Digital retail marketing: 9 key challenges (and what to do about them)
How to leverage digital retail marketing to connect with your audience and make your brand stand out.
Key takeaways:
Digital retail marketing techniques, from content marketing to advertisement, are key to engage customers and drive sales.
Maintaining a consistent brand voice across various digital platforms and keeping content updated and relevant to evolving audience preferences are major challenges.
Focus on highly relevant, targetted content and establish a centralized content process to ensure cohesive and effective marketing efforts.
Contents:
1. What is retail marketing?
2. Why retail marketing matters
3. Challenges in retail marketing
4. Retail marketing: how to stand out
5. Retail marketing case studies
Digital retail marketing is about speed, quality and consistency – but even leading brands struggle to achieve all three. Recently, a leading European retailer approached us with what seemed like an everyday ask: could we help them create interesting content tailored to their diverse audience? There was a catch: they already had content, lots of it. Over the years, various teams across departments, from pet care to groceries to health and beauty, as well as freelancers and agencies, had contributed to hundreds of articles. This resulted in a wide array of writing styles and no single, cohesive message for customers.
Instead of consolidating their content to maximize the impact of a single platform, they ended up with several niche blogs, each with its own target audience, structure, and back-office system. Most of their traffic came from recipes—thousands of them—produced by an array of influencers and partners, with no unified structure. Content maintenance had become a huge burden even for their experienced marketing team. With no obvious results, their entire organic traffic efforts were being called into question.
They are not alone. As competition heats up, many retailers feel the pressure to ramp up their digital output, often at the expense of consistency or quality. Results are often not what they expect. Shoppers are becoming more discerning, shifting their priorities towards healthier, more sustainable choices. Meanwhile, digital-first newcomers are rapidly gaining market share. Staying relevant is more critical than ever.
At Articulate, we've been helping retail brands stand out for over a decade by crafting, implementing, and refining digital marketing strategies. Drawing on our extensive experience, we've put together this practical guide with insights that every brand can use to ensure each piece of content resonates with their customers.
What is digital retail marketing?
Digital retail marketing refers to strategies and tactics to attract, engage, and convert customers, ultimately driving sales and fostering brand loyalty.
Doing so requires a broad range of activities:
Content Marketing: Involves creating and distributing valuable and relevant content to attract and engage customers, using blog posts, articles, videos, infographics, and social media posts.
Social Media Marketing: Requires leveraging social media campaigns to engage with customers, promote products, and build brand awareness, using targeted advertising, influencer partnerships, and user-generated content.
Email Marketing: Consists of delivering personalized messages, promotions, and updates directly to customers' inboxes through email campaigns.
Events and Experiences: Entails hosting events such as product launches, workshops, demonstrations, and interactive experiences to engage customers online.
Advertising: Includes various forms of advertising, such as pay-per-click (PPC), display ads, and retargeting ads, to reach potential customers and drive traffic to your online store.
Public Relations (PR): Comprises building relationships with media outlets, influencers, and industry leaders to generate positive publicity, enhance brand reputation, and reach new audiences.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Entails optimizing your website and content for search engines to improve visibility and attract organic traffic.
Affiliate Marketing: Involves partnering with affiliates to promote your products through their platforms, earning commissions on sales they generate and expanding your reach.
Customer Reviews and Testimonials: Involves encouraging satisfied customers to leave reviews and testimonials, leveraging social proof to build trust and credibility with potential buyers.
Loyalty Programs: Consists of implementing loyalty programs to reward repeat customers, encouraging them to continue shopping with your brand and increasing Customer Lifetime Value.
Influencer Marketing: Involves collaborating with influencers to reach their followers and leverage their credibility to promote your products, driving awareness and sales.
User-Generated Content (UGC): Includes encouraging customers to share their own content featuring your products, creating authentic marketing materials and fostering a sense of community.
Why digital retail marketing matters
Digital retail marketing helps businesses reach out to their target audience, making them aware of the products or services on offer. But that’s just the start. It can also drive engagement, conversion, and repeated purchases.
Increased Reach
Digital marketing platforms provide the tools to target specific demographics and geographic locations, ensuring that marketing efforts are effective. For instance, brands that maintain an active blog generate 55% more traffic than those that don’t. That makes search engine optimization (SEO) tools, such as improving static website pages or regularly creating blog posts, vital for retail brands.
Example: We worked with a boutique fashion retailer to implement targeted social media campaigns on Instagram and Facebook, resulting in a 40% average reach increase within six months.
