Guide 7: Communicating Extreme Value
Food is likely the most competitive business niche in all of industry. There are massive limits on the use of intellectual property and the hoped for gains in a competitive advantage seem to more quickly vanish than in most other business segments due to the size and nature of competition in food.
This formidable field has developed practices and processes over the past 100 years to quickly build extreme food growth and discontinue item after item each year. The largest and biggest brands understand this need for information and context when sharing value with high growth partners. In this quick recap, I’ll share the plug-and-play formulas used by the best food brands to reach their goals in the food business. You might think it’s simply a larger budget but it’s actually nothing more than providing value, information, and context. The biggest established food corporations gain authorization after authorization growing their business with a proven method of sharing product value. Innovative brands with a desire for extreme food revenue growth can follow suit. How do I know? I’ve competed with and beaten the largest brands in the world with their own playbook. For example… My startup client, Georgia Olive Farms was inspired while in Italy to develop an East coast olive oil and introduce it to the US market. They entered the market by adjusting to authenticity, disrupted the market by initially focusing on chefs, and became recognized as one of the best in America by the writers at the Wall Street Journal. Today, Georgia Olive Farms has over 100,000 olive trees and they are growing significant consumer sales revenue. Nadine had a recipe and we met at her kitchen table to discuss plans. She quickly developed her chicken salad into a multi-million dollar business by using systems and strategies of the most successful food brands. These entrepreneurial startup brands utilized the action steps the largest global food companies use to communicate with buyers in markets. The systems and process of communicating value are what helped them achieve their massive success. The steps are repeatable and scalable formulas and processes. If you don’t know them, you likely will not figure it out without much experience and many seasons of trial and error. I’ve identified them as the 9 Pillars of Big Food Brand Success. The following lists the 9 Pillars and a brief discussion of their practice. Your brand will benefit from organizing and sharing value around these 9 areas of action. The 9 Pillars of Communication for Extreme Food Revenue Growth Product Innovation: First and foremost, your food product will find extreme revenue growth when it connects with an unmet and recognized consumer need. Innovation is defined by a purchasing market and food makers ignore this fact! Creative Execution: Demonstrate an understanding of your consumer markets with packaging creative, programs, promotions, and online. You should offer insight into your market with Moms, Dads, Kids, or other groups of people in the most likely consumer demographic and psychographic markets for your product brand. Customer Centric: How does your company and product resonate with ideal consumers? Demonstrate how your product resonates in the life of your avatar consumer. Consumer Insights: Provide your partners with Consumer Characteristics and Use of Products. These communications might include Third party Research, Surveys, Demos, Emails, and Ask Customers surveys. Retail Insights: Give Direction to Retailer on your food product — Best Methods from other Retailer Success, Seasonality, Great Promo Ideas, Any Prior Experiences, Trials, Marketing Best Practices. Consumer Connected: Show buyer your current Consumer Connections with Testimony, Email, Sales, social media success stories. Strong Brand: Demonstrate the Power of your Brand and Performance with Customer success stories, Retailers, Dollars, Share, Success in Market, and Competitive Retailers. Traffic Builder: How will you drive business to the store and into the department for your product? There are cost-effective and local methods for this that include coupons, advertisements, social media, emails, and customer engagement. Business Case: Surprisingly, I rarely have a client that has ever presented a business case to a significant retailer before working together. They don’t understand that this is seen as missing from their presentation by buyers. You have to demonstrate and provide an explanation of your products financial impact to the category. Guess what? If you don’t do this, your largest competitors will have loads of data to share about your lack of success and low numbers with your retail partner. Present your case for why you should be authorized, demonstrate with credibility your financial impact on category revenue, sales and profits. Discuss share, unit movement and expected results. Extreme fast growing and largest food brands utilize these effective strategies year after year to achieve continued success. They leverage their current position and markets for growth. It’s not just budget but process that garners the results for these food businesses. Regardless of size or spend, you can achieve extreme food growth utilizing these nine practices. Extreme food revenue growth requires you to apply the 9 Pillars in your presentations, market efforts, and programs for retailers, distributors, partners, and customers. Key Ideas:
|
© FOOD MONEY MACHINE 2021