BRAND SECRETS AND STRATEGIES

PODCAST #16

Hello and thank you for joining us today. This is the Brand Secrets and Strategies Podcast #16

Welcome to the Brand Secrets and Strategies podcast where the focus is on empowering brands and raising the bar.

I’m your host Dan Lohman. This weekly show is dedicated to getting your brand on the shelf and keeping it there.

Get ready to learn actionable insights and strategic solutions to grow your brand and save you valuable time and money.

LETS ROLL UP OUR SLEEVES AND GET STARTED!

Dan: Welcome. When you launch your brand, there's a tried-and-true way of getting your brand in front of retailers. The challenge is, it's kind of an old-style way of doing it. Let me explain. Plan A for most brands, is you go to every trade show you possibly can. You buy a booth, you have a lot of your people to show up to man the booth, you have a lot of product ready to go so that you can give it away to delight whoever stops by. And your hope is that a retailer, an enthusiastic retailer that loves your product, is gonna magically show up at your booth ready to purchase your product.

The reality is, you've got a lot of people coming by your booth. Very few are really, truly interested or are in a position where they can buy your product. They love your samples, and they pay you a lot of compliments. But at the end of the day, are you able to connect with retailers? Let's face it. The whole point of a trade show is to get your product in front of retailers, to meet with them one to one, and hopefully get them to buy your product and put your product on their store shelves.

But who am I to tell you this? Well, I've been in your shoes. Throughout my career, I've gone to countless trade shows in a variety of different cities. I've pre-ordered the product to show up when I needed it. I've begged my coworkers to come help me at the trade show to man the booth with me. I've tried to set up meetings with retailers in hopes that they would show up.

I wonder how many people listening to this podcast take the time to identify what it really costs to set up a booth and to man the booth for every trade show. I bet you'd be shocked. Big question is, what is your return investment? How much product did you sell for what you just spent? How many purchase orders do you need to have to offset the cost of the show? What kind of followup is required? And what is the future opportunity for you to work with that retailer? These are all important considerations that every brand needs to think about before they book a single booth.

Now, what if I told you that there might be a better solution, that there might be a better way for you to have an engaged conversation with a variety of retailers. Dedicated time, where you have one on one opportunities to sell to them without distraction. That's the focus of this episode today.

Hi Sarah and Joe, thank you for joining me today, can you please start out by telling us a little bit about yourself, and a little bit about the industry, why you do what you do, what changes have you seen, et cetera. I know that's a lot to unpack. Joe, let's start with you.

Joe: Sure. Thanks for inviting us. My name is Joseph Tarnowski. I'm the VP of Content for ECRM. So basically what my role, my background is in trade journalism. I've been working as an editor for various retail trade publications for 24 years, before joining ECRM. My role at ECRM is creating content that will keep our customers engaged with us throughout the year, in between our in-person sessions, so that content consists of a variety of things. Thought leadership pieces, trend pieces, pieces based on data, but basically it's for our retailers and our suppliers that attend and participate in our sessions throughout the year.

Dan: Perfect, thanks. And Sarah, if you could share your background?

Sarah: Yeah, absolutely. So I'm Sarah Davidson. I'm the Senior Vice President of Grocery here at ECRM. My background really is, I've been growing up here at ECRM, so the last 13 years I had worked in different roles in ECRM, starting out as an intern here and working my way up through the different departments we have, and really just learning and growing up through the industry that we operate in at ECRM.

Dan: Fantastic. I want to now switch and talk a little bit about what you see int he industry. What are the trends that you've seen taken place over time? And your backgrounds are so unique in the sense that, like you said Sarah, you grew up in the industry. Joe, the reason I went to you first is from your background, you've seen the industry change more, progress, et cetera so can you please chime in and let us know what you've seen in terms of changes in the industry that are relevant to this space?

Joe: Well, particularly for food, but actually this one trend goes through a lot of the categories that we covered, and that's the trend towards wellness. Obviously, you have the millennials ... Well, not just millennials but millennials are really growing up living and eating and shopping healthier. You're seeing that a lot with the older consumers as well, such as a Gen X-er like myself. We're trying to fight off the effects of aging, so we're paying a lot more attention to the ingredients in the products that we purchase. We want to make sure that what goes in and on our bodies is good for us. So we're seeing that trend in health and beauty care as well.

