March 28, 2014

There is one question I see buyers pose often in the Buyerly Product Feedback system: “What kind of PR is your brand doing?”

And I can relate. As a buyer, I always requested to see brands’ marketing calendar, which is a schedule of marketing, media and PR activities intended to promote brand awareness and support sales in stores.

Why does it matter so much to buyers? Buyers like to coordinate their buying timeline and in-store promotional activities to piggy-back off the brand’s marketing and PR activities. And it should matter to you, too. Showing a marketing calendar creates an incentive or deadline for a buyer to buy that product line NOW versus later. Let’s be honest, nothing creates a sense of urgency like a real deadline.

To make an even grander statement to buyers, consider providing examples of past marketing activity and the sales results it generated. That shows your buyer that not only can you provide the marketing and PR to support sales of your product on shelf, but that IT WORKS! And it shows the degree to which you can drive sales growth. Obviously the more you drive sales with marketing, the more anxious the buyer will be to say “Yes, I want your product!”