E-commerce created a retail evolution, but digital marketing has created an advertising revolution. Retail advertising in the past was newspaper and catalog print based. This type of advertising is most suitable for item/price sales. However, today people prefer to get their information via video which means print is out; T.V. and the Internet are the new preferred media. This has opened the world of digital marketing that goes way beyond an item/price message and presents a new stronger message of brand/image.
“If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door.” This is the common adaptation of words attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson in The Atlanta Constitution newspaper in 1882. But that’s not how things work. If you invent a better mousetrap, you will need to identify your target market of people with a mouse problem, clearly understand their problem, identify the best way to make contact with them, educate them on how this new mousetrap will solve their problem, show them how the new product is superior to all others on the market, and make sure, in the process, that they clearly understand you have their best interest at heart. Having accomplished all that, you will then need to go back to the drawing board and work on the next improvement to your new mousetrap. When you’ve completed that task, you’ll need to start the communication process all over again.
The goal is not just to sell a mousetrap today but to become the trusted source for solving all mouse problems forever. This requires building trust and rapport with the customer through enlightened marketing. Today the retailer must clearly identify and define its own unique,sustainable, compelling, competitive advantage. Next this advantage must be turned into a story that is true, emotionally engaging, and believable. The marketing guru, Seth Godwin stated that: “People do not buy goods and services, they buy relations, stories, and magic.
If advertising is an expense the goal is to sell more products this weekend. If advertising is an investment the goal is to change customers loyalty forever. If advertising is an expense the primary media will be print. If advertising is an investment, the media will be video based on T.V. and the Internet. If advertising is an expense, the message will be “Sale”. If advertising is an investment the message will be “Trust”. It is the trust relationship that builds brand loyalty. Retailers must not hold on to past advertising strategies like a security blanket, but rather embrace the new digital world.