Connecting with customers is essential for retail success, but what are the most effective ways to reach out? For spa retailers, both paid marketing and community events play significant roles, each offering different benefits and serving distinct purposes. Understanding how to balance these strategies and find the perfect mix is key for long-term success.
Paid marketing
Paid marketing includes print, digital, radio and TV advertisements.
While ads in newspapers and magazines offer a tangible medium to reach local and niche markets, digital marketing, which includes social media ads, search engine marketing, email campaigns and banner ads, provides precise targeting capabilities, real-time analytics and a potentially global reach. Radio marketing is good for targeting demographics that are regular radio listeners, but TV marketing reaches a broad audience, creating a strong brand presence through visual storytelling.
For Georgia Spa Company, digital marketing is at the forefront.
“We’ve always had the approach to own something first,” says Tanner Tedeschi, marketing manager for the company. “For us, that’s always been digital, then radio.”
Paid marketing channels, especially digital and television, are effective for brand awareness campaigns because they reach a large audience quickly. They can also be measured for return on investment. However, paid marketing can be costly, although digital ads provide scalable options with controlled spending, and it can be challenging to build authentic relationships.
Community events
Attending and hosting community events allows direct interaction with potential customers. These events — like local fairs and home shows — let retailers engage personally with attendees, gather immediate feedback and build trust.
Hosting open houses, product launches and workshops at your store can also create a branded experience and deeper connection with the community. Positive experiences at these events can also lead to valuable word-of-mouth promotion.
So, which one is more effective — paid marketing or events?
The answer is both — you just have to know when and why to pursue either approach.
A strategic blend
When deciding how much time and money to devote to paid marketing or events, consider your goals and determine which method will help you toward them.
For Recreational Warehouse by Watson’s in Fort Myers, Florida, the focus is primarily on paid marketing.
“If we’re investing all this money to drive people into our showroom, why should we be trying to spend more money to go outside our showroom?” says Craig Ecelbarger, president of operations for Florida. “One of our outdoor kitchen vendors once told me, ‘Recreational Warehouse is a home show every day.’ And that’s our attitude.”
While Recreational Warehouse can afford to rely heavily on paid marketing to attract customers, smaller retailers may not have an immersive space to act as a destination, so outside events may be worth more consideration.
“For a lot of dealers, the state and county fairs are huge events for them because they get a chance to go out and talk to hundreds and hundreds of people that they normally wouldn’t,” Ecelbarger says.
David Baker, executive vice president at Georgia Spa Company, says paid marketing can feel transactional, but community events are all about relationship building and engagement — goals that still require an investment.
“They definitely cost the company money, but they’re much more focused on relationship building with people in that community, not as much trying to garner a sale with an ROI,” Baker says.
Tedeschi of Georgia Spa adds that paid marketing and events are both about growing a company’s visibility. Where paid media excels is in giving consumers a reason to care, and fast. For example, ads are great at calling attention to a sale or a flashy promotional item, but events help when it comes to growing long-term brand awareness.
Beyond specific events, like hosting a grill-out at its store, Georgia Spa also focuses on community involvement. One way this happens is through its ongoing Georgia Spas Gives Back program, in which the company selects a charity or cause to sponsor and donates a portion of its proceeds from a given month or quarter to that organization.
Ultimately, a mix of both events and paid marketing seems to be the sweet spot. Practically, this can mean using social media ads to promote upcoming in-store events, creating consistent branding across all marketing channels or leveraging data from digital campaigns to tailor community events.
Whether events or paid marketing, a company must put itself out there. Even if advertising doesn’t bring instant gratification, that doesn’t mean your efforts aren’t working, Ecelbarger says. It’s a long process.
“You have to stay the course,” he adds.