Name: Jan Tedder-Rogers
Title: Mall Manager
Property: Biggs Park Mall
Location: Lumberton, North Carolina, USA

How long have you been at this property?
Since Fall 2001.

How many years of experience do you have in the retail industry?
38 years.

Why did your mall choose to continue to offer gift certificates instead of gift cards?
Gift cards are too expensive.

How do you promote your mall gift certificates onsite?
We promote them with signs, display cases and my big mouth!

How often do you incorporate the gift certificates into your special events and mall promotions?
We use them for just about every one of them.

Do you ever use your tenants’ gift certificates or gift cards as part of your sales promotions (e.g. For category-specific contests or seasonal programs)?
Yes, most of the time.

What is your primary marketing goal this year?To survive!!!!!

What is your biggest challenge this year?
Our biggest challenge is finding new tenants.

Can you offer one tip to other mall-marketing professionals?
Yes, remember the value of community involvement and provide excellent customer service!

Thanks Jan!

Each week, we bring you a brief profile on one of our fantastic readers. Should we be writing about you? Let us know.

We want to learn more about you, our readers. So email our Editor in Chief, Myriam Beaugé, to be considered for our weekly reader profile. Just let her know your name and contact information, and she’ll follow up with you. You might have the chance to share your successes with thousands of Shopping Center Weekly readers.

Each week, we bring you a brief profile on one of our fantastic readers. Know someone we should be writing about? Let us know.

Name: Marina Majeran
Title: Marketing Manager
Property: Centro Roselands Shopping Centre
Location: Sydney, Australia.

How long have you been at this property?
18 months

How many years of experience do you have in the shopping centre industry?
19 years

Will there be any digital component to your holiday marketing program this year?
Yes, we have an e-marketing database and have just started using electronic direct mail. The strategy will be to use one-to-one marketing to create more direct communications with the customers we already have and do more business with them.

Did your center have any digital marketing strategy in 2008?
No, we had none last year. At the time, we were focusing on building the database through direct mail linked to gift-with-purchase offers.

Do you normally do your digital marketing work in-house or do you hire a Web development firm?
We have hired an external company, but we do our Website updates in-house.

What is your primary goal this year?
To be the best we can be with what we have, and to deliver a consistent message through every aspect of our marketing and management—from cleaning to security services to how we serve our customers.
There are no plans for market development in the near future. However, Centro Roselands already has a great connection to the communities it serves, so we want to do more business with our customers by increasing our exposure and communications efforts, as well as raising the level of our customer service.

What is your biggest challenge this year?
Our biggest challenge is team building with retailers and shifting the attitude from a sales mentality to a service mentality. Service is what keeps customers coming back. Though sales are the number one priority, delivering excellent service and garnering customer respect will bring shoppers back time and time again.

Can you offer one tip to other marketing professionals?
Always have a back-up plan. Keep the bigger picture in mind and always think about how one promotion or campaign leads to another, so you can develop your marketing strategy over time and ensure that your messages are consistent. Create a personality for your center. Develop and nurture it through your marketing. Most importantly, remember that whatever you do is ultimately about retail and selling, not just property marketing. The real question to ask yourself daily is: “How can I best serve my retailers?”

Thanks Marina!

Each week, we bring you a brief profile on one of our fantastic readers. Know someone we should be writing about? Let us know.

Name: Susan Patterson
Title: Marketing Manager
Property: Swansea Mall
Location: Swansea, Massachusetts, USA

How long have you been at this property?
20 years (3 ½ years as marketing manager and, before that, 16 ½ years as marketing assistant).

How many years of experience do you have in the shopping centre industry?
25 years.

How big a role does technology play in your marketing strategy?
It is a very important tactic to our marketing strategy. Swansea Mall is managed by General Growth Properties, which as a company will burst onto social media sites in the very near future.

Do you have a lot of direct and personalized interaction with your shoppers that is facilitated by technology?
Yes we do. The Club is our email-based loyalty program in which members receive a monthly email with preferred offers and coupons, information on sales and events as well as a chance to win a $100 shopping spree each month. The Club is free to join and shoppers can sign up at the mall or on our website, at www.VisitSwanseaMall.com.

Which technology tools do you use most often?
Our mall website is a very popular and useful tool for all of our retailers. Since offers can be added at anytime, I am always getting calls to add an event or sale to the website. This is a free service that we offer our retailers and they love it!

What has been the most successful technology-based marketing program that you have implemented over the past year?
We recently wrapped up a very successful promotion where members of The Club who printed and brought in a personalized email blast received a free $10 mall gift card. Shoppers were pleasantly surprised by this valuable free gift. Programs like this help to keep our frequent shoppers loyal and also help to get the word out to new potential customers.

What is your primary goal this year?
As always, it is to drive traffic to the mall so our many retailers can have successful sales and promotions.

What is your biggest challenge this year?
In this difficult economic climate, we must all do more with less. With shrinking budgets and staff we have to give 110 percent and work together as a team to achieve our goals.

Can you offer one tip to other mall-marketing professionals?
I have found that several retailers, who in the past have not participated in mall marketing programs, are now looking for as much support as they can get. It’s a great idea to get out and talk to the store managers or have a meeting to get more retailers involved in mall-wide promotions.

Thanks Susan!

Each week, we bring you a brief profile on one of our fantastic readers. Know someone we should be writing about? Let us know.

Name: Christina Riojas
Title: Marketing Director
Property: Lake Elsinore Outlets
Location: Lake Elsinore, California, USA

How long have you been at this property?
A little over a year.

How many years of experience do you have in the shopping centre industry?
4 years.

Will there be any digital component to your holiday marketing program this year? If so, what?
Yes: text messaging, e-blasts, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Coupon Sherpa (iPhone) and an outdoor digital LED billboard.

Did your center have any digital marketing strategy in 2008? What did the center do and what was the shopper response?
In 2008, Lake Elsinore Outlets focused on e-blasts. In January of 2009, the center created a digital marketing strategy that included the use of Facebook, text messaging, MySpace, Twitter, Coupon Sherpa (iPhone) and a new LED billboard located on the I-15 freeway which allowed us to deliver fabulous offers from our brand name tenants to more than 120,000 daily commuters. The LED messages can be changed every day, allowing us to offer consumers up-to-date specials and promotions. Instead of waiting for a holiday to receive special offers, our customers receive them throughout the year via our digital marketing efforts.

Do you normally do your digital marketing work in-house or do you hire a Web development firm?
We do it in-house.

What is your primary goal this year?
Our goals are to increase the awareness of our outlet center, inform shoppers of the positive changes that have occurred there recently (we’ve added a Pottery Barn Outlet, Guess Factory Store, Tommy Hilfiger Clearance outlet and Element store ) and ultimately increase sales in this tough economy. In addition, Lake Elsinore Outlets will continue to showcase retailer special offers and discounts, as well as strive to remain top-of-mind with customers via our “Change Your Spending Not Your Style. Never Pay Retail” advertising tagline.

What is your biggest challenge this year?
Lake Elsinore Outlets is located in Southern California’s Inland Empire, which has been hit hard with severe job loss and home foreclosures. Our biggest challenge is to let our consumers know about the positive changes that the center is undergoing to serve them better.

Can you offer one tip to other mall marketing professionals?
Embrace digital social networking opportunities. Take advantage of free social networking tools to market your center and keep your information constantly updated so it is fresh and new to the consumer.