Building market sustainability for healthy brands
In a Food Navigator interview this month, CHOMPS CEO and co-founder Pete Maldonado identified the “what happens next” once your brand has raised millions and ridden the growth curve of increasing distribution: building market sustainability.
“It's no longer a race to raise the most money or land the most new points of distribution,” said Maldonado on his LinkedIn profile while sharing the interview. “[I]t's about building a sustainable business. That's what any #CPG brand should be focused on. But, the industry got off track for a bit and some incredible multiples were paid to acquire brands that never had a path to #profitability identified. Too many brands followed suit as if that was the winning recipe and most fell flat.”
This is a story we have heard before. Innovative, healthy brands bootstrapped on minimal investment, sweat equity, and social media engagement see triple-digit growth rates from wider distribution—and then stall and slowly die when that distribution-driven growth curve flattens.
A recent conversation with a founder underscored just how critical it is for upstart brands to successfully pivot to a more mature, sustainable strategy. This entrepreneur was telling us about how his brand’s rapid gains in distribution over the past year were simply not repeatable. If he was going to meet the growth expectations of his investors, he was going to need to invest in marketing—for the first time. Up until then, the brand had been driven by earned media, digital and social, and word of mouth. Those tactics had gotten him onto shelves across the country, but now he needed to stay there. His new challenge was to sustain growth and earn consumer loyalty. He had identified the next step in the lifecycle of his company—become savvy marketers of a healthy brand.
To help your company reach long-term success, you should be not only growing your base of support, but also educating consumers and maintaining their loyalty. You can do it organically, using marketing channels that are best suited for your target audience.
Adaptability is the key to surviving and thriving. McKinsey & Company’s article How CPG companies can sustain profitable growth in the next normal prescribes that to develop a winning growth formula for the next normal, brands much do three things:
Predict consumer demand
Rebound and transform to thrive
Sustain performance with agile new models
The author includes marketing as one of the core commercial capability areas to boost organic growth. Companies are moving “away from the ‘mass reach with mass waste’ model to embrace personalization….Speaking to customers through their preferred channels and addressing their current needs—with the right tone, language, and brand promise—will be critical to success in the next normal.”
Reaching health-conscious consumers through their “preferred channels” includes their most trusted source of nutrition guidance: their personal health professionals.
Building a sustainable and profitable healthy brand over the long-term must include engaging, educating, and supporting these critical influencers of consumer behavior. Building relationships with health professionals at scale becomes a dynamic competitive advantage that earns brand recommendations, drives trial, and builds brand loyalty.
As your healthy brand experiences distribution growth and you prepare to turn those short-term gains into long-term sustainability, make sure your marketing strategy includes health and wellness professionals.