Road Trips with People Building and Growing Emerging Brands.

On today’s episode we discuss what it has taken for Doug and the team to make Sweet Loren's the #1 'better for you' cookie dough in the USA.

On today’s show we speak with Buck Robinson- the President of Media Manager Marketplace. Buck and his experienced team have a long history of helping non big budget brands test and learn their way into the world of offline media (TV, print, radio, etc). You don't need a seven figure budget to make a positive impact on your business with offline media. Right up front, Buck discusses how offline media is not a substitute for digital and social- but simply another piece of a comprehensive marketing/media plan to drive demand for your brand. At times, brands are happy being on a retailer's shelf; retailer's like brands moving off their shelves.

On today’s episode, we speak with Marc Perez - President of The Menper Group. Marc leads a family owned business intensely focused on delivering health and wellness products to the US Hispanic consumer. Marc discusses how they think about expanding their business, the way they have structured their sales organization, and how they vet suppliers. In addition, Marc reflects on his time as a private equity investor and offers his insights regarding what he looked for in brands and founders before committing capital.

We hope you enjoy today's show and will follow the Road2Retail podcast on iTunes, or Spotify. You can also find Road2Retail on LinkedIn and YouTube. Please leave us a review and consider sharing the podcast with colleagues who may find the content interesting as they look to drive their business.

On today’s episode we discuss the important actions small, emerging and challenger brands need to make when preparing to raise money with Genevieve Gilbreath - Co-Founder of Springdale Ventures. Given her experience, Genevieve discusses the keys to successfully raising money and the importance of having a good "match" with an investor.

Road2Retail: Episode 47. Today we speak with the Founder & CEO of Backstroke - RJ Talyor. RJ is a multi exit entrepreneur in the technology space. His latest venture is helping brands and companies utilize email marketing and AI to grow their businesses. RJ discusses how their service works, how to manage budgets and discusses their methodology to ensure nothing offensive gets generated and distributed by their service. Email marketing can deliver a high ROI and budgets of all sizes can be deployed effectively. Finally, RJ shares his thoughts on raising money, what he looks for in his investors and, interestingly, what he wants investors to know about him.

We hope you enjoy today's show and will follow us at The Road2Retail podcast on iTunes, Spotify or follow us on LinkedIn or YouTube. The link to follow the show on Spotify is right here:

On today’s episode, we speak with Andrew Weiss- the founder and CEO of the Partnered CEO. Andrew has been a part of the teams driving sales of several CPG brands. His biggest achievement is building the largest plant-based protein brand: Vega. Andrew shares his experiences building brands both his successes and the things he'd like to do over. We also discuss the importance of generating consumer demand and building a winning sales team. Hint: don't cut corners with your sales organization!

We hope you enjoy today's show and will follow the Road2Retail podcast on iTunes, or Spotify. You can also find Road2Retail on LinkedIn and YouTube. Please leave us a review and consider sharing the podcast with colleagues who may find the content interesting as they look to drive their business. The link to follow the show on Spotify is right here:

https://open.spotify.com/show/5MmvhUk...

Show Links

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Road2Retail: Episode 45. On today's show we speak with the founder of 3 Roads Brewing, Chris Sadler. Chris shares his reasons for starting 3 Roads Brewing and the journey he and his team have been on ever since. Chris discusses the complexity of the multi tier alcohol distribution system, the importance of building the brand out from (and winning) in your home market, the vital role a high quality product plays, and how to begin the journey to retail while competing with the industry giants.

We hope you enjoy today's show and will subscribe to the Road2Retail podcast on iTunes, Spotify or follow us on LinkedIn or YouTube.

Episode

# 44- Expo West 2024 Recap

On today’s episode we share with our audience what Tracey Priest saw and

experienced at this year's Expo West show in Anaheim. We cover the current

trends at this year’s show- including his take on what were the hot categories?

Tracey also shares his insights and recommendations for brands who first want

to walk the show as attendees and for those brands who are attending as

exhibitors. Expo West is a significant investment for a small and emerging

brand so you want to maximize your investment and build a detailed plan for

your time to ensure you have a successful show. Please follow the

Road2Retail podcast on Spotify or iTunes. You can also follow us on

LinkedIn or on our YouTube channel.