What the millennials also add is a bigger focus on sustainability, too. They're interested in the stories behind and how those ingredients are sourced, so they're looking for fair trade, they're looking for different certifications. The biggest impact, especially since I've been writing about the different categories, across all the categories that we cover in our sessions, you know, health and beauty care, cosmetics, food, even candy. I mean, people looking for healthier ingredients in candy and snacks as well. I would say another thing is they're looking for solar or niche suppliers as well, which is great for us, because that's what we're all about. But, you're seeing this big movement where all of these larger CPG companies are trying to get in that space by buying these more smaller, artisanal emerging suppliers. These companies tend to have a story to tell and they're a little more authentic, so consumers are looking to those types of products as well.

I'm sure, Sarah, you're seeing that specifically in your sessions as well.

Sarah: Yeah, absolutely. I mean Joe, you stole my thunder a little bit on some of these because I couldn't agree with more with ... I've been in this role specifically within food for the last five years, and seeing all that. I think the thing ... Over the last 13 years, since I've been with ECRM, it's definitely one of the big things that we're seeing and that the industry is trying to get their hands around, is how purchasing is happening now for consumers. Everyone's looking for more convenience, a lot more purchases being done online. What are retailers doing to get the consumers what they want? More specialty, more private label, I mean, we're just seeing all these things happening at once, especially within the last few years. And each retailer is kind of taking a different strategy in how they're delivering the need to the consumers and what they want. And so we're seeing a lot of changes.

Dan: Obviously, my biggest focus is helping those small brands get an equal voice within the industry, within the category. With that said, Sarah, how can small brands leverage their relationship with ECRM and then perhaps even more importantly, what is ECRM and why is it different from a traditional trade show?

Sarah: Mm-hmm (affirmative). So there's a lot of ways to start to answer that question, but Joe was starting to hit on it when we were talking about trends there just a minute ago, and that is, everyone wants to find the next best ... How do we ... out there. What are some of these new niche unique players that have products that can really help move business at these chains? And so, ECRM is unique in that we're not a trade show. We are a company that provides services to retailers to help them discover new products and new items that can go into their set. We're very focused; We do this by category. And working with retailers by category, specifically going through with their needs helps us deliver a value to the suppliers. And we're putting the right suppliers in front of these buyers that are hungry to make these decisions and to find these new suppliers.

A lot of work goes into that, as well. It's not just putting two people in front of each other and saying, "All right, have at it. Let's see how this goes." We have a dedicated account management team at ECRM that works diligently for weeks leading up to that critical face-to-face appointment that will happen at one of ... [inaudible 00:09:12] work with them to provide all the objections the retailer needs to have hit in order to do business. Reviews the focus that the retailer has, so the supplier can really prepare before having that meeting and go in and maximize even a 10 or 20 minute face-to-face meeting with them. A lot can be accomplished because of all the preparations that happen in advance.

Joe: I love that. And go ahead, I wanted to add to that. In addition to all of the prep, what ECRM really does is take all of the busy work and the stress in getting ready for these meetings out of the equation. When a supplier and a buyer is attending one of our sessions, they don't have to worry about their schedule for the day. They don't have to worry about trying to [inaudible 00:10:08] down these meetings. They don't have to worry about where they're gonna go, what they're gonna eat for lunch. They don't have to worry about anything because we take care of that for them. They don't even have to worry about when the meeting is gonna start and end, because we give them a set schedule and we give a three minute knock on the door when the meeting's getting ready to end.

All they have to focus on are those objectives for that meeting, and that's it. We take everything else out of the equation and handle it for them, so that they can really get the biggest value out of their 20 or 10 minute meetings.

Dan: Love that. In fact, actually when I first got connected with you several years ago, as an organization, the concept of speed dating for putting buyers and brands together didn't make a lot of sense to me. But as I've been working with you and connected with you and attending senior shows, I've learned the value of this. I really can appreciate that.

With that said, like you said, Joe ... To remove the stress and all the busy work from the buyer and the retailer, from the brand and the retailers' schedule, I think is key. So maximizing those opportunities. Joe, going back into your past, you've attended a lot of trade shows before and you know what it's like for brands, I assume, to have to, if you will, chase down the retailer and try to get a meeting with someone or just hope someone's gonna show up at your booth. So what's the difference that you see from a traditional trade show and what ECRM has?

Joe: Well, that can be summed up pretty much in one word, and that's the relevance. Relevance of the meetings. If you're at a trade show first, and first you have to flag down a retailer. Then, you have to hope that's the right person, and if it's not the right person, there's still several more steps you have to go to, just to get to that correct person. And then even when you do, if you do get the correct person in a trade show booth, it's not dedicated time. They're distracted, there's other people trying to get a hold of that person, and maybe you get a couple of minutes. What we do is we make sure that everybody who's meeting is completely relevant. They are the exact people who can do the actual buying and so this way, the time that you have is well spent.

