Wholesalers sell bulk products to retailers, targeting other businesses as their target audience. Wholesalers need to market their products through business-to-business marketing to find new clients and encourage them to buy regularly. Your company may benefit from implementing wholesale marketing strategies if you are in the wholesale industry. An overview of 13 different wholesale marketing strategies is provided in this article.
1. What Is A Wholesale Marketing Strategy?
A wholesale marketing strategy is used by businesses that sell wholesale products. Wholesalers sell large quantities of products to retailers at low prices, who then sell these products in retail stores. As part of wholesale marketing, wholesalers target retailers to grow their clientele. Any marketing strategy that increases a wholesale business’s customer base or profits is included in this type of marketing. You may use a specific strategy depending on your product, your client’s needs, and your company’s brand.
A wholesale business can greatly benefit from implementing a wholesale marketing strategy. To increase your client base rapidly, you can combine marketing with selling tactics. When reaching the right types of potential clients, it’s crucial to choose a strategy tailored to your audience.
13 Types Of Wholesale Marketing Strategies
You could implement many tactics in your wholesale marketing strategy, so identifying a few useful ones may be helpful. To improve your marketing strategy, you must choose strategies targeting your target audience. Let’s discuss 15 wholesale marketing strategies that work in 2022:
1. Referral Incentives
An incentive to refer your company to potential clients is one strategy you might consider. Referral incentives offer existing clients a discount on their next wholesale order if they refer your company to potential customers. As potential customers get in touch, you can also grow your client base by developing relationships with existing clients. They may already trust your services and the quality of your products since they heard about your company from an existing client, which makes them more likely to become regular customers.
The biggest challenge when starting a wholesale business is getting into the market. Retailers are reluctant to take on more suppliers and distributors due to many existing wholesalers and distributors.
If you provide them with good reasons for buying from you, you can persuade them. Remember that you are competing with traditional direct-to-consumer brands that run regular promotions such as buy one get one (BOGO), limited-time offers (LTOs), and customer loyalty programs.
2. Attend Trade Shows And Rigorously Examine Your Marketing Spend
To network with potential retailers, you can attend trade shows. The trade show provides opportunities to interact with other wholesalers, converse with existing customers, and locate potential customers. Building your company’s professional network is possible even if you don’t gain new clients at the trade show. You can follow up with these contacts after the trade show to convert clients.
You shouldn’t waste money on marketing campaigns because they take time to pay off. You shouldn’t let the costs of marketing campaigns get out of hand.
ECommerce KPIs should be part of your marketing strategy, no matter how brief your online ad is or how long your product campaign lasts. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are matrices used to determine a campaign’s success. It is a sign that your marketing activity may not be worthwhile if you cannot measure it.
Measure everything you do to forward your business, including awareness campaigns. Make sure you decide what you’ll measure before you start the campaign, whether it’s brand impressions, downloads, samples, or email leads.
3. Add Your Company To Industrial Directories
You can also add your company information to industrial directories to market your company. Industrial directories are online resources listing several companies within a certain industry. It is a good way to promote and tell your company and the products you sell as retailers search through these directories and find relevant information about your company.
4. Develop A Social Media Presence And Take Advantage Of Your Competitors’ Laziness
To promote seasonal sales, connect with clients in a different setting, or find new clients that align with your business, social media platforms are a popular method of digital marketing. You can customize social media to appeal directly to your target audience in various ways. For instance, you could conduct a live session where clients could ask questions about your products or delivery process. Having a social media presence can improve client loyalty by encouraging client interaction.
In marketing, you can gain an advantage by mastering what your competitors neglect, even if they are great at traditional marketing.
A recommendation like this depends entirely on what your competitors already do. If your top competitor has a bigger budget than yours, you’ll need to be even more creative.
Imagine what your competitor is doing with eCommerce marketing, and then ask yourself what you would change or replace. Apply those ideas to your own business and see what happens.
