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Manufacturers like you want to enter new markets, create lasting partnerships with dealers, and earn lifetime customers.
You want to move inventory.
Taking learnings from our 15+ years serving leaders in the outdoor recreation and commercial vehicle segments, we've created The Inventory —an educational podcast focused on how to win in your distribution model and bridge the gap between manufacturer and dealer.
From dealer programs to product portfolio, we'll cover topics that are relevant to helping you grow market share and ultimately move more units.
Brian Cole (00:00):
All of this really is underpinned by having a really good understanding of who is the buyer for this product and where are they, where do we find them? How do they shop? We're saying all these things about do marketing longer. It is more complex than that, and it really matters that you know who your intended buyer of a product is so that you can do more with your money by being more targeted with how you're advertising a product.
Reid Morris (00:26):
Welcome to The Inventory. We are running a special podcast series from Element Three and Trader Interactive exploring how OEMs can launch products smarter and with more lasting impact. In each episode of this series, we unpack new research on what really drives sales momentums in dealer distributed industries from the timing of your reveal to how buyers actually shop and how dealers sell. I'm Reed Morris and I'm joined by Brian Cole from Element Three and Scott Smith from Trader Interactive. The team behind leading marketplaces like RV Trader, commercial Truck Trader and Cycle Trader, as well as Statistical Surveys, the industry leader in sales intelligence. Together we'll dig into data stories and strategies that reshape how new products come to market and what it takes to turn a launch into long-term growth. Let's get started. Scott and Brian, great to be with you guys again. Thanks for having us back. Thanks for having us. Good to be back. For anybody who is jumping directly into this episode and hasn't listened to the other ones surrounding this research, I have two folks with me here. So we have Scott Smith, who is the VP of OEM and Strategic initiatives at Trader Interactive, as well as Brian Cole from our Element Three team who's the director of strategy. And in our previous conversation discussing our product launch research we've conducted recently, we were fairly heavily focused on the OEMs' perspective. How do you operationalize a launch? Well,
(01:52):
How do you sequence when you're rolling out messaging and enablement materials, setting up your dealers for success? And I think our conversation today would be well served to actually flip to the other side of that in the consumer's perspective because one of the things that came up in the research is that across these industries that we surveyed and we were having these consumer touch points, that research time periods, that buying process is very extended 18 months and in a lot of cases for someone who's looking to buy an RV and a boat and so on. And so I'm curious in the context of the conversations we're having around marketing and around different touch points that you need to plan for, what does that extended timeline do for the two of you? What are you thinking about in that,
Scott Smith (02:37):
The extended timeline? Yeah, I mean we know that a launch is a complex multifaceted endeavor, right? We use this one word to stand in for so many activities that have to happen for a vehicle to arrive on lots and be sold and supported and serviced and all of the things that after sale as well. So we know it's highly complex From the manufacturer's perspective, we know it's highly complex. From the dealer perspective, what we often oversimplify is the consumer journey because it's just as complex. We tend to think that the consumer is just ready and waiting and when that new model launches, they're ready to sign on day one. When we know from our marketplace data, everything that SSI tells us, everything that our internal analytics tell us from a marketplace perspective, the consumers shopping for a very long period of time. So I think manufacturers, dealers would do well to just keep that in mind, that if the launch isn't a moment in time, you have to plan for basically the model being new all year, not just the month or first 60 days that it derives on lots. It's new all year and the consumer, many consumers will be shopping if not all year a good part of the year. So it is very much a marathon, not a sprint is a good lesson to learn.
Brian Cole (04:05):
Yeah, I mean for me, some of it gets into first principle marketing effectiveness stuff and in market buyers versus not yet in market buyers. And short of getting nerdy about that stuff, what I would say is that people research in so many ways. They are doing maybe 80% of their shopping online at this point for these types of purchases. We have some clients where we'd measured people having as many as 25 different touch points with a brand before they purchase. And so the places that you need to be showing up with this product and something Scott said that is really is a great reminder for us too, is this product is new for the buyer way longer than it's new for the people inside the OEM or the dealer. It's new for them up until the point that it's on the lot and then they're thinking about the next one or two ahead at that point. But for the buyer, it's new until the next thing pops into their head. And so it's extending that visibility to build availability in their brains for them to want to buy this and wanting them to find it in the places they're shopping anyway.
Scott Smith (05:19):
That's right. And the places they're shopping anyway tend to be marketplaces, right? We know that that's where the majority of shopping activity, cross shopping activity happens, where in-market shoppers are looking at their options, they're seeing what's out there. Maybe they're taking a look at used inventory as well and doing some comparison shopping from a price standpoint. But that tends to be a key information source in the consumer journey as is the OEM website, as is the dealer website as is blogs and reviews and all kinds of content that speak to why buy a disc product versus that product. So I think we often maybe look at the marketplace a little too singularly as just a destination for inventory. It's just where I go to look at listings where it's also, it's a very rich media environment as well. If you think about going on pick any marketplace or retail online shopping environment you're familiar with, you think about Amazon, you think about Best Buy as an example I use quite often, these are in a very real sense, these are marketplaces too.
