Consumer goods remain a backbone of the American economy, but shifts in consumer behavior and marketing mediums is driving CPG brands into new territory. These murky waters can spell disaster for CPG’s that do not learn how to adapt to the changing landscapes. Discover the new possibilities of CPG marketing.

Omnichannel is More than a Buzzword

This word has been overused in marketing for several years, but it is still a very important word in the future of marketing for CPG brands. Omnichannel simply suggests that consumer brands must adopt a marketing strategy that encompasses all channels where their consumers get news, sports, entertainment and do their shopping.

In the Wild West days of omnichannel marketing, there were endless channels for brands to navigate. This led to inefficient budgets, and failed attempts at scaling different channels.

Take Comparison Shopping as an example. Five years ago, brands wanting to advertise on Comparison Shopping Channels had to set budgets and optimization strategies for:

• Pricegrabber
• Shopzilla
• Nextag
• …and others

Now, brands can get by with just Google Shopping.

Contracting Social Media

Not only was there a contraction of shopping sites, we have also consolidated our social media. Most brands can run a cohesive social media strategy by simply using Facebook and Instagram. Others might use Youtube, twitter or Snapchat.

The good news, is brands can now focus more dollars on fewer social channels, allowing for greater optimization and scale of each channel.

Marketplaces ore your Friend

Consumer brands used to have a love hate relationship with Amazon. To be more accurate, CPG’s STILL have a problem with Amazon and will continue to have a problem with them in the future. But, Amazon is not the enemy unless you allow them to be the enemy.

Let’s face it. Your consumers are shopping on Amazon…right now…as in right now while you are reading this. If your brand is not on Amazon, the only one hurting is your brand.

Unfortunately, consumers expect to find your brand on Amazon. Therefore, it is time to stop looking at Amazon as the enemy. It is possible to coexist with Amazon and use them as a profitable marketing channel. Even if they are the enemy, wouldn’t it be great to make money from your enemy?

Amazon is not the only marketplace. Walmart has a very active marketplace, and is currently expanding its seller services. They recently announced a plan to ship products for sellers similar to Amazon’s FBA service.

Subscription Services are Booming

Most CPG products are bought at specific intervals. Air filters for example replaced every 3 months. Consumables are constantly reordered. Why not take the guesswork out of things and institute a subscription based model to your brand?

Subscriptions are great for brands and consumers. For the consumer, they don’t have to go out and shop when they run out of the product. Instead, there is a fresh supply at their doorstep when they need it. For the CPG brand, it returns a higher LTV, along with predictable revenue.

Marketing is expensive. With consumers purchasing on a subscription model, the marketing dollars are spent on the frontend, and very few dollars are spent on each subscription purchase. This reduces the marketing spend, and also reduces the initial cost per acquisition.

The Experience is the Wow Factor

With a subscription model, the most successful subscriptions are those that provide an unboxing experience. People love opening packages. This is especially true when the joy of physical shopping is replaced by online shopping. The consumer can still feel the joy when unboxing their products, and feel an emotional connection to the brand.

Connect at all Costs

Consumers want to feel connected to the brands they love. Content provides the connection. It is in a consumer brand to invest heavily in content and content marketing strategies.

A Facebook past is not a content strategy. A content strategy allows for content on different mediums, with different voices used to connect to the user of each medium. Although the voice and content delivery methods may change, the message would remain cohesive.

Strategic content is purposefully written content created to drive a specific goal. That goal might be branding, sales, referrals or virality. Each content strategy focuses on a specific goal and points back to a central piece of content.

This is usually where CPG brands fail in an omnichannel marketing strategy. This type of content is difficult to create and strategize. Emerging brands have the hardest time with content strategy as they do not have the resources, knowledge or budget to create the strategy.

CPG Brands are Renting their Online Presence

CPG brands must have their own website. Marketplaces, shopping sites, social media channels – they still control the space. As a CPG brand, your presence, voice or visibility could be turned off at any time. This is important to note, but not out of fear. If a marketing channel is cutoff, you will need a place to sell. That place will always be the brand’s website.

A CPG website needs to be active and functional, not just a brochure. The website needs to spark user engagement. A blog, resource portal, chopping cart and information pages are essential. These pages are perfect for branding and gives the brand a central hub for content strategies.

The site is the central resource that brings all other channels together. Without it, the brand is losing a great deal of visibility, trust and revenue. We’ve worked with several brands that had no website. By creating a website, their sales skyrocketed.

With a website, you can generate an email list that helps to create an ongoing source for marketing and remarketing revenue. It also adds the ability to create audiences of other potential buyers based on the data you have gathered on your customers. This is done via tools like Google and Facebook. Contact us for more information on how this is accomplished.

Basically, there is no end to the marketing channels and strategies consumer brands can implement. The problem is, a lot of brands still face uncertainty in how to capitalize on al ot of these very profitable channels.

These channels and strategies will continue to last well into the future. Sure, some channels will die and others will emerge, but the fundamentals will always remain the same. The fundamentals are strategies – plans of attack built on data.

Put your brand in front of consumers today. Even if it isn’t perfect, try to be active where your consumers are active. They want to buy your products. Their friends and family want to buy your products. They simply need to know you are present and that you care.