Scaling Your Sales: How Effective Brand Plans Propel Beverage Companies to Success

Is your brand’s message resonating as powerfully with your audience as you think it is? In a market flooded with options, a laser-focused brand plan isn't just nice to have—it's your lifeline to scaling success. How clearly and effectively can people understand your brand? Are the people in your organization clear on that brand message and properly aligned with it? What about your distributors' sales teams? Or the people who are making the buying decisions in accounts? In a market where the number of competing brands grows by the day, having a clear and effective brand message is crucial to sustainable and scalable success.

Understanding Your Market Position

You've just earned yourself a brief moment in front of the buying decision maker for a local chain of beverage stores. You have sixty seconds to convince them why they should take one of their current product offerings off of their shelves and replace it with your product. Is your beverage made with all natural ingredients, leading to a higher quality liquid compared to the current brands? Is the liquid comparable to current options but at a lower price point? If you can't formulate this quick elevator pitch, you don't have a clear enough understanding of your brand's position or value in the market. A brand plan is a force multiplier that allows you to take a strong brand message and effectively communicate it at scale. It is the foundation that everything else you do to grow your brand sits on. Everybody from your management team, to your sales people, to the end consumer should have a clear picture of what your brand's position and value in the market is.

Building a Foundation For Growth

Start by mapping out your core brand values and how they translate into your product offerings. Then, identify the packaging and messaging that will resonate most with your target demographic. Once you've built out your foundation with a clear and effective brand message, you're ready to implement and execute your brand plan. Decision makers at every level are inundated with choices on a daily basis. Distributor sales teams are often juggling upwards of twenty brands, and retail decision makers are likely dealing with hundreds or more. The most effective brand plan is both simple and actionable. It offers clear guidance without overwhelming details, making it easier for sales teams and distributors to implement successfully. This simplicity becomes your standout feature in a crowded marketplace, earning appreciation and loyalty.

When beverage companies don't have an effective brand plan in place, it leaves sales people and distributor teams in the dark and guessing. God forbid they've earned a product placement in a retailer, the retailer has seen success with the product, asks the sales person what the summer release will be, and the sales person can't tell them. It's almost impossible to scale foundational sales momentum and empower sales team success without that plan in place.

Strategic Clarity and Simplification

You need to start by assessing your year-round products. Do they embody your brand's message and connect with your target audience? Are they available in package formats that have traction with consumers in this space? Each of your rotating, seasonal, or limited edition products should naturally extend your brand message, without straying from the core story. This keeps your brand relevant and engaging across different consumer points of contact throughout the year. Having effective answers for these questions and developing a clear and effective brand plan is crucial to enabling people to become more familiar with your brand, in turn enabling them to support your products more consistently.

This is especially true when you're dealing with distributor brand managers and sales teams. It's critical to remember that they are dealing with dozens of brands. A good brand manager is committed to achieving success for all of their brands with the limited time at their disposal on a daily basis. To empower them, develop a brand plan that answers key questions straightforwardly: What is our brand's identity? Who is our target market? Where does our brand fit within the retail landscape? This plan should be easily understood by everyone from your marketing team to the salesperson on the street. A simple, direct brand plan not only ensures your brand doesn’t get overlooked but also facilitates brand managers and sales teams in executing their roles effectively. By providing clear directions and tools, like sales sheets that succinctly communicate your brand's value proposition, you empower your partners to champion your brand successfully.

The Challenges of Distributor Management

Having an understanding of what your distributor teams deal with on a daily basis is going to earn enhance relationships and increase your brand's success in wholesale channels. A distributor brand manager spends most of their day putting out fires or hand holding for suppliers, and very little time actually executing and building brands. Distributor brand managers often find themselves extinguishing fires or providing support to suppliers, leaving them little time for strategic brand development. Sales managers grapple with a multitude of sales targets in a saturated market while leading their teams through the complexities of sales execution..

Provide clear, succinct brand plans that outline not just the goals but also the process to successfully achieving them. This clarity helps brand and sales managers to focus on execution rather than wasting valuable time deciphering strategies. You also need to establish a routine of regular check-ins, not just to monitor progress but to offer support and address any challenges proactively. This type of productive communication with brand managers will make you an instant favorite. It's incredibly important to treat your distributors as partners, not just as a vendor who sells your product.

Defining Success for Mutual Benefit

Success in distribution isn't just about pushing for higher sales volumes; it's about setting realistic expectations and providing a clear roadmap to achieve them. The last thing you want to be is the supplier who is constantly calling their distribution partners upset that the distributor isn't selling enough volume, when you haven't provided your distributors with clear expectations and accompanying tools to achieve those expectations. Empower the people working hard to make your brand successful with as many tools and resources as possible, beyond just the necessary production calendar. Do your sales people and distribution partners know your brand message and who your intended consumer is? What type of retail accounts will your brand be most successful in?

When you have your Annual Business Plan meetings (if you're not having these, we will discuss why you absolutely need to be in a later piece), make sure that you are collaborating on expectations and goals. This doesn't mean handing out unreasonable targets and demanding them. True sustainable success requires dialogue. For instance, if feedback from distributors suggests that a particular product isn't resonating as expected with consumers, be willing to pivot and refine your approach based on this input. This flexibility and openness to feedback will strengthen your wholesale relationships and lead to increased long term success. Most of all, you need to be ready for open and honest communication. You may not want to hear certain feedback, and you may feel like avoiding a tough phone call, but honest and effective communication is key to long term success in any relationship. A good sales or distribution partner will want to hear your feedback as well as provide their own honest assessments.

Conclusion

Your brand is more than just a product; it's a testament to your vision, hard work, and dedication. In the vast and competitive landscape of the beverage industry, standing out requires more than just believing in your brand's uniqueness. It demands a strategic, well-articulated brand plan that communicates your brand's value compellingly to distributors, salespeople, decision-makers, and consumers alike.

If your brand plan doesn't yet reflect the clarity, strategy, and actionable insights discussed here, it's time for a reassessment. Whether you're refining an existing plan or starting from scratch, remember that the journey to widespread brand recognition and sustainable success begins with strategic planning and clear communication.

Shane Lohman is a seasoned entrepreneur, having been deeply entrenched in the beverage industry for well over a decade. At the age of 22 he got his start in the industry by establishing a retail beer store which was acquired in early 2016. His next venture, Steel City Beer Wholesalers, became a cornerstone in the craft beer wholesale distribution sector in Western PA, growing from a startup to a sought-after acquisition target. Following the successful sale of Steel City's brand portfolio, Shane is focused on sharing his insights and strategies, helping others navigate the complexities of market entry, brand development, and operational efficiency in the beverage industry.