Those aspiring to move their shopper marketing efforts forward face many challenges. How to explain what shopper marketing is, and why is it important? How to ensure that shopper marketing really adds value? How to make shopper marketing fit with all the other activities and functions: how does shopper marketing integrate with consumer marketing, trade marketing, and sales, for example? In response to this challenge Shopper Marketing Experts has launched an Integrated Strategic Shopper Marketing Course. Its a simple, online marketing course designed to answer all these questions and help everyone take their shopper marketing to the next level. Sounds interesting right? So how well does Integrated Strategic Shopper Marketing online marketing course deliver?
First, a disclaimer. I helped develop Shopper Marketing Experts, and some of the online marketing course content is based around ‘The Shopper Marketing Revolution’, the book I co-authored with Toby Desforges. But in this post, I have tried to be honest and objective, viewing this product through the eyes of the thousands of people I’ve engaged with who are seeking support on their shopper marketing journey. I don’t often highlight my own product, so I hope you’ll forgive me just this once. And if you read on, you’ll see that this isn’t a glowing, fake review. It is more a step-by-step guide to the online marketing course to help you decide if this course can add value to you and your business.
How does the Integrated Strategic Shopper Marketing Online Marketing Course work?
The online marketing course is divided up into nine modules. Each module uses a variety of media: text, audio, video; links to additional blog posts for those who want more depth. There a number of recordings from Shopper Marketing Experts webinars which, while long, really add in some extra detail. There are even whole chapters from the book! Different people prefer different media after all. The downside of this is that there are some repeats: messages in text might be repeated in the audio. But given that each individual resource is optional, it’s possible to skip through elements you are less interested in and dig into detail as and when you choose. There are downloadable elements too, designed to help as you progress through the course, as well as after.
Integrated Strategic Shopper Marketing Online Marketing Course is packed with content
And there is a lot of content! Even as someone involved in developing and writing a lot of this, I was surprised by just how much there is. The ability to skip through is therefore great: I found it useful to go through all the modules quickly to get a grasp on the story, then dip back into the content which sounded interesting. Worth noting that the product is yours forever – so you can revisit again and again.
Why do we need shopper marketing?
The first few modules of the online marketing course set the scene for shopper marketing, discussing the evolution of the consumer goods industry and of marketing, leading right up to the present-day challenges of omnichannel and e-commerce. Those who are more experienced may find this a little over-played, but for those who are newer to the world of consumer goods, the stories create an interesting context. And if you are finding it a little slow, no problem – you can skim through, or focus on the elements which are new to you.
Persuade the rest of the business of the value of shopper marketing
All this content is useful to everyone though, even if you know a fair amount about the industry. Taken together, it creates a compelling argument for why there is a need for change, and why businesses need to focus on shoppers as well as consumers. I can imagine that this would be powerful in the hands of a shopper marketer or agency team trying to persuade marketing teams that shopper is necessary and potentially valuable.
The changes to shopper marketing that make the biggest difference
Next, the program really digs in with the ‘meat’ of the program. First up is a refreshing definition of shopper marketing – which at first blush might seem to be a little low value. But I’d suggest picking up on all the content here – it is a critical first step to getting your shopper marketing story moving in the right direction.
In the next module, ‘Three Customers’, the program outlines the key distinctions between ‘regular shopper marketing’, and shopper marketing that adds value – in particular, a focus on shopper behavior and creating strategies and plans to change it. This also helps answer questions around how shopper marketing fits with consumer marketing and sales.
The Five Step Total Marketing Model
In the next module the Five Step Total Marketing Model is introduced and explained – step by step. This is the magic piece for me: it shows how shopper marketing fits with consumer marketing to become truly integrated, but more than that it contains the key tools to making shopper marketing strategic. It also contains probably the program’s most valuable downloadable: a checklist to guide every single shopper marketing activity to make it more strategic.
The program expands from here with case studies and examples which bring the Five Step Total Marketing Model to life and uses these to show the incredible benefits that this entire model brings. Some are obvious, but many are not so, so I’d recommend digging into these.
Where do you stand and where do you go from here?
At the end of the program there is a summary and a simple self-assessment which helps you understand where you stand on a range of shopper marketing activities: where your performance is pretty good and where there might be room for improvement.
Having gone through the entire program I’m left with a clear view of what shopper marketing needs to be to add strategic value, where I need to focus as a shopper marketer. Importantly, I have a clear plan as to how I might be able to engage peers across the business more effectively – firstly to persuade them of the power of shopper marketing, and then actually to make shopper marketing activities more strategic, and therefore more valuable to the whole business. If you’d like to get these benefits too, check out Integrated Strategic Shopper Marketing online marketing course now to get the entire program at a special, discounted rate.
