7 tips and trends to use if you're a brand in retail

happy thursday, folks! we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming. if you’re losing your mind this week with BFCM around the corner, i feel for you and am by your side. if you need to just reply to this email in jibberish to get all your stress out, feel free.

being that time is of the essence, today’s is going to be short n’ sweet, but you know i always say that and then 2,600 words later..there we are.

buuuuut before today’s topic, let me know and reply if you would be interested in a small round-up or gift guide of sorts next week if you’re looking to shop around for black friday. i would also love to support any brands from readers. i personally have my eyes on the rocco fridge.

anyway, we’re chatting what seems to be a very popular item across the newsletter, but with a twist.

we’re revisiting the topic of how to merge retail marketing and social together.

we’ll be chatting about:

• 6 key learnings I have taken away after leading and helping on 10+ campaigns this year across influencer marketing, content production, and social strategy when it comes to retail campaigns

• 11 trends you can do right now if you’re a brand on shelf or about to be so that you can get ahead on filming and how I would shoot based on the trend

BUT BEFORE WE GET INTO IT:

With 2025 around the corner, you might be a brand or are consulting for a brand who is about to launch into retail in Q1, announce a huge expansion, or just have a region or specific retailer you really want to drive awareness to.

You might be already stressing out and wondering how you can get ahead on:

• driving more user-generated content for specific retailers in local towns or those bigger retailers (Target, Walmart, etc) in specific cities like Austin, Chicago, Houston, St. Louis, Columbus and many more

• work with talented female creators, especially parents, to champion your product and brand experience

• drive more velocity offline to create repeat shopping behaviors and drive overall brand awareness at these specific retailers

• getting retail-focused content that you can use on your organic and paid social media channels

The answer to help tackle all of this is HUMMINGBIRDS. This isn’t the first time I have brought them up and it certainly won’t be the last. We recently just signed Little Sesame up and kicked off yesterday to help support out Whole Foods launch for our new Kid’s Hummus.

Hummingbirds could be your solution to unlocking local influence and producing more content to support your retail announcements and internal initiatives. Brands like Olipop, Little Sesame, Pop & Bottle, Bachan’s and more utilize the “birds” as part of their ongoing internal initiatives to support retail, expand in the “momfluencer” demographic, and improve their awareness in cities and spaces where many may not (yet) be familiar.

If I was managing a creator program for a brand, here’s why I would want to use Hummingbirds to help work smarter in conjunction with internal efforts:

1. Getting local and dedicated support for a brand can be a bit difficult. Naturally, I might invest in a few “retail-branded” accounts like this or this, but I would want to find real people who are frequenting these retailers as part of their lifestyle outside of just posting only the newest things. Besides being able to get granular to support your regional markets, you can trust that these creators who are going out there to get content for you are actually (!!) located there and that their audiences aren’t in other places where the content won’t have a full impact.

2. The parent category is massive and underutilized. When you mix the power of the 25-45 year old female demographic + repeat shopping behaviors shown on the internet, a lot of beautiful things can happen. Brands that have used the birds have seen up to 16X (!!!!)  in some retailers during active campaigns, but have continued to sustain that level for months after as a result of the content created.

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING TO SEE CONTENT MADE FOR BRANDS LIKE POP AND BOTTLE, PACHA SOAP, AND SIMEK’S.

Looking to leverage the content once it’s live? That’s super easy. If you’re a brand, you have organic usage on the creator’s content to be able to leverage it for your own owned social channels. If you want to go the extra mile and look into whitelisting or using the creative for your paid media, you get that usage as part of your campaign.

If you just want to chat with the team, tell them I sent you right HERE! Plus, if you book a call TODAY aka Emily's (the amazing owner and brain behind it!) birthday (11/21) for a later date, the team will send you a 4-pack of Molly Baz's new AYOH mayo line. WOOOOO!!

