Important: Brand Secrets and Strategies has been rebranded to Retail Solved. Please swap all BrandSecretsandStrategies.com URL’s with RetailSolved.com. This is now the Bulletproof Your Brand podcast. Thank you for listening!

Covid has radically changed how & where you sell your products. Your ability to remain relevant is critical to your success & it beings with how well you meet your customer's needs. Your customers want your healthy products. Make it easy to buy your brand.

Social Nature https://www.socialnature.com

Webinar Replay: How Are Shoppers Navigating The New Normal? https://RetailSolved.com/NewNormal

Are you ready to hear more? Let's start the show.

Hello, and thank you for joining us today. And we're going to be talking about the consumer experience. And we're going to be talking about the consumer experience.

And we're going to be talking about the consumer experience. And we're going to be talking about the consumer experience. And we're going to be talking about the consumer experience.

And we're going to be talking about the consumer experience. And we're going to be talking about the consumer experience.

During these uncertain times, brands are having a very difficult time understanding or predicting what consumers really want. Would you like to know? Well, that's what we're talking about today.

How are shoppers navigating the new normal? In other words, what are they expecting? What are they looking for?

How can you help them better meet their needs? How can you help them solve the problems that they're facing? Remember, the best defense against any virus is a healthy lifestyle.

And that starts with a healthy diet. And that starts with your products. This is why this matters so much.

Today, I'm pleased to bring you the results of a survey that Social Nature did. Their insights are amazing. It's something you're definitely going to want to hear.

You're going to hear what customers are really thinking about. Not only in Canada, but in the US as well. More specifically, what are their trends?

How are they buying the healthy products that they like? Where are they shopping? You need to know this so that you can make sure that your products are available anywhere they shop.

This presentation is a part of the free weekly webinar series I launched when Expo West was canceled. Each week, I reach out and find the best experts to help solve your most pressing questions. You can learn more about this series on the events tab of my website.

On today's podcast, we are going to be referencing the slides from the original presentation. You are definitely going to want to check those out. You can get there by going to www.brandsecretsandstrategies.com forward slash new normal.

Now, here's Jessica with Social Nature. Thank you, everyone, for being here. I appreciate it.

Today I'm thrilled to talk about, to share with you a survey that Social Nature just recently completed. A lot of great information. I've had a chance to look at it behind the scenes.

And yeah, so how are shoppers navigating the new normal? The reason we're here today is we're trying to give you the answers that you need to help grow and scale your business. So do me a favor, reach out to me.

Let me know what your needs are. And I'll do my best to build that into a future webinar episode or put that on the podcast. So Jessica, could you please start by telling us a little bit about yourself and your journey to social nature?

And then I'm going to turn off my camera while you take it away.

Sure. Thanks, Dan, for having me. So hello, everybody.

Happy Friday. Happy fall. I'm Jessica Malach, and I've been working in the national health space since 2004 with a variety of different brands, cross categories in the US and Canada on integrated marketing programs.

So setting brands up to be successful for product launches for growing market share and looking at the ways to involve consumer feedback and data in decision making. So I'm passionate about the space. I grew up shopping in health stores with my mom and happy to be here so that we can keep working on growing the natural space.

So today's topic is how are shoppers navigating the new and what I'd like to say, ever changing normal. It seems there is a lot of change happening. And that's what we're going to cover today in today's webinar is what changes are consumers making to the routines as a result of Covid?

And what are some anticipated changes that they're going to be making as we all head into the fall and the winter season? So I'm going to start by giving you a background social nature. And then I'm going to talk about some of the top health goals and strategies for health management that consumers are using right now.

We're going to take a look at food safety concerns and behavioral changes that people are making as well as what the impact will be across sales channels. And then I'm going to talk a little bit about new product trends and ways that you can grow new product sales. We'll then wrap it up with some takeaways and then cover off any questions.

And looking forward to getting started. So quick background on social nature. The company was founded by Analia Grubbs in 2015.

And we're actually having our fifth year anniversary birthday next Wednesday, October 8. And the mission of the company is to switch consumer buying patterns to more natural products. And social nature is one of the fastest growing health and wellness communities in North America with half a million health conscious shoppers.

And brands are tapping into our community to build, test and activate demand for products that retail online across channels. So our community, we represent health code shoppers with a strong concentration in United States, 70% and also in Canada, mostly women and age 20 to 49. And we have a lot of people that have young families in our community.

And on average, as mentioned, they're shopping across three and a half channels. And so this is the population that we'll be talking about when we look at the data in today's study. And what makes it interesting is that by working with social nature, you can quickly test and validate food and health products in store and online and just figure out ways to move the needle at retail.

So we've worked with 500 companies, crossbar, cross channel, cross category. And we'd love to talk with anyone about ways to grow your brand. So let's just discuss what was the scope of the study.

We had 3,200 consumers complete the study with 60% representation from the US and 40 in Canada. And overall, people spent 12 and a half minutes per survey. So let's take a look at what are some of the top health goals and strategies that consumers are using right now for health management.

