Click the blue text above to follow "FMCG Distributor Professional Consulting" for more marketing and distributor management insights.
When it comes to promotion, most salespeople immediately think of large-scale consumer events, advertising, PR activities, etc., and they also tend to believe that "promotion" is the marketing department's responsibility. We often hear salespeople say: "I've shipped the product from the company to the distributor, then the distributor distributes to secondary wholesalers, and finally the wholesalers sell to retail terminals. That completes what a salesperson should do. Whether the product sells is a product issue or a promotion issue." This leads to mutual accusations, blame-shifting, and stalemates between sales and marketing departments at annual or semi-annual review meetings.
I have always believed that a salesperson should be the primary person responsible for their region. Given fixed product and pricing, they should do everything possible to sell the product and achieve the company's sales and marketing goals. That's what makes a qualified salesperson. Today's market is not like the past when just having a product was enough to sell it. Getting products to the shelf is not the goal; the goal is to get consumers to buy and achieve your sales targets. That's fundamental. Beyond distribution, salespeople have many other tasks, such as how to distribute (already analyzed in a separate article), how to make displays attractive, how to stimulate sales, and how to encourage channel and terminal recommendations.
This article is divided into two parts to discuss promotion content.
First: Sales Promotion
Salespeople are familiar with this and often execute it. Separating promotion from communication and consumer PR is for clarity, but they are complementary. Before a promotion, some communication work is needed to familiarize channels, terminals, and consumers with the product and brand. When is promotion more effective? For example, when a new product's performance declines after a period, or when an old product's sales are lukewarm, promotional activities can help. Additionally, channel promotions can stimulate channel enthusiasm.
When old products sell poorly, it's often due to declining channel margins, not product issues. In such cases, we need targeted channel promotions and push. For distributors or special distributors we control, we can provide joint sales support, vehicles, personnel, and activity support to smooth the channel.
However, for new product launches, it's advisable not to do trade promotions to avoid distributors cutting prices to increase volume or respond to competition. For new products, the first priority is to build awareness and perceived value. If the product quality is good, do sampling and trial activities to quickly let consumers know the product and brand value. Otherwise, discounting is a waste of time and can even harm the brand.
How should promotions be executed? If you're a salesperson for a small company and you always wait for the marketing department or company's promotion plans, you won't sell anything. Sometimes, we need to lead promotions ourselves. For example, in a market primarily operated by distributors, the company's support is usually high-profile conventional promotions like store signs, ads, and big events. In reality, these don't help much because sporadic promotions have little impact on terminal sales. In such cases, we might need to request the company to convert store sign support into promotional materials and gifts, which can be more effective. This achieves stock-in, maintains customer relationships, and these materials genuinely help drive sales.
For supermarket or hypermarket promotions and publicity, create a strong atmosphere. For in-store displays, try to persuade the store to provide additional standalone displays, use outdoor space for promotion, and expand shelf space and end caps, at least during the event. The key is to combine publicity with sales; often, outdoor sales are better than in-store, especially for case-pack products. For supermarket promotions, the best method for new products is buy-one-get-one, not initial discounts. The reason is simple: new products lack awareness, so discounts have low perceived value, or consumers don't feel the value, making discounts ineffective. Also, once prices drop, it's hard to raise them again.
Second: Brand Communication and Consumer PR
Generally, brand communication, consumer PR, and roadshows are led by the company, but for many small companies, regional salespeople must take on many marketing roles. Marketing first requires creating a sales atmosphere and environment, then sales can happen and targets be met.
For regional market communication, salespeople can do a lot. First, create a hot-selling atmosphere in key channels: use terminal posters, POP, display space and position, and visual merchandising to reflect the brand atmosphere. Often, we need to treat terminals as carriers of our brand and sales information, achieving "terminal mediaization." What does that mean? It means not only completing sales but also brand promotion and information dissemination. In this regard, companies like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, JDB, and Master Kong (with channel refinement) do well. Their terminal packaging, standardized operating procedures, terminal informatization, and touchpoints are well-executed, creating deep consumer awareness and positive associations for brand communication and customer relationship maintenance.
Consumer activities, besides "one more bottle" and roadshows, can also target supermarkets or restaurants. Focused, small-scale, niche promotions are also effective ways to start a market. For example, many new cigarette brands start with word-of-mouth, momentum, and niche high-end groups to build a positive reputation; after channel recommendations, they move to consumer-level promotions like tasting events. Why do consumer activities in places like restaurants and taxi driver hubs? It's for word-of-mouth and trial attraction. Without mass media advertising, you rely on word-of-mouth and recommendations.
Focus on these key venues to achieve a certain number of participants and influence; then developing and maintaining other channels becomes easier. For regional consumer activities, capturing key venues to drive consumption and word-of-mouth is crucial. To increase volume, you ultimately need participation from regular terminals and circulation.
Finally, regional salespeople should adopt the mindset that they are the primary market responsible person, considering regional market development from all angles: how sales, brand, and market relate. Distribution only gets the product to the channel; without exchange and consumption, it's not real sales. Salespeople must find ways to sell the product. Of course, they can suggest product and pricing improvements, but once decisions are made, they must do everything to achieve sales.
Each market's environment and competition differ, so we need specific analysis and targeted promotion plans. For example, if high-profile approaches don't work, our promotion plans must be down-to-earth. Thinking that a few CCTV ads will build awareness or a few big events will bring consumers flocking is outdated. Today, regional salespeople must change this view, start from details, integrate brand promotion into channels and terminals, and combine channel and terminal push with promotional activities to complete product sales.
Dao Nong recently opened a public account specifically about how traditional enterprises can excel at WeChat marketing. If you're interested, you can follow it by searching the WeChat ID above or scanning the QR code below.