Work your image. It’s easy to get the first sale. As exciting as it is to get the first sale, you need to watch and see exactly what’s going on in the market and make sure you’re going to get the repeat sale. You do that by getting the consumer to not only recognize the brand but by building loyalty with them.
We have a national distribution with Whole Foods (Market) and we’re in Whole Foods constantly sampling the product. We look for events in a major market to sample the products. I’m a firm believer in charity events. If people go to those charity events for their charity and they see a brand at the events and they sample it and they like it, there is an affinity to that brand.
That brand then has some sort of affiliation to something that you care about whether it’s autism, breast cancer, heart association or diabetes. We’re fairly agnostic about the charities we support because we support a lot of them. That’s a major way that we’re building brand.
Be selective. We get calls every day from distributors that say they want to distribute Hint, tiny towns in Florida. As hard as it is not to take the order from them, we have to figure out internally what stores are there, how many people are there, is it a seasonal town and really what’s the opportunity?
If we’re not going to have our own staff there to support it and watch it, the last thing we want is to have bottles on shelves collecting dust. That doesn’t do anything for the brand.
I care much more about the brand than I do about bad distribution. It’s just understanding: Is it the right partner? Is it the right store? Is it at the right prices? It’s treating it like your child and making decisions for it since it can’t speak. It’s really viewing it that way.
Do plenty of networking. It is just getting out there and networking. I find I learn every day from talking to other brands about what’s worked for them and what hasn’t worked for them. Even if their brand is not in the beverage business, how do they do things? It is a whole different model, but it is always interesting to hear.
It is just like any other social interaction, you just have to somehow let them know what you are doing and see if there is a way to have a mutual dialogue. It is just understanding. Be willing to share what you are doing, too.
How to reach: Hint Inc., (866) 895-4468 or www.drinkhint.com
