Branding and Marketing

What is the Deal With In-Store Marketing?

Should I participate in the marketing programs offered by retailers?

Must I agree to retailer marketing BEFORE they will consider our products? 

What about the marketing we are doing outside of any retailer? Does that matter to retailers?

All good questions and common ones, too. Often times, it seems the first hoop retailers will make you jump through is to sign up for their marketing programs. Even without having been awarded business first!

In the past 2 months, I have prepared retailer marketing proposals (also known as shopper marketing) as the price of entry, or danced around conversations about this with ShopRite, Kings Market, Balducci's, Gelson's, Sam's Club and probably others that I can't think of. The irony is that the big guys, Walmart and Target, wait until after they award business before hitting up vendors for retailer marketing!  

Here are some answers to help you prepare for these conversations. 

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What Marketing Do I Need to Do to Impress Retailers?

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The momentum of your brand is important, especially for large retailers. Brand awareness does not build overnight, not even with an aggressive marketing budget. Awareness takes time to build. And without it, your product is less likely to sell at shelf. In most cases, a brand less than 2 years old lacks enough brand awareness to support sales at shelf. Therefore, building brand awareness should begin before your product is available in market.

Get comfy. This is a long post. Really, it should be called Marketing 101. 

Where to begin: Start marketing before you launch

Brand awareness building should begin as soon as you lock down your brand name and website domain name. Start building your email list. A free and quick way to set up a landing page to collect emails is http://kickofflabs.com. Building your social media following can also begin early - even without a product ready to sell. Instagram is a great way to showcase your brand personality and begin building brand awareness. These are great ways to start nurturing relationships with your target consumers without spending much money or exposing your IP. Over time these assets will build a following for you. From there, you will have a solid foundation for which to execute a formal marketing strategy.

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Video Tips: How to Create a Brand that Retailers Desire

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Wondering where to start when it comes to building a brand for your small products business? Retail Path Founder and Buyerly’s co-founder and resident Retail Buying expert, Vanessa, presents this course to cover the basics of products branding and marketing.