Marketing Services also helps produce Retail News Insider, which delivers the latest industry news, trends and insights in an award-winning, visually-engaging digital format.
In today’s digital world, it isn’t enough for companies to simply have a website. They have to have a true web presence—one that’s engaging and appealing to the audience upon first glance and that instills a sense of trust. Interactions’ Marketing Services brings together the talent and experience to help deliver Interactions’ associates, retail partners and potential customers this kind of best-in-class digital experience.
Ben Johnson, Manager of Digital Marketing for Interactions, joined the Marketing Services team this year to help bring Interactions’ digital capabilities to even greater heights. Having worked in a variety of technical and digital roles, Johnson’s experiences give him unique insight into today’s digital best practices—which Interactions is already using to drive sales.
Earlier this year, Interactions entered into a partnership with Panamanian grocery retailer Grupo Rey. Marketing Services helped develop two new websites (one in Spanish and one in English) that combine high-quality, appealing visuals with engaging text to attract and inform Grupo Rey vendors and inspire them to do business with the newly formed Grupo Rey-Interactions division. The sites also support ongoing operations by serving as a gateway into Interactions’ online scheduling system, where new vendors can sign up for an account and existing vendors can schedule and manage in-store events. They also include analytics to help track what areas users visit and how long they stay there, which can provide key insights into the types of services and information vendors are looking for.
“Intelligent and appealing websites like this take the digital experience further and help to foster relationships with users,” explains Johnson. “Within a few seconds of visiting a site, most users decide whether to stay or go. Sites that look current and ‘higher-end’ encourage them to interact more. This can help generate more business from existing vendors and capture new leads for our salespeople.”
Marketing Services is also working on ways Interactions can further capitalize on other digital capabilities, including enhanced email messaging. For example, Marketing Services worked with the One to One Interactions division to create a template that would allow OTO to present Giant Eagle and its vendors with regular compelling visual summaries of recent events performed and the value provided through sales lift and other performance elements. Using a centralized email marketing platform to send these messages, Interactions can track important metrics, such as when recipients open these emails and what links they click on—enabling more targeted follow-ups with potential leads.
“Through different forms of messaging like this, we can inspire customers to do business with us in different ways,” says Johnson. “But it has to be an ongoing process. We have to keep fueling the relationship with users. We have a lot of great tools in place, but we’re continuously working to improve them in order to generate even more quantifiable insights and find the best ways to trigger action.”
