The Role of Trade Marketing in Building Stronger Brand Loyalty

Businesses today realise that it is crucial to market products to customers. Not everyone may know about their product, and until there’s no demand for the product, the chances of sales are slim. But many businesses fail to develop the right strategy for trade marketing.

There are a lot of misconceptions about trade marketing and how to execute it aptly. It seems very similar to traditional marketing, but as a matter of fact, it is not. It has a different goal. This article is all you need to understand about trade marketing and trade marketing strategies better!

Definition of Trade Marketing

It is a B2B marketing approach to increase consumer demand for a product through retailers, distributors, and wholesalers. The end goal of a trade marketing campaign is to sell products to companies that will sell products to customers in turn. It eventually helps in building a consumer’s loyalty toward your brand. It shows that trade marketing and consumer buying behavior are related too, and so are trade marketing and brand loyalty. 

Commonly Used Trade Marketing Activities

• • Branding
    Branding helps any company highlight a product’s unique value and various advantages of using it. It takes into account the buyer’s identity ensuring that the product’s distinguished qualities are highlighted properly. Branding your product becomes incredibly important as new products make it to the market every now and then.  
    
  • Advertising
    Advertisements can be audience specific, or they can have a mass reach. In order to build awareness about your product, it is crucial you run successful marketing campaigns. You need to ensure the campaigns are targeted to the right audience. It eases the job of retailers, distributors, and wholesalers as consumers are aware of your product.
  • Digital Marketing
    Digital marketing helps you market your product to a specific group, and it becomes your customer demographic. Buyers use digital mediums to research before they make any purchasing decisions. So, a strong content game will help you stand apart from your competitors.
  • Coupons
    One of the ways to convince any customer to try your product is by giving them coupons. It increases the purchases your existing customer makes. You can offer your customers paper as well as digital coupons. But digital coupon is easy to generate and helps you provide personalised offers to your customers. You can offer social coupons, retailer-specific coupons, or email coupons to create demand for your product.
  • Strategic Partnerships
    These partnerships help you move your product with the help of businesses. The insights and data from your partner can benefit you in long term. Here are a few advantages of strategic partnerships:
    1. It increases the value a customer gets out of a product or service.
    2. It broadens the scope of marketing a product
    3. It helps you gain new customers
    4. It increases marketing exposure
• Trade Shows
  You can display your product on display in trade shows. The spread of COVID-19, however, brought changes in the trade show industry. Trade shows were a great place to introduce a new product in a market or enter a new market.
  
• Trade Promotions
  Trade promotions are directed toward specific partners. It can be in form of bonuses, incentives, price reductions, and sales-inducing practices. These promotions provide your product a boost in the market and help you build relations with your partners effectively.
  

Importance of Trade Marketing

Trade marketing is as crucial as marketing traditionally. Trade marketing gives sustained growth to your product. It is a proven strategy that if any consumer packaged goods manufacturer wants to grow their market share in a competitive marketplace. It can help you disseminate the product easily. The benefits of trade marketing are:

• It allows your product to have a voice
• It shows your intent to commit to success
• It creates a strong relationship between the retailer and the manufacturer
• It increases your product’s bet to rise above the competitors

Is Trade Marketing For You?

Trade marketing is crucial for various industries. The companies that operate in the consumer packaged goods space have a lot of competition and struggle to stand out. Hence, trade marketing for consumer packaged goods becomes important inevitably. 

Trade marketing is equally crucial for you if your company’s sales are concentrated in brick-and-mortar locations. Trade marketing for e-commerce is not a major part of this conversation. E-commerce companies do not have to worry about getting their products on shelves physically. But, e-commerce companies still use trade marketing as they work with supply chain partners other than retailers. 

You will need a trade marketing team in case you are thinking about using trade marketing strategies. 
A trade marketing team constitutes of the following members:

• Trade Marketing Manager
  A trade marketing manager develops marketing strategies that reach your target audience. This individual needs to have a background in marketing and B2B negotiations. They need to be aware of trade marketing trends and predictions. The individual’s responsibilities include developing and rolling out the campaigns. These campaigns help in increasing the demand for products among supply chain partners. 
• Trade Marketing Analyst
  A trade marketing analyst reports to a trade marketing manager. Overseeing trade marketing data analytics is a part of their job. They strategise and find new effective methods to help a brand reach its target audience and improve its perception. 
• Trade Marketing Associate
  A trade marketing associate also reports to the trade marketing manager. They take on a role that is more general. They manage specific accounts, report areas of improvement and successful campaigns to the trade marketing manager and trade marketing analyst. 

What Is A Trade Marketing Strategy?

Trade marketing becomes easier if you have a strategy. When you do this, you can set an elaborate plan for your strategy and think about your goals. Once you begin working on the strategy you set, you can review it and make changes after a set period of time. 

When you set a trade marketing strategy, it is crucial you take time to research and plan everything ahead of time. Once planning is done, you can begin the process of implementation.

Tips to Develop Your Trade Marketing Strategy

You might be aware of the trade marketing best practices but it is important to remember certain tips before you plan your marketing strategy.  

#Tip 1: Do Market Research

Trade marketing demands market research. Answer questions like:

• Name of competitors
• What is your target audience?
• What is the biggest challenge you face?

Here are a few ways to get an answer to those questions:

• Attend trade shows
• Monitor trends online
• Read about the industry as much as possible 
• Determine brands that can become a challenge

Doing market research will enable you to understand your target audience better. You can put your knowledge to use by developing a comprehensive plan. It helps you build a better and more effective plan.

#Tip 2: Create A Plan

Once you have conducted your research, it’s time to create a plan. You need to think about:

• Where do you want trade marketing to take your brand?
• What are your goals one month, six months, or a year down the line?
• How to invest in digital tactics and in-person tactics?

Come up with an outline of what you want to accomplish and how it will help you stay on track. Understand your customer’s needs and how you can adjust your strategy accordingly.

#Tip 3: Invest In Your Company’s Branding

Consumers tend to make a lot of their decisions based on their emotional inclinations. It makes branding very important while you are marketing. Brand recognition helps you form an emotional connection with your customer. Any form of marketing you do falls under the category of branding. But you also need to know where, when, and how you can execute the strategies you came up with. It makes all the difference!

To Sum Up!

Trade marketing does follow a lot of fundamentals of traditional marketing but it requires a different approach. The purpose of trade marketing is not the sale of your product but to identify the allies who can help you along the way. It is essential for businesses that face heavy competition in the market. Understanding the right approach to trade marketing and devising a comprehensive strategy helps you establish what makes your product unique. So, invest your time in taking the right approach as it can make a lot of difference. 

If you are looking for viable trade marketing solutions, brand pulse by V5 Global can help you. Check it out here!