FMCG and CPG Brand Strategy and Launch Activation
Learn how to optimise FMCG and CPG Brand Launch Programs using Digital Brand Marketing, eCommerce Marketing, and Omnichannel Sales Development.
Consumers are more socially conscious…
They have much higher standards for what they are consuming and its impact on the environment. Consumers care far more about how, where and by whom products are made…
Consumers continually change the way they shop…
In this mobile and ‘on-demand’ age, consumers now research and buy products online, via smartphones, at the office, late at night, choose rapid delivery, use voice technology, and of course demand personalised content for range recommendations and offers.
Its become an ‘adapt or die’ scenario for consumer brands.
Brand owners need better visibility across product development and launch.
Having greater control of their packaging, brand marketing messages, digital campaigns, influencers, category management, distribution, all play an essential part in product lifecycle.
Bain and Co released figures showing $11 billion, or two-thirds, of the total sales in beauty and hygiene products, will be influenced through digital marketing and online customer experiences.
As such, brand marketers are being forced to incorporate a greater focus on digital sales channels and eCommerce marketing into their launch and marketing programs.
Optimising your Brand Strategy and Launch Activation
We’ve seen some of the most iconic brands struggle to adjust their brand marketing programs to meet the changes in consumer shopping behaviours.
As today’s digital-savvy consumers purchase more and more products and services online, it’s become essential that consumer brands invest heavily in their digital presence and online offer.
For brand manufacturers and suppliers to ‘keep up’ with their trading partner’s digital requirements AND to stay in front of their competitors, they need to radically change the way they market and sell their products and have a greater focus on multichannel and eCommerce marketing (paid search marketing).
HOWEVER, if you expect to win in the online world, you must have a quality brand, focused brand message, strong brand loyalty that is based upon trust and integrity!
Brand Strategy and Product Launch Activation Checklist
We’ve created a ‘cheat-sheet’ for brand marketers to quickly and easily review and improve their brand launch strategy and product activation process.
The focus of the brand strategy and product launch activation checklist is to:
1. Increase brand reach and retention
2. Develop brand loyality shoppers
3. Increase engagement and traffic
4. Grow eCommerce sales (Cartology / CitrusAd / Google Shop)
5. Expand your digital sales channel (omnichannel).
Distinguish your brand:
The FMCG sector is congested by numerous variants or even “like products”.
Having a compelling and engaging brand strategy helps you to create a unique brand identity, message and sales offer which will differentiate and ultimately influence the consumer purchase decision.
Connect brands with shoppers:
Consumers are visual creatures, so the more attractive your packaging, the higher the chance of it being noticed. Think about your digital campaigns in much the same way. By making your campaigns visually exciting and engaging, BUT incorporating advanced targeting tools available on Google, Facebook etc, you will quickly and cost-effectively reach a greater audience.
Never underestimate the power of social re-marketing campaigns using digital tracking pixels and social targeting tools.
Increase your marketing ROI and consumer insights knowledge:
No argument from us that TV and radio (perhaps also print) campaigns are effective. However, they are expensive, and the results are extremely hard to measure (in detail). Digital marketing, on the other hand, helps you track and measure and improve every aspect of your campaign.
With the help of analytic tools available, brands can recover information about the number of impressions, clicks, conversions and what influenced them to make the purchase decision. More advanced digital campaign applications can automatically refine campaign based upon real-time transaction results when linked to your shopping store.
Increase brand reach:
Brand reach is one of the key measures for any FMCG brand marketer.
This is where the strength of omnichannel marketing proves its value. Not every consumer segment watches TV or reads magazines. Millennials and other generation segments find Social Media, Instagram Stories, YouTube, and global marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon more appealing.
Adopt brand influencers:
Influencer marketing is proven to be one of the most important digital marketing trends for consumer brands.
With minimal effort (and a small investment) your brand can tap into their vast and loyal network of followers and fans to increase consumer awareness of your product brand.
Personality influencers or brand agency influencers can really boost the credibility and trust of your brand.
> Brand Optimisation Package: Learn More >>>
> Brand Marketing Acceleration Solutions: Learn More >>>
Leverage mobile applications:
Mobile devices offer fast and easy access to online information. They empower consumers to make more informed purchase decisions at the retail shelf. HARNESS THIS POWER and use this to your advantage. Think about investing in mobile tools with inbuilt location services to personalise the shopping experience for your customers.
Personalise your content marketing to leverage communities:
If your brand is not seen, then it’s dead!
In a digital world, you want people talking about your brand and engaging with your online campaigns. Consumers are eager to learn how your brand provides them value, and how it will enrich their lives.
A loyal brand following (a tribe) builds brand ambassadors. Utilising social networking groups e.g. Facebook or LinkedIn and publishing informative, educational, and engaging content (blogs), you can drive conversations among your community and develop a loyal audience.
Learn how to become a subject matter expert, and use community group to build brand ambassadors.
> Building a Content Marketing Program: Learn More >>>
Strengthen brand presence through digital marketing:
Facebook is undeniably the most significant avenue for digital marketing and the BEST channel for consumer engagement.
Using the advanced social media targeting tools, refine your audience and create focused marketing messages to drive engagement and conversions. Using custom audiences and tracking pixels can help you widen your audience and overall brand reach. Use these tools to also gain deeper insights into consumer behaviour, interests and buying trends.
> Creating Digital Experiences: Learn More >>>
Engage with your online audience:
Digital can drive audience engagement in real-time.
The use of polls, Q&A, competitions etc on social media can provide an immediate reaction from shoppers. Unlike traditional forms of advertising, brand marketers and can publish content and receive real-time engagement with their online audience.
