The number-one thing that a prospective customer wants is to buy something. The first thing a retailer needs to be able to do  is fulfil the customer’s hopes of finding something to buy. Connecting a customer to a product is the basis of retail. But sometimes retailers forget this; it’s easy to get caught up in the other parts of growing a business. Growing your social media following, expanding your network of suppliers, getting an army of affiliates to market your products. These are all things that can grow your business. But if you can’t connect a wandering shopper to a product it’s all for nought.

In the end, you need to be able to connect your customers to your products. Of course, it helps if you’re enthusiastic about what you sell, but in our experience that’s rarely a problem. Most of the retailers we talk to got in to retail because they love their products. Fashion enthusiasts become fashion retailers. Sportsmen and women open up shops for the sports they love. Even coffee enthusiasts import beans and blends from around the world and sell them in specialist coffee shops, to support their fellow coffee-addicts here in the UK. It makes a lot of sense when you think about it. If you’re going to dedicate your time, effort and money to something like a shop you might as well sell something you’re passionate about.

The Personal Touch, A Friendly Recommendation

Sometimes shoppers need a little advice on what to buy. Another opinion, especially an expert one, can be very helpful. You know your product better than anyone else. With a little knowledge about what the customer is looking for, you can help find the perfect product for them. This is something that your customers can only get with you, in-store. Remember that you can be your shops biggest asset. If you can connect your customers to the products they’re looking for, you’re providing them a valuable service. This’ll bring customers back in to your store, in person, to engage your services again and again, to give them a better shopping experience than they could get anywhere else.

If you have any thoughts or questions about connecting customers to products, get in touch with us here.

The post Retailer Talks: Connecting Customers and Products first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.

The world is changing. We hear it all the time; print-media isn’t what it used to be, social media is the new big thing. It’s no longer about big, wide-reaching add campaigns, it’s about small, yet targeted advertising that hits the right sort of people. The retail world is an ever changing place, but something that never goes out of fashion is video. Like denim jeans, classic cars and champagne, video content is always in season.

So What Can Video Content Do For Retailers

Audiences will always welcome video content. Seeing is believing, after all, and your customers would love to see your shop, the way you want it to be seen. Putting your brand out there with video is a great way to engage audiences. A few seconds of video can show a lot of character and your customers will love to get to know you.

Video is a powerful way of reaching out to the world. It can help you stay in your customers thoughts. It can help you show off your brand and your shop to an audience of new customers. It’s one of the best ways to get exposure for your business and your products. Yet so many retailers don’t take advantage of this.

So What Sort Of Content Do People Want To See?

The biggest misconceptions with video content is that you need a huge budget to make anything people want to see. You don’t need to produce incredible, scripted advertisements with big special effects budgets. What your customers want to see is your products, your shop and whatever makes you special. A quick video showing your exciting new products, a short vlog about what your shop is up to this week, or a simple video introducing your business. These are all you need to engage your customers.

Show, don’t tell. This is a piece of advice a lot of young businessmen are given. A picture is worth a thousand words, so give your audience something to look at. Use video to spice up your other content. Put videos on your website, in your newsletter, on your facebook page or other social media. We’re using a video to break up the written content on this post you’re reading right now. A quick video can get across a lot of information and help to make lengthy articles more reader friendly.

So Where Do People Look For Videos?

As Matt Scott mentions in the video above, video content can go anywhere, but there are certain places your audience will be looking for you. An obvious place is in direct contact. If you send email newsletters, or anything similar, to your customers, that’s a great place to put in a video. Similarly, if you connect with your audience through tweets or Facebook posts, you can use video content to drive engagement on these platforms.

Outside of connecting directly with customers, you want to consider your demographics. If you have a younger demographic, you should upload your video content to Youtube or Instagram. These sites are dominated by younger audiences. If your shop sells mostly to young adults and teens, these sites are where you should post your content. If you have a slightly older audience, consider using Facebook as a platform for your video content. Though Facebook is still used by the young, their engagement is higher elsewhere. Meanwhile adults tend to keep an eye on Facebook, but don’t care so much for Youtube or Instagram. One of the great things about video content is it gives your customers something to share. Their friends will be more willing to watch a video than read a dull paragraph of text and video is well supported by social media.

Check out our special offer, from City House Media here, to help boost your video content.

If you’d like to know more, get in touch with our team directly.

Visit City House Media’s website to learn more from the experts.

The post What Video Content Can Do For Your Business first appeared on Savethehighstreet.org.