You’ve got your location. Now it’s time to build your brand& boost retail business

With the rush to HME retail to shore up revenues lost to reimbursement cuts, you may be considering opening a new store or expanding your retail products area. Whatever route you take to retail, building your brand, community visibility and customer patronage are tantamount to success.

Retailing is simple, but hard. First, your target audience needs to be aware of your store. Second, consumers need reasons to visit and purchase. Third, they require satisfaction to return.

Your “brand” is your total customer experience — the name recognition and the unique attributes about your company that appeal to potential customers. It includes a number of elements: your name, logo, reputation, service, selection and price, advertising and history. When someone talks about your store, what will they say? What are the critical elements to building retail patronage?

Don’t expect to “open and they will come.” You must proactively plan your brand presentation strategies and communication. And the combination of tools and tactics you use to build your visibility and boost retail business should be specific to your company’s goals, target audience, competitive situation, creativity and budget.

As always, however, consult your legal advisor on new marketing programs if your company serves Medicare beneficiaries.

Start with the Basics

The company name, mission and positioning you’ve defined in your business plan are the first steps in building your brand. Think about who your customers are (or who you want them to be), their demographics, interests, issues and lifestyles. Make certain you have differentiated your business mission and your market position.

In other words, what do you uniquely provide your target audience? Are you family-owned? Clinically based? Disease management specialists and trainers? Do you focus on mobility? Women’s health? Is your company a full-line HME? Pharmacy with orthotics and custom fittings? Are you a discounter? This core position helps shape your image: the feel of the store, color theme, product mix, pricing, promotion and service.

Turn your positioning statement into a single sentence or short phrase to clarify your firm’s unique market stance, and use it in your messaging and communication. One provider uses the tag “Our family understands your home care needs.” This tagline is now a successful jingle in the company’s cable television ads and communicates its position as a longtime, family-owned, concerned home health care firm.

Promote with a Marketing Tool Kit

Every HME retail business will use a different combination of marketing tools and tactics to get to its target audience. Study your competition’s strategy — their product mix, service and shopping experience — then strike out on your own.

Remember that people need to hear about you many, many times before they take action. That’s why doing one print ad or one direct mail piece does not bring in business. You must use a variety of tools to gain recognition, and track what is the most effective.

Investigate the range and prices of marketing elements that can be used to execute your strategy. Network and talk to other retailers about what’s worked for them. Get references from non-competing businesses on printers, direct mail firms, newspapers, in-store decorations, etc., and identify the methods that can work every advertising dollar harder.

Consider the following components you can use to build your brand, community visibility and retail customers, then lay out a simple marketing plan after you have assessed various means, their potential impact and costs.

• Business Card and Brochure Both of these everyday tools should be given to every contact: on calls to referral sources, in college training classes, with deliveries, in mailers and invoices, in the store, at fairs and educational events, to employee families, vendors, media contacts and more. You can even adhere the business card to a magnetic strip as a giveaway for customers’ refrigerators. Your brochure should be available as a PDF on your store’s Web site, and available to e-mail.
• Grand Opening/Celebration Start your marketing plan in advance of the actual event, and make sure your staff, your store and displays are ready. Direct mail the event announcement to your entire database of contacts, including all referral sources. Plan on advertising the festivities at a minimum in the local paper and on your local radio station, and place posters in assisted living facilities, community centers and other appropriate venues. Put up signs, and use the parking lot for special displays (check with your landlord). Don’t limit your grand opening to a week or month. Plan special activities for a few days or have a grand opening week, but promote for a longer period — as long as you think it will bring a return. Work with vendors on cooperative advertising funds, along with product consideration for raffles, literature, newsletter content, sales rep and promotion support, in-store planograms, Web links, plug-ins and more.
• Advertising and Promotion The launch or expansion of a retail store without developing an advertising plan leaves a crucial step out of retailing. Health care organizations generally spend 4 to 5 percent of sales on advertising and promotion. But it could take more for a new store opening in order to carve out a market position. If you are a small retailer, try to manage the advertising yourself, as agencies will take a commission of up to 15 percent. In the long run, it is best that you know and understand your local media. As your business grows, then consider outside help.
• Yellow Pages Yellow pages advertising has been the traditional first stop for home care companies, but it can be very expensive in many markets. While some providers have decreased their yellow pages space, others maintain that with the right ad and adjunct digital ad, this is still an important new business source for retail stores.
• Print Advertising Assess what your target audiences are reading. Print ads in specialized newsletters or community papers may be more effective than advertising in larger metropolitan papers. Look through the high-circulation papers available in your market. What ads stand out? What is your offer — what can you solve for the reader? Many papers have special sections, regional sections or supplements. Others offer regional zone delivery with the ability to insert a flyer or attach a Post-it. One provider inserted a flyer a month for regional zone delivery featuring different promotions and information. Keep in mind that one newspaper ad alone does not constitute advertising. Frequency, on-target message and on-target media are required.
• Radio Advertising Depending on your market, radio advertising can be a strong medium. Ask your customers what stations they listen to. Ask the station rep about other advertisers with audiences similar to the demographics you want. Again, it takes a while for radio to sink in. Repetition, repetition. You need to make a commitment for duration. Rates are always negotiable, so deal. To measure sales impact, make an offer only available on the radio. Talk radio shows are excellent vehicles; have the host do your ad at the end of the show.
• Direct Mail Through newsletters, offers, invitations and promotion, direct mail can target an audience with personal, focused messages. Direct mail will typically support a strategy that includes other elements. For instance, you can direct mail and Evite referral sources to your grand opening.