Cost-Effectiveness
Digital marketing often requires lower upfront costs compared to traditional marketing methods, such as print, TV, or radio advertising. The average cost per click (CPC) for Google Ads, for example, is $4.22, offering a cost-effective way to drive targeted traffic.
Example: A specialty food retailer saw a 30% reduction in their customer acquisition cost (CAC) after we optimized their Google AdWords campaigns, focusing on high-intent keywords and effective bid strategies.
Personalization
80% of consumers say they are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences. Digital marketing enables tailored marketing messages and experiences for customers based on their behavior, preferences, and demographics.
Example: A large home goods retailer used personalized email campaigns and product recommendations, leading to a 15% increase in repeat purchases and higher customer satisfaction scores.
Enhanced Engagement
Digital marketing facilitates direct interaction with customers through social media, email, and other digital platforms, fostering engagement and building relationships. Interaction is the cornerstone of brand loyalty and trust, encouraging customers to become repeat buyers and brand advocates.
Example: We helped a pet care retailer develop a robust social media strategy, including regular interactive posts and customer Q&A sessions, which increased their social media engagement by 50% over three months.
Higher Conversion Rates
Digital marketing techniques such as SEO, PPC, and email marketing are highly effective in driving conversions by targeting the right audience with the right message at the right time. While the average conversion rate for e-commerce websites is between 1.8% and 3.7%, leading brands can achieve upwards of 7-8% conversion, while the very top-tiered brands can surpass 10%.
Example: We optimized the product pages of a client in the health and beauty sector for SEO, which resulted in a 20% increase in organic search traffic and a 15% improvement in their conversion rate within four months.
Challenges in retail marketing
Today, retail brands are faced with a multitude of responsibilities in forging connections with consumers. Here are some of the biggest hurdles they face and how to overcome them.
1. Balancing diverse needs
Managing teams across different retail categories, like pet supplies and wines, can be a real juggling act. Each category has its own tone and audience. To make it work, keep the communication lines open. Have regular catchups where everyone shares their thoughts, challenges, and goals. Use project management tools to keep everyone on track and make sure each category gets the attention it needs.
2. Inconsistent tone and style
Many retailers struggle to keep their brand’s voice consistent across marketing channels and product lines. Consistency, however, is often underrated. It builds trust and makes your brand memorable. Start with clear brand guidelines that spell out the tone, language, and style that suit your brand.
3. Not tracking competitors
Yes, your competitor’s digital content is readily available, but how often do you actually take the time to go through it and extract ideas for your brand? Use tools to know their strategies, content, and audience engagement. This will help you spot trends, find gaps in the market, and adjust your tactics. By knowing what’s working for them (and what’s not), you can sharpen your own strategy to stand out and connect better with your audience.
4. Irrelevant content
It’s easy to let quantity (and market pressures) trump quality and relevance. The problem is your audience can easily spot when a piece is relevant or not. Create high-quality and relevant content that speaks directly to them. Have a process to review content before publishing to maintain high standards.
5. Forced modernization
Updating communication strategies to meet modern consumer expectations while maintaining authenticity can be tricky. Retailers must find innovative ways to connect with consumers through digital platforms and new technologies without coming across as insincere or overly promotional. Tell stories that connect with people on a personal level. Avoid sounding too pushy or sales-focused.
6. Urealistic expectations
Retailers often face pressure to deliver immediate results in terms of brand awareness, engagement, and sales. Manage stakeholders' expectations and educate them on the realistic timeline and impact of marketing efforts. This is crucial for long-term success.
7. No production and validation processes
A lack of a structured content production and validation process can lead to inconsistencies, missed deadlines, and subpar content quality. Have a clear plan for creating and approving content. Define who does what and when. Use tools to keep track of deadlines and changes. This makes sure things run smoothly and everyone knows their role.
8. Outdated content
Content freshness is vital for maintaining relevance and SEO performance. Regularly audit and update older content to reflect current trends, industry developments, and consumer preferences. This ongoing maintenance ensures that content remains valuable and continues to drive organic traffic and engagement.
9. Overly commercial content
Consumers expect informative and engaging content rather than overtly promotional material. Retail marketers face the challenge of striking a balance between providing valuable information and promoting products or services. So, focus on giving value to your audience rather than just selling. Share useful information or entertaining stories. Mix in promotional messages with content that educates or entertains. Build trust by being genuine and helpful, rather than solely driving sales.
Retail marketing: how to stand out
Drawing from our extensive experience, we've distilled these patterns into a straightforward process that can help brands steer in the right direction.
1. Know your audience
What makes your audience tick? What are their desires, preferences, and frustrations? With this knowledge, craft messaging and products that speak directly to them, forging a personal connection that keeps them coming back for more.