First piece that we'll talk about, I'd like to level set on contacts first with respect to people's perception of where they are at in terms of Covid. What we have seen is that the majority of US participants believe that they are still dealing with the first wave, whereas the majority of Canadians believe that they're heading out of wave one. And the one thing in common is that both countries believe, 77% of people believe there's going to be a second wave in the next six months, and they are going to be making changes in anticipation of this happening.

So what's interesting is, is that consumers are taking a much more proactive approach to their health management compared to a year ago. And this is good news for the industry because people are more health forward than they ever have been. And we see a mix of preventative measures as well as action to optimize health right now, with 82% of Americans taking more action and 79% of Canadians.

So in terms of top health goals, across the board, we do quarterly surveys to get a pulse on where consumers are at in their health journeys, so we can help our clients market to these trends. And what we've seen is that over the last year, across the board, everything has gone up. The top five goals are eating healthier, reducing stress is number two.

So 49% of people, like one in two people, wants to reduce stress. And increasing exercise and fitness, losing weight and improving sleep. So that's a big concern as well for 46% of people.

The other trend that is an ongoing trend is the holistic approach to health. So in addition to physical and physical health measures, we also see a focus on mental and emotional health, with 39% of people indicating they want to be happier, 32% restoring emotional balance. And so we believe that this is contributing to more trends towards mindfulness, towards yoga and towards ways to feel more balanced.

The other key trend here is that improving immune health is the fastest growing concern. And if you are a supplement company, then this is a big opportunity for you to educate people about how your products can support with immunity. In terms of variation across the countries, we have seen that there is a little bit of distinction, especially with the US wanting to reduce stress and focusing a little bit more on immune health and preventing illness compared to Canadians.

And that could be attributed to the fact that the US believes they're still in wave one and the Canadians feel that they're coming out of wave one. So they might be a little bit more optimistic. So what actions are consumers taking to achieve their goals?

So we saw that eating healthier is a top goal. And then it's no surprise that eating more fresh fruits and vegetables is a big thing right now. People are cooking at home more.

So for brands that are in the food space using a recipe strategy to engage people could be a great way to continue to connect with consumers and keep them coming back to your site to learn more. The other key trends that we see are the continued focus on reducing sugar. Like 45% of people are trying to cut down on sugar, reducing sodium and taking supplements.

So 44% of people are actively taking supplements and will continue to take more supplements right now to support some of their new health goals. So that's a trend that we can talk a little bit more about in terms of the distribution across the categories of supplements. And we see that vitamins and minerals are certainly the top category.

It's a very broad category. Probiotics are strong. There's been a lot of good education done by the supplement industry around the importance of probiotics.

And you can see that with essentially 30% of people taking them regularly. And then we also see immune boosting supplements up there as well, and stress and sleep aids. So depending on what products you sell as a supplement company, I'd encourage you to take a look and consider what are some of the health goals that people have, the top health goals that we've talked about, and then how can you help people solve those problems, not only through your products, but also through content, through lifestyle tips, through potentially having an online meetup with a health expert.

There's a lot of ways to engage people and people are looking for more education. So there's a lot of opportunity in this space. The other piece is that because people are anticipating a second wave, as we've seen, they are going to be making some changes.

So the top changes and impact on CPG, I've highlighted here on the left of the slide. And we'll just talk about them one by one here a little bit. So the first one is that 63% have said they're going to continue to reduce store visits.

So that will have an impact in terms of the potential for in-store discovery. 47% have mentioned they're going to take even more preventative health measures and 35% will be buying healthier products. So this is a wonderful opportunity for us in the natural health space.

The other trend that could happen again a little bit is pantry stocking on frozen food items and non-perishables. So you may want to look at your inventory and your retail relationships to ensure that you're getting the right distribution and you're on the truck and you're getting placement and you're getting put in those stores. The other piece, more cleaning supplies, and then 33% will be shopping more online.

And we're going to talk about channel trends in a second. The other thing is that there has, as we have seen, unfortunately, some sectors have really been impacted by Covid in various states across the US and in Canada, like the food and beverage sector, travel, entertainment, and people that work in these sectors have dealt with unemployment. And so there is a sector and there are groups of people that will be looking for more products on sale or buying cheaper alternatives as a result of that changes in income.

So in terms of differences in country, people will continue to practice their social distancing across the board. We're going to see a lot more, you know, home is the frontier kind of thing where people will continue to cook at home, exercise more at home, do a lot more at home. And in the US people will continue to be a little bit more focused on immunity compared to Canadians and more proactive in taking immune supplements.

So what are some of the key takeaways here when we're thinking about health management and how you can be part of that journey with consumers? The first piece is knowing that we are being more proactive and that there is an opportunity to connect with people around these new health goals and routines and also to consider taking a holistic approach to marketing. So reflecting on what goals do people have, what are the top concerns, and then how can you as a brand build community and content and position your products as a solution to those things.

So that's the main takeaway here in addition to the wonderful opportunity for supplements. So food safety concerns and Covid. What are people thinking right now when it comes to food consumption?

So we have seen that both countries believe, as we know, there's going to be a second wave, and they think it's going to be a greater magnitude than the first wave. And this is impacting people's attention to the food system. So in general, people are paying more attention to food labels than before Covid.

