LITTLE
BOOK OF
INSPIRATION
Hello, At Suburbia Studios, we’re privileged to spend our days working on incredible projects for shopping centres across the country. We have a passion for creativity that helps our clients “get shoppers,” and meet or surpass their goals. That’s why we began Shoppertunity.com—a blog to share some of our expertise and learning. We’re delighted at how quickly it has grown and attracted a loyal following. This is a tiny sample of some of the most popular posts from Shoppertunity.com! Our hope is that you will find a little gem of inspiration here, and visit Shoppertunity.com for a lot more inspiration. Enjoy!
Jacquie Arnatt Partner, GM Suburbia
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The Next Big Job in Shopping Centre Marketing: Fashion & Lifestyle Editor
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R
edefining how Marketing Directors look at their
role will be key to maximizing the effectiveness of shopping centre marketing. It’s a time of tremendous change in the world of shopping centre marketing, and one of the biggest changes that we see is in the role of Marketing Directors. In the past, a key part of this role involved developing and implementing seasonal campaigns using a mix of traditional media, public relations and event marketing to help meet objectives. For many, the process was predictable and included a standard mix of spring, back to school, fall and Christmas campaigns, supported with smaller seasonal promotions and sales.
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H
owever, the world of digital has forced this role and approach to change dramatically.
Marketing Directors need to think more and more like fashion and lifestyle editors! Shopping centre marketing is increasingly about publishing great content—content that is relevant, valuable, credible and ultimately, inspiring. After all, at the end of the day, every Marketing Director wants to attract more shoppers, more often—particularly from those that are most valued. We highly recommend reading Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman’s book, Content Rules. While everyone has heard that content is king, very few Marketing Directors are sure where to start. This book is rich with ideas and explores what we think are key considerations: start with a content audit, develop a content strategy and then strive to differentiate your content. Here are some key points.
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ONE
TWO
Establish clear content objectives.
Understand your target including demographics, psychographics, technographics, and their wants and needs.
THREE
F O UR
Establish a desired action from the target after engaging with your content.
Identify messages and themes that are most likely to help make that action happen.
F IV E
SIX
Determine what can be “re-imagined” from existing content and/or broken into smaller snack-like pieces. Breaking things apart is key.
Identify the “gaps” of information or stories that are needed.
SEV E N
EI G H T
Determine the ideal digital channel to communicate information: i.e. Tweet, blog, video, podcast, Facebook, Pinterest, apps and so on.
Weave things together with a master “editorial calendar.”
N IN E
T EN
Create a publishing schedule taking into account what you will do daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly.
Consider what metrics you will evaluate—the authors provide many ideas including online mentions, views, subscribers, likes, degree of engagement, downloads—the list goes on.
As you begin to embrace this thinking, your creativity and confidence will flourish. Shopping centre marketing plans everywhere will soon be rewritten as content strategies, and a new generation of editors will emerge.
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WAYS TO
EVALUATE YOUR SHOPPING CENTRE’S
MARKETING IDEAS
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WHEN WE LOOK AT CREATIVE, we rely on 6 questions—with the acronym RETAIL—to help us evaluate creative and marketing ideas quickly and confidently. Why does this matter? If you are like many shopping centre Marketing Directors, you are probably in the midst of meeting with your agency or creative department to review ideas and creative elements for your next campaign. It can be an exciting, but scary, process. You brief the team on your objectives and target, you stay in touch and answer questions along the way, and you think you have a good sense of how things will unfold. You are excited: the big day arrives and the work is unveiled. Your mind is swirling. You like parts of what you see, but other ideas are not working. You want to provide feedback that is clear, actionable and that keeps the team motivated. It’s at this point you may want to apply RETAIL to ensure everyone involved is using the same criteria when reviewing ideas. It’s not an exhaustive list of considerations, but it’s a great start. Using the RETAIL acronym, here are six key ways to evaluate ideas:
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R is for Relevance. Relevance is about making sure the creative reflects an idea that is important to the target—will the target care about the idea and what you are saying?
E is for Easy to understand. You should be able to “get” the idea quickly and easily. It should be simple. If you have to work at it, something’s wrong.
T is for Truth. The statement or claim being made in the idea should be credible and believable coming from your shopping centre. Consumers will only be disappointed if you cannot deliver what you are promising.
A is for Achievable. Is the idea achievable with the resources available? Do you have the budget, time and manpower necessary to deliver the idea in its best form? A great idea poorly executed quickly becomes a bad idea.
I is for Insight. Does the idea reflect something true about the target? There should be a “moment of knowing” when the target feels that you understand her in a special way—that you “get her.”
L is for Legs. Does the idea have legs? Is it an idea that can walk, run and jump—an idea that will work across mediums including social media? Integrated ideas typically have a greater chance at creating momentum and impact over a longer period of time. Use RETAIL to evaluate ideas and provide feedback; it will help you make decisions and provide feedback to your team with greater confidence.
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ARE YOU
READY FOR A REBRAND? H E R E ’ S O U R C H EC KL IST. Given that most shopping centre rebranding initiatives require a significant resource commitment, shopping centre marketers should ask themselves and their team members the following questions to help evaluate their situation and make an informed decision.
1. Has the vision of the shopping centre changed in such a way that it is disconnected from the branding?
2. Has or will a redevelopment initiative significantly affect the centre’s current positioning, branding strategy and targets?
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3. Has or will the replacement of some existing stores with newer, more popular brands significantly affect who shops at your shopping centre?
4.
Does the leasing team find the current brand strategy effective in helping to secure
desired retailers to the shopping centre?
5. Do you have a brand strategy in place that is understood and supported by all employees of the shopping centre?
6. Does your current brand strategy differentiate your shopping centre from the competitive set? 7. Is the point of difference in your shopping centre’s brand strategy relevant or important to your key target—will they care?
8. Is your shopping centre’s brand strategy expressed in a way that is fresh and compelling— will it get noticed for the right reasons?
9. Is your current brand strategy credible and believable among your shopping centre’s leadership, employees and, of course, your target? Does your shopping centre truly deliver upon its brand promise?
10. Does your shopping centre’s brand strategy lead to communications, promotions and initiatives that meet your objectives? Your answers to these questions will provide clues as to whether you need a new branding strategy and creative approach, or whether your current brand strategy is on target, but needs to be re-expressed to strengthen its relevance to the market. Either way, there is no doubt that in an increasingly competitive retail landscape, shopping centre marketers will need to do everything possible to help distinguish their shopping centre and strengthen its relevance to shoppers.
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For more insight on how to increase sales and t r aff ic t o y o u r shopping centre, and for a little inspiration, we invite you to visit Shoppertunity.com 21
VICTORIA OFFICE Mary-Lynn Bellamy-Willms CEO & Creative Director 590 Beaver Lake Road RR3 Victoria, BC, Canada V9E 2J7 T
250.744.1231 EXT 228
F
250.744.1232
marylynn@suburbiastudios.com
VANCOUVER OFFICE Virginia Boggie Partner, Director of Client Services 1633 3rd Avenue West Vancouver BC V6J 1K1 T
604.428.6414
virginia@suburbiastudios.com
BLOG Shoppertunity.com