How to win in marketing if you have no marketing budget

In a previous article, we talked about the English company Innocent and how the three founders were able to create a £ 100 million business starting from scratch and with basically no marketing budget.

We pointed out how creating great quality products and a distinctive brand were the first steps on the road to success.

First steps – as these things were a great starting point, but not enough to be successful.

Indeed, store shelves around the world are full of products that do not sell well despite great quality and distinctive brands.

So, what was the secret move that brought Innocent to success, even if the company did not have money to invest in costly advertising campaigns – a move that all companies without big budgets can try to imitate?

Actually, the winning moves were basically two.

A great distribution and trade marketing strategy was the first.

Innocent did not rush into presenting products to big retailers, as many would have done.

A wise decision, as probably retailers would have not been that keen on listing unknown products that were not going to be supported by big ad spending.

Instead, Innocent started from the "Out of home" channel, targeting take away shops, sandwich bars and the likes.

Besides, they initially focused on the London area only, where chances of success were higher due to the many "young professionals" that were more likely to be interested in products like the ones offered.

Here's the first tip that anyone can take from Innocent's winning trade marketing strategy: choose your sales channel, your selling area and your customers carefully – based on where your products can be more appealing to consumers.

Focus there and there only, and possibly expand to broader areas in the future only after consolidating your success in the place where you started.

Does this strategy need a marketing budget?

Not really – but it dramatically increases chances of success for any new product.

What was the second move that helped building Innocent's success?

We'll see it in the next article!

If you are interested in fresh produce marketing, download the free e-book "Introduction to marketing for fresh produce"

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Pisani Produce Marketing is a training & consulting agency for the produce world. It has been founded by Maurizio Pisani, former Chiquita and Fresh Del Monte executive.

For more info:
Maurizio Pisani
maurizio@pisaniproducemarketing.com
www.pisaniproducemarketing.com