30% of people in the US, one in three in Canada, part of this is related to healthier diets. The other part is related to safety. And when we look at what people are seeking out on these labels, in addition to the nutritional facts panel, there's a lot of deeper spotlight on, you know, not just the general ingredients, but what is the sugar content?

What is the sodium content? Again, these trends continue to be really important. So depending on what type of products you have and your formulations, you may want to work with your R&D team around lower sugar options and things like that if you haven't already, because that could be a good way for you to grow sales and catch some of these consumers.

The other trends is that organic and non-GMO are still in demand and more so in demand in the US compared to Canada. And another trend that we're seeing that we think will continue to grow is the interest in country of origin and where these products are being made. So Canadians are particularly concerned and interested in purchasing domestic products.

And the big theme here ultimately then continues to be around transparency. And we know that a lot of brands in the natural space and consumers have been lobbying for more transparency in the food industry. And that trend and demand is still there.

So the more clear you can be, and particularly online, like making it easy for people to understand the ingredients, the nutritional components on your site and things like that, just the faster you're going to drive sales because people are looking for that very quickly. And if they can't find it easily, they might click on somebody else's product. So the other piece is, so, okay, people are concerned about food safety.

50% of Americans are more concerned than before Covid, and 41% of Canadians. And so they are seeking more information from manufacturers to feel confident about the food supply that they have and how food is being handled. So the main thing is in the US, people just want to know like what additional safety measures are being taken to prevent this.

And the big theme here ultimately then continues to be around transparency. And we know that a lot of brands in the natural space and consumers have been lobbying for more transparency in the food industry. And that trend and demand is still there.

So the more clear you can be, and particularly online, like making it easy for people to understand the ingredients, the nutritional components on your site and things like that, just the faster you're going to drive sales because people are looking for that very quickly. And if they can't find it easily, they might click on somebody else's product. So the other piece is, so, okay, people are concerned about food safety.

50% of Americans are more concerned than before Covid, and 41% of Canadians. And so they are seeking more information from manufacturers to feel confident about the food supply that they have and how food is being handled. So the main thing is in the US, people just want to know like what additional safety measures are being taken to prevent this.

And we're talking about health conscious consumers. I'm sure there are some US consumers that don't care about this. In the health and wellness space, there is a demand for more safety measures and understanding what's being done.

The other piece is what are the quality control practices and then also an interest in ingredient sourcing. This is very similar in Canada, with a little bit more focus, as we talked about already, on ingredient sourcing in domestic products versus international. So how is this impacting channels?

Like are there any trends that we want to pay attention to or anticipate any changes coming up? Let's first talk about the brick and mortar piece and understand where consumers are spending most of their time. Shopping and most of their dollars.

What we've seen is that Walmart is dominating in Canada and the US and lots of the conventional retailers as well. Club, Costco continues to be a player and then we also see some specialty here. So the main point that I would take away from this slide is just that people are active cross channel.

So having a cross channel strategy is very helpful as well as identifying ways to engage specific shoppers at retail and having a real good landscape of how you are being positioned in these stores, who's next to you on shelf and understanding the merchandising environment and ways to just stand out to capture that in store discovery that is so important and also happening less right now. So people will be going, they have been cutting their trips, as we all know, 48% less visits. And the good news there is that despite the fact that people are not going to stores as often, the overall spending has increased.

And why? Because we know that people have been cooking more at home. And so the overall basket size is definitely increasing.

And so there's a good opportunity for you to be in that basket if you can nail the in-store discovery. So that's where there's different strategies and ways that you might consider using digital tactics to drive in-store discovery and impact. And we can talk a little bit more about that later on.

So what we're seeing is that, you know, we saw a few slides earlier that 63% of people are going to reduce store visits even more. And based on the data that we have, what we're expecting is that this will probably destabilize around once a week for those that continue to go into brick and mortar.

So in terms of online shopping, there's going to continue to be growth in that area and demand for online grocery, demand for speed, demand for more delivery slots. And 30% of people overall are going to be shopping more online. So the top channels right now are not surprising really.

Amazon Prime dominates, continues to dominate in both countries. Walmart is a strong contender. And then Brand Direct is also really strong in both countries.

So that's a super exciting opportunity for brands in the space to start to build more direct relationships as people continue to seek more shopping online for you as a manufacturer. This is a great opportunity to build those direct relationships and learn more through your direct relationships and leverage those relationships for innovation.

So in terms of the frequency of online, we're going to see people continuing to increase it. So far to date, US shoppers have gone 92% more online. That's almost doubling in Canada, 80%.

So this is just going to continue to grow.

And get up to almost weekly in the US, three times a month, Canada, two and a half. So lots of opportunity there. So if you are thinking about moving the needle online, here's some top tips on how to do that.

So we did a survey of consumers to figure out what helps them feel that they can trust products online or incentivize their purchase. And the first one is that product reviews are key. We know that product reviews continue to be important.

And so having a product review strategy in place to make sure that you've got recent and relevant reviews is absolutely critical. We have heard recently that there are some changes happening at major retailers where they don't really want reviews that are super old, like fresh reviews are really important as well. So having that recency effect is important.

