Project Description
Just over three years ago, we told a story on our blog about our work with MarketPlace Raymond Terrace. It outlined their successes in forming and delivering value to a community around their products and services. Given that MarketPlace Raymond Terrace are this week celebrating their 21st Birthday, we thought it would be a good idea to provide an update and insight into their success and the role our digital marketing and website support has played over the last 8 of those 21 years.
Essentially the Centre Management has two markets to consider with the knowledge that appealing to the second delivers benefits to the first. The first market is their existing retail and services tenants of which there are over 40. This market also includes potential new tenants wherever vacancies arise. The team need to ensure the tenants amenity and security is looked after, but also that there is a steady stream of shoppers coming through the doors. This is their second market. The Centre Management marketing team have long recognised the value of building community to build trust and loyalty. They support and participate heavily in community events, and also have developed a number of their own, which are annual highlights for the town, bringing many people to the area and delivering benefit to the town.
They have also built a community within the Centre itself with ongoing promotions for their VIP Members. They have a weekly Jackpot Draw that takes place every Thursday evening in the Centre, bringing hundreds of local shoppers to the Centre which then makes the Retailer offering visible to more. When I last wrote about this, the number of VIP members was 8,900, it has since in that short time grown to over 13,200. This is larger than the population of Raymond Terrace itself.
Our job has been to bring the experience and offering of the Centre forward to the customers via the digital channels they consume. We maintain their website with Retailer and promotional content and community news. We promote this content in a strategic way via their social media channels with effective imagery and calls to action. We put together their EDM campaigns to a subscriber list that is now almost 6,000 recipients. We work with a range of Retailers and their marketing teams to ensure each of their promotional offers are promoted on their website, social media channels, and eNewsletter in the most effective way in terms of image preparation, content, and calls to action. These Retailers range from fashion, food & beverage, health & beauty to services.
Last time we wrote about their progress, MarketPlace Raymond Terrace had a Facebook following of 4,300 and a retention rate of 86%. It has grown to 8,703. Our work on their website is to ensure the best SEO and we have grown their inbound organic audience from 2,117 in 2015/16 to 2,703 in 2018/19. They run their own Instagram which is now sitting at 1,232 followers and engages the Raymond Terrace Community through sharing of content and events.
MarketPlace is very PROUD of its partnership with the community and the work they do within the community. Over many years the Centre has received a number of awards for the work they do including the Lions International Foundation Melvin Jones Fellow Award, NSW Department Of Education Awards, Port Stephens Australia Day Citizen Of The Year Award, Regional Youth Services Awards, and a number of Port Stephens Business awards for Best Shopping Complex in Port Stephens.
A lot of credit needs to go to the MarketPlace Raymond Terrace marketing team. We work with them to create their exceptional content experience as a collaborative effort. It is them though, who are on the ground and cultivating their community. As mentioned previously if you cultivate a community, give to that community, recognise the importance of it, it will become your community of loyal customers and advocates for your business, and what you are aiming to achieve. There are very similar ways any business can engage their local community, become involved, and create a team with loyalty rewards, member events, and many other ideas. Why not get in contact with us to find out how.
