The #1 Hyper Local Trade Spend Strategy

We are in the final days of January and I am getting all of the Expo West happy hour and event invitations. To be honest, I am just not ready to compute that we’ll be in Anaheim in five short weeks, but alas, here we are. 

Today is a nice, short issue. 

To the point and packed with actionable information on how to crush your hyper local trade spend initiatives. 

I have talked before about the cost per door being higher to support an independent retailer vs a Walmart, but for most brands, you're still going to start local and build out your distribution from there. 

If you are larger, this is still applicable to brands who go big first and then fill in the last piece of their distribution goals with small or medium sized retailers as well. My suggestion is actually used quite a bit by legacy and later stage CPG brands as a way to engage new customers and increase household penetration. 

Whether you started with a top down or bottom up retail strategy, you're eventually going to have to execute on a hyper local level. Although you can still support these accounts with promotions through your local DSDs or large national distributors, it’s extremely difficult to monitor the execution of promotions in small chains or independent retailers. 

Instead, I would beat the drum for the following strategy as a great way to get your product moving in these types of accounts. 

One thing before we dive in that I want to mention is the Faire conundrum when it comes to smaller accounts. 

Throngs of emerging brands are on Faire and for good reason. It’s a great model for the brand while offering them a constant stream of new accounts. The issue is supporting those accounts and repeat purchasing. 

Most brands will sign up for Faire and watch the orders come in, but have no plan on how to support them.

I would push brands to think about their trade strategy for these independent accounts prior to launching so that you can index your Faire business around repeat orders and not just new business. 

With that, here is my biggest trade spend tip for hyper local success. 

Hit the road! 

It’s hard to overstate how much I LOVE a branded wrapped vehicle. Whether it's a van, car, or old VW bus - it just gives me the warm and fuzzies.

Whether you have the funds to acquire a wrapped vehicle or not, you can still hit the road and support your accounts. One of the reasons why brands fare so well in Costco is because of roadshows and I think that same thought process can be applied to your independent and small chain accounts. 

These are accounts that are not used to that level of brand support and by stopping in you can not only show your support for that account, but also secure reorders and secondary placements while at the store. 

Hitting the road for three months and mapping out a course to hit all your accounts allows you to not only meet those account decision makers, but your customers. 

Don’t waste your time setting up demos at all of these accounts. 

The store will push for it when you call ahead, but your call ahead should just be to confirm that the decision maker will be in on the day that you plan on stopping by.

Instead, you’ll want to be equipped with VIP coupons or rebate print outs to hand out to customers and staff while you tour the stores. 

Use this time to have conversations with the customers and store staff, train them on your product benefits, and most of all give them a chance to buy with a coupon or rebate.

Swag is crucial as well for the store managers and staff to ensure they are supporting your brand while also feeling supported themselves. 

roadshows also enable the brand to do plenty of park and sample events. These are more successful with a wrapped and branded vehicle (dont we all love free samples from unmarked vehicles). For brands I have worked with in the past, we have even parked in front of stores, set up tables and speakers, and thrown a mini party outside the store all while handing out hundreds of samples. 

This strategy helps feed the content machine as you interact with customers and staff while posting about and tagging your store partners throughout your journey. 

With remote work being so easy right now, I push every brand to take the opportunity to do this if their personal lives welcome the opportunity to do so. 

When I was at Fine & Raw, we won because I was in the store every single day. We had density in an area and I was able to nurture the accounts the way they needed to be cared for. This is impossible to do if your distribution is spread out across the country with smaller accounts. If you don’t have the funds to support a merchandising team, then loading up the car and mapping out your own course of action is going to have the biggest ROI. 

It’s also a great way to book meetings with larger buyers. 

“I am going to be in your area the week of —---, can we find time to meet in person?” Will be the easiest way to get a yes for a buyer meeting and open the doors to some bigger wins as you build out your grassroots strategy with smaller accounts. 

I hope this inspires a few of you to plan a summer road strip to support your accounts and spread the good word about your brand. 

If you absolutely can not break away to do something like this yourself, I think funding a junior sales or marketing hire to do so is the next best step followed by finding a local merchandising team in your stocked markets. 

Let me know the hyper local strategies that have worked for your brand and if you and your team have executed a roadshow in the past.