Trying To Drive Retail Sales With Print (Gasp)

Here's your list of tips ...

• Only evaluate incremental sales (mail vs. holdout lift) ... do not fall for vendor-measurement methods that over-credit sales (and by proxy, result in vendor over-payment). This tip is non-negotiable. If your vendor doesn't recommend this style of measurement, find another vendor. Now.

• Not all customers are equal. Your 0-12 month online-only buyer who lives 14 miles from a store is much less likely to buy in-store than a 13-24 month retail-only buyer.

• Know how all channels fit together. It may be much smarter to use email and social to get a customer to get in a car and drive to a store than to pay vendors $1.00 to send a catalog that is merchandised to drive a customer to your website.

• The merchandise that causes an in-store customer to respond is different than the merchandise that causes an online customer to respond. Know these differences, and merchandise your marketing activities accordingly. Avoid the omnichannel-thesis, which demands "sameness" across channels.

• Today it is easier to get a retail customer to buy online than to get an online customer to buy in stores. Strongly consider hiring retail creative professionals to improve your marketing efforts to drive a customer into a store.

• Strongly consider marketing programs that find new retail customers, given that so little of retail spend is incrementally driven by marketing.

• Consider using print to promote events. There has to be a reason for a customer to purchase in a store ... or else the customer simply buys online.