Now, when I say we get rid of the busy work, I mean we get rid of the busy work at the session itself. Because if you're at a trade show, you have to fend for yourself usually as far as lunch, as far as your own schedules, as far as the pace of your meetings and all that. We take all of that out of the equation. There is work, however, in the prep and in the followup and that, Sarah, that is work that they should be doing. You want to adequately prepare on both sides, whether you're a supplier or a retailer, you want to prep for your meetings. And then afterwards, especially for the suppliers, you want to make sure that you followup and deliver to the retailers the exact deliverables that they're looking for following the meetings.

Dan: Makes a lot of sense. I appreciate you going through that very carefully. One of the things that ... I started my career, obviously, carrying a sales bag for a large manufacturer. So going to a lot of these trade shows, I have a lot of experience doing that. And to your point, it's difficult to find the right person, to get in front of the right person, and to maximize that opportunity. One of the things I love about your shows is that you actually provide not only the right contact information for the followup, but you help brands do that.

Sarah, can you talk a little bit about that? I'm talking specifically about the book that you generate, that you give everyone at the show. And then, even more importantly, even I think this is really cool technology, the iPad that you give everyone to help them, if you will, chart or navigate their path through the event. And more importantly, how they can communicate within your system.

Sarah: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Absolutely. So technology is the engine that fuels everything that we do here at ECRM. Back in the 90s when we started, it was just making sure we brought all the right people together in the right place. But to continue on and really help our customers be more successful all year round, we started to heavily invest in technology and that led us to figure out tools and things that were needed to help connect buyers ... You are registered for a session to meet with buyers and sellers. Number one is making sure that everybody understands who they're meeting with, so before and afterwards you can followup with each other. So we have a simple profile system that's online as well as printed out in a nice book that you receive upon arrival at one of our sessions. This is gonna include all the contact information for you who you're meeting with, company profile, the objectives, the focus, really highlights of the individual and company that you're meeting with.

Then from there we have MarketGate Connect tool, and this is a platform that allows the buyer and seller within the meeting to take followup notes, select items of interest, note followup procedures and what they're looking for in terms of followup. Really helps everyone to ... [inaudible 00:15:56] that meeting on the same page, so we'll find that suppliers can actually have followups started and underway before they even leave one of our sessions. This is also a tool that's online that both the buyer and seller can utilize throughout the year. We'll hear from buyers that at that given moment they had a meeting with someone that had this great product but they just didn't have room for it in their set or a need for it that immediate moment, but two months later their boss comes and asks them, "Could you find [inaudible 00:16:28]" ... or that, simple for them to go pull up on their ECRM MarketGate followup site, the supplier they met with, they have images of the product, and they can move very quickly due to that kind of information all being readily available and posted on the online platform.

Dan: Love that. Makes so much sense. I can't tell you how many trade shows I've been to, or just shows or events, I should say, I've been to, where believe it or not, within the first hour of the show, people don't have business cards. And even when you have a great conversation, back when I was a retailer, back when I was a manufacturer, the lack of followup was just pathetic.

Joe, this is where you come in. You talked about how you continue the conversation after the show. Can you share a little bit about how you do that?

Joe: Okay, as far as content-wise?

Dan: Exactly.

Joe: Sure. This is a really cool thing that we do where we dip into the technology and we do it before and after each session as well. So to give you a little example, I'm a big fan of crowdsourcing insights from our audience, right? 'Cause our audience of buyers and sellers are the experts in the industry. Among the content that I do, there are two regular columns that we do related to each session. One of them is called "What Buyers Want" and the other one is the "EPPS Insights".

So the "What Buyers Want" column, like Sarah mentioned, for every session, the buyers and the sellers, they go onto their prep sites and they upload and provide a bunch of different information that the other side would need. So on the buyer side, one of the things that they enter is a paragraph or two about their area of focus for the session. What specific subcategories, any particular certifications, or what unique things they're looking for from suppliers at that session.

So what we'll do, I'll have our IT guys download the comments from all the buyers attending a session. This could be over 100, 150 in some cases. So I have comments from all of these buyers. Obviously, I don't name anybody, but I look through all the comments and then I'll put together a column based on those comments that we can share with the suppliers and say, "Hey, this is what's trending. These are what buyers in this category are looking for from suppliers."