And making sure that you've got a strategy in place. The other piece is that detailed product information is super important. So we kind of talked about that when we were looking at some of the food labeling data is that people want to know how the products are manufactured.

They want to understand the ingredients and that helps them to make a purchasing decision. So ensuring that it's really easy and amplifying that content can be very helpful. And the other piece is that friend recommendations are still top drivers.

So when we talked a few minutes ago about the opportunity to build direct relationships with consumers, how can you also then, you know, build advocacy, right? So are there ways that you can have like refer friend programs and discounts for people to share with their friends? What else can you be doing to make it easy for people to share?

So that's another strategy. And then discounts and free product trial are certainly good tactics that are happening and will continue to happen online as people seek to de-risk their initial purchase.

So if you're just getting set up, then the one thing to really pay attention to that, you know, Amazon has disrupted many years ago around shipping costs is that people demand low or free shipping now. So one rule of thumb that we've seen in some of our work is that people won't be willing to pay a high shipping cost for a low-cost item. So the only time they might be willing to pay a little bit higher shipping cost is if the product A, is super hard to get anywhere else, or B, if it's super high value, like maybe it's a $100 item, $200 kind of basket size, they might be willing to spend, you know, one-tenth of that or $5 or $10, but they're not going to be spending $5 or $10 on, you know, four cold brew coffees, for example.

So you really want to think about optimizing your sales if you do have to have them cover that or building that into your margins. And then the other piece is trust is very important. So that's where the ingredients and the transparency come in.

And speed of delivery is also particularly important in the US. And the US has done a lot of good innovation in logistics and distribution. In Canada, people are interested in, is it easy?

Like, can I check out properly? Like, they need better site navigation. There's a lot of opportunity, I think, for some of the traditional retailers in Canada to improve their site navigation.

So the last section we're going to cover here is what's going on with new products? And what are some of the trends? And what's really exciting to see is that people are buying new products across the board, across categories, and they are really, really active.

And what we've seen in terms of, like, some top level trends are that plant-based alternatives are becoming just as common as meat, fish and dairy consumption. So people continue to want to reduce meat consumption and continue to want to add more plant-based meals into their diets. And so that's a big opportunity for that space.

We know that that category is growing a lot. The other piece is that there's a mainstreaming of functional and better for you beverages happening. So 21%, like one in five people, are currently drinking kombucha in this community right now.

And we see that continuing along. There's a lot of innovation happening in the beverage space, and that's a good place to focus on. The other thing is this theme of comfort and convenience.

So the US is a little bit more active in Canada in terms of convenience and frozen prepared food. So while people are cooking more at home, they also want meals that they can just whip up quickly. So that's another general theme.

And then people are investing in healthy indulgences. So if you're in the healthy dessert space or healthy confectionary, it's a good opportunity right now, especially as like the winter and fall months come up, people are going to be looking for some of those stress-busting comfort foods. So good opportunity there.

So in terms of what's driving new product purchase, well, what's really exciting is that it's not because I had to trade down or I couldn't find the product in stock or any of those reasons. They are, those are some small percentage of why someone bought something new. The main driver is that I just wanted something new.

So this desire for novelty, I want something new. And so that's great. There's an appetite for change.

And that's a wonderful environment to be launching new innovative products in. The other piece is that it's to support a specific new health goal or lifestyle change. So we've talked about how people are being much more proactive with their health right now.

And they are setting new goals and making these changes. So that's another area. So like again, you know, maybe I'm not sure the last time you engaged your community, your email list, for example, or your social channels on like, what are your goals right now?

Like, how are you? You know, we're all heading into the fall. It's a new season.

2021 is coming up. Have you asked them? Have you asked them what they're going to be focusing on?

And that can be a fun thing to do because then you're going to learn what are the top things in your community. And that might inspire some new product ideas. It might inspire some new, you know, health challenges or content.

And if you're not doing a lot of content or community, that could be a good place to start. It's just figuring out, you know, what are some of the top themes that surface from that? So that's a lot of good opportunity there.

So how are these people finding? How are people finding new products? Well, there's three main ways.

One, the top way is they're actively looking. So 30% actively looked online for the new product. And then 27% said they stumbled across it.

And they actually stumbled and found it in store. That was the number one thing. And so despite the perception that people are rushing around in stores or have been and not browsing or not paying attention to new things, that's not necessarily correct.

So people are paying attention. If you've got a good TPR on, if you've invested in rebranding and your packaging pops and you're pushing hard to get a good placement, there is definitely an opportunity for that. That stem will happen and for somebody to pick you up.

So that's key. The other piece is browsing online. So for those of you that are in digital marketing, retargeting as a strategy can be really, really impactful here because people might be on one site and then they keep seeing your ad or whatever.

And there's a way to kind of through that frequency, ultimately get them to click and then discover you. And they would have just kind of stumbled into your ad, right? So retargeting is an area that can be effective for driving online product discovery in addition to SEO and things like that.

So the final one is the friends and family recommendation. We've talked a little bit about the value of peer influence and that continues. I mean, we often ask our friends first if we're looking for something new, hey, what do you do?