Example: Our work with a leading retailer concluded that customers in a specific segment were interested in two things: sustainability and their community. We curated content highlighting our client sustainability initiatives, eco-friendly projects, and efforts to reduce their carbon footprint. Meanwhile, for the community-minded audience, we developed engaging content that spotlighted our partner’s impactful contributions to local communities. By shining a spotlight on these initiatives, we fostered a sense of pride and belonging among the audience.
2. Set clear goals from the start
Focus on one clear goal at a time - whether it’s increasing brand awareness, boosting sales, or generating more leads. Align your entire team around this objective to ensure everyone is pulling in the same direction. Regularly track progress and act if you find deviations towards your goal. This way, you maintain focus, avoid diluting your efforts, and can make data-driven adjustments to stay on track and achieve your goals.
Example: We recently worked with an up-and-coming online marketplace. At such an initial stage, it is normal to want everything at once: sales, growth, engagement, and more. However, only a phased approach can deliver truly sustainable results. Initially, we focused on generating awareness and building a strong presence with broad, engaging content. Once we established a solid footing and people started recognizing the brand, we shifted our focus to conversion. This meant creating more targeted content aimed at driving sales and encouraging shoppers to make purchases.
3. Focus on key channels
Don't stretch yourself too thin by trying to be everywhere. Instead, zoom in on the channels that matter for your target audience. Take a close look at demographics, how users behave, and what each platform offers to figure out where your efforts will pay off the most. Quality over quantity is the name of the game here.
Example: A major retail company was grappling with channel overload. The client had been spreading their efforts across a myriad of platforms without a clear grasp on which channels truly resonated with each audience segment. One of the main benefits came simply from matching each content type with the right platform.
4. Get the messaging right
Getting your messaging right is crucial in retail marketing, especially when it comes to standing out in a crowded market. What message do you want to convey? What would you like users to remember about the brand? What is the core message your brand wants to convey over the next 3, 6, or 12 months? Are you focusing on the affordability of your products, the high quality, or perhaps your brand's commitment to sustainability?
Example: a leading groceries retailer we worked with set one or two key messages for each content cycle. In the first two months, their focus was on accessibility and affordability, with the core message "Our brand is for everyone." Every piece of content during this period highlighted practical examples of how the brand ensures accessibility and affordability for all customers. After that, the focus shifted to quality, where the content emphasized the superior materials used, trusted brands they carry, and overall product excellence.
5. Define a clear production process
Having a well-defined production process is essential for creating and maintaining a steady stream of high-quality content in retail marketing. It should involve multiple stages of review, including content editing, fact-checking, and design approval.
Example: a prominent e-commerce retailer faced significant delays due to an unclear content validation process, resulting in content pieces being left for months awaiting senior team approval and often becoming outdated by the time they were reviewed. To address this, we implemented a thorough content creation, revision, validation, and publication process supported by our custom tool, Articulate App. This platform streamlined the workflow by defining clear roles, responsibilities, and timelines, integrating automated notifications and real-time updates, and enabling performance tracking.
6. Find your voice
While it’s easy to align with what others are already saying and fallback to familiar formulas, topics, and styles, this approach can make your brand easily forgettable. A monotonous tone or structure can render even the richest content dull. Finding your unique voice—through innovative ideas, distinctive formats, and exploring untapped user needs—ensures your content is both meaningful and shareable. Often, it can be as simple as adopting a more human and warm approach when others are cold and distant, focusing on benefits when others only talk about price, or using storytelling to connect emotionally with your audience when others rely on dry facts. The main thing is that your brand's voice—what you say and how you say it—is clearly defined beforehand.
Example: We recently partnered with a leading wine retailer. Previously, their style and voice were very conservative and formal. To engage with a younger audience, we revised their writing style to make it sound younger and more human, without losing the essence of luxury that characterized the brand. We also explored innovative ways to integrate wine into everyday life, helping our client to serve fun and memorable experiences.
7. Create compelling content
Stories about a brand’s journey and the people behind the scenes help humanize your brand and build a stronger connection with your audience. Incorporate customer testimonials and success stories into your content - real-life experiences build trust and credibility. Also, don’t forget to provide practical, everyday tips. Create how-to guides, tutorials, and tips that are directly related to your products.
Example: We partnered with a leading kitchen appliances retailer whose focused mostly on internal aspects of the brand, highlighting news, events, and awards. We shifted their content strategy to an external focus with a series of video tutorials on how to use various kitchen appliances effectively, including insider tips from professional chefs. We also developed a comprehensive recipe section that showcased the versatility of their products, encouraging customers to try new dishes. Additionally, we created detailed maintenance guides and troubleshooting tips to help customers extend the lifespan of their appliances and address common issues.
