When your business is going well, you might consider a rapid expansion plan. Reaching more customers by becoming a multi-site company could be an ideal part of that plan. If you are a retailer, you might open a new store in another city. New regions and territories will present new challenges. Of course, the opportunity to increase your market reach could bring more profits. Now all you need to consider is your launch strategy. This is where digital media could make an enormous difference:
Launch Event
Planning a big launch event can take a lot of work. You might be considering the type of merchandise you’ll be purchasing, and the entertainment available on the day. It’s difficult to engage customers with just the news of a store opening its doors for the first time. You need something more to encourage them to attend the launch event. What does your new store do for the community? How will their lives be better for your store being there? You need something newsworthy to attract them on your big day. What’s your big story?
Once you have your story, you have the beginnings of a press release. Add some photos that include a human element, and post it to your website. Share it with all your blog readers as well as all your customers you have email addresses for. Don’t forget to break it down into micro posts for your social media account too. Now you’ve told your story, you need a promotion for new customers to get excited about!
Promotion
Your launch event promotion might be a broad discount, a free service or product, or a chance to win something. Attracting shares and likes is important right now. Your existing customers can help spread the word about your grand opening. Ask them to share or like for an exclusive discount voucher or to receive a gift on the day. If you’re thinking about competitions or prize draws, make sure you’re up to speed with the laws for your region.
The Big Day
Your launch event will provide plenty of interesting photos and video to post online. You can capture the best bits and use it as content for your website too. Don’t forget to capture visitor data. This can help you reach customers and potential customers at a later date. Invite people to post photos. Setting up a stand with your brand or logo on it could provide the perfect back drop for some fun photos that could be shared far and wide. Games, informative presentations, competitions, and food can all be on offer to provide a fun and eventful launch party.
Measuring Success
Once the day is over, and you’ve posted your last picture online, you need to begin tracking. To find out how far your efforts have reached, you could use a service online. If you perform a check at Chatmeter, you could find out which regions are sharing your content most widely. You should spend time reading posts and social media that mention your brand. This will help you keep track of your reach and will allow you to stay on top of feedback.
PR
Don’t be afraid to respond to feedback, reviews, or tweets that concern your company. Thank customers that praise you, and offer to put things right if customers feel wronged. It can become a full-time job. Now you are a bigger, multi-site business, why not invest in a full-time digital media marketer? Keep track of customers online and contribute to relevant forums. This can all lead to great PR and help boost your reputation and popularity as a brand.
Marketing Your Businesses
The day of the launch is only the first phase of launching a new store. Even if your turnout was huge, there are still many more people in the city that could become customers of your new store. You need to keep reaching out to them. You also need to remind the people that attended that your store can service their needs. How many Facebook friends did you make that day? Have you been keeping in touch with them?
Your launch event may have grabbed a few people, and they may have become friends, liked your store page, and even tweeted about their time with you. Pick up their handles, and try to connect individually with them. A simple thank you could be all you need to encourage them to continue following you. Now you need a campaign plan to offer them more interesting information and promotions that they might be willing to share further.
Customer data is enormously valuable to you. Start with your sales receipts. Which products did well on launch day? Can you set up another promotion for those items? What were customers enquiring about during your launch event? Have you addressed all of those? Fine tuning your proposition may take weeks or months. Your launch event should have provided plenty of details to get you started. If you’re still not sure, create opinion polls and surveys that can sit on your website and be shared across social media.
Social CRM
Social media is a wonderful tool that can be used free of charge. It can help you maintain good contact with your existing customers. This means it can be an important part of your CRM strategy. Existing customers can easily become repeat customers. Engage your customers regularly. Talk about the products they have bought, providing useful information and how-to guides. You can also promote new products that you feel they would be interested in. Be careful not to bombard your social media accounts and followers with irrelevant sales patter.
Building a customer base from scratch for your new store isn’t easy. Digital media can be a powerful tool to help you engage new customers, and provide existing customers with a forum to talk about you more. Paid advertising, social media, and search engine optimization should all come together to reach your target market. Do you have a plan in place to support the launch of your next store?
Social Media With Rita 
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