Strategy

3 Ways to Attract People to Your Store Using Digital Advertising

Millie D'Arcangelo

Copywriter at The Next Ad.

July 10, 2019

With the rise of e-commerce and online shopping, local stores are gradually being left behind. Yet, there are tons of benefits that customers get from brick-and-mortar shops, such as personalised attention, seeing the product for themselves, and high credibility. So, how do you encourage customers to drop by your business, make a purchase, and consider it for the next time? Here, digital advertising always comes in handy.

Digital advertising allows marketers to drive people to their physical stores provided they employ the correct strategy. Of course, your business’s approach to online marketing depends on several variables, such as the company’s objective, products/services offered, and so on.

However, we do have some best practices for encouraging foot visits to your local store. Among those, you can make use of Facebook Ads, Google’s Search Engine Optimisation and Keyword system, and other social media and online strategies. You can either choose one or consider all of them, knowing that, together, they will empower your business.

1. Facebook Ads: Reach people, so they reach you.

Defining your goal: Campaign Settings

If your business has a presence on Facebook, and your objective is to drive foot visits to your brick-and-mortar shop, Facebook Ads is an excellent option to consider. In this case, reaching potential customers will be your main objective. By showing your ads to the maximum amount of people, you’ll increase the chance they drop by your physical store.

Because Traffic campaigns are usually destined for websites or webshops, the best option at your disposal is a Reach campaign. Reach campaigns are a great way of controlling how many people in your audience see your ads, which maximises your delivery.

On The Next Ad, when you’re in the Campaign settings, you’ll have the possibility to edit Dayparting. If your campaign works based on a lifetime budget, Dayparting will be highly useful to control the days of the week and times your ads are shown on. If you choose Run ads on a schedule, you’ll get an overview of the days of the week and specific timespans. But why this tool, then? Considering you aim to drive people to your store, Dayparting will allow you to optimise ads during store open hours. For example, if your store is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on all days but Sundays, you can choose to show your ads during those times.

Creating your audience: Ad set Settings

We’ve already gone through Campaign settings. Now it’s time to select your audiences.

Let’s say you’ve got a female clothing store in London. London is a massive city with hectic activity every day and night, and it’s even more astounding if we consider Greater London. Yet, not only are Londoners the most significant part of the population, but also travellers! Thousands of tourists visit London every day, and they’re not there just to visit, but also to purchase.

When you want to drive foot visits to your store, travellers will be something you’ll want to consider—especially when talking about clothing. That’s when you’ll need to create an Open Targeting audience. Choose your preferred age range, gender, and interests; for example, 15 to 30-year-old females interested in fashion and makeup.

Yet, the most essential part of Open Targeting audiences is Location targeting. Here, you’ll be able to choose which potential customers you want to target based on their location. In the case of clothing stores, the most advisable strategy is to select People who live in this location and People travelling to this location. Furthermore, don’t forget to include a radius if you don’t just want to stick to a specific area.

Design your adverts: Ad Settings

Finally, you’ll proceed to create your ads. For a store, recommended ad types are link, video, or carousel. The most important part here is that you include a Call To Action button such as Learn more, to encourage your audience to interact with your advertisement. By reaching people with the right ads, in the end, they’ll reach you.

2. Google Ads: A good store is easy to find.

Have you ever searched a term on Google and suddenly come across sponsored messages? If so, then you’ve already noticed Google has its own method of advertising. With Google Ads, your clothing store will be on top of the list when people search for specific Keywords. These you select when creating a campaign on Google Ads, before going on to the Ads setup.

As mentioned in the previous section, Reach is the best way of driving foot visits to your store. On Google, the objective available for this is Brand awareness and reach. Precisely like on Facebook, you’ll be able to target people based on their location, and also edit Dayparting.

Search Engine Optimisation is Google Ads’ added value. Through this optimisation, your website is boosted so that it’s highly visible on Google Search. When potential customers search for specific keywords on the web such as female clothing, they’ll add words such as near me, or in London. Of course, they’ll want to drop by a store which is close to their location.

This is why location-based keywords are highly recommended. By adding these, the chances your target audience finds the right place will increase. If you want people to visit your store, it needs to be easily found.

We’re soon launching a tool which will enable you to create and publish Google Ad campaigns easily. This new application will help you to automatically create Ads and optimise them during the lifetime of the campaign. Would you like to be the first one to know about the accessibility of this tool? Brilliant, subscribe here!

3. Social Media and Online Strategies: It's the Internet that logs onto you.

We’ve already mentioned two different methods of paid digital advertising. However, we all know that organic content (i.e. unpaid publications), is of the utmost importance as well. There are several strategies you can turn to that will help increase your online presence. Let’s go through some of them.

Location on Google Maps

Nowadays, not only do we use a GPS to be given directions, but also to find specific stores near us. Creating a location for your business increases the chances you’ll be found on the Internet. In this case, Google Maps is an excellent way of creating a short, to-the-point summary of your store. Include eye-catching pictures, a precise address, regular and irregular open hours, and a link to your website. In the blink of an eye, your daily visits will have skyrocketed.

Presence on Social Media

Being active on social networks such as Instagram will increase audience engagement. Posting news about the business, running contests (Tag to win or Like to win), or holding events will make your (potential) customers more compelled to visit your store. A final tip: if you’ve decided to run a contest on social media, then you can tell your audience they’ll need to pick up the prize at the store. This is similar to the Click-and-Collect strategy. Not only will it drive foot traffic, but it will also increase sales.

Furthermore, keeping an eye out for engagement is also vital. Continually checking what your audience says about your company (likes, reactions, and comments) can offer you a great insight on how to improve your business. Through a community management platform such as Media Injection, you can easily interact with your target group. Curious about Media Injection? Click here to learn more.

Eye-catching website

Creating an appealing website with subtle colours and fonts will potentially generate interest among your audience. Add specific and detailed information about your website (maybe connect it to Google Maps as well), and, if you feel it might help, build an online catalogue. Furthermore, you can offer discounts that are only redeemable if done personally. For example, Get 50% Off Today By Redeeming This Coupon at our Store.

All systems go. You’re good and ready.

Knowing that digital advertising can be of great use when marketing your business, you can either opt for organic content, paid content, or both. Facebook and Google Ads will always be valuable for your business, but they won’t fully work unless you support them with good-quality organic content. After all, you’ll need to reach, attract, and finally drive your audience to the store. Would you like more advice on the best online marketing strategies? Subscribe to our newsletter below!