We all have a COVID-19 story about toilet paper, paper towels, sanitizing wipes gone missing from retailers’ shelves. Charmin – out of stock. Bounty – out of stock. Clorox – you guessed it. Out of stock. But when we couldn’t find the Clorox wipes we were used to, the reality of the pandemic we’d just been dropped into put the dilemma swiftly into context – just grab another brand, man. We reached for whichever wipes we could find, knowing that at the end of the day, different wipes were remarkably better than no wipes at all (which was a real possibility if you hit the store at the wrong hours). The digital storefronts of e-commerce were no different: you were lucky if even the least-known brand of TP on Amazon wasn’t on backorder for months on end.
Those early months of the pandemic, scary and serious as they were (and as this pandemic continues to be), should be setting off a light bulb for budding CPG brands. Your product is in demand, consumers increasingly want to shop for it online, and they aren’t especially picky about brand names at the moment. Now is the time for underdog CPG companies to win market share (source: https://www.clickz.com/the-10-marketing-challenges-todays-cpg-brands-are-facing/). When a shopper goes to add Barilla angel hair pasta to their online cart, and it isn’t there, let them reach for your product instead. If your pasta measures up in taste and especially price, there’s a good chance you’ve made a brand fan – minimally, you’ve given your product a shot at being a part of that shopper’s future consideration set.
A well-constructed advertising plan can help lead to brand fans, and now is the time to get started. With detailed targeting capabilities available in channels such as paid social and OTT, you can spend even a modest marketing budget efficiently and effectively to reach the perfect customer. Let’s partner together to set that advertising plan in motion and build your budding CPG brand into a go-to pick for consumers.