After: Hop on Live to say thanks to everyone who attended and what SBS means to you and your business.

Just as you connect with your physical community on SBS, take the opportunity to extend that connection to your social following as well.

**Pro Tip: You can pre-schedule some of the “Lives” (such as the Before video), using Facebook Premiere. After you upload your video and add pertinent info, choose Premiere instead of Publish Now!

Filed Under: Facebook, News and Updates Tagged With: facebook live, how a retail would use facebook live, market your store with facebook live, small business saturday, small business saturday tips, stand out on Small Business Saturday

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