6 THINGS I HAVE LEARNED AS SOMEONE WHO HELPS BRANDS ANNOUNCE RETAIL LAUNCHES

1. You cannot complain that people do not know you’re in retail if you aren’t sharing that you’re in retail. I don’t think that one needs explaining, but if you’re a brand with a presence on shelf in major retailers that can give validity to your product to those who might follow you online - share! Today’s followers don’t know about that time you said you launched in Whole Foods 4 months ago. If you’re gaining new folks every single day, you need to shine some light on the places you’re in so people who may not want to order from DTC (especially if you’re a product that isn’t built for DTC) can go and get you at a cost that is good for them or on sale.

2. If you’re a brand who is in retail or expanding, it should automatically become a content pillar for you. A content pillar defines a content angle that your brand should be talking about in some way, shape, or form. Sure, it’s not going to take up 90% of the content you post, but once again, it’s an arm to your business and one that with some creativity and fun can rack up some solid awareness and numbers. Brands like Poppi, Graza, Zab’s, Sauz, and more are always consistently highlighting some of their retailers every other week or so or even more frequently on Tiktok where there’s room for better reach as well. Plus, they do it in a way that isn’t just “hey, we’re on shelf” (but, hey, it sure does work sometimes), but in a way that merges as aspect of the retailer or a trend to make it relatable to the brand moment and friendly.

   • See some examples here:

     • Laoban Dumplings - I wanted to lean into the love that people have for the Costco food court and merge it with the message that we are in the freezer section.

     • Graza - Our shelfies round-ups always work, but we also play around with just making content like this in recognizable retailers that highlight we’re in store and not only the “olive oil of the internet”

     • Sauz - Leveraging a popular Halloween format of the candy bowl on a stoop with the message to shop at Target.

3. Get product in the hands of creators and invest in them. Similar to how we frequently want to be gifting product to creators and within specific communities to create the FOMO effect, the same can be true for retail launches. My formula to support a bigger retailer (defining this as Whole Foods, Target, Costco, Sprouts, HEB, Erewhon) with and without budget by ways of creators and influencers can look like:

   • Organizing an influencer seeding to 25-50 folks during launch month with the product, a custom insert showing your brand logo x the retailer logo with a little handwritten note, the SKU(s) featured in that retailer, a small merch piece (ideally something that helps around the experience or your product - totally optional), and sometimes a $25-$30 gift card to that retailer depending which one so that they can get the product on us when they need a re-up or get some groceries to enjoy said product.

   • Paid Influencer support via posts that can either live strictly on the influencer’s account OR be collaborative on Instagram between you and the creator. I also like putting spend behind new product launches in a retailer or the big dogs. Note: this content doesn’t always have to be a creator walking into the retailer, there are other ways to have it mentioned like in skits, round-ups (my top 5 finds at ___ this week), recipe videos, grocery hauls, and more.

     • I just had Graza’s Costco campaign rollout over the last few weeks here - see examples from Chef Alex Trim, Costco Guide, Chef Nel, Ninjacue.

     • I also think this timely example of Fishwife working with creator, Joe Baker, to announce their Target launch is a great example of merging humor in.

     • If you’re in need of content for organic or ads, you can hire a few smaller creators to just solely create content and have them shoot like 25-30 raw clips based on the brand’s asks and perhaps have them follow a scripted brief for a video so that way you can have targeted ads running and walk away with b-roll for future ads or things that the organic team can pull from.

     • This is also where if you have extra budget and want more support without having to fully manage the whole process, this is where I would bring Hummingbirds in to help get support in those cities where you want to push velocity, get a ton of content rolling out in waves, and get content you can potentially use for your own channels.
       

   • Rinse and repeat on the above. If it’s a regional rollout happening over the course of a few months, I make the focus mainly about the retailer and make sure to allot some cash towards promotion on others’ accounts. I also like to make sure that across the retailers that a brand is in that we are sending across people who do hauls or just obsess over those specific stores to let them know that “hey, we’re in there.”

4. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know. In most cases, getting a post scheduled in collaboration with the actual retailer can take months due to legal, approvals, creative challenges, and more. Just ask and do your own homework. Reach out on Linkedin, to the grocer’s account, and ask! Literally, I just was able to introduce the Little Sesame marketing team to the Whole Foods team and behold we just had our post go live to announce our the kid’s line.

