Is your wellness department a destination in your community for the hottest products and most informed staff? Do you wish your wellness department numbers were a bit stronger? Either way, marketing is an important asset to support the success of your wellness department.
Marketing encompasses in-store, digital, and out-of-store tactics to ensure your shoppers and potential customers know about what you have to offer. We're going to do a quick round-up of different tactics that can help drive traffic to your wellness department, grow sales, and build customer trust in your store, brand, and staff.
Hotspots to Spotlight
Staff expertise: Does your staff complete training and continuing education? How many years of service are on your team? It’s impactful to share these stories with your audience.
New items: When you bring in new items, it’s important to let your shoppers know! Posting a quick video unpacking an order to social media or using signage to call out new items will help guide and encourage shoppers to try a new product offering.
Staff picks/favorites: While you can’t always be in the aisles singing the praises of your favorite items, using staff favorites (both online and in-store) can help an indecisive shopper choose between two similar products.
Trending items/ingredients: There have always been trends in wellness, from the seasonal rush for immune support as the temperatures drop to sun and bug products ramping up during the summer. With influencers and social media trends, things can go viral in an instant. We’ve seen it with sea moss gel, Celtic sea salt, chlorophyll, and magnesium. If you have a finger on the pulse of these trends, you’ll be in a better position to keep the products in stock and ride that viral wave to increased sales.
Sales & Promotions: Consumers won’t know about the great deals you have in your department unless you’re diligently marketing them. Visible signage, creative and appealing merchandising with off-shelf displays, and making sure sales—especially when you have the best price in town—make it to your digital marketing channels will help your shoppers snag the best deals while they last!
Events & Sampling: Sampling doesn’t have to be complicated. Invite brokers and local brands to come for an hour or two on a Saturday to educate shoppers about their products. These low-lift activations expose shoppers to products, and they are the perfect topic to share in-store and online ahead of time to drum up attendance.
Get the word out!
Website: If your store website has department-specific content, what does it say about your wellness offerings? It might be time to update the description!
Signage: While we’d love to be in the aisle helping customers 100% of the time, it’s not always possible. One way to serve your shoppers while you're off the sales floor is wayfinding signage within the wellness department. If your supplements are organized by structure/function, calling out categories and subcategories will help shoppers find what they’re looking for and maybe even introduce them to a category they weren’t aware of!
Social Media: Social media is a great place to jump on trends (Sleepy Girl mocktail, anyone?), let your audience know about seasonal needs, and tell the story about your department’s differentiators. Make sure you communicate with the person who manages your social media accounts about content suggestions to make the most of this marketing channel.
Public Relations: You may think of Public Relations or “PR” as a marketing tactic you need a big firm to do for you. But it can be as simple as keeping a list of local reporters from the newspaper or news station and sending over ideas for stories. Events, seasonal health tips, and fun trends are all topics that may be of interest to your local media.
Events & Education: Hosting events, in-person or online, can be a valuable way to connect directly to your audience. Bringing in subject matter experts or highlighting the ones you already have on staff will give shoppers a reason to come into the store and trust your wellness department as a source of knowledge. Make-and-take aromatherapy classes and informative lectures have been successful ways to draw foot traffic.
Are you touching on these topics in your marketing? Does your marketing content calendar address wellness topics across these channels and more? If not, that just means you have lots of opportunities to take your marketing to the next level!
If you have questions or want support in making these marketing opportunities a reality in your wellness department, reach out to your Member Business Advisor, or Sarah Super, INFRA Wellness Strategist, at ssuper@infretailers.com.
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