The Promote Better Blog

Do you have 3rd party brokers or in-house sales reps visiting independent stores? If you're an emerging brand you are probably spending a considerable amount of effort on your broker relationships. 

In-store food sampling and product demos are coming back. Here’s how we think they will change – and how CPG brands can prepare now.

If you don't have a high-quality deduction management process, you're missing a golden chance to understand spending at indirect customers, and you risk margin erosion due to ineffective trade spend and illegitimate claims.

“Every dark cloud has a silver lining.” Remember that saying? For Brand Ambassadors and for brands banking on demos as a means for driving trial of your products, it’s certainly easy to see the COVID-19 pandemic as a dark cloud. So where is the silver lining?

Dr. Bronner’s is an icon in the natural products industry. Founded in 1948 by Dr. Emanuel Bronner (after nearly 100 years of family soapmaking), they have been a pioneer in products, organic certification and fair trade practices, social and business integration and fair business practices, and GMO labeling. And of course, they are a certified B Corporation.

At the beginning of the unfolding COVID-19 emergency, we posted about “doubling down” on the type(s) of promotion that brands should be doing during the pandemic. As it turned out, our ideas have largely been proven correct. However, there has been some contrary - we'll even call it bad - advice going around, so we’d like to go one step further and clarify what that bad advice is, as well as what brands should be doing instead and why.

In the last 2-3 weeks, in-store demonstrations have become a virtually non-existent activity as grocery and food retailers across the country scramble to serve shoppers preparing for extended periods of quarantine due to the COVID-19 crisis.

In our previous post, we discussed how both perception and reality are important factors to consider in formulating a strategy for how best to proceed in today’s uncertain environment. 

The Coronavirus COVID-19 epidemic is currently posing unique challenges for businesses in virtually every industry. While it’s naturally human to fear the unknown, all the facts are indicating that this is not a virus that poses an existential threat. Nevertheless, it’s sparking panic and decisions like the postponement of Expo West 2020 – a huge hit to our industry. For an emerging consumer goods brand looking to grow their business in stores, what to do? It’s an interesting question, and one for which we have a pretty clear answer.

If you’re a brand on retail store shelves, there’s a high likelihood you’re running some sort of trade promotion. The sole purpose of trade promotions is to move the brand’s products off the shelf and into the shopper’s cart. It’s the primary way that brands partner up with retailers to drive more sales to consumers.