Bricks and mortar retail businesses looking for strong results in 2022 should be embracing the essence of hyperlocal marketing, according to SaaS platform, Sekel Tech which has recently launched in the UK market.
“The UK is a digitally aware country that’s primed for a digital retail disruption, which means it is critical that brands are as savvy as possible when it comes to their marketing to mitigate the risk of losing their own customers’ first-party data to aggregators and BIG technology” says Sekel Tech’s Head of Business, Mark Walker-Smith.
While it is no secret that successful marketing and engagement are key when it comes to driving sales, the way consumers interact with brands continues to evolve and this is particularly important for retail brands to understand. One key trend is shown in the recent 39% increase in hyperlocal food deliveries, brought about partly as a result of the pandemic, which increased the popularity of hyper local services, which have benefited from the rapid evolution of technology and digital logistics tools. *
Yet often when you search for branded products and services, aggregators (which work by scraping data from these brand websites, looking at their store locators, giving basic name, address, phone numbers, and basic product information) rank above even a brand-led search, and most of the time the information they supply is insufficient, invalid, or obsolete. Sekel Tech spotted this huge gap and the huge business potential and opportunity to address it, thereby putting the control back with the brands.
Realising the importance of the hyperlocal needs of consumers, marketers should now be looking at how they can drive sales by bridging the online-offline consumer experience to seamlessly integrate physical and digital worlds. Sekel Tech’s platform focuses on hyperlocal marketing because it believes this will become a major business imperative for enterprises – especially those with more than 100 locations. Globally renowned brands who realise the value of having a single view and control of all the digital transformation initiatives and which have worked with Sekel Tech to transform their marketing strategies include Bridgestone, Goodyear, Grohe, Gulf Oil, and Unilever.
It has proved particularly successful in the automotive market, for example, for one chain of showrooms with multiples locations, leads increased twofold in 120 days in terms of customer calls to regional locations, digital discovery growth grew by 200% and their leads to sales conversion grew to 22% within the first few months of implementing Sekel Tech’s platform. Similarly, Sekel Tech is already successfully working for beauty chains with over 60 stores, another with over 70 stores and one with 11 stores, for whom leads have increased by 200% to its local stores following the implementation of Sekel Tech’s hyperlocal SaaS platform and for one chain of bathroom stores with over 200 locations, leads increased by 414% in terms of customer calls to local stores.
Commenting on the company’s offering, Head of Business, Mark Walker-Smith says “We put the power and first party data back in the hands of our clients through one cost-effective platform delivering visibility and benefit across a business. This is particularly valuable where owners want to ensure they are giving themselves the best opportunity to reach customers where these customers want and need to be reached. The result is we help UK businesses get organically discovered and then engage and grow their customer base.”
Sekel Tech’s AI powered, platform includes the more typical listing management, store locator or reputation management processes (for example Google My Business and reviews) coupled with significant value-add and differentiated services such as location-based microsite creation and management (within the brand’s domain), sentiment analysis, lead management, offers and campaigns, blogs and articles, product catalogues and extensive real time analytics across the entire customer engagement. It also provides listing management, a store locator, reputation management processes, and location-based shopfronts (or mini web sites).
By using these tools, brands can distribute engaging, relevant, and personalised content that makes it easy for consumers to make informed purchasing decisions. Real-time insights allow brands to immediately analyse and take action on their spend. Simply by taking back the power and first party data back , businesses can easily become organically discovered, allowing them to grow, while also increasing customer engagement.
Walker-Smith concludes, “One of the key benefits for businesses is that they don’t need to employ multiple people or agencies to manage these different functions. Sekel Tech provides a single view and control of all the digital transformation initiatives that provide a positive business impact on a local level. We can show the impact of every penny spent on digital marketing with real-time insights so owners can immediately analyse and take action on their spend.”