To compete with rival products at the retail level, FMCG companies frequently run consumer promotions, making posters a crucial tool for conveying promotional information on the ground. During peak promotional periods, poster space at various retail outlets becomes as crowded as a train station during Spring Festival travel rush. Many companies and distributors complain: "How is it that we distributed nearly 2,000 posters in such a small county, yet they are barely visible at retail? Why do competitors' posters remain so boldly displayed?" Furthermore, mom-and-pop store owners are reluctant to post them on their storefronts—how strange!

Based on past market promotion experience, the following 8 tips can serve as a reference!

Tip 1: In mature markets, focus on coverage density; in semi-mature (underdeveloped) markets, focus on coverage effectiveness. This is the overarching principle for poster posting. In mature markets, retail outlets are densely developed and regionally balanced, and the company's product awareness, brand reputation, and customer loyalty have a relatively solid foundation. In such areas, posting promotional posters is generally sufficient for consumers to recognize the company's promotional poster at a glance (and then learn the details). Therefore, a poster blitz is not recommended in these markets. However, the density of poster placement should be reasonably distributed, maintaining dynamic balance to achieve the desired visibility rate. In semi-mature (underdeveloped) markets, due to uneven outlet development, poster posting should be selective and targeted. That is, in areas with dense outlets and good consumer base, intensive posting should be implemented, using a localized poster blitz tactic, because the majority of sales in such markets come from these outlet clusters. For scattered or undeveloped areas, they are generally not considered, because if products are not on shelves, consumers seeing posters may think the company is engaging in consumer fraud—a counterproductive outcome that no company spending heavily on promotions wants to see.

Tip 2: Favor the left over the right, and do not avoid key locations. What does "favor the left over the right" mean? It means that when posting posters, if there is a symmetrical posting unit like a store door, try to post the poster on the left side of the symmetry. There are two reasons:

First, people's reading and browsing habits are from left to right; the left eye has higher attention than the right eye, and the left side has better visual reception than the right. Therefore, the left side is the first choice.

Second, most people are right-handed and tend to use their right hand first. When posters are posted in a symmetrical area, the right side is more likely to be torn or damaged. From the probability of damage, posters on the right have a higher natural damage rate.

What does "do not avoid key locations" mean? Many market promotion specialists have a misconception that in KA stores, key stores, and flagship stores, poster posting only needs basic coverage. The reason is that these key stores already have a significant sales advantage and can achieve absolute sales even without promotions, so promotional posters in such stores are mainly for notification and not worth the effort. However, the reality is different. The fundamental purpose of posting posters in key stores is to build a strong brand image and compete with rivals in the brand concentration camp—key store clusters—for consumer mindshare. Whoever occupies the first tier of consumer mindshare gains the initiative in brand consumption. In short, poster posting in key stores is about brand image competition, not just simple promotional information dissemination. Therefore, in key stores, more attention should be paid to the attractiveness of the copy, cleanliness of the layout, aesthetic design, coordination with supermarket promotion schedules, and maintenance of the posters. This is what "do not avoid key locations" means.

Tip 3: The strong dragon must suppress the local snake. As the saying goes, "The strong dragon does not suppress the local snake," meaning that even a formidable outsider should yield to local forces because they have local connections and power. However, terminal promotions are often tit-for-tat and confrontational. Even when intercepting local strong brands at the retail level, one must not yield an inch. In terms of quantity, coverage area, and poster design, one must think what the "local snake" dares not think, find every opportunity, and pursue relentlessly to give local strong competitors an interceptive blow. Why must the strong dragon suppress the local snake?

There are two reasons:

First, relatively speaking, local strong competitors have advantages in HR, logistics, PR, and other aspects. The living space and profit margins for our product in the local market are often squeezed to the point of being cornered. In such a situation, if we cannot give a powerful counterattack to the local strong competitor, our situation will become even more difficult and easily fall into a vicious cycle.

Second, as mentioned above, because our product is at a disadvantage in overall cost, when operating large-scale, high-intensity SP promotions, we have higher expectations for success. This determines that posters, as promotional resources, must emphasize coverage rate and fullness. To carve out a promotional space at the retail level, even engaging in a war of attrition with the local strong brand is worth it.

Tip 4: Avoid only "posting" without "speaking." Many promotion specialists have a psychological imbalance, thinking that posting posters is the simplest and most mindless job in sales. They often post posters at lightning speed in retail stores and then leave without a word—this is what is meant by only "posting" without "speaking." Market promotion personnel themselves are walking, talking posters. Why not take the opportunity during terminal visits to communicate promotional information with store owners? Moreover, retail stores often have many consumers. Why not take this opportunity to have face-to-face communication with consumers about the promotion? Wouldn't that be faster and more direct than just posting posters? The problem is that our promotion personnel often overlook this, lacking the awareness of proactive communication and the skills to engage and persuade. As a result, they miss the multiplier effect of word-of-mouth. Sometimes, the posters are torn down or covered by store owners or competitors immediately after posting. "Posting" is just one component action to achieve the effect; "speaking" is the key technique to make posters "come alive."