5. Set Up A Website
Setting up a website can also be a digital marketing strategy. Your website can include a list of all your products. Adding a feature that allows customers to order directly from your website could simplify the ordering process. You can include company branding and other relevant information on your website. In addition to growing your business, having a website makes it easier for potential customers to locate your products.
6. Leverage Warehouse Inventory Management Software
Without warehouse organization, gaining momentum as a wholesaler is difficult. The most effective way to keep your warehouse information and inventory streamlined is to use a warehouse management system or WMS. Using a WMS allows you to collect important information in one place rather than multiple programs.
Order processing should also be fast, whether you handle it yourself or have a team handle it. You should keep your picking and packing areas clean so shipping and handling can proceed smoothly.
Keep your fill rate high by developing a reliable warehouse management process flow to keep yourself efficient with time and labor.
You must develop strong B2B wholesale relationships to give customers more value than they ask for in price, a fundamental business principle.
Keep an eye on openings or mall redesigns during which retailers may be more open to new opportunities. Determine where your products will be accepted and strike up conversations.
7. Add Merchandise To Customer Outlets
Since you sell products to a retailer, the retailer needs to sell your product to customers. Retailers can buy more products from you if customers buy from them. Retailers may purchase merchandise that promotes your products. To increase your sales to that particular retail client, you might create signage, like posters, to draw their attention. You might create signage, such as posters, to attract customers.
8. Visit Companies In Person And Create A Memorable Brand Experience
If you want to increase your clientele in your local area, you can visit retailers in person. A physical visit to a wholesaler can help potential clients better identify the company and facilitate a relationship between the wholesaler and the client. Since clients have a personal relationship with a company representative, visiting in person may help increase sales.
Today’s world of simplicity, speed, and ease has also shaped customers’ expectations due to the availability of wholesale providers in niches such as food, clothing, and office supplies.
When your website is slow, difficult to navigate, or unappealing, shoppers may assume your customer service is the same. You must ensure your website loads quickly, is navigable, and is easy to understand. You can solve these problems with BlueCart, a lightweight, quick, and SEO-optimized eCommerce platform. You can add that extra push with something as simple as branded eCommerce packaging shipped quickly with eCommerce shipping.
Your customers are more likely to return to a highly competitive niche if your shopping experience is effortless.
9. Use Email Communication And Run An Email List
A good way to communicate with existing and potential clients is to use email communications. For example, you may email prospective clients to explain your company’s offerings and introduce yourself. It is possible to use emails to inform existing clients about upcoming sales or price drops in a useful format that they can refer to in the future.
Businesses, both direct-to-consumer and B2B, can benefit from keeping an email list of their clients/customers.
You can reach all of your customers by putting in just a few minutes worths of work. Two, you can segment your customers based on their interests.
Thirdly, you can count on your email list for greater deliverability if your social media reach ever drops. Your email list is a near-foolproof defense against social media algorithm and platform changes. Furthermore, it’s a quick and easy way to send discounts, clearance deals, and promotions.
You can take advantage of eCommerce email marketing in several ways. Here are a few of the most effective ways:
- Email lists provide leverage and convenience for making sales.
- The only regret most email marketers have is that they didn’t start their list sooner. Email service providers, submission forms, and some traffic are all you need to get started.
- Getting people to click on your emails is not the only way to get them to take action. You have to pique their curiosity or stoke an emotion to get them to take action. The key to this is writing a great subject line.
- Perfect your Calls-to-Action (CTAs). Most people receive dozens, if not hundreds, of emails each day. Marketers find it difficult to keep people’s attention, but an irresistible CTA is key. It is important to understand your audience’s pain points before you write CTAs. It is also helpful to incorporate basic psychological principles, such as contrasting CTA colors with other branding colors.
The power of email marketing cannot be understated. You must pick an email platform you love and start automating your eCommerce marketing.
