Gaining local customers can be difficult for both new or established grocery stores, especially when those customers have to be won from the competition. Awareness of your brand is key, especially if you are a new business or expanding. You need potential customers to think of your grocery store first as they leave the house with a shopping list in hand.
Digital advertising is an efficient option for stores large and small, especially if you are still building a full online presence. There are many options for the form of digital ads you can run, but they all have one thing in common: you can target them based on geography and demographics to get the most out of your budget and reach the people most important to your business.
There are two common misconceptions when it comes to digital advertising; the first is that you need a massive budget, and the second is that you have to do everything.
While you do need to set aside some budget for digital advertising, you don’t need thousands a month. Start small and test ads to see the results and raise your budget accordingly. Doing so can help you learn what works and what doesn’t work before investing more money.
It’s better to focus a limited budget into one form of digital advertising than multiple channels. It’s ok to only advertise on Facebook, or in Google searches. Focus on the channels you know are relevant to your audience.
Relevance is key to effective digital advertising. Geographic targeting allows you to only show your ads to a given location, zip code or an area you’ve chosen around your store. You should be focusing your digital advertising on the local geographies that make the most sense. Focus on quick drives since many shoppers expect convenience and want a fast trip.
If you know your best type of customers, you can further target your ads by using their demographics. For example, if you know that most of your customers are 34-55 years old, you can focus your advertising based on those parameters. By doing so, you are getting the most value out of your budget and increasing the chance of winning new customers by showing them relevant content. You’re also ignoring those that aren’t likely to become customers.
If at all possible, you should be targeting both geographically and demographically to create the most relevant audience for your ads possible. This helps you create content that better speaks to their needs and is more likely to convert them to customers.
One of the hardest parts of starting digital advertising is choosing which channel makes the most sense for you. Below, we break down some of the most common channels we recommend:
Tip: Each channel offers guides and instructions on how to use each platform. Utilize these to get started and navigate through best practices if you aren’t working with a marketing partner.
Once you’ve picked your digital advertising channel, it’s time to create the content for the ads, whether that’s the ad copy or a fully designed banner ad. If you don’t have the support staff to write or design ads, some of your vendors may offer marketing support.
When creating content, these are a few easy categories of content.
It’s important to make sure that you watch the analytics and results that come back from your ads. You can track what’s effective and being seen through any channel you choose. However, this won’t always give you a full picture of who takes action based on seeing your ad.
One easy way to find out if your ads are leading to customers is to have your cashiers ask how the customer heard of your business. Another is to run a deal with coupon or code unique to your digital ad, and whenever it’s redeemed, you know exactly where they came from.
Focusing on digital advertising offers efficient ways to spend a limited budget that reaches the audience most relevant to you. Raising awareness means more potential customers will stop by your store, and becoming more competitive with big box grocery stores, but the efforts do take time. Be patient, focus on testing content and find the right channel for you.