Social Media Buzz Drives Sales for New Store

About

Store: Maurer's Market IGA
Location: Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin and Janesville, Wisconsin (now open in Columbus, Wisconsin)
Owners: Jeff and Kristie Maurer
Department: Meat
Difficulty: Medium
Store Specs: 20,000 sq. ft.
Meat Department Specs: 2,500 sq. ft. (deli is 1,500 sq. ft.)

Strategy

In an effort to establish positive brand awareness as we moved into a third market, we used a social media campaign to draw the community to our Ribfest events at our first two locations.

Over the course of the summer, we held seven Ribfest events at two store locations to increase store foot traffic and sell ribs. The Ribfest event featured $10 full racks of ribs freshly barbecued, and we offered free delivery on purchases of 10 racks or more.

We saw remarkable results on Facebook by spending a total of $100 to boost our Ribfest Facebook events this summer, including:

13,000+ impressions
800+ likes and shares
100+ responses

In addition to the Facebook posts and ads, we integrated our Ribfest promotional campaign across multiple marketing channels including weekly eblasts, text messages, and our weekly inserts. We held each event in the parking lot under a bright orange canopy with several banners hanging nearby. We also used POP to promote the event inside the store.

We grossed over $22,000 in rib sales this summer. We also reaped the benefit of the residual shopping traffic—especially for deli sides like potato salad, cole slaw, etc.—and we saw an estimated $5,000 in additional inside sales due to the increased traffic.

We believe branded message consistency and uniform graphics were key in positive brand association and customer recall. Our customers are looking forward to next summer’s Ribfest and we are looking forward to introducing the event to our new Columbus store community.

WHY IT WORKS

For Our Shoppers

• Do something different. We hosted an event that got people excited to come to the market for a great deal on quality meat.
• Serve an easy dinner. Since the racks of ribs were freshly barbecued, all the customer needed to do was pick up the ribs and a few fresh sides from our deli and they had dinner ready for a crowd!
• Try a quality product. For a low price, our shoppers had the opportunity to taste one of our quality meat products. Now after buying a rack of ribs during Ribfest, our customers know how good our meat offerings are.

For Our Store

• Create a fun place to shop. Keeping customers engaged and excited is very important in this new world of food retailing.
• Boost brand awareness to a large audience. We implemented our Ribfest promotional campaign across multiple marketing channels, from physical banners outside the store and POP in-store to emails, text messages, Facebook ads, and newspaper inserts. We used as many different ways to communicate as possible to reach a large population.
• Increase sales. Thanks to the events, we grossed over $22,000 in ribs and increased foot traffic and in-store sales by about $5,000.

TACTICS

• Utilized branded Ribfest artwork to create a Facebook event page, posting it the Monday before each weekend event.
• Boosted each event and related posts on Facebook with $5 to $30 throughout the week leading up to event day.
• Employed our newly-established texting and email channels to spread the word to the appropriate store’s customers.
• Worked with our suppliers, SuperValu and Lipari, to create additional branded materials to help us promote.
• Brought our table, grill, and Ribfest banner to each store event for consistent branding.

PRICING

We spent $100 total in $5 to $30 increments over the course of the summer to boost Facebook events and posts the week before each weekend event. For that investment, we received over 100 responses, over 800 likes and shares, and over 13,000 impressions.

The cost of the branded materials was minimal since we leveraged the services from our suppliers, SuperValu and Lipari. We pay a small fee to use what they have already created.

PRO TIPS

• Use the IGA partners for marketing assistance. For example, we use IGA Social via AR Marketing for Facebook support. It might be cheaper to use someone in the store, but they probably don’t have the expertise and skills to really make a difference. The right partner is worth the investment.
• Assign someone with strong organizational skills to coordinate the event at store level.
• Engage your advertising staff early so they can plan properly.
• Establish a calendar of these events and post on your website to inform shoppers.
• Get help from your supplier for the first event and have them train your staff.
• Don’t underestimate quantity. You don’t want to run out. This product comes in frozen, so you don’t need to worry about shrink.
• Offer free delivery. We delivered orders of 10 racks or more and businesses took advantage of this offer to feed their staffs.