Marketing Sherpa recently published a story detailing how a Canadian grocer implemented User-Generated Content (UGC) to increase online activity and offline sales.
It got us thinking about the various ways video from Free IQ could be utilized in a retail store or business lobby environment, in addition to the traditional email and web posting applications.
Loblaws, Inc, the grocer, was looking for an innovative way to express that they valued what their customers were saying, specifically regarding their President's Choice private-label product lines. The solution was a program that would leverage customer reviews by deploying the user content in stores and creating a unique branding experience around the products.
By joining a membership, club customers would have the authority to submit ratings and reviews online. Positive reviews were then posted in-store when highly rated products were scheduled to go on sale. The signage was dubbed "shelf talk." Remember, they took plain text from the web site and associated it with a point of purchase sales opportunity.
What they found was that sales for products receiving "shelf talk" increased. As the program continued to grow, the stores flourished and the website usage increased as well.
You can get more details about the case study on the the Marketing Sherpa site.
On one hand, this seems pretty fundamental. On the other hand, imagine if these ideas were converted to video. What kind of an impact would that have on a consumer? Wouldn't the Free IQ system easily enable a store owner or business person to present testimonials to already engaged consumers?
Consider these fundamental thoughts for a moment:
All it would take is a laptop, or a computer and a monitor or TV to make a great impression
Production value isn't the key, it's the trustworthy consumer delivering a product-specific testimonial that matters
Free IQ is a no-cost solution (except for a little time to put it together)
Imagine these scenerios:
A dentist has a video with testimonials about a new whitening procedure and plays it in the waiting room
A local nursery plays a testimonial about a unique lawn seed that was introduced last year and was a huge hit
A retail tire store video explains safety enhancements about a specific tire they recommend - that's on sale
So you may be thinking "I don't have a retail store, what's this got to do with me"?
Here's what: If retail stores, with terrific face to face customer relations, are using UGC to help close the deal, and you are in a business that doesn't have a face to face relationship with your customers, you're crazy to not be using it.
Retail stores have so many advantages. They can influence the consumer with the smell of fresh flowers, or soothing music spilling down over the shopping environment, or a friendly, smiling store representative to engage in enjoyable conversation. To them, UGC, and video in particular, is an accessory. To you, it's a necessity.
The key is that there is already an engaged consumer. The question is how do you most effectively get your message across. For your website and email customer relationships, UGC (and video in particular) is imperitive. It is your face to face. And Free IQ can help provide a no-cost, easy to implement solution - It is a powerful message delivery system.
And the content can be re-purposed. The beauty of the system is that you can take that same video player you use in a point of purchase sales arena, and include it in an email to your customer list, and include it on your company web site or blog.... and why not include a coupon or other incentive? And don't forget to run some PPC back to your content for active online users looking to become engaged consumers!
See how many options there are if you just take a step back from all of the tradition marketing avenues you've probably fallen into a rut utilizing?
And isn't this really an extension of something we already know?
Video included within sales letters increases sales - we know that.
How else may video be implemented in the future to increase business?
This is getting fun - glad you're on board!
Challenge yourself this weekend as you enjoy the holiday with some down time.... imagine how you might implement content and testimonials by utilizing the functionality offered within Free IQ. And consider how your business can go to another level if you just step outside of your marketing comfort zone and look for new opportunities to distribute your message.
