What Digital Marketers Can Learn From A Very Successful Mall

The December 16-17, 2017, edition of Wall Street Journal Weekend contained an interview with Kemper Freeman. Mr. Freeman owns Bellevue Square, a multilevel mall east of downtown Seattle. He says foot traffic was up 21% this past year, and he’s planning a multimillion-dollar expansion.

That’s remarkable news at a time when online shopping seems to be all the rage.

During Christmas season, the mall has a parade every night. It runs for four blocks. Thousands of people line up to see it: artificial snow, a light show, floats, drummers, and a sleigh-riding Santa. Mr. Freeman: “It’s the biggest outdoor Christmas celebration in the country, and we do it every night… It’s the kind of thing that brings people to the mall.”

The interview with Mr. Freeman was titled How Retailers Can Thrive in the Age of Amazon. But his ideas and business principals have something to teach all of us.

1. Mr. Freeman says retailers have to provide emotional fulfillment. We are social animals: “We aren’t robots who are going to make all our purchases from robots.”

Lesson: We need to be social when we engage people on social media platforms. If we don’t inject some humor and humanity into our exchanges, we will fail.

2. One of the mall’s most successful stores just opened up three months ago: Amazon.
Mr. Freeman: “They know they need to connect and fuse with you as a consumer.”

Lesson: We have to do all we can to connect with people. To show there’s a human face behind the brand. I think live streaming succeeds because it helps humanize brands.

3. Bellevue Square offers free parking. It helps attract people to the mall.

Lesson: Content marketers succeed when they offer some free content: tips, advice, how-to’s. It attracts prospects to your brand. It also allows you to demonstrate your expertise.

4. When it comes to retail shopping, nothing beats finding a salesclerk with expert knowledge. Mr. Freeman: “They better be knowledgeable about what they are selling, or people will go online or to a discount store.”

Lesson: Same for all of us. We need to be experts at what we do, and committed to learning more. Marketing will fail without the skills and customer service to back it up.

5. Mr. Freeman spends an hour or two every day walking through stores and chatting with customers. “You can’t believe the kind of intelligence I pick up from these folks.”

Lesson: You have to know your ideal customer, your target audience. Don’t guess what they need– ask them: what they’re trying to accomplish, where they’re trying to improve. Then show them how you can help them reach their goals.

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About Me: I’m an illustrator specializing in humor, branding, marketing, and social media. I create images that get brand content seen and shared.

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Questions? Send me an email.

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