What are you taking? How are you handling this? What do you think about this?

So cultivating community is an also effective way to support growth.

And the final piece here is that people want to share their ideas and give feedback directly to manufacturers. So 91% of people have said they want to share. This is such a big opportunity for brands to engage people in innovation strategy.

And I've worked with lots of brands over the years and some of them do. And the ones that do, they really find ways to improve their products or to enhance them through that customer listening. And it's really interesting because sometimes you'll see that your internal blind spots are being revealed just through that customer listening.

And it's also a great way to be able to not only de-risk products and build stuff that people want, also to mobilize people to be part of that launch. So if they contributed an idea and you have acted on those ideas, then engaging them afterwards is going to make them probably pretty excited to share it and buy it. So there are ways to build consumer advocacy.

There are ways to think of consumers as ambassadors. And that strategy can be really strong for brands that invest in community initiatives. It takes a while to build community for sure.

It's not an overnight thing. I know this, I did this a lot at Vega when we were building the brand there. And over time, it's a very good way to increase the equity in your brand and ultimately to set up for success.

So there's lots of ideas around that. If anyone ever wants to jam out on those, you can email me. I love talking about these initiatives.

They're really quite fun. Okay, so what are the top takeaways from this? And then we'll open it up to any questions or questions can certainly be emailed as well.

So the first one is that we know that people are in a state of health change, and we also know that there's a holistic approach to health happening. And so my thing is, let's take a holistic approach to marketing. Then let's not just do the typical feature and benefit selling.

Let's understand the full picture of these consumers and understand, you know, identify ways to help them succeed in their lives and to develop an emotional connection with them and to really try to do that so that you've got that relationship. And that's ultimately what builds loyalty. So I saw this post the other day.

I thought this was, well, from Kevin over at Noon. I worked with him many years ago when I was at Vega. And this is an excellent example of, like, doing marketing that is aligning with health goals and not just focusing on a product, right?

So we know that these products can help people with a lot of the goals that we talked about earlier today. And now they've partnered with Core Yoga to give their community access to free at home yoga. So this is a type of partnership that is beautiful.

Why? Because you're giving your community access to something they care about. You're connecting with them on the big picture.

You're helping them achieve their goals. And so if you're a brand like in supplements or a food brand and you're looking for ways to grow, consider exploring like how can I grow through partnerships? Like how can I bring in like a cool health expert like we talked before to engage my community or to educate them about something?

And just keep doing that because it's a really, really, really fun way to kind of keep it fresh, keep it cool, and get people involved and support partners that are like-minded, right? The other trend is that we've talked about transparency and quality control messaging. And this is not the best screenshot, but I wanted to bring this new roots.

They are a supplement manufacturer in Canada. They've been around for 35 years and they sell their products all over the world. And they have a fantastic manufacturing facility.

I saw it, I think, like 10 years ago in Montreal. I visited their site and they are just so transparent. So if you go to their site, you're going to see like photos of the lab.

You're going to see real people. You're going to learn about their qualifications and that type of transparency and just really visually telling the story of like what you are doing and you know, can help people trust you and help people feel like, yeah, like I've got a quality brand behind me. And so I think like there's a lot of opportunity to do that if you do manufacture your own products, like tell the story, you know, interview your plant staff, get them involved, like humanize the brand and build that human connection.

The next piece here is just the whole, the point of omni-channel strategy and we know that store visits are less and so using digital as a way to drive new customer acquisition in-store as well as online is definitely one of the key strategies now that the majority of in-store demos are likely to be canceled or really disrupted. The majority of scaled field marketing has also been disrupted and likely canceled. So a lot of the tactics that we would have used to drive discovery, to drive trial sampling, to get new people are on hold.

So it's really time for innovation and time for trying new things and making sure that we've got strong digital strategies in place. So there are ways to do that. Social Nature does do that on our platform.

So we use digital demand as a way to drive in-store activation. So you can see here, this is a plant-based turkey burger from Dr. Progress. And we're making it clear to people that you can see the yellow highlights there, that they get to try this awesome free burger, and then they're going to pick it up at the store.

So it's a pretty simple way. It's not simple from a tech and targeting perspective. We've invested a lot of money in our tech and our data and our relationships, but that's really the mechanism.

So there's lots of different things that you might want to consider doing to give a little bit more confidence and predictability for the in-store discovery component so that people do notice you. And once they've tried the product, I'm sure they're going to buy it. We know that trial is huge.

The other thing is that as we discussed, it's important to have a review strategy in place and to have discounts. So on our platform, we are also giving people access to deals and things like that, and then having reviews for people to read. And so having all of this as part of your strategy is a straightforward and important way to engage people and ultimately build direct relationships and get people involved in your product roadmap and your innovation strategy and making them part of your tribe.

So yeah, I'd love to continue the conversation. We do have the ability to support brands to learn about target audience, to support you on targeted trial, on consumer insights and all kinds of stuff. So my email is at the bottom of the slide here, jessica at socialnature.com.

If you have any questions to Dan or I about the data or just want to talk about growth strategies, we'd love to hear from you.

