Boutique Visual Marketing

Creating a visual marketing approach for your boutique should be part of your business plan. Creating your own visual scheme can be fun and easy. Using this information will help you to narrow down decisions that you need to make when designing the look of your boutique. It can help you avoid mistakes and keep you from sending mixed signals to your customers. Stick to a good visual marketing plan, and you can more easily and effectively establish a brand image with your target market.

Price Suggestion: This is the first thing to consider. Once you know who your target demographic is, you should begin to get a feel for what your prices should look like. When you have decided on prices, the next step is to design your store around the idea of “price suggestion”. You can get a general idea of a store’s prices when you simply look at it. Lots of empty space, low racks, no price tags and no fluorescent lights suggests high priced items. Colorful giant sale signs, crammed garment racks, and bad lighting suggests discount bargain store. Planning the look and feel of your store around your prices will not only help to attract the target market, but it will also discourage those who are unlikely to spend any money in your boutique.

Layout: The layout of a store is another reflection of price and quality. Aisles in straight lines big enough for shopping carts are for discount department stores. They usually have a tile “track” for carts that surrounds carpeted areas that slow down wheels for department lingering. You will see promotional items and impulse items around the track to stop and entice passing customers into entering the carpeted area.

A boutique, however, has a much different objective. Boutique owners want customers to enjoy being there. They should be surprised, dazzled and pleased at the unique items that they find as they go deeper into the store. Boutiques often have a very random layout meant to stop and engage the customer every few feet. Sections of the boutique may even be completely hidden by other displays until the customer rounds the corner. This helps to facilitate the surprise factor when the merchandise is revealed.

Consumer Response: Boutique owners want to further engage their customers by delighting the senses. This adds to the boutique experience. You will often see interesting lighting, colors, textures and designs. Lights will be pleasing to the eye, not harsh or bright. Smells of incense, perfume, soaps or candles will get the customer even more involved. Calming scents can encourage more browsing. The smell of suntan lotion can put the customer in the mood to buy swimwear. The possibilities here are endless.

Merchandising: The customer needs to be able to see what kind of items you offer by glancing, not by digging. Slatwall or gridwall displays can keep the clothing facing outward where it is easily seen. But, you still need to show what these items look like on. Displaying a 3D visual, like a mannequin, is the most effective strategy of visual marketing. If someone can see what items actually look like on, then they are more likely to walk over and check it out. Limp clothing on a hanger doesn’t attract much attention.

Use these tips to help with setting up your boutique in an effective manner. It can save you time, money and help you make loyal, long-term customers.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the Vice President of S & L Store Fixtures, a leading online resource for retail display cases including mannequins, mannequin forms, gridwall and slatwall store fixtures. For more information, please visit http://www.slstoredisplays.com.

The Art of Visual Marketing

Our society defines and quantifies products or services often through a visual expression. This is where the art of visual marketing is important in its various processes and techniques, whether it is used to promote, sell, or distribute a product or service. Visual marketing permeates almost all consumer and marketing activities.

Why is visual marketing so valuable? Vision is our primary human sense. At a very early age, we use pattern recognition to differentiate and learn the nature of everything around us. The words you're reading right now are a prime example of our unique ability to recognize patterns.

Where is one place our business has the greatest visual impact? How about our window displays? A window display gives others an impression about your company and what you provide. It also is a calling card in that it can draw your customer’s into your store, or help promote a slow-moving item, announce a sale, or welcome a season. Window displays are valuable visual marketing tools but without being set up correctly they can give all the wrong visual cues. What creates a quality display?

Balance: Asymmetrical rather than symmetrical balance with the display.

Size of Objects: Place the largest object into display first.
Color: Helps set mood and feelings.

Focal Point: Where product and props/signage and background come together.

Lighting: Should accent focal point, if possible.

Simplicity: Less is more so know when to stop and don't add too many items.

Like any other aspect of retailing, creating attractive display cases takes a little skill and lots of trial and error. As your store changes, so will your opportunities for visual displays. Keep working at designing eye-catching and innovative ways to make your retail store profitable through visual merchandising.

Visual marketing is also about branding. With branding you are able to build an identity in the minds of your audience. As with creating window displays, there is also an art to this. For one you must try and keep your company’s image clear and concise.

Secondly, look at keeping your company’s message consistent, whether it is in your logo or your storefront display. Brand category leaders are invariably the organizations who employ the best visual marketing. Memorable, appropriate, and consistent visual images are presented across these company’s communication channels. It is easy to see how visual messaging, along with positive customer experiences, drive brand awareness, loyalty and repeat sales.

Any visual cue is going to tell your audience who you are. If you are aiming to be seen as unique, consistent, professional, and persuasive, your visual marketing with your branding must follow. Visual marketing also reaches into nearly every aspect of your communications plan. Advertisements, brochures, sales and informational DVDs, Web sites--the opportunities for enhancing your marketing activities through good visual planning and strategy are endless. No message exists in a vacuum; every message is delivered through a medium. That medium can be well controlled and intelligently utilized, or it can be poorly handled and become a wasted opportunity. Visual marketing applies intelligent planning to all communications media. More than simply design, it's design that is supported by a cohesive strategy.

Yes visual marketing is many things but mainly it is that which defines everything your business is, so take the time to think through the identity of your company and what you would like to present before starting your visual marketing campaign.

About the Author: Ron Maier is the Vice President of S & L Store Fixtures, a leading online resource for retail display cases including mannequins, mannequin forms, gridwall and slatwall store fixtures. For more information, please visit http://www.slstoredisplays.com.