Jars, boxes, and bottles sitting on a grocery shelf have a hard time laughing, crying or sharing emotions.
They sit quietly all lined up in a row, tucked away, and waiting for someone to pay attention and to pop them into a shopping cart. These inanimate objects can’t grab you by the collar and plead – please; please buy me.
A product on a shelf is just – a thing. Stuff in a bag, a box or a bottle. It could be the legendary North Carolina soft drink CHEERWINE or the wonderful new goat cheese marinated in olive oil and herbs called CHEVOO. It might be rare and exotic products, but when they sit on the grocer’s shelf, they have to rely on their package form, colors or design to tell their story. It is not easy for a product to tell its story. As a customer zips down an aisle, getting the consumer’s attention is difficult.
How can a marketer bring a connection from the brand to the consumer you want to reach and help get products into shopping carts?
Licensing allows you to borrow equity, but it is an expensive way to grab attention. Radical packaging formats allow you to stand out from the crowd, but sometimes you can’t physically sit on the shelf. Outlandish colors for your category can help you wink at passersby, flirting with the shopper coming down the aisle. This can help with impulsive purchases but how can you help create demand? Most advertising seems a huge waste when you consider the inefficiency of reaching the right targeted that isn’t interrupting their day. Price discounts erode value but can stimulate some trial.
But I think there is a better way for small to mid-sized food and beverage brands. Ask loyal customers to share.
Would You Help Me Share My Brand With Your Friends?
The most powerful form of marketing is when someone is coming into the store and looking for your treasure because their close friend recommended it. Think about it, when you last bought something new from a traditional grocery store, was it because of an ad or because someone urged to you pick it up and try it? What can you do to encourage sharing, recommending and getting help from your best customers?
Have you ever directly asked them for help?
If you can identify your alpha customers, the most loyal and supportive among the many, what might happened if you appealed to them for help? Could you give them some tools (Facebook, Instagram Graphics) that assist in the sharing? Can you create mini-sampler products that you give your BFF’s and ask them if they would give them away to their best friends? Building into your marketing plans a sharing plan can have a powerful impact on growing sales.
Think of the math.
Get 100 of your best customers to hand out ten tiny samples of your product. That’s one thousand people who get a first-hand exposure to your brand, and they get it from a friend, not the company. I wouldn’t think about issues like how can I scale this to reach millions.
Yogi Tea has cracked this code. Look how they have built sharing into their marketing activity. I learned about this brand by getting a sample tea bag from a friend who knows I like herbal teas.
I know some regulated industries have issues with this approach like spirits and pharmaceuticals. But the principles still apply if it’s about sharing information. Just because it isn’t simple and easy doesn’t mean it isn’t worth exploring.
And maybe it isn’t a physical sample. Maybe it’s a special coupon or a URL that gives them access to get the free product shipped. Maybe it isn’t even your product but something allied or related that works with your product. Maybe you leverage social media and ask your followers on Instagram or Facebook to tag a like-minded friend who might find your product of interest. I learn about many new books from marketing colleagues this way.
Can you build a sharing mindset into your marketing plans?
Start small. Do something creative that encourage and reinforces the idea of one person sharing your story with one of their friends. Brainstorm around the many ways that you could ask your best customers to help distribute samples, information and knowledge about your product to their like-minded friends.
Look for partners who have customers with similar interests but who don’t conflict with you. Maybe the funky, hipster Sneaker Company like Bucketfeet gives away information, coupons or samples of an original energy bar like 2 degrees. Find a new and innovative way to leverage sharing.
I highly recommend it.
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Friends, would you help me share my brand? I’d appreciate it if you’d forward a link to my website to one marketing friend. Just one. To say thank you, I’d be happy to send you a copy of my eBook, Unraveling The Mysteries of Marketing. Just email me if you’d like a copy at jeffreylynnslater@gmail.com
Photo Credit: Yogi Tea Company Website Screengrab
