Unlock the secrets behind the MHK Group’s success in boosting efficiency and saving time through automated marketing campaigns. Find out why physical retail stores remain a key advantage when competing with big online providers. Plus, don’t miss Svenja’s expert insights on socialPALS’ exceptional customer support and how it came to the rescue in tough situations.
Svenja Kühn
Trade-Marketing Manager | MHK Group
Svenja, tell us about your role at the MHK Group!
I’m a Trade Marketing Manager and, among other things, I support our retail partners.
You've been using socialPALS since May 2022 to continuously provide our partners with high-quality campaign content. Why did you decide to integrate this form of automated retail marketing into your communication strategy and then expand it to other brands?
Our goal is to guarantee consistent, high-quality communication across all of our partners. In comparison to other social media tools, socialPALS offers a platform specifically designed for the needs of automated trade marketing. This enables us to effectively manage our campaigns across the different channels of our retail and private brands. By supplying campaign content through socialPALS, we aim to support and ease the workload of our retail partners! Consistent engagement across all relevant channels greatly boosts frequency.
What was the goal of the previous campaigns, and how much internal effort did it take your marketing team to launch them?
Our main goal is to support our retail partners and ease their workload. This way, our partners can engage in relevant social media channels, regardless of their individual capacities or possible lack of know-how in online marketing. Many of our partners simply don’t have the time or resources to fully dedicate to online marketing. Therefore, a key focus was to make the process as simple and straightforward as possible. Effective implementation required careful planning. Additionally, the retail partners had to be guided through the integration process.
How has the automation of campaigns through socialPALS impacted the efficiency and scalability of your marketing efforts? Has the platform helped you use your budgets more effectively?
By using the platform, we were able to implement a variety of organic campaigns more effectively and with less time effort. The platform has allowed us to optimize our marketing strategies.
How important are KPI analyses in assessing campaign performance? Were you able to derive insights for your marketing strategy from our platform data?
KPI analyses play a crucial role in evaluating campaign performance, as they provide us with deep insights into the effectiveness of our marketing strategies. Based on our KPI analyses, we optimated and adjusted our budget as well as the number of assets for upcoming campaigns.
How challenging was it to get your retail partners on board? Is the 'online marketing' element being accepted as part of the sales strategy?
In the midst of day-to-day operations, our retail partners often lack the capacity for new tools or lengthy integration processes. It requires a lot of education and time to demonstrate the benefits to them. Nevertheless, there has been and continues to be significant interest from our partners.
Each retail partner confirms participation in a socialPALS campaign, and thus the deployment of the ready-to-use content calendar, with a single click after initial registration. Were there also retailers who took a closer look at the platform and scheduled additional posts or ad budgets themselves?
Indeed, some of the retail partners went beyond the one-time registration and easy 1-click participation in a socialPALS campaign and explored the platform more thoroughly. For instance, the advertising budget was increased and adjusted by the partners.
What is your view on the future of physical retail in light of the dominance of large online players? Does specialty retail still stand a chance if it invests in digital strategies early on? Do consumers still want to shop in physical retail stores?
The future of physical retail stores, especially in the kitchen industry, remains positive despite the growing market power of major online players. The reason lies in the nature of the products: with high-priced items like kitchens, the tactile experience and in-store personal interaction are crucial. Customers value the ability to experience products firsthand and receive individual advice, something digital platforms cannot fully provide.
How would you rate the customer support from socialPALS? Have there been situations where you had questions or problems – and if so, how were they resolved?
The customer support from socialPALS has proven to be excellent. For every question or issue that arose, I always received the help I needed. The support was fast, competent, and focused, enabling an efficient solution in every situation. These experiences highlight the high quality and dedication of socialPALS’ customer support in providing the best possible help to users.
Voices from the Trade:
We are extremely happy with the socialPALS platform. It is user-friendly and allows us to provide high-quality content from manufacturers for our social media channels without much effort. The support has been exceptional as well. We were given optimal assistance during the account setup and introduction to the campaign features, which made it much easier to get started with the platform.
Sven Stegelmann
Act today and use your MDF more effectively!
socialPALS brings brands and retail partners together, creating a win-win situation that unleashes previously untapped potential. The innovative software solution simplifies complex processes through automated retail marketing and strengthens stationary retail through regional brand campaigns. Get your obligation-free platform demo today and become part of the socialPALS success story.