That was amazing. Okay, high five, do the way of all that other stuff. Thank you for sharing that.

Man, that was a lot of great information. By the way, I want to make a point here that the challenge with a lot of brands is when they look to different groups to get consumer shopper insights, et cetera, what they're doing is they're looking to panels that don't reflect the consumers that buy their products. What's unique about what socialnature does and why I'm so thrilled about having this, developing this relationship with them, this partnership with them, is that they're talking to your customer.

They're talking to the customer that understands the value of your product. And that's far more important than what you're going to get from anyone else. So definitely take advantage of this.

So anyhow, if you've got any questions in the chat, please put them in there. So Lisa wants to know, how does she get a copy of the deck? So I'll put that in the show notes on the website and the show on the podcast web page, because I will turn this into a podcast because it's such great information.

Everyone needs it. In addition to that, Jessica, how do we get the deck?

Yeah, so just e-mail me, Jessica at socialnature.com. And then I can e-mail you the slides. No problem.

That would be just fine.

Perfect. Thanks. She says great information.

So thank you for that. We're having a little bit of trouble with the network. So I don't know what that's about.

So if we lose anyone, I apologize. But certainly reach out to one of us. And we'll be certain to get back to you if you've got any questions.

You know what? I'll do that too. I'm going to turn off my camera as well.

Maybe that'll help. So reduce some of the bandwidth. So so many great points that I'd love to talk about.

You said develop the emotional connection with your customer. This is something I've been talking about a lot. A lot of brands think of their consumer as 2.3 kids, you know, that the generic consumer, female hat, household, etc.

You need to know who your customer is a lot deeper and a lot more. You need to have more of an intimate relationship with your customer because you're unique customer so radically different than most customers. So can you talk a little bit about that and what you mean by that?

And by the way, the picture that you showed with the brand was to do in the yoga. I mean, that was a great example of that. Can you talk a little bit more about that, Jessica?

Yeah, for sure. I think like, you know, it's kind of just common sense in a way and that people are people and the more we connect with people on a human level and are clear and how we can help them solve their problems or achieve their goals, then the more likely we're going to be to develop that loyalty. And so I think what it is from a branding standpoint is to really understand, like, what is the problem that you're helping solve?

And what are the deep pain points? Like, what are those people thinking and feeling? Like, what are they struggling with?

Or what are they aspiring to do in their lives? Or how would their life change if this problem was gone? And then turning that into, like, visual stories, visual representation of what that looks like, and taking yourself out of just feature and benefits and into more lifestyle marketing.

And through doing that in a way that's authentic, we're not talking about another green leaf in yoga pose, right? Like, we've seen way too much of that in the industry, not to be disrespectful, but in a way that, you know, shows you know me. Like, you want that connection of like, yeah, that's exactly what I'm looking for.

You want somebody, that's the response that you want people to have. And so you want to do consumer testing, you want to make sure that that yes factor is happening. They feel like, yeah, you get me.

This is exactly what I'm looking for. And I think ways that we can do that, in addition to just understanding our audience, is through layering in like community, layering in like content that is going to be showing that your company empathizes and understands with like what people are trying to do. And so that can be a really good strategy, whether it be like, you know, online, like meditation challenge or like yoga stuff, or if your brand's got a different type of voice and it's not all about mindfulness, maybe it's about something else.

It's about, you know, find outdoors or something, like how can you get people involved then in sharing like what they're doing or like partner with Arc'teryx or a cool outdoor company and like do a giveaway or whatever. Like there's lots of different things that I think people can do. And it starts with looking at the customer as people, not just a sale.

Such great insights. Thank you for sharing that. I always say that loyalty is something that's earned, something that's not bought.

And the reality is that I have a loyalty card on the airline. So, you know, the challenge is you're led to believe that loyalty is something that can be bossed on a plastic card. And what Jessica said is so critically important.

If you had an opportunity to have that personal one-on-one conversation with every customer, how do they use your product? How do they use it when they take it home? How do they celebrate it, et cetera?

That's the key. You were also talking about the importance of building community. I love that.

And what you were other, the other comment that you made along those lines is you need to be available wherever your customer shops. That's so critically important. I'm so glad that your presentation highlighted the importance of that.

Can you talk a little bit more about that?

Yeah, certainly. I think there's definitely that kind of like anywhere in each line thing that's going on, right? Because people are shopping cross-channel now, like the old days of there's the natural specialty shopper, the mass shopper and the online shopper.

And they're all three distinctly different types of people and they only shop in that channel. Like those days are over, right? Like cross-channel is happening.

People want convenience and most people shop minimum three and a half different types of stores, right? So the first piece is to make sure that it's a lot more work, obviously, right? Because you're dealing with different types of pricing wars, competition, different types of demands from retailers, depending on what type it is.

And as a marketer, you just have to be so much more well-versed in all the different tactics that are leveraged to drive sales in these channels. And so when we're thinking about anywhere, anytime, one of the things that you can think about is how can you make that anywhere also your site and your community. And by building that community, you are going to be building a direct relationship.

And a direct relationship is going to be always more profitable. Why? Because A, they might buy from you, which is great.