Tip 5: Avoid only "posting" without "re-posting." "Re-posting" refers to checking posted posters and making supplementary or restorative re-posts. Most promotion personnel are aware of this, but they lack the techniques and methods. Specifically, the strategies for "re-posting" include:

1. Know the competitors' re-posting time. Competitors are not easy to deal with when posting posters. It is crucial to grasp the timing and patterns of competitors' re-posting. Market promotion personnel should, after communicating with outlets and thorough understanding, develop a time-following strategy. That is, as soon as competitors leave, our personnel follow up with re-posting. If we blindly set a fixed day for follow-up re-posting, competitors may find loopholes and take advantage.

2. Cover as much as possible; do not tear down. That is, try to cover competitors' posters with our own, rather than tearing them down. Tearing down can make the area look untidy, affecting the appearance of our posters. On the other hand, when competitors re-post, they may not necessarily see us as competitors and might only post in non-relevant areas, which does not affect the effectiveness of our posters.

Tip 6: Money makes the world go round; don't believe terminals don't love money. Why do some companies face resistance or obstruction from store owners when posting posters? There is no major reason other than that competitors sign agreements with store owners when posting posters, specifying the benefits (direct cash, return goods, included in store price, etc.) for the owner during the posting period, and also conditions that no other related posters can compete for prime positions. Under the lure of benefits, store owners naturally are willing to maintain the posters. Clearly, whoever offers more benefits gets more maintenance from store owners. Therefore, when posting posters in CV key store clusters, using agreements as constraints and offering better benefits than competitors (based on prior investigation) as bait will surely secure the best positions for our posters, and store owners will be cooperative and willing. However, one point to note is that such policies should only be used in exceptional circumstances. As a distributor or manufacturer, you should not rely solely on this method to stimulate cooperation, as it may "spoil" the terminal and provide a ladder for them to push for more. Smart companies will set price limits or minimum monthly sales policies per store.

Tip 7: If you can't afford to provoke, don't provoke. When engaging in a poster war with competitors, it is not necessary to dominate every time and every place.

There are three reasons:

First, industry-leading companies often have flawless terminal maintenance and promotion execution. Our product cannot compete with them in terms of manpower, systems, control, cost, or strategic planning. In such cases, the key point for poster posting is "if you can't afford to provoke, don't provoke." That is, without confidence in gaining the upper hand, do not easily cover or tear down posters of companies with top-tier operations and frequent visits. It is most important to act according to our capabilities. If we post our posters, they may be covered or torn down immediately. Conversely, if we do not intercept them, we may avoid their tit-for-tat retaliation.

Second, in situations where we cannot afford to provoke, try to post our promotional posters adjacent to the industry leader's posters to seek a bundling effect. Since we cannot compete with them in re-posting frequency, we might as well prepare to "get the moon first from the waterfront." We post next to them but do not cover them (if you can't afford to provoke, don't provoke). In consumers' visual reception, this may create a bridging effect. This is often used in FMCG companies' promotional execution.

Third, "if you can't afford to provoke, don't provoke" is not contradictory to the earlier "strong dragon must suppress the local snake." The former is a counterattack tactic against local competitors' strong pressure; if we don't counterattack, we may suffer devastating blows. The latter is based on the premise that the competitor's terminal control capability is entirely above ours, and no matter how we operate, we cannot gain much advantage at the terminal. In that case, it is better to adopt a secondary strategy and seek development through indirect means. The first emphasizes counterattack tactics, while the second emphasizes soft tactics. Different backgrounds require different strategies. Market promotion supervisors need to grasp this nuance when supervising terminal execution.

Tip 8: Carry a rag with you; don't learn from the dandy, learn from the beggar. "To do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools." The "rag" mentioned here actually includes richer content, such as cutting scissors, rulers, tape, correction fluid, correction paper, and other necessary tools. "A rag" is a generic term for the necessary auxiliary tools for poster posting. Why "carry a rag with you; don't learn from the dandy, learn from the beggar"? There are several reasons:

First, when market promotion personnel are doing "re-posting," sometimes posters are only partially dirty, or sometimes they cannot be covered again, or it is impossible to peel them off and re-post. We can use the rag to wipe off the dirty parts, avoiding unnecessary trouble. This saves poster resources and work time, and is convenient and effective.

Second, as market promotion personnel, we rarely have the chance to visit CV terminals. Why not use the opportunity of "re-posting" to "wash the face" of our products on the shelves and tidy up the stock? Because besides brand, habit, price, and other factors, FMCG products largely compete on display area, product cleanliness, and shelf life. As the saying goes, "a journey of a hundred miles is half completed at ninety." Many companies lose at the last ten miles.

Third, market promotion personnel who pay attention to details may notice that if they directly enter a CV store to tidy up their products, store owners generally dislike it, because tidying up will inevitably disrupt the display order of series products on the shelf (tidying often changes the position of competitors' products because CV stores have no SKU restrictions), and our product may not be the store owner's favorite. Therefore, there is no reason for them to absolutely support us making changes on their shelves. But if we first wipe our products clean with a rag, using this "face-washing" action to divert the store owner's attention, and then take the opportunity to squeeze our product into a relatively superior position, the store owner's attention may not be fixed on the tidying but rather on the promotion personnel's action of cleaning the product.

Of course, the market has no fixed patterns, and promotion execution also has no fixed patterns. The above 8 tips are just a summary and refinement of one aspect of SP ground execution from an experiential and technical perspective. In specific applications, market promotion managers still need to arrange scientific strategies according to market characteristics.

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