Road2Retail: Episode #43. On today's show we speak with David Spratte - Co-Founder of Carpe. Carpe is a leading brand in the antiperspirant category. In today's show, David shares the genesis of the brand idea, how they developed the products and he shares a very interesting approach to inbound calls from consumers. David also shares learnings around driving awareness and demand for the brand as well as his perspective on raising money to drive growth.

We hope you enjoy today's show and will follow the Road2Retail podcast on iTunes, Spotify or follow us on LinkedIn or YouTube. Please share the episode with those that may find the subject interesting.

On today's show we speak with Susan Levy - Founder of SBL Consulting. Susan and her firm do a lot of work in the consumer healthcare space. She shares with us her views on how small and emerging healthcare brands need to think about coming to market, what trends she is seeing in the consumer healthcare space and she discusses a particular area of expertise of her firm: helping companies navigate the process of bringing a prescription drug over the counter.

We hope you enjoy today's show and will subscribe to the Road2Retail podcast on iTunes, Spotify or follow us on LinkedIn or YouTube.

Executing smart, cost effective market research can help you better understand your brand, your consumer, your communications, and why people are buying your product. This work can be done quickly and cost effectively. Today we speak with George Brown, VP of Client Development at AcuPoll. George takes us through examples of how research can help small brands understand their consumer, generate the information a retailer will want to know regarding why people will buy, and make a brand's sales and marketing dollars work harder.

We hope you enjoy today's show and will subscribe to the Road2Retail podcast on iTunes, Spotify or follow us on LinkedIn or YouTube

Road2Retail: Episode 38. Part II of an interview with Jason Omenn, VP of eCommerce at Market Performance Group (MPG). Many small, emerging or challenger brands feel that the road to success goes through Amazon and building a business on their platform. In the first part of our discussion with Jason, he highlighted the benefits and watch outs with regard to doing business with Amazon. Here in part two of our discussion, Jason covers the specifics around protecting your brand on Amazon, the best Amazon Marketing Services (AMS) to use, the importance of your content, how to maximize the impact of your brand page, optimizing search on Amazon and the power of positive reviews.

We hope you enjoy today's show and will subscribe to the Road2Retail podcast on iTunes, Spotify or follow us on LinkedIn.

Part I of an interview with Jason Omenn, VP of eCommerce at Market Performance Group (MPG). Many small, emerging or challenger brands feel that the road to success goes through Amazon and building a business on their platform. This still may be true, but much has changed over the years. In today's discussion, Jason highlights the benefits and watch outs with regard to doing business with Amazon. Specifically, what traits should a product have in order to stand the best chance of being successful on Amazon, how much will it cost to do business with Amazon, and covers some of the changes Amazon is making to their processes that could impact your brand. We will have a second interview with Jason to discuss the specifics of getting set up and selling on Amazon. We hope you enjoy today's show and will subscribe to the Road2Retail podcast on iTunes, Spotify or follow us on LinkedIn.

Road2Retail: Episode #.40 On today's show we speak with the leadership team at Yard Rink. Yard Rink is a leader in the backyard hockey business. Brian Packard (CEO & Co-founder) and Dan Touhey (Head of Business Development) share their stories of how they saw a market for a simple, high quality backyard hockey rink that would be simple for consumers to set up and maintain. They share their learnings around market research to test and refine their product idea and communications, how they are thinking about expanding the business, and challenges of running a highly seasonal business. Dan also talks about the licensing agreement they have secured with the NHL.

We hope you enjoy today's show and will subscribe to the Road2Retail podcast on iTunes, Spotify or follow us on LinkedIn or YouTube.

With 2023 in the books, today we take a look at a short checklist of key issues to be on top of as 2024 kicks off and you look to grow your small, emerging or challenger brand at retail. Being organized, doing what you say you are going to do (on time and accurately), following up, understanding the exp[ectations of your retail partner, and making sure your marketing plan is ready to activate are among the topics covered today. The 2024 competition has already started! Make sure you are prepared.

We hope you enjoy today's show and please subscribe to the Road2Retail podcast on iTunes, Spotify or follow us on LinkedIn or our YouTube channel.