What Media Works Where

This is CPG Insiders, the podcast that helps consumer packaged goods companies survive and thrive in business. Now, your hosts, Mark Young and Justin Gerard. Welcome, everyone, to another edition of CPG Insiders. I'm your host, Mark Young, with my co host and sidekick. I'm gonna.

Your sidekick, Poncho.

Justin Gerard.

I'll take it.

I was gonna go Don Quixote.

Wow, that's classic.

It is a classic. And later in this episode, I will sing the song man of La Mancha, if that's any help. Or to dream the impossible dream.

I actually sang that at my graduation.

Did you?

Yes.

How did that go? You did graduate, so at least they didn't hold you back.

Well, I was actually class president, so I had to give a speech and I was in the choir.

I did not know you were a politician.

Oh, yes, yes.

It's amazing the things we learn here, folks. And he dances too.

Him too. Oh, that's a different show.

He's a song and dance man. So speaking of song and dance, we're gonna talk about what media works where. And here's the conversation. We get one of the things that base these programs, folks, just so you know, these shows are built around the phone calls that we have with people every day. So essentially, Justin, I have a phone call with somebody. It's like, you know what? That's the third time we've had that phone call. Let's turn it into a show. So that's how this happens. So we're going to talk about today is digital or online sales versus brick and mortar. So oftentimes, Justin, some clients call and I want to build my online business. I want to build my Amazon business. Other times, clients call, we really need to build our brick and mortar business. We need our Walgreens numbers, our Walmart numbers to go up. So what we really wanted to get to is what's the right media for driving?

What?

And again, there are exceptions, but what's the right media for driving? What kind of business?

Yeah, well, see, and like Mark said, we get these questions all the time. And so to keep this simple, you know what you always want to start with, no matter where you're trying to drive, is our three major factors. It's going to be, who's your target consumer? It's going to be consider your product. By that, you have to consider, what is my product, what does it do? What ways do I have to tell the stories for my consumers to get it? Things of that nature to help you determine the medium. And then what is the current situation? And growth model.

Where is it available?

Exactly. So these are the three factors you always have to consider, even before we talk about this. Because again, if you have a product that is very complex and really the only way for consumers to understand how it works is show a video of it actually happening. So show an animation of it working well, then you already understand, okay, there was only a few mediums that we can do that in, vice versa. So when we're talking about, then we get to the point where we have, again, the calls that we get on too. Well, you know, I've got. I know that I can make a better return if I send people directly to my website, but I have Walgreens and Walmart right now distribution that I.

Need to support and I need to move those numbers.

I need to move those numbers. So the first thing that we always have to get past is. Exactly. If you have distribution, you need to continue to move volume at your distribution at your brick and mortar. That's the first thing that you'll lose if you stop. It's all about, what have you done for me lately?

And nobody chases a dog.

No.

So once you get kicked out of Walmart, it's really hard to get back in. In fact, typically what has to happen to get back in any major retailer is the buyer changes and you now have had a new success at some other retailer.

Yeah.

Otherwise you don't get back in.

Yes. So when you're looking at your brick and mortar, if you have distribution right now. Okay, I cannot emphasize this enough. The best way to move volume and get the units you need to move, if you have brick and mortar distribution, you need to think of one word. Reach. Okay, say it with me again. Reach. You need to find the mediums that you can reach the most consumers at once.

So that's mass traditional. That's going to be television, it's going to be radio. It's going to be big print.

Now, I'm going to caveat that with that is your mass traditional, the way we buy it for a lot of our consumers.

And also keep in mind, we're talking about. You have a national footprint.

Yes.

Not a regional footprint.

Absolutely. So again, you're in Walgreens chain wide.

You're in Walmart chain wide.

When you have the national, then you can get the return on it and it makes sense. And again, the reason why we're saying that is two things. Every one of our products, we've talked about this before. I believe in our shows, too. Every one of your products has that target market. That target consumer, that consumer that is going to be passionate about your product. But this is the one instance I'm going to say don't just think about them, okay. In order to move the amount of units that you need to move to grow your distribution, not just maintain it, is you need to be able to reach your secondary markets at the same time. Right.

So you've got your heavy consumers and your light consumers, your occasional consumers. Yes, but the occasional consumers, although they don't buy as many times per year, they make up a much larger body of buyers.

Absolutely. And that's what most of our clients. This is usually when you go in your numbers, I guarantee this will prove it out, what you'll find. And this is every brand, Every brand from your smaller markets to Coca Cola. The amount of consumers that buy your product, depending on the category once or twice, or what you would consider a light consumer, makes up for the largest amount of your consumer base. Which is fantastic news for you because this means that there is a ton of opportunity in your consumer base, your current consumer base. Because you can reach somebody who's already bought your product, has had it, probably enjoyed it, you just haven't been talking to enough to remind them, hey, by the way, I'm still here. Buy my stuff too.

Yeah, this flies in the face of some traditional information you get because you'll hear in the B2B world, yes, you'll always hear the best way to grow your business is to extract more business out of your current customer base. Which makes sense if you're an accounting firm and you have a hundred clients, then tell them about your consulting services and tell them about your tax planning services. In the world of cpg, the fastest way to grow your brand is to acquire new users.

Yes.

Even though they're light users, you can acquire new users. So that's why you want to have the big numbers, you want to have the big reach and you want to have, of course, the right medium. Is it a story I can tell in print? Can I tell it in radio? Do I. I need video to tell the story. Now there's another thing that we look at too, and that is everybody wants to have a digital component to their campaign. However, digital advertising in itself tends to drive digital sales.