8. Refresh old content
Regularly updating old content ensures that it remains accurate, timely, and valuable to your audience, effectively maximizing the value of your existing resources. This practice extends the longevity and impact and also shows commitment to providing high-quality, up-to-date information to your audience. It also significantly boosts organic traffic and user engagement.
Example: We partnered with a leading groceries retailer to update their existing content hub, which featured hundreds of blog articles on food, nutrition, and well-being. We set up a comprehensive process to select, revise, enrich, and optimize the existing content. This included an initial SEO audit, to identify articles that were outdated or underperforming. Next, our team revised and enriched these articles by incorporating the latest nutritional guidelines, adding high-quality images, and including new, relevant information and SEO data. This strategic approach helped the retailer maintain their position as a trusted source of information on food, nutrition, and well-being.
9. Unify your approach
Keep your branding, messaging, and customer experience in harmony across every channel and interaction point. By staying consistent, you're crafting a unified brand identity and also cementing your brand's values and position. To do so, processes and tools are key – you’ll need a strong planning and validation process and tools to manage cross-channel campaigns.
Example: We collaborated with a brand that struggled to maintain a coherent voice across different channels. Their writing style was not consistent across marketing channels, they frequently had overlapping social media campaigns, and their PR efforts were not integrated into their social media calendar. We centralized every channel’s plan, ensuring a consistent voice and message across all channels.
10. Track your competitors closely
Our competitor benchmark platform
Analyze what your competitors are up to. Dive deep into their content, messaging, and strategies to pinpoint areas where you can stand out. This is especially relevant for SEO, organic traffic, and search engine results. It also helps in generating new content ideas. It is vital to use specific tools to understand which keywords your competitors are targeting and how many monthly searches those keywords receive. By doing so, you can refine your strategy, capitalize on untapped opportunities, and enhance your overall digital marketing performance.
Example: We worked with a retailer struggling to keep up with their two top competitors, who were consistently outranking them on key search terms and engaging more effectively with their audience. We used our competition scanner tool to monitor their competitors' keywords, topics, and content types. By analyzing this data, we identified which keywords were driving traffic to the competitors' sites, which topics were garnering the most engagement, and what types of content (e.g., blogs, videos, infographics) were most effective. Armed with these insights, we developed a tailored content strategy that included creating high-quality blog posts, engaging social media content, and informative videos that aligned with the identified trends and keywords.
11. Keep improving
Creating great content is an ongoing process. Regularly measure the performance of your content using analytics tools to track metrics like engagement, conversion rates, and traffic. Learn from these insights to refine and improve your content strategy continually. This cycle of measuring, testing, and learning ensures your content remains effective and aligned with your audience's evolving preferences.
Example: We assisted a well-known tech retailer in introducing a continuous improvement process. First, we selected the key performance indicators (KPIs) to track, such as engagement rates, click-through rates, and conversion metrics. We then created comprehensive dashboards to visualize these KPIs in real time. We established (and ran) daily team meetings involving members from different departments, including performance, design, commercial, and digital teams. During these meetings, we tracked progress, analyzed top-performing content, and adjusted planning as necessary.
Retail marketing case studies
Over the years, we have partnered with hundreds of retailers, guiding them through various stages of growth and helping them overcome unique challenges. Our expertise spans from optimizing digital presence to streamlining content strategies and enhancing customer engagement. Here, we have selected three exemplary case studies that showcase our interventions in the retail sector.
Case Study 1: Bam&Boo - Elevating a sustainable well-being brand
Bam&Boo is a clean beauty brand that creates unique natural beauty products. Present in over 60 countries through e-commerce and distribution partners, they offer a variety of 100% natural, sustainable, vegan, and innovative products for facial, body, hair care, and oral hygiene.
Challenges
Higher product pricing compared to competitors.
Difficulty in communicating their unique differentiators to potential customers.
Low online visibility and website traffic.
Strategy and Implementation
We partnered with Bam&Boo to revamp their digital presence through a comprehensive strategy:
Keyword Strategy: Identified and selected strategic keywords to improve search engine rankings and attract the right audience.
Brand Redefinition: Refined their brand style to communicate their commitment to sustainability and well-being.
Website Redesign: Redesigned the website to be more user-friendly, visually appealing, and aligned with the brand's new style.
Content Creation: Developed a series of blog posts to position Bam&Boo as an authority in sustainable well-being, utilizing selected keywords.
Email Marketing: Crafted an email marketing strategy to engage existing customers and attract new ones through informative and promotional emails.
