CPG marketing strategy 101: An introductory guide
Walk into any supermarket, and you'll see thousands of products lining the shelves. When you shop, you're not just wandering the aisles — you're marching through the center of a raging competition.
Consumer packaged goods (CPG) is a catch-all term for any product that consumers regularly use and replace. It covers things like food, drinks, cosmetics, pet supplies, and toiletries. It's also an intensely competitive industry where every detail, from packaging to brand voice to shelf placement, makes a difference.
With so much competition, CPG brands have to do more than stand out from the crowd. You have to get consumers' attention — and make sure that they choose your brand over others.
That's where a smart, relatable CPG marketing strategy comes in.
What is CPG marketing?
CPG marketing is the strategy that you use to promote and sell consumer packaged goods through a variety of marketing channels. Some of the best CPG marketing campaigns use everything from billboards and TV commercials to in-store flyers, social media ads, search ads, email lists, and influencer partnerships.
There are several good reasons why CPG companies have to market so intensively. First off, there's a lot of competition out there! Consumers have a dazzling range of choices in everything from hot sauce to toilet paper.
On top of the competition, CPG brands struggle with customer loyalty. It's hard to get someone's exclusive business when you're selling ice cream next to ten other brands with fifty other flavors — especially when brand loyalty is in a steady decline.
Finally, consumer preferences for CPG products are always changing. An obsession with the perfect eyeliner moves onto "clean" skincare. Pet food used to be marketed based on flavor. Now it's all about quality ingredients.
Trends for everything from food to clothing to household cleaning can change in the blink of an eye. Even established brands can lose their market share if they lose track of their customers or brand identity.
The best CPG marketing campaigns manage to overcome these challenges. They successfully stand out from the competition and persuade customers to make a lasting switch to their products. To achieve that, they have to successfully reach customers with a tempting and relatable value proposition.
How to create a winning CPG marketing strategy
A CPG marketing strategy is how you research, plan, execute, and refine your marketing efforts. You can't just throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. You need to understand your potential customers, learn from existing customer data, and keep up with marketing trends and media channels.
In a recent report, consultancy McKinsey listed data-led design and smart data insights as two of the keys to success in CPG marketing — alongside great creative work, of course.
An effective strategy takes the guesswork out of your marketing plan. It's built on achievable goals, consumer insights, and data analytics that help you optimize your marketing efforts.
Follow these three steps to build the foundation of a successful marketing strategy for consumer goods.
Set marketing goals that align with brand goals
Just like any other project, marketing strategies work best when they're built around concrete goals. The classic SMART goal framework is a useful place to start. The targets in your marketing strategy should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
These goals should also be aligned with your overall brand goals. For example, if your brand goal is to reach a younger demographic, but your marketing goal is to raise brand awareness on Facebook . . . well, you might need to rethink your objectives.
Some of the most common marketing goals include attracting customers, retaining loyal customers, driving sales, and increasing brand awareness. Each of them can be linked to a brand goal, such as growing market share.
Determine which tactics will have the greatest impact
Once you've set clear goals, you can drill down into the specific tactics you'll use to achieve them. You'll need to identify the marketing channels, message, and value proposition that will work for your target audience.
All of these elements work together. For example, if you have the right message but you share it in the wrong place, your audience will never see it. If you use the right channels for online marketing, but fail to show the value of your products, potential customers will never actually convert.
Every CPG brand has its own tactics. Some brands thrive on offline promotion, others on social media platforms. But most CPG companies benefit from an omnichannel approach, which makes it easier for consumers to find you.
Here's a quick rundown of some of the most popular tactics to boost brand awareness, brand loyalty, and consumer demand.
Social media marketing: From viral attention to customer service, social media has become a vital channel for CPG brands. It’s a great place to capitalize on impulse purchases, offer tips or suggestions, and make connections with loyal customers.
Content marketing: The most effective content marketing sets out to be helpful. Free recipe books, make-up tutorials, pet grooming guides, clothing hacks — find something useful to your audience and use it to build your brand's reputation.
Retail promotions: Offers and discounts are a powerful way to drive sales online and offline. They can attract new customers or encourage repeat purchases, depending on your goals.
Email marketing: Email is still the strongest channel to nurture leads and retain customers. Personalized messages can help you stay in touch with relevant, timely support and promotions.
Brand collaborations: Cross-promotion is especially effective in the CPG industry. If someone's looking for fast dinner options, they're likely open to hearing about a new drink line. If they're in the market for hair care products, they might be interested in vitamin supplements too. Look out for trending brands and topics that relate to your brand identity and values.
Influencer marketing: The most powerful marketing of all is word of mouth. When you work with influencers who already have a relationship with your audience, you can draw in new customers with relatable messaging and genuine recommendations.
Define KPIs to measure your success
Now that you know your goals and the tactics you'll use to achieve them, the next step is choosing key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to track your success.
Here are some of the most important KPIs for CPG marketing to get you started:
Customer engagement: You can break this down into smaller categories like social media engagement, number of QR code scans on print materials, or website visits. This is also an opportunity to collect first-party data and learn more about your customers.