5. The buyers and the teams CARE. I don’t think it’s a truth many want to accept, but having a solid social media strategy and execution on the platform, can attract the buyers you’re wanting. I have heard on plenty of calls that “we want you because of how you’re able to present on social” or “we’d be more interested if you had __ followers”. Obviously, we know that followers isn’t a great metric, but you get the point. Social media strategies are being asked from teams at retailers to get a sense of you know you’re going to support your rollout from a content side and support. This just happened to me with Costco. As content rolls out on social and on influencer channels, make a list or a recap email every month and send it with the stats. They’ll love it and thank you for it.

6. Work with other brands on the shelves in those retailers! This can look like a whoooole lot of things from a joint product seeding to a content series (ex. Cracking Cans that Graza did) to a giveaway (if that floats your boat). For example, this giveaway literally went live yesterday between Poppi, Olly Wellness and Cocokind since they are all in Target.

Before jumping into some trends you can use the below, you can read more about my content approach (teaser content, launch, and post-launch) HERE when it comes formatting a rollout and how I think about it across organic and paid channels.

Alright, here are 11 trends off the dome:

1. Something is wrong with my legs. You can show yourself or your team showing them move their legs and the camera pan up to outside of the retailer.

2. I left you alone for 5 minutes and you spent $873 dollars. You left me alone in a COSTCO (can also just switch out the name on screen if you add closed captioning!). You can show someone from the team saying the first line and then show a clip of someone with carts full of product.

3. Is it an addiction?

4. Simple b-roll clips or a photo carousel announcing that you’re at a specific retailer with music or a capcut template like this.

5. You look lonely…I can fix that as performed by the Poppi team.

6. Arianna, what are you doing here???? You can show yourself walking into a retailer and then turn the camera and zoom in and show the shelf and be surprised.

7. Have we eaten today? No, but we probably should. Two co-workers or founders going back and forth on the script and then walking and strutting/serving looks through the aisles of the stores with props like a full-cart, etc.

8. Wearing sunglasses on so nobody will know what we’re looking at. I really want to do this one haha. Show yourself putting on a pair of sunglasses and then just staring at your own display.

9. I just died in your arms tonight. “When you’re running from the cops and hear “suspect is _____ and is now available at ____.” Ideal if you have a costume or branded merch!

10. No, I don’t think you understand…I’m OBSESSED. This can start with a pan from the shelf so that when “obsessed” is said it could be a full, overflowing cart or if you have a team costume being changed into that too for the bit never hurts.

11. Holding our product like men hold fish. I just am so obsessed with this trend. I would just do it in the retailer in different aisles, outside the store, etc.

AHEAD OF THE TREND: A quick, snappy ode to the fun things I am seeing online across creators, social and brands. Sometimes, it’s a trend. Sometimes, it’s just a tip I want to share when it comes to marketing. TLDR; it’s just things that are cool.

• Influencer/Account of the Week: Quinn! NSFW. I have always been a fan of how they have approached their content, but their new push to announce this rollout of their new “voice” has been so impressive with the amount of volume on set and off that they are producing every single day. Plus, I just love how much they use memes on instagram lol.

• Product of the Week: AYOH! has officially launched from Bon-App legend, Molly Baz. I had the honor of getting on a call with her and her team months ago to learn more and it’s officially here. If you’re a mayo lover, this is for you. I have mine on the way. Anyone else a french fry and mayo lover?

LOGGING OFF FOR NOW

You know the deal, folks. Another one in the books. Thanks for spending your morning with me.

Can I ask you to do one favor? Can you share the link below with anyone in your life or at work who loves marketing, wants to learn about social media/influencer marketing, or just wants to have a fun newsletter in their inbox?

It would mean the absolute world to me ❤️ 

https://kendalldickieson.beehiiv.com/subscribe

In the meantime, if you would want that gift guide to navigate your own shopping, let me know. I know so many come out every single year, but you know I am a sucker for sharing a multitude of snacks and beverages on the internet.

Until next week! I’ll be sending earlier in the week to get ahead of your inbox getting filled with sales emails.

Peace, Love, and KPIs

-KD

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