BRAND SECRETS AND STRATEGIES

PODCAST #4

Why this matters

Hello and thank you for joining us today. This is the Brand Secrets and Strategies Podcast #4

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!

Thank you for joining me today for the fourth episode of the BRAND SECRETS AND strategies PODCAST.

This past week I attended the Natural Products Expo where I had an opportunity to see new innovation, speak with a lot of brands, and network with retailers and industry experts. We discussed the challenges they have in competing with mainstream brands and retailers. In short, there was a similar theme woven into most conversations. They shared with me that they are struggling with getting their products in the hands of more shoppers.

My goal at Expo was to identify key topics you want me to cover in future podcast episodes. While I received a lot of great feedback and validation, I was asked repeatedly why I was doing this. Specifically, what was the purpose of the BRAND SECRETS AND STRATEGIES podcast? The short answer is that I am passionate about helping natural organic brands and retailers grow and making our healthy way of life more accessible.

I was also asked why I am re-branding and was I getting away from my focus on the advanced strategies found in category management. Not at all! BRAND SECRETS AND STRATEGIES is applying the advanced best practice strategies that come from True Category Management and focusing them on YOUR brand. This is how you Empower Brands and Raise The Bar.

In this episode, I would like to drill down into the core focus of the BRAND SECRETS AND STRATEGIES podcast and spend some time answering that question more in-depth so you know what to expect. At the root of this is you and my sincere desire to serve by helping you compete more effectively. My mission is to level the playing field between entrepreneurial health-focused brands and their largest competitors.

While some of you may have been following me through my many articles, you may be surprised to learn that I launched Category Management Solutions (some of you know me as CMS4CPG) in 2010 with a focus on providing advanced strategy support for natural brands and retailers. Shortly after I launched, I wrote an article for New Hope that focused on how to get more out of your broker. I believe that your broker is an extension of your sales team and they should be supported, managed, and held accountable, the same as any employee. The article led to an opportunity to speak at Expo East and the launch of my What You Need To Know blog.

Now, here is the why behind this show and all of the content I produce.

I believe that our food system is broken - especially in mainstream. Retailers spend more effort in trying to get us to buy the products they want to sell as opposed to selling us the items we want to buy.

While this sounds subtle, it is dramatic!

Wall Street plays too big a role in deciding what products retailers sell. It’s mostly about big money. Small innovative brands are at a substantial disadvantage when it comes to getting retail shelf placement. Consumers can't buy what they can't find! On top of that, the small brands are essentially penalized for being small. Let me explain.

Big brands enjoy the benefit of a more efficient distribution system, existing relationships that make it easier for them to gain incremental product placement and distribution, preferential promotional opportunities, and the ability to compete on price.

Conversely, small brands must rely on distributors to deliver their products to retail stores and brokers to merchandise them. Small brands have a difficult time getting noticed by retailers and getting appointments. Small brands are at the mercy of retailers when it comes to merchandising, incremental promotional opportunities, and being price competitive.

Furthermore, retailers don’t always merchandise natural products to make them easy to shop, for example placing them in the baking aisle away from like products. Simply put, it costs more for small brands to compete in any channel, there are more barriers to success, and there are fewer opportunities for them to be found by shoppers.

I believe that small brands deserve an equal seat at the table with retailers and big brands. This can be accomplished by teaching small brands the best practice strategies that big brands rely on, specifically the advanced strategies found in True Category Management.

I believe that our food education system is broken. We are told from birth that “we are what we eat” but the products available on most store shelves are processed foods that lack the nutritional benefits our bodies need and want. Have you ever eaten something that did not fill you up leaving you hungry and unsatisfied? Some foods lack the nutritional necessities to satiate you.

Innovation for most big brands includes a packaging change or a new flavor. Big brands rely heavily on marketing and promotions to entice shoppers to purchase their products. They spend huge amounts of money to convince us that their products will make us happy and popular. Let's face it, gaining new distribution is easy when you already have shelf placement.

Conversely, small brands are typically closer to their core shoppers. They craft their products focusing closely on meeting the needs and wants of their core shoppers. True innovation comes from small brands - especially natural organic brands. These custom products are what are fueling the healthy eating movement. Innovation frequently includes disruptive solutions to problems overlooked by big brands like bug protein, grass fed dairy and meat, plant based products, clean label products that are free of allergens and toxins, etc.

