Hey, brand managers and manufacturers? I’m talking to you. It’s time we have a talk about why your products just aren’t selling as well as they might be, and what you can do to change that.

Let’s start the conversation by looking at the day of your typical independent retailer. These are some busy people. If the store is relatively new, the owner might be the person doing everything, from opening the doors in the morning to dropping the deposit at the band each night. They’re the boss, but they’re also the cashier, the stock clerk, the buyer, the merchandiser, the janitorial staff and the strategic planner. When employees come on board, and the store grows, the boss takes on new duties: now there’s scheduling, payroll, HR and more to do. Every bit of growth brings new responsibilities, but there’s no corresponding increase in the number of hours in any given workday.

When does this store owner have the time to think about the best way to market your brand?

The truth is: they don’t. The world’s best, most successful brands know this. That’s why big brands are constantly engaged in creating and distributing advertising collateral for their retailers to use on their behalf. They create the signage, the graphics, the imagery and copy that retailers use in their advertising and promotions. Sometimes, depending on the nature of the brand/retailer relationship, they even dictate when and how these sales materials are to be used. These materials are used, both in traditional marketing spaces and online, and as a result, sales of those brands consistently outpace brands that are marketed solely by the retailer.

With that being said, what are you doing for your independent retailers? If the answer is ‘probably not enough’, the first step to remedy that is a digital marketing audit. You’ll want to look at the website and social media presence of a representative sample of your retailers. How is your brand being presented? Is it easy to find your products on their website? Are you mentioned on social media?

Changing the way your brand is marketed online can be as simple as creating and distributing brand building material your retailers can share on social media or on their websites. Examples include infographics, blog posts, short video clips and other content that would be entertaining and informative to the retailer’s customers while positively promoting your brand. Many retailers would enthusiastically embrace having great content to share, as it saves them lots of time & creative work while driving sales to their store.

Everybody wins – but you’ve got to be willing to take the first step. If you need help developing content to share and supporting your independent retailers with, give us a call. Our world class creative design teams can produce the brand building content you need and that your customers will love!