10. Print Ads In An Industry Publication
If your industry has them, it may be worthwhile to buy ad space in popular publications, such as magazines and catalogs. You can use these ads to target clients in a specific industry. You can include your company name, provide contact information, and direct potential clients to your website. Your products may become more popular, which can increase sales.
11. Offer Periodic Schemes
In addition to appealing to existing customers, periodic marketing schemes can attract new ones. As a result, you can encourage clients to increase their orders by offering ten units of the product for free when they buy 20 units. Furthermore, a periodic scheme can encourage potential customers to purchase their first item since they will get more value for their money.
12. Participate In Wholesale Drop Shipping
In wholesale drop shipping, retailers list a product on their website even if it is not in stock. When they receive an order from a retailer, the retailer places an order with a wholesaler. Instead of shipping the product to the retailer, the wholesaler sends it directly to the customer. As part of this process, companies may encourage clients to buy from them since it eliminates part of the retailer’s work. You can increase your revenue by simplifying the process.
13. Enter International Markets
International shipments are subject to varying requirements, but this is a fantastic opportunity for the business to expand. You can greatly expand your client base by entering international markets. You can also improve your reputation with local clients by expanding into international markets, demonstrating that your products are desirable in different countries.
14. Look For Institutional Clients
A hospital, airport, or public library are examples of institutions serving many people. These organizations constantly need new products to keep up with demand, making them a good source of income. In your local area, you can search for institutional clients with large, regular orders, which can help your company generate consistent revenue.
15. Be The Yellow Zebra Of Your Niche
Being a “yellow zebra” means standing out among anything that looks the same. Yellow zebras in a sea of black and white zebras would instantly be recognizable. They naturally pique curiosity about why they look different.
Customers are always attracted to products with superior features, nicer materials, and unique branding. The more novel your product is, the more your target audience will be attracted to it.
Advertising your business through paid channels can generate a lot of attention quickly. Unfortunately, it’s too general to run an ad campaign that burns money without generating results. You must know the advertising platform in and out to make your ad campaign profitable.
Marketing channels such as YouTube/Google AdWords, Pinterest, and Facebook are different, so what works in one may not work in another. These social platforms also offer demographic differences, so ensure that your eCommerce PPC strategy targets the right audience.
Social Media Marketing
The following best practices can help your wholesale business take advantage of social media marketing:
- Choose a platform that matches your audience. Instagram’s crowd differs from Twitter’s crowd, which differs from YouTube’s crowd. Before investing a lot of moey and time in one, do your research. Even though social media may look similar on the surface, demographics and buying behavior differ greatly.
- Your social media posts should stand out. If you don’t, no one will care about your brand. You need to understand what your customers need and how to frame it. You can hire someone who can produce stunning visuals if you aren’t proficient in graphic design.
- You easily lose social media followers if you don’t post regularly. Spend time brainstorming ideas first, and then use a scheduling app to plan your posts. You can lose energy if you try to generate fresh content every day, leading to more irregularity.
Conclusion
Retail stores and distribution networks are the primary customers of wholesale vendors. Wholesalers buy in bulk, so they must work with businesses that can sell in bulk to remain profitable.
Wholesalers sell to distributors and retail stores, allowing their products to reach thousands of customers in a single week. In wholesale markets, manufacturers supply products to distribution networks, distributors deliver them to retail markets, and consumers purchase them at scale in a lower-cost retail environment. As a result, manufacturers can scale their businesses profitably without spending much on marketing.
You might not always be able to get sales from your wholesale business if you don’t adapt to the times. By implementing the marketing strategies outlined here, you’ll keep your audience close to you and keep them coming back. In a marketing campaign, trust is the glue that binds all the elements together. Marketing is just digital noise without quality products, a competitive wholesale price, and a human touch.
We have mentioned some most common methods, which you can try, and they are still applicable in the same year. You can apply any of them to your business; they will surely help you a lot. It’s highly recommended to keep an eye on competitors t get fruitful results.