B, you get to learn more what these people think. And that loyalty is more likely to be there. So if there are an on-shelf and they do have a competitor that's a dollar or two cheaper than you, because you've got that community spirit, because maybe you recently gave them that free yoga class or they did that plant-based eating challenge or whatever it is, they're not going to buy the competitor.

They're actually still going to buy you. Why? Because you made a difference in their life.

You gave them an experience that was beyond just a product, right? So I think the community building aspect is a key strategy to mitigate against competition and to build these relationships that people want. And by doing that in a way that is easy for people to be part of.

And let me go one step further. Great insights. If you have an online community, then you can leverage that to grow and scale your brand more effectively.

Your margins, you can keep most of that. But more importantly, that is the most effective way to reward your local customers to be part of your tribe. And I talk a lot about our different episodes, podcast episodes, webinars about how to leverage that in your trade marketing strategy.

The point being is that if you can reduce your trade spending and really put all your efforts into acquiring new customers and rewarding your existing customers differently, that's how you take advantage of that. The second point is that retailers want and need to remain relevant. Relevant meaning how do you help your retail partner compete against every other retailer out there, including online?

And what's great about what Jessica was saying is that by having this community, you can leverage your community to drive sales in traditional retail as well to help them remain relevant, to give them a reason or help them, I should say give them a reason, but help them get your customers to come back in their store again and again and again and not invite them to shop their competition. And then you can leverage that with savvy retailers to reduce your trade spending, reduce the slotting, create extra incremental opportunities for you. So thank you for sharing that.

The next thing that you said that I think was so incredibly important is that this is how you increase market basket size and that discovery is important. And so if you can be found other places and then leverage that relationship with your community, with your, you know, through your brand to drive sales online and to, you know, traditional retailers, et cetera, that's the big win. Jessica, can you talk more about that?

About leveraging community to build online and offline sales, Dan, is that what you're asking?

Well, that and market basket. I mean, at the end of the day, retailers want three things. They want more traffic in their store, they want more, they want a competitive advantage and want a reasonable profit.

And if you can leverage the strategies that Jessica shared, that's the win-win for you. And that is a point in negotiation that you can offer to your retail partners. Does that make sense?

Yeah, definitely. I think that the more you know about your consumer and you have a strong brand and strong community and strong organic growth in the sense that people are buying your products regularly and they're telling people about them, then that's the type of brand that you're more likely to want to list because they've already got traction. So traction number one is really important because that traction can be leveraged across retail channels and then built within that channel.

If you've got really good examples and data from other retail partners that you've worked with, then it does give more validation to why that retailer should list you. And then of course, the more engaged you are with the community that you have, and the more you've got a lot of proven ways to launch innovative products, then maybe there's ways that you can partner with that retailer. I know a lot of people will do an exclusive flavor for one retailer or an exclusive format, and that could be a cool way to develop your partnership with that specific retail account while also still growing the overall brand and sales across channels.

I think that's really key. And then the more you're sort of like a category captain, if you will, or you start to think of yourself that way, the more data and trends in general that you can share with your retail partners, then the more they are going to be more likely to want to partner with you. Maybe there's even private label opportunities.

If you've got the scale to be able to support on contract manufacturing in the category, who knows? And it's all about, you know, the more you understand what drives the consumer sales in the category, then just the more valuable your company will be and the more valuable your retail relationships will be. And then those learnings can be applied in the retail environment.

So retailers, just like manufacturers, also want to drive loyalty. And a lot of them are investing in more personalization. They are investing in education in their stores or online as well.

And so it's all about, you know, the industry working together to better service customers in a more holistic way.

Love it. And you hit on the thing that is most relevant to what I love to talk about, being a category captain or a category leader. The way I define it is a category captain.

That's expensive. A lot of brands, smaller brands can't afford to do that. That's where you come and you try a lot of resources for the retailer.

A category leader, however, is where you can help leverage the strength of your brand. The insights that you have, the actionable insights, to help that retailer can see more effectively. I think it's so great.

I mean, it's so critically important and any brand can do that. The reality is, retailers don't need the same information from you that they get from every other brand. They need insights, actionable insights that they can't get from anyone else.

And if you can leverage what Jessica's talking about, but the insights talking about what the insights that they can get for your specific brand, and then leverage that at retail, that's how you become a category leader. And when you can provide real value to the retailer, and a savvy retailer like Jessica said is going to bend over backwards and give you incremental opportunities that they don't give other brands. Another thing she talked about is that product reviews recent and relevant.

And this is about brand advocacy. A lot of people use canned information. They use the generic information.

Think about how important it is to you, how relevant it is, how much of a difference it makes to you when your best friend comes up and says, hey, have you tried the restaurant down the street or the package for this particular brand, whatever. That is so much more impactful. And that is what drives a lot of sales, a lot of discovery, etc.

Jessica, can you please talk a little bit more about that and the example that you use where you have a slide with a short video, talk about why that's important and how that can really help you drive sales and drive trial.

Yeah, definitely. Thanks, Dan. It really relates back to the whole concept of peer influence, right?

