AVB Marketing’s Chris Swift takes a selfie with his Marketing 101 education session to demonstrate the power of social media to move people to action.

Ways to raise your online profile

By Janet Weyandt, YSN 

During his presentation of “Marketing 101” during Monday’s education sessions at 2023 Summit, AVB Marketing’s Chris Swift asked the attendees in the packed room to pull out their phones. 

Marketing was one of five education tracks members could participate in at Summit; the others were Furniture Technology Source (FTS), ServiceSource, HRSource and LUXE. 

Encouraging them to take a picture right then and there, he then asked the attendees to post the photo to whatever social media platform they use personally, with the Summit hashtags of #Summit2023, #PlugIn2023 and #avblife.  

He joined in, taking a selfie with the large audience in the background. 

The point, Swift said, is every person influences roughly 100 other people every day through their social media usage. If BrandSource members tapped into those spheres of influence to market their businesses, the effect would ripple. 

Recently, he told the packed room, he developed an interest in artificial intelligence and spent some time online researching and learning about it. The next thing he knew, he was seeing suggested articles and product ads related to that interest. 

“Every platform I go to now is about AI,” he said. “I created a new digital profile for myself. And everyone looking for what you sell is going through this same experience.”

That means every person who wants a new refrigerator, for example, and starts his search online — as 81% of customers do — will begin seeing new content about that product very quickly. BrandSource members want to be among that content. 

That can happen a number of ways, Swift said, going into detail about omnichannel marketing, which means marketing in more than way, and how that helps retailers get in front of the right customers at the right time. 

Those methods include email, which Swift stressed is a vital tool, and content marketing, or blog posts, which position the retailer as a subject matter expert. 

In fact, he said, email is the most powerful way to communicate directly with consumers and it helps build customer loyalty. 

AVB Marketing is a Google Premier Partner, so Google is an important component in the member-owned agency’s toolbox. The Google tripod — Google Business Platform (formerly Google My Business), Google Search advertising and Google content marketing — are essential for businesses to be discoverable. 

“If I were a retailer, the very first thing I’d do is this tripod,” he said. “I’d invest all of my time and money into those things.” 

Another way to put themselves in front of prospective customers is by becoming influencers. He suggested members designate someone on their team — another leader, a salesperson or anyone who has the interest — to take the lead in posting about the business, the customers, special events and other activities on social media. 

That’s when that cellphone photo activity came in. 

“Ask a few people, ‘Who wants to be our influencer?’” Swift said. “Their desire to help tell our story to their direct networks says something about their commitment to us.” 

He also discussed the ways AVB Marketing can help, including marketing bundles that feature content creation — customized blog posts that help drive traffic to websites and generate interest. 

“Content means conversation,” he said. “It gets used by Google and becomes one of the ways Google finds you when customers are searching for what you sell.” 

The bottom line, he said is that independent retailers must do everything they can to be discoverable. If potential customers can’t find you, everything else you do and offer is irrelevant. 

“Your website isn’t enough,” he said. “Use every possible tool.” 

YSN publisher AVB BrandSource is the nation’s largest merchandising and marketing co-op for independent appliance, mattress, furniture and CE dealers.

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