Jan 19, 2023
How Top Shopper Marketing Agencies Help Brands Grow
How Do Shopper Marketing Agencies Work?
How exactly do top shopper marketing agencies work? And what do the top shopper marketing agencies do differently than their contemporaries?
Food and beverage brands are increasingly finding success with the help of shopper marketing, a specific marketing and advertising approach designed to target individuals and reach them in deliberate, strategic ways. While it’s technically possible to practice shopper marketing independently, most brands attempt to leverage the help of shopper marketing professionals to see better results.
The Basics of Shopper Marketing
We sometimes call shopper marketing “research in action” because it relies heavily on objective data and can disrupt the shopper’s journey. Before you can plan any of your marketing or advertising campaigns, you need to thoroughly understand who your audience is, how they think, and where they’re most likely to encounter or purchase your product.
With this information in mind, you can craft more effective messages and position those messages strategically to maximize impact. Together, shopper marketing firms can execute the following:
- High-level brand strategy. Everything starts with your brand. If you have a cohesive brand with a clear identity and a good reputation, you’ll have a much cleaner gateway to shopper marketing success. Conversely, you can rebuild from the ground up if your brand is outdated or lacks clear standards. What is your brand purpose? Who are your target customers? What makes you different than similar brands?
- Shopper loyalty programs. One of the best ways to secure shopper loyalty and repeat purchases is with a shopper loyalty program. You can incentivize people to choose your food and beverage products over your competitors by making it worth it; discounts, freebies, and special bonuses will keep your audience buying indefinitely. Plus, it’s a great excuse to collect personal information and mark it to these people even more.
- Packaging and shelf positioning. Not everyone goes to the store with your product in mind. Many customers will only buy your product after seeing it on store shelves. Accordingly, any good shopper marketing strategy will include some components of strategic packaging and shelf positioning. You’ll also need to work with retailers and distributors on this front.
- Product demos. What if customers are uncertain about your product’s taste or experience? If you can coordinate better product demos on store floors, you’ll be in a much better position to win those people over.
- Shopping cart ads. Another way of catering to people likely to impulse buy your product is with shopping cart ads. But, again, you can maximize exposure to new people by working directly with retailers.
- In-store advertising materials. Of course, shopper marketing isn’t just about shopping cart ads – the entire store can be a canvas for your messaging.
How a Shopper Marketing Agency Works for Your Brand
Shopper marketing agencies are institutions designed to help businesses, including food and beverage brands, master the art of shopper marketing. Staffed with specialists and experts who can tackle every side of the shopper marketing problem, shopper marketing agencies help you with the following:
- Planning. Who are you trying to reach? How are you trying to reach them? How do you define success? Agencies help you with every step of the planning process.
- Budgeting. How much money do you have to spend, and what’s the best way to spend it to maximize its impact? Again, agencies can direct you here as well.
- Research and targeting. If you need to learn more about your target audience, competition, or other variables, your agency can help you research them.
- Creative materials. From conception to the actual design, agency staff members will help you generate creative materials.
- Strategic execution. Agencies also take charge of strategic execution, publishing, and distributing those creative materials.
- Analytics and assessments. Throughout each campaign, your agency will generate reports and help you understand how your strategies perform.
How Are Shopper Marketing Agencies Different?
So what sets the top shopper marketing agencies apart from other shopper marketing agencies?
- More objective data. For starters, the best shopper marketing agencies in the business have access to more objective data, which is more accurate. If you can get a better read on your target audience and analyze your campaigns more precisely, you’ll have a clear competitive advantage.
- Specialization and experience. Though general shopper marketing agencies can work with a wide range of businesses, it’s usually better to find an agency with specific expertise. For example, if you’re a food and beverage brand, you should work with a food and beverage shopper marketing agency. Additionally, top shopper marketing agencies typically have years of experience and tons of past clients to serve as references.
- Genuine partnership interest. For top shopper marketing agencies, it’s not just about fulfilling a contract; each relationship is a true partnership. Shopper marketers are as invested in your brand’s success as you are.
- Access to more resources. Perhaps more significantly, larger agencies have access to more resources. They have more specialist staff members, partnerships, tools, and connections they can leverage. So even if you’re working with a small budget, you’ll have a broader range of resources to choose from.
- More strategic possibilities. Inexperienced and new shopper marketing agencies tend to focus on only one or two specialty areas. But with a more experienced, established shopper marketing agency, you can pursue almost any conceivable combination of marketing and advertising strategies.
- Flexibility and scalability. The best shopper marketing agencies are willing to customize specific plans and packages for your needs. So no matter your organization’s current position or its growth, they’ll offer the flexibility and scalability you need.
- Long-term partnerships. Marketing is a process, and the best results come from an annualized, strategically consistent approach. That’s why the best shopper marketing agencies in the industry focus on long-term agreements whenever possible.
Do you want to see better sales results? Ideally, you’ll have a shopper marketing agency to help you achieve those results. And at NewPoint Marketing, that’s what we strive to be. So contact us for a free consultation today!