For forever, people tend to go to their peers first for advice on anything, and they want to know, like, did you have a good experience, right? So reviews are another form of peer influence. Now, I may not know the person that wrote that review, but if I see that 2,000 people had a good experience with the product, it makes me feel like, okay, this is a tried and tested product, and so I can trust that this thing is actually going to do what it says it's going to do, because in online, we know we don't have that tactile experience.

When you go to a store, you can see a product, you can touch it, you can feel it, you can get a lot more nonverbal information in the sense of just looking at it and feeling it, that tactile information, and that does not exist online. So what we wait to do in an online environment is kind of simulate the experience that we would normally have had in an offline environment where you can sample or you can try and just make it easy for people to feel like they can trust the product. So video is a good way to do that.

Video is becoming even more impactful. Most people nowadays don't read as much as they used to. We're just overwhelmed with information.

And lots of text is just not as effective as a video and showing people like, how do I use this product or a video testimonial can be helpful. And then in terms of the review strategy, people want to see recency. They don't, if your product has reviews from like two or three years ago, or you go online, you're looking for a restaurant and nobody's reviewed it for a year, that's typically going to be like some type of red flag.

Like what's wrong with this place or has nobody bought this product recently? I don't know if I should bother. Maybe I'll go buy this one over there that's got a bunch of new reviews and looks like people that are like me.

Right. So it's really just about driving that trust quickly in an online environment where people don't want to have to spend hours doing research on your company. They want to make a decision in less than a few minutes or a few seconds, really.

And so that's that is the new way of marketing in digital. It's just got to have those reviews and quality reviews.

And, you know, let's go one step further. I was talking to someone about this literally yesterday and the old idea that you need to hire, find an influencer, the biggest name in the industry, some big name performer to promote your product. That's not true.

That's not relevant. And here's why. If you can get a micro influencer, as we call it now, to support your brand, the person, like you said, Jessica, that doesn't, you know, you may not know them, but it's someone like you.

So when someone's reading it, they're saying, this person like me likes the product. You know what? It's going to work for me.

And that's even more impactful. And so don't overlook that. And the best part about this, going back to what Jessica said a minute ago, is if you create a thriving, loyal community outside of traditional retail, including brick and mortar and online, then that retail community, I mean that thriving community, can be full of those micro influencers that can do so much to help grow and scale your product.

So great advice.

Exactly.

We'll also talk about, do you have any other comments you want to make about that?

No, no, that's great.

Okay. Thanks. And then the other thing you said is that you're talking about how people are looking, are more health focused and mental and emotional health and mindfulness is top of mind.

And I think that this is extremely relevant because as you're communicating with that customer, even if you're not a supplement brand or a health and wellness brand, to the degree that you help calm people or whatever, but by having that message and providing that transparency, that is so relevant and so important today in terms of your messaging. Jessica, can you please share more about that?

Well, what we've seen over the years is that there has been the mistrust in the food industry and supplement industry. People have felt there have been a lot of awareness around bad ingredients and manufacturing and things like that, and a lot of lobbying and a lot of activism from consumers and health advocacy groups around the importance of transparency and food labeling. We know over the years as health and wellness and natural has gone mainstream, that in general, people have a higher demand and pressure from manufacturers and retail to be clear about what is this product and what is in it, because my health is important and my family's health is important, and people are just more health focused.

So it's really just a quality assurance and making sure that you're being upfront about what is in the product and educating people. There's a good site called pinto.co that does a lot of work around food transparency and labeling, which is pretty cool. And I think it's really just about making it easy for people to understand and quite frankly, listening to the trends.

Like if people want to have less sugar or low sodium, like figuring out how you can formulate your products to meet people's health goals.

Such great advice. I know we're... Okay, what website, Lisa, says pinto.co, is that correct?

Yeah.

Okay, perfect. So I know we're coming up on the top of our hour. Thank you so much for the great insights.

Is there something else you want to say? And then again, how do we get ahold of you? And by the way, anyone and everyone, reach out to Social Nature.

They've got a great product. They've got a great platform. And more importantly, they can give you that level of insights that you're not going to get from a traditional focus group or from more of the mainstream strategies out there, the mainstream, you know, commoditized consumer focus groups.

So Jessica, any other comments? And again, how do we reach you?

Oh, yeah, thanks so much for having me, Espen. I just absolutely love the opportunity to share this data and collaborate with other people in the space. So my email is there, jessica at socialnature.com.

And please do email me with any questions or if you want to talk. And then I can also send the slides over as well.

Thank you, everyone, for showing up. I appreciate your time and your attention. And please share this webinar series with everyone you know.

There's a great list of webinars on my website under the events tab. So you can go back and listen to previous webinars. Jessica's been on a couple, again, great insights each time.

And then, of course, you can see what's coming up in the future. And we have a lot more planned for you. So thank you.

Have a great day. Have a great weekend. And look forward to seeing you next week.

Thanks, everybody. Have a good weekend.

I want to thank Jessica and the entire Social Nature team for being such a big integral part of the weekly webinar series. And I also want to thank them for sharing their insights. I'll be certain to put a link to Social Nature in the podcast web page and in the webinar replay.