Every brand we talk to has this problem: Their retailers are marketing their brand in a rogue fashion. Whether it’s a retailer changing a soda brand’s can color from red to green to match their logo color, or publishing content about outdated products on their Facebook page, independent retailers are frequently engaging in ways that are outside of the brand’s guidelines.

The problem is that it’s very hard to control retailers and their marketing practices in the online world. Most of the time, independent retailers are not equipped with marketing tools to properly highlight the brands they sell. A lot of the time, we hear from retailers that they are “starving for content,” but they don’t have the resources promote something that looks clean and properly reflects their local brand and inventory.

These retailers are also fiercely independent. They want to control their own online channels, and they don’t want to play by someone else’s rules. However, while there will always be the percentage of retailers who never participate in a brand’s marketing initiatives, a significant portion of retailers are open to changing their marketing methods if they are given tools that promote local customization.

A prospective client recently told me that his independent retailers are his “biggest asset and largest liability.” He is struggling with ways to control them and properly leverage them, but he certainly can’t ignore them. Gartner Research says that by 2015, companies that focus on integrated processes for local marketing enablement will increase revenue from 15%-20%. We at Promoboxx believe that if you find ways to localize your national marketing initiatives in a way that embraces your local retailers, you will strengthen the relationship with your retailers and your company will ultimately be more successful.

It’s relatively easy for brands to stay visible to retailers, but it’s much more difficult to stay relevant.

Relevant means that your goals for your brand and products align with retailers’ goals to increase sales. And it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of a simple fact: your retailers carry more than just your products. They typically carry your competitors’ products, too. You’re just one voice begging for their attention. And retailer attention is a rare and limited commodity.

Even when brands know what retailers need, it isn’t always easy to make meaningful connections. For example, many retailers are struggling with implementing social media strategies. What’s worse, they’re starved for content. So how are brands going to get retailers the resources they need today?

3 Ways Promoboxx Helps

Deliver Exclusive, Customizable Content — Promoboxx’s platform is a terrific way to enlist retailers into a campaign where you regularly and continually deliver content for their Facebook Pages and Timelines that they can lightly customize and easily publish to thousands of fans. As a brand, you can include model tweets, Pinterest links, and other social media content, too.

Use Sweepstakes & Contests To Collect Sales Leads — A contest is a great answer to “What’s in it for me?” Consumers are quick to participate in programs that offer a chance to win something or gain discounts. And retailers can use sweepstakes and contests to engage with consumers. If you include strategies like “Watch & Win” you can also use these programs to educate consumers about products, enhance brand awareness, and encourage consumers to provide detailed personal information (i.e. qualified leads).

Deliver Different Retailer Content To Separate Groups — It’s unlikely that your retailers are all exactly alike. And different retailers have very different promotional needs, based upon their region, size, or their sales strategies. Promoboxx is an excellent way for brands to create and manage customized feeds that serve varying retailer needs. Targeting specific content to different retailer profiles can be much more effective than simply “shotgunning” everything at your retailer base and hoping that they can pick out and use the things that are right for them.

That’s just three ways you can use Promoboxx’s platform to directly engage retailers and stay relevant.  The key is this: look for ways to connect and engage your retailers regularly by giving them tools that apply to their unique business needs. Make it easy for them to use these tools. And track what works so that you can optimize for the future.

Stay relevant, my friends.

We live in an age of anti-privacy. Using platforms like Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook, consumers share every detail of their lives with one another, from their current locations to photos from their most recent night out. This trend toward anti-privacy is driven primarily by younger people. While Generations Y and Z have used the Internet their entire lives and are comfortable with social media, older generations remain uneasy about broadcasting their intimate details.

Anti-Privacy and the Older Generation

Though some older folks participate in social media, a large portion of them remain reluctant to share their lives online. Because many business owners are members of these older generations, this hesitance can be problematic for brands promoting social media marketing campaigns. Older business owners are often uncomfortable sharing the details of their business online, which often inhibits their ability to use social media as an effective marketing tool. While we at Promoboxx know that social media marketing is a great opportunity for local retailers, it isn’t instinctive to everyone. This means that when working with brands, we talk to them about the value of information sharing and the changing nature of privacy, in the context of their retailers’ or franchisees’ varying age ranges.

A Case Study in Privacy

Recently, Ben and I took a trip to Chicago to visit the National Restaurant Association. While we were there, we spoke with the head of sales from a Massachusetts-based manufacturing company that sells food service products to local retailers. We told this retailer, who was around 50 years old, about the Promoboxx platform and the type of sharing and distribution campaigns we initiate. Though he liked the idea behind our platform, he indicated that his company wouldn’t be able to use it. He told us that his company was dedicated to privacy, and that he wasn’t comfortable sharing the names of his distributors, retailers and retail locations in the online world, which could be viewed by his competitors.

The Need for Anti-Privacy

Here at Promoboxx, we believe that effective marketing requires an open dialogue between the brand, its retailers and consumers. The more open this conversation is, the stronger the connection will be with consumers. As this connection continues to strengthen, brand awareness will grow as well.

Regardless of the age of a brand’s retailers, it’s important to recognize the power of open communication in furthering the brand’s message and connecting with consumers. In general, owners of local retail stores are trending younger. Some of them are taking over for their retiring baby-boomer parents, while others are opening retail stores after graduating from college. These younger retailer owners and operators will automatically be more open to sharing their activities and utilizing modern marketing platforms, such as social media. However, encouraging older business owners to embrace this mentality as well will help brands get ahead of the curve.