The New Era Of Bricks & Mobile

The minute a customer enters your store is when your employees needs to shine.

Employee engagement is paramount. However, let's face it, in most cases customers

out number employees. This is when your at-store marketing needs to romance your 

customer to create a life-long love affair with your brand. 

Think of your at-store marketing as love letters, strategically left throughout the store.
These love letters reaffirm why they are shopping with you, encourage them to purchase 

additional items, and entice them  to join your loyalty program. Ideally, you want your 

customers to sing your praise to their friends on Foursquare, Facebook, and Twitter. You 
can create a consumer love affair and evangelism with smart at-store marketing.

As an at-store marketing expert, my #1 pet peeve is when retailers fail to make consumers 

fall in love with their brand. Honestly, it is so much easier than it is cracked up to be. Times 

have changed, now marketers must confront the paradigm shift caused by social media 

advances, and relinquish the marketing power to their customers.

             

Your new mantra needs to be "Engagement, Engagement, Engagement." The more 

you engage with your customers, the more they will engage with you.  Below I have 

outlined one good, and one bad example of brands that are bridging bricks and mobile.

                                    

Wal-Mart just launched an augmented reality (AR) game that ties into the new release of the 

blockbuster movie "The Avengers." This is a great concept, as it really promotes consumer 

engagement in a fun and unique way. The concept of the AR game is for customers to play 

a smart-phone integrated scavenger hunt while shopping at Wal-Mart.

Last weekend I went to my nearby Wal-Mart to see how they are communicating the AR 

Avenger game to customers at the store. What I discovered was a major disappointment! 

I scoured the entire 100,000 square foot store (electronics department, toys, and registers)

and only found two signs - one at each entry. This is an EPIC FAIL and a complete waste 

of money. Why would Wal-Mart invest tens of  thousands of dollars on this AR program

and fail to educate, invite, or promote it to their customers?

                      

Conversely, Jamba Juice really serves an ace on their bricks and mobile recipe. Their 
at-store marketing bridges the gap and engages consumers.  The use of a celebrity-athlete
endorsement really resonates with their health conscious customers. Jamba Juice also
incorporates their loyalty program with bright and inviting QR Codes that are cleverly
designed into the shapes of fruit.

The Jamba Juice location I visited was approximately a 1,000 square foot store. There
were two signs in the window and two signs inside the store. Customers could not miss
these messages, as they were pleasantly unavoidable. TWO THUMBS UP to Jamba Juice
for closing the gap of bricks and mobile, and creating a consumer love affair with their
brand and loyalty program.

While I was at Jamba Juice, I paid the ultimate compliment to their brand by checking in
on Foursquare, which was then forwarded out to all of my friends on Facebook and Twitter.
As a brand marketer, it does not get any better than consumer evangelism.

Are you creating a love affair through your at-store marketing?