So again, crowdsourcing information insights from our audience. We usually do that three of the four months prior to a session. Then within a month following the session, after each session, one of the things that our team does, another thing that's very unique, is that the ECRM staff, they have a 20 minute meeting with just about every one of the attendees and during that meeting we try to get some feedback that we could use in improving the sessions, but we also have a trained question in there. And all of their answers, as one of our staff members is interviewing an attendee, they will jot down the answers in their own app on their own iPads, and then after the session I will dig into that information, pull all of those comments out, and then I'll write an insights piece on, these are the hottest trends that we're seeing in this category.

And what's really cool about that is because these buyers and sellers it's rare at the beginning of the buying process for that category, we're usually catching on to a lot of trends even before they're picked up in the business media. I know that for a fact, having been a trade generalist for years, it's great that we are able to capture this information so rawly, 'cause it's strong content to give to our buyer and seller audience. So whenever I can, I try and dig in to the information that we have on hand.

Another thing that I do is I'll do observations. I'll pick a few retailers and I'll tag along with them on their meetings. Again, it's all off the record. It's just for information purposes, but hearing the conversations between the buyers and the sellers really helps to give me a good idea of what's important to them. Again, this is the kind of access that I would have killed to have when I was a generalist. And again, nothing is on the record. No one's ever mentioned. But for information purposes, that's where the rubber meets the road, in the middle of these conversations that are happening in the suites at one of our sessions between the retail buyer and the supplier. There's so many opportunities for gaining insights around, before, during, and after our sessions, that for me as a content provider, it's a gold mine.

Dan: Love that. In fact, one of the things that always frustrates me, is after a trade show typically ... I apologize, I keep calling you a trade show. I know you're really not, but I see a lot of bloggers, a lot of people come out and give their observation. This is something I liked or didn't like; It's very subjective. The fact that you're getting real data, real insights, real information, and then turning that around to help the people that attend your shows, both the buyers and the brands, I think is tremendous. And then more importantly, the fact that you're keeping this conversation, if you will, this educational platform going throughout the year, I think is fantastic.

What are your plans coming up down the road to help take that to the next level, if any?

Joe: Well, we're gonna do a series that we already have started, our series of our success stories, both on the supplier side and on the buyer side. So for example, we recently did one on the pet category, in which I interviewed a supplier who ... They were a premium specialty brand looking to get into mass retail. That was their reason for coming to us. It just so happened that at that session there were a lot of mass retailers that were looking for premium pet specialty oriented brands to help differentiate themselves from their competitors. So I was able to put together a nice success story, where I got quotes from both the buyer and the seller talking about how they were able to leverage our platform to kind of connect for the benefit of both.

So we're gonna do a series of these case studies across categories that show how buyers are discovering new products and to show how emerging suppliers ... We will give their background stories, their origins stories, and to really show how they are succeeding by getting out there and meeting with these buyers. In fact, I have one coming down the pipe that's right up your alley. It's someone I met at our recent food service session, and it's a company that does ... They're called Social Sparkling Wines. They have a great background origin story, which I'm not gonna give away, but they created a certified organic sparkling wine from the can that are delicious. They've had a lot of success with retailers because of their story, their angle, their reason for being. These are just great stories for both retailers and suppliers to see, both to be inspired and to get some ideas on what works and what really helps them get into retail.

Dan: Love that. In fact, one of the things I write a lot about, as you know, is I talk about the relationship between a brand and how does a brand get in front of a retailer, supplier versus a buyer as you would say, and the key challenge is how do they do that. If you're a "nobody", how do you build that relationship? And a lot of people leverage, or, if you will, use brokers and different agencies to have a one-on-one conversation with the person that's gonna actually buy your product, I think, is key. And the fact that you're giving them an opportunity through your platform to amplify their voice, I think is fantastic.

One of the things you guys haven't talked about, which I was really hoping that you would please, Sarah if you could share this, is you've talked about the way that the show is put together. You remove a lot of the stress. I should say, more importantly, you take additional stress off because it's a fun event. You make it fun. There are activities and different things brands and buyers can get involved with in terms of a cruise or something in the evening, where you have that opportunity to one-on-one connect, and further build and develop that relationship.