Use direct mail judiciously and fashion the message appropriately. Target mailings to customers and prospects that include information, education or a call to action. Consider methods such as including inserts in billings or using postcards for single-message communication.

Take Your Message Further

There is nothing like seeing and experiencing the power of your retail brand. The closer you get to communicating the actual in-store experience, however, the more expensive.

• Cable/Television Many growing retailers build sales momentum using other tools before committing precious ad dollars to television. But as you become more comfortable with your brand-building strategy and tool kit successes — and as competition for retail business heats up — you may want to explore TV. For network spots, consider using a media buyer or service. For cable advertising, you should be able to work directly with the cable company. Have a clear concept of your strategy, what you want to accomplish with your ads and your communication messages. The cable company can produce the ads and will work with you to achieve a media plan that meets your objectives. These spots can run for as little as $5 to more than $50. Negotiate for times and bonus spots. Because there are so many channels, frequency and targeted programming are important.
• Hoopla and Promotional Events As you build your marketing plan, schedule specific promotional events to create interest or bring in new customers — Leg Health Day, Diabetes Information Day, Wheelchair Cleaning Day — or bring in outside speakers on subjects of import for your target audience, for example, on sports injury prevention. All create interest and patronage. Anticipate modest attendance, but expect to build brand awareness and good publicity. These events will help drive your media efforts and focus thematic interest among customers and employees. The effect is cumulative over time in building your customer base and your retail business. Add spark to your events with door prizes, food, free small giveaways, education materials, contests, community sponsorship or a raffle.
• Web Site Care and Feeding Today, every retailer should have a Web site. Your site can fill a specific and integral role in your retail strategy as a digital billboard, brochure or driving map, a source for consumer information and education and an online catalog of merchandise.

Many consumers will visit your Web site first before a store visit to examine your services and products, get a feel for your company and map directions. Remember that the site will require significant time and regular updates along with specific search engine marketing, so this is one area where it might pay to outsource the job or bring in a professional.

Additional Staples

Publicity should be a standard part of your marketing tool kit. Make sure the local media know about your new store, special events or new retail products/services.

• Free press in your local newspaper, magazines or radio can have a greater impact on consumers than advertising. Why? Published articles lend credibility to a business and frequently spur direct consumer inquiry. Introduce yourself to local editors as a retail business and an expert in home health care. Inquire whether your local paper or radio station might consider a regular feature or a Q&A on home health care concerns from someone at your company. Present a fact sheet on your company, provide statistics on home health and offer a story about consumer situations where your business and equipment has helped. Become a resource in your specialty.
• Word-of-mouth buzz and involvement in community efforts with non-profit organizations are a win-win for HME retailers in building brand and visibility. Most providers find that involvement in civic activities or patient-related groups (Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, American Lung Association, Easter Seals, American Diabetes Association, etc.) is personally rewarding and gives tremendous depth and outreach to their service efforts.

In addition, community involvement provides the opportunity to introduce and extend your company’s message: walkathons, fundraisers, fairs, speakers, donated proceeds, volunteer staffing, athletes and sports teams sponsorship — you get the idea.

Your community involvement should be an authentic part of your organization’s passion and mission. Don’t hesitate to publicize these efforts. Cause marketing is an important part of many brands.

When Customers Are In the Store

You’ve invested a lot to get prospective retail customers into your store. Now it’s time for your store environment to shine. Neat, organized merchandising, large signs, creative displays, knowledgeable personal service and a friendly sales approach are critical.

Customers need to see and touch the products. For example, in your bed display include a bedside table with a light, a grabber, a bookstand with a magnifier and a sip cup. Make sure your displays show customers how your products can help.

If you have new items, then sign, feature and price them. Rotate and decorate your store windows, and change displays often. Remember you are competing for retail business not only against other home care companies but against all other retailers in your market that carry HME (and maybe against the Internet). Shoppers are used to highly designed retail environments, so your store should not be boring.

Capture customer information and interests for your mailing list for announcements, speakers, etc., as it will be your most important source of marketing leads, referral and repeat sales. Never let a customer leave the store without a reason to return.

Retailing is about constant customer development and commitment. There is no magic strategy, but with the right mix of tools and tactics, you can build your brand and reputation in the community as the first stop for home care products and services.

Note: Be sure to keep the legal parameters of your marketing efforts in mind. HHS’ Office of Inspector General has recently issued an opinion on a manufacturer’s cooperative advertising program that is now under review by legal analysts. Stay tuned, and see the accompanying article on “Marketing Dos and Don’ts.”

Colette Weil, MBA, is managing director of Mill Valley, Calif.-based Summit Marketing, a firm specializing in strategic marketing, branding and program development for manufacturers, wholesale distributors and retailers. She may be reached at [email protected] or 415/388-5303.

10 Steps to Boosting Retail Business

1. Research your market and your competitors.
2. Identify retail opportunities and offerings.
3. Make sure your location is right for building retail sales.
4. Develop a retail business plan, objectives and budget.
5. Lay out a marketing plan using the best tools and tactics to reach your retail goal.
6. Include brand vision and store development in your plan.
7. Pay attention to your logo and visual identity.
8. Remember that store design and merchandising is a big part of retailing.
9. Announce your retail business with a grand opening or special event.
10. Devise ongoing programs and publicity to draw new customers and bring in repeat business.