Conquer the “I want it now” demands of the consumer.
Think about adopting new chatbot technologies to automate the response time from online messaging tools e.g. Facebook Messenger. Chatbots, when set-up correctly can automate real-world conversations with your audience and provide them with information, tips or even help tools. Most service dependent organisations e.g. Emergency Services already use chatbots to automate and direct support calls.
> Creating a Connected Shopper: Learn More >>>
Adopt a single view of the customer:
Today’s digital tools can provide integration to pretty much any internal CRM or customer database system. It’s paramount that you can link your marketing campaigns, conversations and online behaviour to your contacts in a central system.
PIM Software (Product Information Management) can help you to use customer and product data to create customer personas which can be used to refine your campaigns, but also identify “like” customers for new business targeting. Having a single view of the customer allows you to control your overall digital customer experience and journey.
> Implementing a PIM Solution: Learn More >>>
Workflow driven personalised email marketing:
Personalised and contextually relevant email campaigns is a great way to retain the interest of your audience and boost sales. Ensure that your email marketing system and ensure that it supports:
Workflow Management – the ability to drip-feed email messages (create sales funnels) for contacts based on their online actions e.g. clicks and opens.
Reporting and Analytics – identifying the top 10 openers of the email. Links most clicked. Tracking their digital journey. Trends of that contact across multiple emails
> Optimising eMail Marketing Programs: Learn More >>>
Expand your digital sales channels:
There isn’t many brand manufacturers or suppliers selling their products on their website.
Traditionally, the distribution channel would always be their loyal retail partner. In today’s market, consumers want to shop wherever and whenever they choose. Brand marketers have had to adopt omnichannel marketing and sales strategy and provide many more purchase options e.g. Google shop, Facebook Marketplace, eBay, Amazon, MyDeal, TradeMe, Kogan, Catch, Alibaba, Jet, Fishpond etc as well as their website shopping store.
This doesn’t mean they abandon their loyal bricks and mortar retail partners!
It just means that you should adopt a multi-channel sales and distribution model that caters for broader shopper requirements. as an example, buying from your online store might attract a high postage fee as opposed to buying it from your retail partners. There may also be exclusive ranges sold across different locations?
> Developing a Digital Sales Channel Strategy: Learn More >>>
Get your product master data RIGHT:
Accurate information about your products is essential to a successful eCommerce program.
Product Master Data e.g. product dimensions, descriptions, allergen, nutritional, ordering sizes, price etc are all mandatory in order to drive online transactions and supply chain distribution. Ensure that you have a quality product information management (PIM) process in place AND take the time to check your online shop product cards have the correctly populated details and images.
> Managing Product Master Data: Learn More >>>
Think global, not just local:
Marketing across digital platforms exposes your brand to the world.
Consider how to support social media and digital marketing across multiple countries and languages. Also think about your sales, distribution, and of course support in these locations.
Plan out your digital sales channel growth.
> Digital Sales Channel Development Tools: Learn More >>>
Get your category and product range correct:
Thousands of products enter the market each year, only a handful of these will EVER reach the retail shelves. Many of these products are innovative, fresh, and exciting, but are they what the category needs? And how do they align with your retail chains category development plans?
Work with a category and range review expert to help you position the perfect offer.
> How to Improve Category Reviews: Learn More >>>
Develop an omnichannel marketing strategy:
Mix up your online marketing and digital sales channels.
Developing this unique media mix requires a deep understanding of your customer, the category, and also consumer buying behaviours. By having campaigns and advertisements spread across multiple platforms and channels, brands can develop consumer awareness and influence purchase decisions.
Look at expanding your direct sales channels to areas such as eBay, Amazon, MyDeal, TradeMe, Kogan, Catch, Alibaba, Jet, Fishpond, GraysOnline, Rakuten, Etsy, Newegg, Overstock or even Google shop and Facebook Marketplace.
> How to Sell on eCommerce Marketplaces: Learn More >>>
Grow your eCommerce marketing (Cartology / CitrusAd):
FMCG and CPG retailers have invested heavily in their digital presence and online offer e.g. online stores, mobile apps, digital catalogues. With these systems now in place, they need forward-thinking brand marketers and product managers to partner with them to create results-driven product campaigns utilising these new digital marketing tools.
Get the best out of your digital campaign investment with Coles Online or Woolworths Shop.
> Paid Search Campaign Management: Learn More >>>
Invest correctly within eCommerce:
If you are are you struggling to determine a realistic eCommerce marketing budget to support your online sales goals, our eCommerce Trade Spend Audit & Budget Service can help.
Our FMCG eCommerce marketing experts analyse your paid search campaigns on CitrusAd and Cartology to help you to optimise your campaigns and create a realistic eCommerce marketing budget.
> eCommerce Trade Spend Audit & Budget Service: Learn More >>>
Product Development & Launch Process Audit
rev™ NPD Business Process Audit is a formal review of your company’s new product development and launch process.
Best suited to brand manufacturers and suppliers, we work across each of your business units (Marketing, eCommerce Sales, Product Development, Category Management, Finance, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain) to benchmark your existing NPD / NPI and Launch process against industry standards as defined by ECR Global and the Category Management NPD Gate Steps.
BOOK an NPD & Product Launch Audit
Need some Help?
Contact our Product Development and Launch Expert, Mr Robert Durrant on [email protected]
or +61 3 9863-7444 for more details on how we can help your brand.
Learn more about our rev™ Go-to-Shelf Solutions
