Galleria targets tech-savvy locals with new media
by Maris Somerville
Not long ago, retail stores depended upon newspaper and radio advertising, point-of-purchase promotions and word-of-mouth to ensure that quotas and growth projections were met. How times have changed. While traditional media still plays a part in driving sales at the South Bay Galleria, strategic marketers are arming themselves with multiple layers of communications technology, which is changing at a rapid pace and creating new ways to reach a new, young, hip clientele.
Enter social media and mobile marketing, an ever evolving mix, which, according to the South Bay Galleria marketing director Mickey Marraffino, has brought in a youthful, tech-savvy customer whom she can reach by having these tools at her fingertips.
“This strategy goes hand-in-hand with high-quality promotions that are an amalgam of seasonal sales programs, community charity outreach, and celebratory events that offer the public a good reason to visit the Galleria,” says Marraffino. “For example, we just concluded the Sweetheart Prom Dress Collection, which encouraged donations at a Galleria drop-off point of gently used formal dresses that provide needy teens an elegant dress for one of high school’s most memorable occasions.”
Marraffino promoted the outreach through the Galleria’s website, search engine optimization, Facebook, Twitter, mobile messaging, email, and publicity to create broad awareness of the program. The Galleria attracted online attention and television coverage, and exceeded its goal of collecting 200 prom dresses in three days.
While growth for the Galleria in 2011 will be led by higher consumer spending as the economy rebounds, Marraffino recognizes that boosting market share must be a proactive endeavor by her team.
“We’re focusing primarily on increasing traffic to the Galleria by scheduling in-store partnerships with retailers that produce exciting, news worthy sales promotions, and incentives to our customers to shop. Last Christmas paid off well for our stores, with several promotional ‘calls to action,’ for which we used mobile marketing and social media on a large scale. We slated our sales campaign to include a host of perks for customers. For example, we held a Text-to-Win for cash prizes given away hourly at the Galleria, and a gift card promotion for the Awesomely Bad Gifts contest on Facebook, in which winners received gift cards each week. Social media and texting gave everything huge energy and an immediacy that got customers excited and moving through our doors. We also featured QR (Quick Response) codes in our advertising and mall signs so that people with smart phones could immediately access website information,” continues Marraffino.
This year, she and her creative staff will carry out a calendar of sales events, holiday commemorations, and seasonal programs that are original in theme and content.
“We want to grow our customer base from the community. That is our main goal in 2011. We have a line-up this year that includes distinctive spring and fall fashion events, Easter and Santa breakfasts, Civic Light Opera’s 25th Anniversary Home Giveaway, our annual mall-wide sales, a fundraiser with Redondo Beach Education Foundation, and Santa Pet Photos, among others, all created for their appeal to a younger community-minded market.
Maris Somerville is the owner of Somerville Associates Marketing. ER
