POS Marketing - Challenging the Marketing Technology Status Quo

POS Marketing - The Status Quo

The definition of an axiom is: A statement or idea that people accept as self-evidently true — Something that is so evident that it is accepted as truth.

At OnTrak, the axiom we hear most frequently from prospects that we approach about our point-of-sale (POS) tracking software is the phrase “status quo” — Or as they say, “We don’t need your software because we’re happy with how we’re doing it today.”

Really?

The truth is that without some marketing technology to track, measure and manage their POS, they may not know how they’re doing. 

We truly believe that if your company isn’t moving forward with managing your POS, it’s actually going backwards. Not simply staying in the same place.

OnTrak’s Transformation

2014 has been the most successful year in our company’s history, dating back to 2006. As we move forward we can’t be satisfied with the status quo. As a software company, offering a set of POS tracking solutions to the market, we want to keep doing everything we can to challenge the status quo and continue to improve the capabilities of our products for our customers.

As I was thinking about this week’s blog, it occurred to me that we've become much more than a company offering solutions to simplify the ordering of POS marketing materials. Yes, our products have the capability for configuring and ordering POS marketing materials; but there’s so much more to our products.

We’ve transformed into a company that provides tools for the tracking, measuring and managing of POS marketing materials.  These tools are designed for use by beverage companies to stimulate sales. Our customers have helped us enhance current products and create new products, and we’ve proven time-and-again that “You can’t manage what you don’t track and measure.”    

In many ways, change is an OnTrak hallmark.

We’ve become a leader in producing and implementing at-Retail Marketing Technology solutions for beverage companies of all sizes and stripes.

We started with a medium-sized AB wholesale distributor in Northern Kentucky, and now have dozens of customers — including 10 of the Top 25 beer distributors and three of the Top 10 wine and spirits wholesalers in the US. Our software products are used by thousands of beverage sales, marketing and merchandising personnel; and our customers are producing and using more effective POS marketing materials to sell billions of dollars’ worth of beverage products, in tens of thousands of retail outlets all across the country.

One of the key reasons we’ve recently added dozens of new customers and enjoy customer renewals of over 95% is that we listen to our customer comments and suggestions for product features and functions. Then we innovate to demonstrate to our customers, prospects, and even ourselves how we are committed to keep the status quo firmly in our rearview mirror.

Seeking Change and Avoiding the Status Quo

Now is the time for all of us to recognize and challenge ourselves to not only accept change but to seek change vigorously.

You, as a supplier or distributor of beverages or other consumer goods, are aware of the remarkable changes in point-of-sale and shopper marketing that have taken place and that continue to unfold — principally in the wake of the Great Recession.

Today suppliers and distributors are required to adopt new marketing technologies and effectively and efficiently market brands and products to the current crop of retail shoppers — many of whom see little traditional media advertising, yet seek-out point-of-sale or shopper marketing materials.

Here it bears repeating:

If you haven’t adopted marketing technologies to help you track and measure your retail marketing initiatives and programs, it’s impossible to manage them.

What was once “acceptable” point-of-sale marketing — placing temporary and permanent signs, displays, etc. without knowing what works and what doesn’t — now serve as little more than defensive marketing tactics. Your in-house graphics and printing departments need to be managed by leaders in shopper marketing, highly curious types of individuals unwilling to be satisfied with the status quo.

It is now necessary to go on the marketing offensive, providing retail marketing materials that are:

• Tracked - From order, to put up, to take down,
• Measured - To find out what works best to provide positive sales impact and determine ROI, and
• Visually verified - To find out what materials are actually placed at the point-of-sale or for compliance purposes.

We do all this in order to help you establish, retain or gain market share. Going on the retail marketing offensive at its core requires marketing technology — software that enables you to manage your marketing and sales goals at the point-of-sale.

It is remarkable to note not only that we have come so far, but also we have a good idea of how far we have yet to go. There remain thousands of companies that rely on point-of-sale marketing who are not utilizing any form of marketing technology as a competitive weapon. This, inevitably, will change.

I’ll end as I began, “If your company isn’t moving forward it’s actually going backwards. . . .” You simply cannot keep going for long unless you keep innovating — especially with respect to your marketing technology.