10 marketing takeaways from BrandStorm 2021

BrandStorm, the United Fresh Produce Association’s annual produce marketing conference, is happening over Zoom this week, and speakers during the first day of education provided a wealth of practical commentary on topics from empathy in marketing to planning the marketing budget to using data to make your case.

Here are a few takeaways from two of the day’s sessions: Planning a Post-Pandemic Marketing Budget and Activating Research to Bolster Retailer Relationships & Grow Sales.

1. After 2020, marketing is more important than ever.

Steve Grinstead, CEO of FreshEdge, noted that his company — like others in the foodservice industry — had an incredibly difficult year in 2020.

“The easy thing to do would’ve been go light on marketing or possibly even non-existent,” Grinstead said. “A lot of business owners and CEOs think of it as a little more squishy and we’ll put money there if we have enough, if there’s any left over, whatever.

“Coming out of this pandemic, particularly for the foodservice sector that’s been so beat up, I think marketing is more important than ever,” Grinstead said. “So when we had our meetings in January, instead of ‘Where can we cut back this year?’ — even though what we’ve been through — we looked at how can we enhance our marketing ... We’ve got to regrow our business. A lot of our business entities were down 80%. Hard to even comprehend that even happening, so we’ve got a long ride back up, and how are we going to do that, and how are marketing and our plan going to drive that going forward. So we were, I would say, very aggressive in our thought process.”

Grinstead said the company has considered its task this year almost like starting a new organization. FreshEdge, like many others, has to regrow its business in 2021, and a very aggressive marketing plan will help make it happen, Grinstead said.

2. Embrace a general manager mindset.

“As marketers, we need to challenge ourselves to really think and act like the general manager, the P&L owner,” said Sherrie Terry, president and CEO for Sherrie L. Terry Consulting. “You really do have the opportunity to touch all aspects of the business. Specifically, as I think about planning and budgeting, the first thing is to really understand the P&L of your business and what the levers are that you can pull to drive performance. We have such an impact in terms of product mix and price, cost of goods, what new items you might need, what are the distribution channels and changes that might be going on.”

Understanding the overall business is critical to creating a relevant marketing plan and budget.

“We need to make sure we’re connected with what the company’s overall objectives and strategies are, and then really clearly and overtly connect our marketing strategies and objectives to how they help contribute to achieving those objectives,” Terry said.

3. Planning is a team sport, so seek out advisors and advocates from different departments in the company.

“I’ve found it to be most successful when you find a champion within the sales team and within the finance team who can really help you navigate what’s going on within the company, what you need to do from a customer perspective, what you need to understand from the other parts of the P&L in the company,” Terry said.

4. Remind the CFO that marketing is like planting a tree.

“One of the things I would do is remind them that what they’re making is an investment and it’s longer-term,” said Mark Campbell, CEO of ProduceIQ. “So they’re planting a tree that’s going to have many benefits down the road which you don’t yet see. It’s going to have lots of branches and it’s hard to quantify. I know in personal experience I’ve had the fruits of marketing eight years later from those initial seeds that had been planted.”

You can drive that message home, Campbell said, by making an effort to spread your learnings throughout the company. Don’t just use data, but spell out takeaways and make sure everyone understands the value.

5. Define the scope of your marketing budget and ensure that the elements of your plan will work in concert, not in isolation.

Terry suggested several questions to consider before diving into planning. Are you responsible for trade and consumer initiatives? How do trade shows, travel and entertainment, sales training and innovation fit into the realm of marketing? How can you support the big priorities throughout the company with marketing and drive your plan comprehensively?

Click to continue reading and see takeaways 6-10, and reach the author on LinkedIn to share your own notes from BrandStorm 2021!