Social Media Campaigns: Launched targeted social media campaigns to increase brand awareness and engagement.
Google Ads: Implemented Google Ads campaigns to drive targeted traffic to their website.
Results
Traffic Growth: Saw a significant increase in website traffic, with a 75% growth in organic visitors within six months.
Improved Brand Perception: Enhanced brand perception and recognition, leading to higher customer engagement.
Increased Sales: Achieved a 50% increase in online sales, demonstrating the effectiveness of the new digital strategy.
Note - Streamlining content and voice for a leading office supplier
Note, a leading office supplier, offers a vast range of products and needed to communicate effectively across multiple channels such as in-store, social media, blog, ads, and email marketing. Despite being one of the fastest-growing retailers in their country, opening dozens of new stores each year, they struggled with disjointed efforts across different channels, communicating multiple product categories, and a very commercial focus that failed to resonate with their audience.
Challenges
Disjointed marketing efforts with separate teams for each channel.
A commercial focus that did not effectively engage the audience.
Outdated content that needed to be revised and optimized.
Inconsistent brand voice across various marketing platforms.
Strategy and Implementation
We partnered with Note to redefine their digital marketing strategy, focusing on creating a cohesive and engaging brand presence:
Strategy Definition: Established clear marketing goals, a unified tone of voice, and a streamlined editorial calendar to ensure consistency.
Content Creation: Developed new, engaging content for their blog, social media, and email campaigns, emphasizing practical tips, product usage, and customer stories.
Influencer Partnerships: Collaborated with influencers and partner brands to expand reach and enhance credibility.
Content Optimization: Revised and optimized existing content to align with the new strategy, ensuring it was up-to-date and relevant.
Follow-up System: Implemented a robust system for continuous improvement, allowing for regular performance monitoring and strategic adjustments.
Unified Tone of Voice: Ensured consistency in the brand's messaging across all channels, creating a cohesive customer experience.
Results
Increased Traffic: Website traffic increased by 60% within the first six months, driven by optimized content and effective marketing strategies.
Enhanced Engagement: Customer engagement on social media platforms increased by 45%, with blog and email marketing engagement rising by 50%.
Increased Followers: Social media followers grew by 35%, enhancing the brand's online presence and community.
Boosted Sales: Online sales saw a 40% increase, demonstrating the effectiveness of the unified and strategic approach.
By refining their digital presence and ensuring a consistent and engaging brand voice, Note was able to better connect with their audience, drive traffic, and ultimately increase sales, solidifying their position as a leading office supplier in their country.
OLX – Improving digital traffic at an online marketplace
OLX, a leading digital marketplace, is one of the oldest and most established platforms in the industry, boasting millions of users and a strong presence. However, they faced increasing competition from new entrants and struggled to maintain their competitive edge digitally.
Challenges
Increased competition from newer, more agile platforms.
Difficulty in competing digitally despite a large user base and established presence.
Need for modernizing their digital marketing strategies to stay relevant and effective.
Strategy and Implementation
To help OLX regain its competitive edge, we focused on modernizing their digital marketing strategies with a comprehensive approach:
Revised Tone of Voice: Developed a fresh, engaging, and more relatable tone of voice to appeal to a broader and younger audience.
Blog Content: Revamped the blog with new, high-quality content tailored to user interests and trending topics. Updated existing posts to improve relevance and SEO performance.
Email Marketing: Designed personalized email campaigns to re-engage inactive users and nurture existing ones. Content included promotional offers, user tips, and featured listings.
Social Media Content: Launched creative social media campaigns featuring user-generated content, success stories, and interactive posts to boost engagement and community building.
Enhanced User Engagement and Retention Strategies: Utilized analytics to measure content performance and adjust strategies in real-time for optimal results.
Collaborations and Partnerships:Partnered with influencers and industry leaders to expand reach and enhance credibility.
Results
Increased Traffic: Website and app traffic increased by 35% within the first six months, driven by improved content and targeted marketing efforts.
Enhanced User Engagement: User engagement metrics, such as time spent on site and pages per session, increased by 40%.
Growth in User Base: The active user base grew by 35%, reflecting successful re-engagement and acquisition strategies.
Improved Conversion Rates: Conversion rates improved by 30%, with more users successfully completing transactions on the platform.
By revising their tone of voice, optimizing content, and launching targeted email and social media campaigns, OLX was able to attract and retain more users, boost engagement, and strengthen its market position amidst growing competition.
Articulate, experts at retail marketing
At Articulate, we have been working with retail brands for over a decade, helping them provide unique and authentic content and experiences. Get in touch!