Natural organic health-focused brands are responsible for the sustainable growth across most every category and across every channel. In their absence, most categories would be flat or declining. These brands should be celebrated for their contribution and their ability to help drive sales and profits at retail. They help bring new shoppers into stores. They should not be penalized and overburdened. They are important to every retailer's survival and their ability to compete effectively. The strategies in this podcast are focused on helping natural brands help retailers capitalize on the healthy trends their shoppers are looking for.

I believe that retail is broken. Small brands are unfairly burdened, frequently shouldering costs that big brands avoid. They are expected to participate in programs that do little to help them attract new customers. On top of that, most retailers focus on the wrong things when measuring their success. Retailers spend a lot of time looking backwards while shoppers look ahead toward solutions that meet their needs.

Most retailers are so focused on their internal metrics that they overlook what’s important - from the category buyers perspective. Retailers used to focus on an items penny profit. Today most focus on sales growth by category.

Few retailers focus on what really matters - the shopper. Happy loyal shoppers spend more per trip, they evangelize their experience with their family and friends, and they keep coming back.

Retailers need shopper traffic in their stores. Small local and health focused brands can help retailers drive shoppers to their stores.

It’s estimated that the majority of promotions are ineffective at helping brands find and acquire new shoppers - the sole function of every promotion. Small brands find it difficult, if not impossible, to measure a promotion's effectiveness. Distributors and retailers don't always guarantee that every store will honor their promotion, sometimes charging the brand extra to get a report evaluating the event's performance.

Some big brands don’t pay slotting and all of the fees required of small brands. All of these fees add additional cost to a product that then get passed on to the shopper.

Shoppers vote with their dollars and they have a lot of different retailers competing for their hard-earned money. Small brands need to step-up and help retailers convert customers into loyal repeat shoppers. This is at the core of the strategies I will be sharing. This is where small brands can differentiate themselves, becoming indispensable to their retailer partners.

Finally, I believe that our educational programs are broken in natural. The bar is kept low in natural. Small brands don’t know what they don’t know while big brands invest heavily in educating and nurturing their employees, hiring outside consultants, and participating in mastermind style programs not available to small brands - at the same level.

Entrepreneurial brands lack the necessary skills to compete equally with big brands. I have yet to attend any program that fully prepared small brands to compete at the level of their more sophisticated competitors. Programs lack the proper training to teach small brands how to acquire the actionable insights that savvy retailers want and need. I’ve supported brands at all levels and I know first hand, that if you want to play at that level, you need to BE at that level.

Traditional category management is being adopted by natural retailers. Brands calling on those retailers will be expected to support those retailers at a much higher level than they are used to. If not, big brands will happily take their seat at the table. This could have a dramatic and lasting impact on the small brand's ability to compete and grow.

Traditional category management tends to commoditize products and shoppers. It tends to overlook what makes natural, natural. This is why natural brands frequently fail after being acquired by big brands. This is where I come in. This is my core strength. This is where small brands and retailers can gain a significant competitive advantage.

Small brands lack the resources to invest in the newest and best technology, the best resources, and in learning the most effective strategies. There are workarounds for all of this but it requires an expert to guide them and help them avoid the pitfalls most brands fall into.

This episode's FREE downloadable guide

Each of us needs to perform basic retail math calculations but it's not always possible to remember every formula, especially if you don't use them on a regular basis. Here's a quick cheat sheet with some of the most important formulas you need to know.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE STRATEGIC GUIDE: Retail Math Cheat Sheet

This is the why behind all of the content I produce.

I am working hard to make a lasting change by level the playing field between small brands and big brands. BRAND SECRETS AND STRATEGIES is dedicated to Empowering Brands and Raising The Bar. Please join me on this journey and help me help you get your products in the hands of more shoppers.

I look forward to seeing you on future episodes.

Thanks again for joining us today. Make sure to stop over at brandsecretsandstrategies.com for the show notes along with more great brand building articles and resources. Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and recommend it to your friends and colleagues.

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I appreciate all the positive feedback. Keep your suggestions coming.

Until next time, this is Dan Lohman with Brand Secrets and Strategies where the focus is on empowering brands and raising the bar.