Sarah: Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, Daniel. It is something very unique and almost magical that happens at these sessions. We have the one-on-one meetings, which are very focused and that's where business is getting done, absolutely. But the other thing that's going on is because these sessions are more of an intimate format, it's not thousands and thousands of people. My biggest session had ... [inaudible 00:26:12] site together, and because we're booking their hotel accommodations, we're setting up all of the meals, everyone's together. So everyone's not spread across the city, coming in just for a small period of time during the day to get together. We're all together for three or four days at the same hotel, going to the same meals, so there's plenty of opportunities to network and build relationships with these buyers and with your peers during the week.

So you have the one-on-one meetings to present the product and really get some questions answered but [inaudible 00:26:48] ... at these other networking functions. And we know that these days are long. Usually meetings are starting at about 8 A.M. going until 6 P.M. so we want people to be able to relax in the evening and not have to worry about where they're going, but still have a wonderful time. So we try to take advantage of the cities that we're in and find something local that maybe people wouldn't necessarily have done before or have been able to take advantage of. As an example, we're going to Chicago [inaudible 00:27:21] ... planning in a few months ... [inaudible 00:27:23] and going to have a big offsite event and get the background tours throughout the stadium and we'll have dinner and a DJ and just some things that everyone can really network and build a relationship outside of that one-on-one appointment that they had earlier in that day.

Dan: Gotta admit, when I go to a traditional trade show it usually starts at about 10 in the morning, ends at about 6:00 at night. Typically, I'm pretty fried at the end of the day. When I go to your show, I'm not, which is amazing. I know you guys have a hard stop. I really appreciate your coming on today and sharing your thoughts and your insights. Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Joe: Sure. There's one thing I'd like to add, and that's something that's relatively new, and that in this past June, ECRM acquired a company called RangeMe. RangeMe is, to put it simply, it is a digital version of one of our sessions. In other words, suppliers could go onto the platform, upload their product information, and all of the details, certifications, distribution, any information that a buyer would need to know about those products including images, videos, links to social media and all that. The buyers, they register ... Again, it's free for both, although there is a premium version for suppliers, but the buyers will register and again, they would click on all of the pertinent information of what they're looking to buy, which categories they represent, so on and so forth.

And they use this platform for product discovery as well. The really cool thing about it is for about 30 to 35 large retail chains, including CVS, Rite Aid, Albertsons, Ahold USA, RangeMe manages all of the inbound product submissions from suppliers through their website. So if you go to the CVS website, and you click the link for suppliers to upload a product submission, it's RangeMe that handles it in the background. So they have really deep relationships with these retailers. They sort it all out, they put the right products in front of the right buyers, and then the buyers can either request samples or communicate with them on the platform anonymously. They won't give out any information, and when they're ready to take it to that next level, they can finally give them the information and take that offline. That's the newest kind of update. Right now, we are working on different ways of integrating both companies, leveraging one with the other. That's one of the new things I wanted to add.

Dan: I appreciate that. I want to dig into that perhaps in another show, if we could, down the road.

Joe: Sure.

Dan: 'Cause I know you've got to get off the phone; You've got a hard stop. Anything you'd like to add, Sarah?

Sarah: Daniel just add Thank you for having us and allowing us to talk a little bit about ECRM and our services. There's definitely a lot of opportunities and we'd love to help any way that we can.

Dan: Well I appreciate that, both of you, for coming on. Thank you. I know that we've developed a really good relationship over time, and I'm a huge fan of what you guys do. And more importantly, I think it's a great platform for small, natural brands to grow and succeed and be able to get that voice they wouldn't have otherwise. So again, thank you so much for coming on.

Joe: Thank you.

Sarah: Take care. Thank you, Daniel.

Dan: I would like to thank Sarah and Joe for coming on the show today. I've had the privilege of attending several of their shows as a speaker. In addition to that, we've also produced some webinars together, and I've also done some content. I'm thoroughly impressed by their events, and they're absolutely something that every brand should consider, especially when they're looking for new and different ways to get in front of the buyers, retail buyers, those people who are responsible for getting their product into the stores and onto the shelves.

You can learn more about ECRM at ecrm.marketgate.com. I'll include the link, along with this week's freebie, on the show notes. That's brandsecretsandstrategies.com/session16. This week's freebie is my retail math cheat sheet. You need to know your numbers when you're in front of a buyer. This includes every opportunity that you have to get face to face with them. My retail math cheat sheet is just a ticket. You can download it by texting "Retail math" to 44222, or downloading it on this week's show notes.

Again, thank you for listening. Remember, this show is about you and it's for you. I welcome any suggestions and comments you have. If you like this show, subscribe. And please leave a review on iTunes.

This episode's FREE downloadable guide

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