How to Make Your Beverage Store Stand Out Online
It’s no secret that the craft beer revolution in America is growing exponentially, with the number of new craft breweries and craft beer production overall steadily increasing each year. Likewise, wine sales have also increased, albeit on a smaller scale. Consumer interest in beer and wine is also the driving force of an increase in the beer and wine retail sales, in both brick-and-mortar and online stores.
But competition among beverage retailers has also increased, and store owners must find new ways to capture their share of the target market and gain an edge over their competitors. Sounds costly and time consuming, right? Not always. There are many different retail marketing strategies you can utilize to achieve this, some of them costing very little or no money, yet yielding big results.
1. Use the Power of Pictures to Market Your Store and Your Products
Consider this: When people hear or read information, most only remember about 10% of it after a few days. But when that information is coupled with a relevant image, that percentage of retention climbs to a whopping 65%! The old adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words” is proven time and time again on the internet.
Showcase your store and your products with images that are enticing and informative—you know that the creative craft beer labels and names capture attention and cause consumers to try something new. Likewise for wine, a name or a familiar, comforting, or exciting label can turn interest into sales.
Let consumers see exactly what they are buying and sales are bound to increase.
2. Help Google Find Your Website With Basic SEO
If you think you’ve built a great-looking website, and provided all the pictures and information needed about the products you have for sale, it still might not matter without search engine optimization (SEO). This is a technical term used to describe the keywords used on your website that enable search engines like Google or Bing to find your site and present it to consumers.
Anytime you enter a few keywords or a question or phrase into a search engine, you receive a list of results. The results are based on relevancy by the search engines, which make their decisions based on the keywords and key phrases used on the websites. That’s SEO in action, and it’s critically important as part of your retail marketing strategy.
Without a strong knowledge of SEO, it’s a task best left to web development companies that specialize in digital marketing services. SEO professionals have the knowledge and expertise to take a website that isn’t performing well or bringing in customers, and turn it into something that helps potential customers find your site before they find your competitors’.
3. Utilize Social Media Platforms to Reach and Expand Your Audience
If you aren’t already using at least one social media platform to market your store and products, then shame on you! Using social media doesn’t have to be difficult, and it costs you nothing but a little time. The key to growing and retaining a strong following on social media is to engage your audience, not just post a series of advertisements. Post interesting content, let your audience know about new product arrivals, discuss industry news, and again, be sure to use pictures to increase post retention. Being consistent, responsive, and fresh is key.
Facebook and Twitter are ideal resources to implement a digital marketing strategy that not only drives consumer traffic to your website, but also helps increase recognition and store loyalty.
Web development companies can certainly help you develop and launch a well-rounded digital marketing campaign to make your beverage store stand out online, but you should be starting with the above first to have a foothold in the digital marketplace.
Sources:
https://www.statista.com/topics/1806/craft-beer-in-the-us/
https://lizthachmw.com/2016/02/06/state-of-the-us-wine-industry-in-2016-trends-and-statistics/
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/24-eye-popping-seo-statistics/42665/
http://growingsocialmedia.com/social-media-facts-and-statistics-for-2016/