This is an overview of some guerilla marketing tests and a concept for branding Turnpike Lane, meant to stimulate discussion on ROI cases and raise the point of the lane effectively, cohesively promoting itself.
Immersive imagery is a core strategic tool, SHINE’s images of this type have over 7000 hits, click the image below for an example.
The premise is to establish and manage Turnpike Lane as a brand, produce engaging content and events, yet critically evaluate to sound ROI in business terms.
This page merely deals with an overview, and is intended to promote a style of organic or homegrown regeneration, this as opposed to developers’ “place making”, yet with similar goals.
Background
We consulted local businesses and agencies several years ago, in the planning stage prior to the Shine centre’s opening – the question being how might the new centre add value to the local and business communities?.
It’s worth noting that the original centre bid and thinking was under Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) an approach to sustainable community-driven development.
Asset Based Community Development’s premise is that communities can drive the development process themselves by identifying and mobilizing existing, but often unrecognised assets. Thereby responding to challenges and creating local social improvement and economic development.
All of the themes raised with the business community some time ago, seem still to resonate now, principally of it not being well served, promotion even now seemingly confined to the N22 business slice of the borough.
Turnpike Lane appears to fall outside of current local BID activities.
This discussion is also prompting towards replicating successful activities in BID districts,.
A deliberate branding and “place making” process seems needed – to raise the profile of the lane’s offers and it’s increasing rarity/uniqueness in being a largely chain free shopping street.
People “on the ground” can co-operatively create the brand, which is there anyway, yet largely unpromoted.
Establishing a Brand
The multitude of offers is already here, I would say itself improving – compared to the lane 4 or 5 years ago.
I would suggest a “voice” is lacking – hence the term brand.
Some fundamentals like a dedicated website (crucially linked to up todate Google Business listings for all traders) and visual branding identity such as logo would be a good first step.
Understanding the offers/customers
It can certainly be helpful to unpack aspects of value propositions for customers on the lane, using tools like this to examine this, yet this discussion focuses on initial and enduring attention/engagement.
Footfall & Attention
A technique we used using an arts group was of pop up shows – essentially linking venues with co-ordinated exhibits, much like those currently found in SHINE.
A single venue showing art is difficult to promote, a number however, combining to form an “Art’s Trail” is an event and can be made attention grabbing.
Here is an example from Green Lanes a few years ago.
Creating a trail itself provides an event, and offers can be tailored for the lane – ideally on a rolling regular basis as promotions take time to bed into people’s minds. As an example The Whitechapel Gallery established regular late public openings on Thursdays, rolled these out to other venues and effectively started a brand https://www.timeout.com/london/art/what-to-see-at-first-thursdays
Hammersmith and Fulham BID appear to be gaining momentum with the “Made in H&F” tag, https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/business/markets/made-hf
This can also be replicated in this site – aided by the local artisinal community and a local group Studio306 already has ample high quality craft stock to sell, there is an appetite for “localism” in an increasing demographic – during SHINE’s initial planning “Haringay Local Store” opened around the corner as an example.
Guerilla Marketing & Google
I have put up some Google Streetview 360º imagery for Turnpike Lane – snippets are below, these illustrate how many clickthroughs from Google Maps into the images themselves. This imagery appears in search results and captures attention.
I then mapped both sides of the lane using 360ºs, at slightly elevated height to capture storefronts without obstructions, and these are connected on the Google platform to form a trail (see below).
The images have achieved a fair amount of click through traffic, one by the station having over 150 000 clicks.
The images capture attention in Google search, and everyone uses Google!
The most effective business use of this imagery however, is linking it to Google’s online business listings.
A recent example is below, where we established a Google listing for a new business, mapped some well framed 360ºs and then linked them to the business listing – thereby directly linking to the businesses website, when they launch it.
Click on image for Google Maps version.
The listing itself gets handed over to the business owner, to amend information, add pictures etc etc and in itself improves search engine optimisation for the site.
Training on listing management and other aspects digital marketing can be delivered to traders at SHINE.
The listing control panel is shown below, the owners not yet having added full details but having control of it.
Well placed images on their own capture attention on the google platform, and clickthrough to the client’s business listing/website etc, here the topmost image is a relatively obscure museum in Central London.
Recommendation/Proposal
Maximum ROI can be obtained for businesses having been Google listed and then having dedicated imagery associated to this listing, as in the Milk and Honey example.
Stage 1
One approach would be to consult all of the traders on the lane and individually establish/verify up to date Google Business Listings for each business, then handover the listings to proprietors, perhaps with some urgency as the listing will improve search engine behaviours for the business.
The listings themselves appear in any search results on mapping products and allow proprietors to self manage their online shop windows as it were.
Having Google listed/verified each, an online Turnpike Lane directory can be established – on the basis of accurate and up to date business listings, themselves linked to any websites the businesses might operate.
That product forms the basis for a digital eco-system – turnpike lane can have it’s directory, webpages etc – yet crucially linked to the accurate and up to date google business listing.
Stage 2 Forms and Formats
The above framework can be linked to rich media, business profiles, video interviews etc etc.
The formats are infinitely flexible, a relatively simple, yet well crafted one is at the bottom of this page.
An online Turnpike Lane can be built – using properly framed imagery (again like Milk and Honey) – Google streetview is sometimes random – individual images serving the whole itself rather than profiling individual businesses.
A template built on the basis of the image above can host imagery as it is created, effectively recreating the shopping street with joined but individual images of the businesses – this in contrast to the more random Google Streetview, as deliberately showcasing each storefront.
In some ways this is like creating an online mall, a cohesive entitity yet linking into seperate businesses.
3d views might be used, mounted onto Google Streetview, as a customised tour of focused images, each linked again to the individual business listing.
Functionality is the most important aspect
The point is to have a cohesive landing page holding all of the Lanes business listing/website links in one visual space.
This discussion is now embedded in an example on Arena’s site portfolio page, a category filterable summary page of graphics leading into project details, this method can easily be employed to produce a colourful and effective Turnpike Lane landing page, simply well shot store fronts individually linked to Google Business listing, advertorial, 360º walk ins, interviews etc – click the image below to see the navigation.
