Interruption marketing vs permission marketing for retail businesses

Nowadays, there are a lot of notifications and ads that capture the attention of potential customers. However, it is important to figure out what type of marketing tactic works best for your business. Depending on the products or services you offer, you need to test and adapt with every ad and notification.

In this article, we are going to talk about the difference between interruption marketing and permission marketing, and how each one of them can help.

Interruption marketing vs permission marketing

First of all, let’s start by explaining each one of these concepts.

Permission marketing is a marketing method in which a brand or a business asks customers for permission before promoting a product. For example, a newsletter you receive is a type of permission marketing. Why? Because you were the one who subscribed to the newsletter. Also, a blog post is a permission marketing tactic because customers go to that website on their own.

Interruption marketing is a marketing method in which brands or businesses promote their products by disrupting the activity of the user or customer. For example, every ad you see on Facebook, Instagram or Google is an interruption marketing method.

However, these marketing methods can also be applied offline. There are many ways in which you can use interruption marketing in brick and mortar stores. Brick and mortar retailers and brands that sell in-store have a harder time grabbing the attention of customers. One of the reasons for this issue is that brick and mortar businesses have less opportunities to engage with customers.

Interruption marketing can be used to generate FOMO (fear of missing out) for your customers. A great offer presented in a campaign can make people buy more products sooner.

60% of millennial consumers said they make a reactive purchase after experiencing FOMO, within 24 hours. If you stop to think about it, one of the biggest events that creates FOMO is Black Friday. Also, major flash sales or discounts can increase FOMO.

Let’s see what are the best interruption and permission marketing tactics to try for your store, online and offline.

Best interruption marketing tactics

• Paid ads

One of the best and most disruptive marketing tactics is a paid ads campaign. People spend on average 144 minutes on social media. Millennials spend even more time on social media and they love to purchase products online. By implementing a paid ads campaign on a social media platform you will disrupt your potential customer’s continuous scrolling and encourage them to find out more about your store or products.

This can be used for both eCommerce platforms and brick and mortar stores. Physical stores need to have an online presence if they want to attract as many customers as possible.

• In-store promotions (POP marketing)

This is an interruption marketing tactic that works only for brick and mortar stores, of course. While you might think about discounts and price cuts, we recommend a different approach. Instead of attracting customers by offering them cheaper products, you can offer them a different experience with POP marketing.

For example, you can use in-store marketing robots like Tokinomo that can make products talk for themselves. You won’t even have to cut prices during the campaign and you will still see an increase in sales of over 200%.

Tokinomo | In-store Marketing Robots | Automated Shelf Advertising

Best permission marketing tactics

Interruption marketing is all about disrupting the current activity of your potential customers. Permission marketing might not be disrupting, but it can be more effective in some cases.

• Blog posts

Most businesses don’t consider blog posts to be necessary for their stores. However, content marketing can help a business from a SEO perspective. This is not all. Blogs can help brands and businesses build a community. Apart from being on the first page of Google, you can also create a strong base of followers and customers.

Offer shoppers useful information about your products and services. Let them find out more about the subject and decide what products work best for them.

• Loyalty program

This is a great permission marketing tactic that can help both online and physical stores. Customers want to feel special and you need to show them that they are. Loyalty programs help retailers and brands sell more without pressing the customer or lowering the prices.

Customers enter loyalty programs to receive free sample-sized products or to buy cheaper products, but they end up spending more in the end. However, while spending more, they also gain the feeling of being part of an exclusive community.

Both interruption and permission marketing can be used by online and offline stores to increase sales, engage more with customers, and stay ahead of the competition. Try out these great tactics to see which marketing mix works for your business.