Livestream to the Customer Cover Communications

LIVESTREAM TO THE CUSTOMER

Modern retailers have access to a data volume that allows them to evaluate customer behaviour via Big Data. Communication strategies and online tools prove that this could mean unheard-of possibilities for the retail industry. The best example is the influencer marketing phenomenon. What can the offline world learn from its online counterpart? Anna Höweler, the CEO of Cover Communications, provides answers. Interview: Isabel Faiss. Photo: Cover Communications

It’s almost impossible to separate online and offline these days. Many online tools can be extremely efficient when applied to the stationary retail industry too. Your area of expertise, namely strategic influencer marketing, is the best example. What’s the added value for retailers?

First and foremost a direct, personal, and timely discourse with customers. Those who involve their customers in decision-making processes consistently and actively will ultimately not only benefit from their proximity to the relevant target group, but also from the enormously valuable information provided by online tools. That’s why stationary retailers are so keen on influencer marketing, because the benefits are so obvious.

How does it work exactly?

Live Stories on Instagram are probably the best example. An influencer uses his smartphone to film how he walks across a sales floor. The Instagram voting tool allows us to ask the influencer’s target group - which ideally matches your own or targets new customers - directly: “Hey, how do you like this new brand? What do you think about this colour theme? How do you like this collection?” We can then analyse the success and effect of such a marketing measure in detail. By mapping out various mechanisms, we can extract an enormous amount of information about the customer. At the same time, the customer doesn’t feel like he or she is being evaluated. One bypasses topics such as data protection and questionnaires, thus not only giving your target group a voice, but also creating the drive-to-store effect that leads directly to the shop via the online tool. Naturally, one cannot immediately affect the product range that the buying department defined months before, but one has a seismograph that is very close to the customer.

Influencer marketing primarily curates an offer, which is actually the core competence of the retail trade. Can that be combined somehow?

Anne Höweler is the founder and CEO of Cover Communications. She and her agency’s team primarily advise companies from the fashion and lifestyle industries on topics related to strategic influencer marketing and develop targeted 360-degree marketing measures.

It combines quite well. Every city has “local heroes” and influencers that can be temporarily incorporated as style icons. They can, for example, select individual looks from a range and present them in a shop window showcase or in a specific area of the store. If you think this idea through to the end, you can develop a great story and then even turn it into a campaign. It can be shared via relevant social media channels and doesn’t require a huge budget. With the right face, which has a certain relevance and reach both in the city and online, you can achieve a great deal. But it’s a new approach that also harbours risk. I believe the risk is worth it, especially as it coaxes the new, younger target group, which is always in touch with the latest trends, into your store.