Brian Fitzpatrick remembers a time, not that long ago, where you had to wait a couple of weeks or months to figure out if a marketing campaign was working or not. The big indicator was whether your sales were up or down. Today, the indicators—whether response rates are working, where buyers are coming from, what your consumers are interested in, whether they are even responding—all happen on an hourly basis. To keep up with it all—an extraordinary effort in itself—takes vigilance.
As founder and CEO of Qredible, a cloud-based platform that provides transparency, integration and quality in the cannabis market supply chain, Fitzpatrick works in an industry fraught with competition and compliance. The key is for a brand to arm itself with effective communication strategies—a blueprint he says is essential in the process of seeking marketing campaign resources.
Outside of digital marketing, marketers must find ways to promote through traditional channels, such as in-person events and other types of experiential marketing. In addition, they must find the right balance between online and offline marketing efforts while steering clear of regulatory and platform restrictions.
Fitzpatrick says the process starts with clearly defining your campaign objectives and target audience. Any successful marketing campaign begins with proper preparation with respect to defining your target audience and the messaging that resonates with them. For example, Qredible does this as a whiteboard exercise with the executive team to ensure everybody understands and can articulate the key value drivers of its products and who it is they are targeting.
This includes the advantages of the product (what the brand could do today that it could not do yesterday) and the benefits (the key overarching value of using the product). Next, define the competitive distinction of why the product should be used over another. “The whiteboard exercise is not only important to communicate to your marketing supply chain, but also to ensure it is well understood by the entire company,” Fitzpatrick says. “This requires effective communication among the marketing team and other stakeholders within the organization.”
Another important aspect to supply chain management is identifying the right resources and accountability. Once the campaign objectives and target audience are clear, the marketing team can identify the resources needed to execute the campaign. This may involve communication with various internal and external stakeholders, including suppliers, vendors and agency partners. This is the team to “get it done,” which means all members must understand their roles and responsibility in making it happen.
To help streamline the process, Qredible utilizes a project management platform to ensure the marketing campaign and all the tactical items and responsibilities are tracked and managed. This enables the company, through the project manager, to effectively communicate status and ensure that everything runs smoothly. This includes keeping all stakeholders informed about progress, addressing any issues that arise, and making adjustments as the data suggests.
“Effective communication is critical for the success of any marketing campaign,” Fitzpatrick says. “By ensuring clear and effective communication throughout the process of sourcing marketing campaign resources, you can increase the chances of success and build stronger relationships with their customers and other stakeholders.”
Andy Treys, the mastermind behind Muscle Lab, Cereal Club, Accommodations and KB24 NFT, also agrees. The serial entrepreneur says that, in the end, your supply chain comes down to how and how often you communicate with all parties involved.
The communications strategy between marketing supply chain vendors is critical to the success of how Muscle Lab speaks to its community. The Pasadena, California, muscle recovery and wellness lounge is the epicenter for IV therapy, cryotherapy, infrared, cupping and stretch therapy, and more. Positioned as the “Soho House” of recovery, the center is a frequent stop for scores of celebrities, platinum artists and professional athletes—all of whom depend on the resources and data the center provides.
“Communication is very important, but communicating with an actual human is even more important,” says Treys, who also is the brainchild of GetMeFamous—a social media agency with more than 300 million followers. “People want to feel like they are talking to someone and not a bot. We have created an experience to communicate with our clients one-on-one.”
4 WAYS TO MAINTAIN YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN FLOW
- Clearly Communicate Your Needs and Expectations
As a leader, it is important to be involved up front with the orientation of each new marketing supplier. It is critical they understand clearly and believe passionately in the vision and mission of your product. They also must clearly understand the needs and expectations relative to their performance. - The Respect Factor
Your suppliers are an extension of your team. The foundation of your relationship must be rooted in mutual respect for everyone. Respect is a key component of building a healthy relationship with a supplier. That includes being punctual to meetings and respecting their time, paying in a timely manner and acknowledging their contribution to your business. - Foster Open and Honest Communication
If you performed your due diligence correctly, you hired a supplier because of what they can do. As such, listen to them, create an environment of humility and openness, and be honest and open. Allowing open and honest feedback will in turn enable open and honest communication to them. Both parties should feel they can be up front about any issues or concerns and ways to find solutions. - Collaboration, Creativity & Teamwork
These are essential building blocks for establishing a healthy relationship. Working together, sharing ideas and being open to breaking conventional wisdom creates more effective marketing campaigns and achieves better results. Creativity is a key driver to innovation; you should want that in your suppliers, too. Working together to find better ways of problem solving and differentiating products and campaigns is critical.
“Ultimately, it is your business they [suppliers] are working to market,” Fitzpatrick says. “Each stakeholder—internal and external—within the marketing supply chain must be collaborating and working closely with marketing leadership through a feedback loop to review results and to identify areas for improvement and develop strategies to optimize the marketing process. Overall, the key to a more efficient marketing supply chain is to constantly assess and optimize the various processes and systems involved, and to be open to shifting and changing as the data suggests.
In the end, the key is to do your due diligence and choose a supplier with the skills, experience, and values aligning with your business and marketing goals. They must become passionate about your vision and mission. It is one thing to have a marketer’s brain under contract and another to have their heart’s support behind your business.