Yes.

And think about the behavior, folks. So you're on YouTube and you're going to watch a video and a commercial comes up and you see it and it says, click here for more information. And you click for more information and you can buy it. So do you really need to get up and get in the car and go to a retailer because you're one thumb click away from just buying this thing.

Well, and that's a great point. We talk about this all the time with our clients. You have to understand now, and all of you guys are living in the same world that we do. Amazon has completely revolutionized the way consumers buy products.

Amazon prime, everything's a one click buy.

Yes, they've even, which I didn't expect to happen so quickly, they've completely transformed even the first aid business. I thought the first aid business would be much stronger brick and mortar for a lot longer than it has.

Not now when you've got same day.

And next day delivery again, Amazon's changed it all.

So, I mean, the only thing that's safe is in the first aid space is I'm injured, I'm bleeding, or I have a rash and itch I can't handle, or I'm coughing my head off or I can't breathe. So, yes, I'm going to go get the sinus meds tonight. But other than that, the speed is the speed.

Yeah, absolutely. So when you've got all of these brands and if you're reaching them in a digital space where I'm one click away from buying the product and I can wait a day or two, then that's exactly what I'm going to do. Again, if you're a prime member, not only do you already trust the fact that you're gonna get it in two.

Days or less, sometimes same day.

Sometimes same day, but you also know that Amazon's backing up every product. So if you have to return it for any reason you can, there's zero fear from buying anything from Amazon now. So why would I buy it any other way? So don't hit me. In a digital environment where I am one click away from buying the product, if you're trying to drive brick and mortar, it's just not going to work.

So let's recap a little bit. You want to drive digital sales, digital media.

Yes.

You want to drive brick and mortar, traditional sales, traditional media.

Yes.

Traditional stores, traditional media, television, radio, print. Now, there are some exceptions. An exception might be that you have a regional test going on. You have a test with a big account or you have a regional chain.

Yeah.

Now that's a case where digital media can make sense because of the geo targeting, but you still have to take into account that you're going to drive digital sales first. So you're not using digital on a regional buy because digital is your best Choice. You're using it because digital is your only choice currently. Because you can't run a national footprint. Yeah, you have to. You have to be able to regionalize it. And digital has that great ability of being able to highly target and highly regionalize where a store is located.

Absolutely. Now, again, you can buy television and radio on a market by market basis. They're not saying that you can't do that. We know you can, but the problem is you lose all the efficiency. Where in a digital ad campaign we could, even on a really targeted regional campaign, we could probably get CPMs around 10 to $15, depending on how we're targeting. But if you go to market radio or TV, your CPMs are $50, $60 at times, depending what you're buying.

Yeah, that's the problem, folks. This is a math issue.

Yeah.

So let's say, let's use Fox News as an example. So we have a great contract at Fox News. We do a lot of business with them. And a lot of times we're buying because of the way we buy. We're getting 1,000 consumers for anywhere from two to four dollars. So two bucks you get to show your commercial to a thousand people. Now, let's say you wanted to run Fox News, but you just wanted to run because you're regional. You just wanted to run Fox News in Tampa, Florida. That same. Now you can buy that Fox News because you can buy it through the cable system, you buy it through the interconnect. But to run an ad on Fox News in Tampa, and we price this out. So I know this is right, is $60 cost per thousand. So think about the math here. I can talk to 1,000 people in Tampa for $60, or I can talk to 1,000 people scattered across America for $2. Think of the force multiplier that happens because of national media. Same thing with radio.

Yep.

We buy national radio for under a dollar a thousand. Local radio will run anywhere from 20 to $70 per thousand. So the math is against you.

Yes.

That's why you have to go national. So again, I'm going to recap. Traditional is traditional. Digital is digital. When you're having to go regional, digital is the only play because regional television, regional radio, regional print is usually unaffordable and unsustainable.

Right. Now, I will say these are our normal rules. Now, if you're still trying to push digital sales, but you have a, let's just say a very high price item. I mean, remember Rory Breads, Right. You could easily start advertising on a traditional national medium when you've got a really expensive product because you can make up the margin there. Right.

Because they've got the room to do that.

Right. So there's still ways to do it. But we're talking about products that are, I would say, what, $200 plus, probably in order to make sure you get the margin.

Yeah, probably, yeah. As a rule.

So again, there are possibilities. But products like that, and if you have product like that, then absolutely traditional media is going to get you the reach that you can really start moving those volume if you can handle it.

Well, that's our short lesson today. Short show today.

Yeah.

Just wanted to cover that topic again. Also, keep in mind we love entrepreneurs. If you have questions, if you just want to talk with us, call. You can reach us at 800542 10. You can go to the website which is either cpg insiders or jekyllhyde labs.com Yep. And we'll set up a time for one of us to sit and talk with you. It doesn't cost anything and the reality is you and I probably talk to, I don't know, what do we talk to? You know, eight to ten people a week, new people a week. They're not all becoming clients. Some of them just need advice. Some of them aren't big enough to be clients. But we take the time to speak to everybody and try and try to help you out. So if there's something we can do to help, you know how to reach us. Until then, we'll see you on the next episode of CPG Insiders. If you're looking to greatly increase sales on your CPG product, don't hesitate to contact us at Jekyll and Hyde Advertising and Marketing. By the way, the only advertising agency with a guaranteed result. Just go to jekyllhideagency.com or feel free to give us a call at 800542 210.