Have you ever ever wondered how your favorite ice cream brand results in the freezer aisle at your food market? That is the results of trade marketing—the strategies firms use to extend product visibility, demand, and sales by collaborating with retailers and wholesalers. It’s how Casper mattresses ended up on shelves at Costco, and it’s why so many Barnes & Noble stores have a Starbucks attached.
Learn what trade marketing is, why it’s essential for business growth, and find out how to create a trade marketing strategy that converts.
What’s trade marketing?
Trade marketing is a business-to-business (B2B) marketing strategy aimed toward retailers, wholesalers, and other distributors, referred to as trade partners. Moderately than marketing a product on to consumers, trade marketing targets other businesses with the goal of putting products of their stores or distribution channels. The goal of a trade marketing manager is to forge long lasting relationships with supply chain partners, from distributor to retailer.
Best trade marketing strategies
Listed here are some ways to implement trade marketing strategies:
Trade shows
Trade shows are an incredible place to network with supply-chain and retail managers. They supply a forum for trade marketers to explore latest distribution opportunities while showcasing products. The very best part about trade shows is everyone seems to be there to network, and distributors, retailers, and wholesalers are open to latest partnerships.
Trade promotions
Nobody can deny the appeal of an incredible deal. Brainstorm promotions you possibly can present to potential distributors and retailers that might entice them to hold your product—strategies like volume discounts, promotional pricing, or bundled offers. This offers the retailers greater profit margins in your products, making them more more likely to promote them.
Retailer partnerships
This is key to an incredible trade marketing strategy. Constructing strong, collaborative relationships with retailers and provide chain partners may be the difference between them selecting you over a competitor. A robust retail partnership means you and your distributors are committed to working toward a shared goal.
This might mean collaborating on merchandising strategies, exclusive packaging, data sharing, and regular communication and feedback.
Strong branding
Brand equity—the worth customers place in your brand—is a very important factor that determines whether partners select and keep on with you over the competition.
A robust brand image goes beyond a clever logo and slogan. Consider your target market, brand positioning, messaging, and even customer feedback. Is your packaging appealing? Does your product communicate value? Is your brand recognizable? Does it elicit an emotional connection that enhances customer loyalty? These are all aspects retailers bear in mind when making decisions.
Digital marketing
Digital marketing helps you reach and interact end consumers, retailers, distributors, and wholesalers, keeping you top of mind for potential partnerships. Some B2B digital marketing strategies include:
- Creating dedicated website pages for trade marketing partners
- Co-branded internet marketing to drive consumers to your partner stores
- Content sharing on social media
Category expansion
Category expansion gives you a chance to showcase a spread of products inside a specific category. For instance, period care and sexual wellness brand LOLA offers a spread of plastic applicator tampons, cardboard applicator tampons, and non-applicator tampons in its tampon product category. This lets it market all three products when pitching tampons to distributors, which offers a bonus over a competitor which may pitch just one product.
create a successful trade marketing strategy
- Conduct market research
- Set clear objectives
- Develop a singular value proposition
- Establish pricing and promotion details
- Prepare a pitch deck, sell sheet, and price list
The next five steps may also help your trade marketing team develop a successful strategy.
1. Conduct market research
Treat this stage each as a B2B and a business-to-consumer (B2C) project.
On the B2C stage, research your end customers and discover their pain points, retail preferences, and behaviors. You must understand your goal market in and out, including trends and opportunities. How do your goal consumers spend their time? Where do they wish to shop? What problems will your product solve for them? How will your product integrate into their lives?
Next, discover your fundamental rivals and analyze their strengths, weaknesses, and trade marketing tools and methods. Listed here are some inquiries to ask:
- How is their brand positioned?
- Is their online presence working?
- What are their trade marketing strategies?
On the B2B stage, discover key players in your required distribution channels and analyze their goals, challenges, and preferences. Listed here are some inquiries to ask:
- What are your potential trade marketing partners’ demographic targets?
- What are their bestselling products or categories?
- Do they collaborate with brands for joint marketing initiatives?
- What are their current challenges?
This can make it easier to to seek out your competitive advantage and speak on to your potential partners’ goals when pitching.
2. Set clear objectives
The following step is to obviously define your trade marketing strategy objectives. Align these with broader business goals. These objectives could include increasing market share, improving product visibility, or strengthening relationships with key partners. Consider the SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, time-bound) framework when setting goals. Then, establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that directly align along with your objectives.
For instance, in case your objective is to extend market share by 15% in the following six months, the KPIs could possibly be:
- Variety of retail partners
- Revenue per distributor order
3. Develop a singular value proposition
Develop a singular value proposition (UVP) for consumers and partners and clearly articulate what sets your brand and products other than competitors.
For consumers, the UVP could give attention to unique product features, pricing, or quality.
For partners, highlight the advantages they may gain by collaborating along with your brand. This might include higher profit margins, increased total cart size, or access to exclusive products.
4. Establish pricing and promotion details
The hot button is setting a price that’s each high enough to maximise profit and low enough to draw buyers. It must also stack up favorably against your competition. When deciding on a pricing strategy, think about wholesale or bulk deals, or promotional incentives like buy one, get one free and other discounts, or free samples. Other considerations include:
- Your target market’s buying behavior and budget
5. Prepare a pitch deck, sell sheet, and price list
Create a compelling pitch deck for potential trade partners. A well-crafted pitch deck should capture the eye of trade partners, construct trust, and encourage them to enter right into a mutually useful trade marketing partnership.
Your trade marketing pitch deck should include:
- An introduction to your organization and your story
- A snapshot of the industry, growth opportunities, and desires that your product addresses
- Your product range and any unique features that set them other than the competition
- Current distribution channels and where your potential trade partner will slot in
- Quantifiable advantages your trade partner will receive from a collaboration with you and the way your partnership aligns with their goals
- Collaborative marketing opportunities and merchandising support
- Pricing structure and sales projections
- Positive customer reviews, or other successful collaborations
Your sell sheet ought to be a visually appealing page or two that gives key details about your products. It should include:
- Essential information like features, advantages, pricing, and call information
- High-quality photos and graphics
- A transparent call to motion (CTA)
Your price list should make it easy for a decision-maker to decide on which products to hold by including the next:
- Product names and descriptions
- Pricing details and bulk discounts
- Shipping and handling charges
- Payment terms and minimum order quantities (MOQs)
Trade marketing FAQ
What’s the difference between trade marketing and traditional marketing?
Trade marketing targets retailers, wholesalers, and product distributors to purchase products in bulk and stock them, while conventional brand marketing tends to focus on end consumers.
Who uses trade marketing?
Any manufacturer or brand that creates consumer packaged goods can use trade marketing to sell their products to retailers, wholesalers, and distributors.
Is trade marketing the identical as B2B?
Yes, trade marketing is a type of B2B (business-to-business) marketing because your corporation is marketing and selling products to a different business.
How do I start trade marketing?
To begin trade marketing, conduct thorough market research to achieve an understanding of your target market and competitors. Then, discover potential trade partners and methods you wish to pursue, develop a singular value proposition (UVP), create a comprehensive pitch deck, and approach potential trade partners.