Conversions: Conversions don’t necessarily equal sales. Depending on your goals, a conversion could be a resource download, a promo code use, or a newsletter signup.
Value: Measure the average value of shoppers' carts or how likely they are to make repeat purchases.
Content creators are essential partners for CPG marketing
Influencers in retail marketing are nothing new, and 49% of people say they've made purchases based on a content creator's recommendation.
Content creators have several key advantages. They operate in the same spaces as your target audience, living similar lives and speaking the same language. They're relatable, aspirational, and trustworthy, speaking for your brand without sounding like a business.
Every brand should use influencer marketing if they want to benefit from targeted reach and higher engagement. But the impact of content creators is particularly important for CPG brands, which struggle to make lasting personal connections with their customers.
What's more, compared to luxury goods, CPG companies work best with a different type of influencer. The best influencer for everyday purchases is an everyday content creator: someone hyperlocal and authentic, with a small audience.
Learn more about the value of influencers for CPG marketing.
Influencers generate excitement
One way that influencers work is by creating grassroots excitement about your brand. Instead of posting ads and promos and hoping people see them, you can channel the buzz from a content creator posting in their own authentic style.
Depending on your brand, audience, and goals, smaller influencers can be even more effective at this than household names with millions of followers. They tend to have specific niches, such as a local area or a cherished hobby, where their audience is small but highly engaged. Their recommendations feel personal, expert, and credible.
Plus, it’s much easier and more cost-effective to find and engage with local and micro-influencers than it is to partner with influencers who have massive audiences.
UGC creators build authentic connections
User-generated content (UGC) creators typically fall into the local and micro-influencer categories. In short, they're everyday people who post about brands and products they genuinely like.
That's the key difference between user-generated content versus brand-generated content — or even UGC versus influencer marketing. UGC creators are completely unfiltered and authentic. Their value is that they're not professionals or brands.
They're liked and trusted by their followers, so they have high levels of engagement. When they recommend a product, it's based on their personal experience — and sales are likely to follow.
5 ways to bring your brand to life with creative partnerships
While they're usually focused on social media, content creators can work alongside almost any digital marketing tactic. Here's how you can get started.
1. Build relationships with creators by sending a gift
If you want to get spontaneous UGC content, you need to get your products in front of creators and really wow them. "Product seeding" is the simple tactic of sending free products for creators to try — no strings attached.
Take the showerhead brand Jolie, which has clocked over 25,000 pieces of UGC. Their strategy focused on sending gifts to "not necessarily influencers, but people of influence". In other words, UGC creators.
2. Promote products with a giveaway
Giveaways have been a key tactic ever since social media marketing was invented. They're a simple way to partner with UGC creators and influencers to promote products and increase customer engagement online.
For example, drinks brand OLIPOP reached a key Gen Z demographic by running a giveaway for college students ahead of the new school year. They handed out 25,000 cans — each one a potential new customer or piece of UGC.
3. Encourage UGC with a trending hashtag
Many CPG marketers don't realize that they might already be leaving UGC on the table. People could be posting about your brand, but you're not seeing it.
You can make UGC more visible by encouraging followers to use a specific hashtag. Once you've chosen a hashtag, you can reinforce it by interacting with tagged posts or sending gifts to UGC creators who use it.
You can even use hashtags to promote specific products or consumer behaviors. Take Trashie, a clothes recycling service that coined the hashtag #takebackbag. It simultaneously promotes their service and the cause of sustainability.
4. Share the spotlight by allowing an influencer takeover
If you really want to go all-in on UGC, then you can hand your social media over to a creator completely with an account takeover. Instead of posting branded content on your social media account, you give the creator free rein for a day.
Influencer takeovers get a lot of engagement because they're exciting, one-off events. They promote your brand from a new angle, borrowing some of the creator's reach and personality.
For example, Fenty Beauty regularly runs Fenty Family takeovers by beauty influencers and makeup artists. Running takeovers from a range of creators means that they can showcase a lot of different products and makeup styles, while creating a strong sense of community and loyalty online.
5. Invite influencers to an experiential pop-up
Another way to build excitement and collect UGC is to run a pop-up experience. It's fun, surprising, time-limited, and provides a wealth of opportunities for UGC posts. Pop-ups are also a great way to share product samples with a wider audience.
Take the pop-up ice cream truck that Jeni's Ice Cream sent to Major League Soccer's All-Star Week. The truck made for plenty of cute photos, and customers got to try a special edition ice cream flavor. They even had limited-edition ice cream cups so that every second of the experience was branded.
Learn how CPG brands boost engagement and drive sales with local influencers
CPG brands face a continual struggle to get consumers' attention and convert them into loyal customers. But small content creators can be your brand’s secret weapon.
UGC creators and small influencers have even more impact than celebrities. Their reach is small but targeted, and their hyperlocal audiences are both loyal and active. When they post about a product, their audience trusts what they say.
Local influencers are especially valuable for CPG brands that want to focus on a specific geographic area or cultural niche.
Book a call with our team to learn how we are driving 16x in weekly turns for our CPG customers through local content creator partnerships.