The Expansion of the Marketing Strategy

With the developments in shopping centres and the movement towards creating experiential and placemaking objectives, the overall marketing strategy and objectives have to develop.

The same traditional principles and marketing methods still stand, but they now needed to be expanded upon and stretched much further to be fully successful.

Shopping Centre marketing can come in all sorts of forms; outdoor advertising, events, TV, radio, magazines, loyalty cards, vouchers, charity initiatives, digital campaigns, pop-up stands, social media, competitions, content, the list goes on. Shopping centre marketing teams need to utilise the number of marketing platforms available to reach a wide audience and send a clear, consistent message.

The marketing message being sent is now promoting the experience that can be enjoyed at a centre. As well as having a strong tenant mix, appealing anchor tenants, a diverse F&B offering and leisure facilities, consumers are asking for more before travelling to a shopping centre: What events are running throughout the scheme? Are there any initiatives for the community to be involved with or competitions? How are the vacant units being utilised? Is there any unusual piece of art or sculpture people can see or come and take a photograph of?  What new technology can consumers enjoy and use at the centre? Are there any loyalty cards or discounts visitors can benefit from? What are the car parking facilities like?

Marketing teams need to ensure the questions above are all answered positively and clearly communicated to the right audience. Shopping centres are working hard towards placemaking and delivering an experiential destination to visitors and all of the questions above will support this. With the number of holidays throughout the year, we’ve just seen Valentines and Mother’s Day, we have St Patrick’s day this weekend and Easter right around the corner, there are plenty of opportunities to create campaigns to attract high levels of footfall.

The ultimate objectives of a shopping centre marketing campaign are to drive high levels of footfall, increase dwell time and ultimately, lift sales. Utilising new technologies and linking them with relevant holidays and celebrations give marketing teams the opportunity to constantly create unique, relevant campaigns to engage with consumers. Marketing teams need to create SMART objectives, have a clear target audience and execute strategies to an exceptional standard. You can see the campaigns being rolled out already this year must have very ambitious objectives with the innovative initiatives we have enjoyed as consumers.