A Consumer-Sided View of the Market is Recipe for Disaster
WHY HASN’T ANYONE THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE?
Ever had a great idea for a product? Wonder why nobody has thought of it yet? The products that compete with your idea seem like they are off the mark, mediocre, and missing something yours provides. In fact, you haven’t seen anything like your brainchild on...
Temporary Price Reductions Requires Thoughtful Wording
“YOU’RE RAISING YOUR PRICE!”
Customers see any reduction in price as PERMANENT! Watch out! Every CPG producer must occasionally show the end user-customer a price reduction on the shelf at the retail store. But in order to do that, the producer must somehow temporarily reduce their wholesale price to the...
Have You Achieved Adequate Market Saturation To Justify Opening a New Market?
BUILDING OUT WITHOUT BLOWING OUT!
If your CPG (consumer packaged goods) business has made it past the startup phase, and you have finally built up enough customers that you can pay your bills, you may be considering expansion. This is ultimately a good way to protect yourself from one or two...
What is the Most Effective CPG Retail Sales Program?
IF YOU’RE NOT IN THEIR FACE, YOU’RE NOT IN THE PLACE!
Building a CPG retail product is a store-by-store process. All the advertising in the world will not help you if your branded product isn’t there! In fact, it’s a waste of money. You need to be known to the neighborhood and market area of the store...
Is Your CPG ( Consumer Packaged Goods) Startup Ready for an Outside Sales Representative?
ALL AHEAD SLOW!
There comes a time in the life of every CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) business when the founder, who has been making all the sales himself, finally asks the question, “Am I ready to hire a salesperson?” The answer is based on the answers to a series...
Largest Online Retailer Goes Bricks and Mortar
FULL CIRCLE?
For years, we’ve been saying that the reports of the death of bricks and mortar retail stores was greatly exaggerated. Amazon 4 Star Stores are adding more weight to that argument. What do Amazon Go, Whole Foods, and Amazon 4 Star Stores all have in common?...
Take Advantage of Market Dynamics to Grow Your Brand
CASTLING YOUR WAY INTO POSITION
Castling is a chess move where, under certain circumstances, you can change your king’s position and the position of your castle (or rook) at the same time. This is generally a defensive move, used to get you out of harm’s way, but it can also position...
Learn How to Build a CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) Brand by Listening to a Play?
ON THE CORNER OF HOLLYWOOD AND BRAND
For almost 7 years we’ve been writing on the Consumers Brand Builders site about what it takes to build a national brand that’s sold in stores. We cover everything we know and deliver lessons we have learned in down-to-earth, easy-to-understand terms. Our goal is to demystify...
Build Your Brand and Keep Your Legacy Alive with an Audio Performance!
SOMETHING THEY WILL REMEMBER
So many successful brand builders watch helplessly as the entrepreneurial spirit of their brand begins to fade as their company grows. It gets simplified and watered down with each new generation. The increasing division of specialized labor that you can finally afford to increase efficiency and...
Listening to the Barefoot Brand Story Can Save you Time, Money, and Angst!
LISTEN HERE!
We started in our laundry room with no money and no knowledge of our industry, and ended up in the boardroom of the world’s largest wine company. Now, you can listen to the true story of how we built the Barefoot Wine brand! But don’t worry,...
Do Perks at Work Reduce Turnover and Improve Employee Longevity?
MORE THAN MONEY
Probably the biggest hidden cost in any business is the cost of turnover. Not only do you lose all your training efforts, but you are out the cost of replacement. You have to advertise, spend time vetting, interviewing, and onboarding. Then you have to train the...
Your Brand Reflects Your Core Values
CRUNCH TIME!
What do you think when you hear about how committed a company is to the environment and then see their product in a single-use plastic container? Corporate disconnect at best, hypocrisy at worst? Almost every company today says they are concerned about the environment but their...
How to Get the Most out of Your Company Swag
SWAG OR DRAG?
Don’t you just hate it when you get one of those free pens that goes dry in a few uses? How about a t-shirt you can see through after four washes? How do you feel about a company that proudly puts their name on a brand...
Product QA (Quality Assurance) Is the Best Form of Advertising
IT’S DEPENDABLE!
What is the #1 cause of startup failure? They simply can’t pay their bills. So why have bills that are not directly related to sales? We advise startups, especially in the CPG space, to outsource everything except Sales, Accounting, and Quality Assurance (also known as Quality...
Why Brand Integrity Matters and How to Get it
STAY ON BRAND!
There’s so much noise out there, you don’t have the luxury to try to be all things to all people. You must focus on the core value you offer to your customer. We are successful consumer brand developers but we made a ton of mistakes before...
What Types of Advertising Work Best for CPG Products?
“THAT’S MY BRAND!”
Our friend called us last week and recommended a new brand of granola. Guess what? We went right out and bought it! Why? Because we trusted our friend. And ultimately, isn’t that the very best form of advertising, a personal referral from an “advocate”? Personal Referrals...
Product Development Starts with Demand and Access
WHO WANTS IT?
“But all my friends thought it was so cool!” That’s the usual lament we hear from the producers of failed products. Why? They fell in love with their product, so much so that they actually thought success was based on the product itself. Probably the most...
What Can You Do with an Entrepreneurship Degree?
SAVING TIME AND MONEY!
After 4 years in college studying entrepreneurship, you might get the idea that no one will hire you. After all, you studied to start your own company, didn’t you? Even though that is the primary objective, it’s amazing how many growing companies today actually prefer grads...