(06:33):
And it's not just a place to go to shop for products and convert. There are also environments where you can learn a lot about a product maybe you're considering. And there are single brand environments where I can learn about why this product or why this brand is attractive and appealing and why I should consider it. And I think we have a lot of case studies at Trader Interactive in power sports in RVs, commercial trucks where OEMs really curate a website like experience in the marketplace environment to tell a story about their brand and about a new product as the case may be.
Brian Cole (07:18):
Yeah, you made a point earlier about the media side of it. We've done some marketing for a few RV companies where included in some of those campaigns, we've run ads within RV Trader or other marketplaces where people do this shopping. And we did some sort of looking back at which of these channels are the most likely to coincide with somebody who ends up making a purchase or are most likely to be engaged in the RV brand's website at some point. And we have found, at least for a couple of RV companies that we've worked with that customer journeys that include engagement with ads we're running in marketplaces are more likely to convert, more likely to engage with the brand website. It's a really interesting data that we are going to continue to unpack and work with your team, Scott, to understand a bit more. But it does seem like people who at least at some point in their journey are seeing advertising in those places are a little more likely to end up on the brand's website where you have a bit more control over the experience and that you can control a bit more what they might convert on.
Reid Morris (08:29):
So I'm curious, my mind is going a couple places with this. So on one hand we're talking about 25 plus different touch points depending on the buyer's journey as they're going through. And some of that is in market, some of that are out of market buyers. But beyond the touch points, Scott, you made a comment about telling a brand story. There's a product story there. If you put yourself in the OEM shoes and you're thinking about that this launch moment is perhaps a little bit longer than I thought that it is, to that point, the product's new all year and honestly we know that these purchase moments and these buying cycles extend beyond a year. If you're thinking about brand story, product story message, how do you integrate that well over that extended timeline as opposed to where it's just kind of a flash in the pan moment in time for a product?
Scott Smith (09:20):
For me, it really boils down to the concept of sustainment or evergreening your launch. You might say that you have to resist the temptation to look at the launch as a point in time or a fairly brief campaign that'll reach only the shoppers that are in market within that window. You've got to share that news of your product being new and as wide a cross section as the in-market shoppers are for that year, not just the 60 days that you have on your marketing plan that says launch campaign. You know what I mean?
Brian Cole (10:00):
I think what happens sometimes is that the marketing campaigns for product launches are intentionally or not, they end up being campaigns structured around product availability. And once the product is available, it's like, alright, we're good. It's out there. The dealer's got this at this point, or people will find it on the lot or whatever and they'll learn that story. But I think it's thinking more about the idea of the buying process. So you asked Reid, how do you navigate this? One thing that I try to remind people a lot is that brands rarely have direct influence over somebody going from not interested in buying a product like you sell to Anderson in buying a product like you sell, they are going to find their way there on their own. You want to be in somebody's consideration set when they move from out of market to in-market.
(10:57):
When somebody's never thought about buying a boat before and they decide at some point maybe I might want to have a boat someday, you want, one of the things that's in their head is your brand. But you can also, when they get to actively shopping for that boat, your brand can still break into their consideration set at that point. And the trick is that you need to be doing both of those types of marketing all the time. And so how do you put your advertising in places to catch people who look like people who might buy a boat someday to build up recognition of who you are and also be in the places where they're doing their research and shopping and so that you are jumping into that process for them as well and keeping that stuff running. And to Scott's point, there is a launch campaign where you're turning it up to 11, the volume of what you're telling people about this product, but there is the always on product marketing that you need to transition into at some point and leave that on that sort of evergreen always on stuff that keeps that product in front of people in the places where they learn about and shop for the product.
Reid Morris (12:04):
So I'm actually curious that I feel like we use the term spike and sustain in a lot of different contexts and that feels true here. And I'm curious if we have some tactical examples of naturally new product goes live, the balance of typical brand messaging versus product messaging, particularly if it's a large important launch for the brand, right? You're going to see that ratio skew towards this product and lots of different touch points and there is a point where that spike ends and you go into sustain mode. And if you're an OEM and you're at that transition point of like, okay, we're going to still continue our typical brand messaging, but we need to make sure this product doesn't fall off, how do you tactically do that? What decisions are you making about message or placement or tactics to sustain when you're thinking about that 18 month journey?
Brian Cole (12:55):
That's such a complex question you just asked.
Scott Smith (12:58):
That's a hard one.
Brian Cole (12:59):
Yeah, you should have asked me that three days ago and I could think about how to answer that question bead.
Scott Smith (13:06):
That's a hard one. Tactically, I don't know if I could be too much help strategically, I just think that you have to view the campaign as extended. Yes, it does make sense to have that initial spike of activity that concentrated sharing out to the market that this product is new and now available. That makes sense. And there's nothing wrong with having that peak on your marketing plan and maybe tactically, maybe that looks a little different than your sustainment tactics. Likely maybe depending on your audience for the product, if you're trying to go mass market, maybe there's some broadcasts in your plan, maybe there's some real PR activity to try and raise awareness among the general market, not just maybe in market shoppers but future shoppers or prospects you're looking to convert to considering the category, your brand, your products. So maybe in that launch window you're going a little more mass in your tactics and maybe your sustainment campaign looks more targeted. Maybe it's continuously reaching that in-market audience, which is always changing because people are coming into market then people are buying and they're exiting the shopping the consumer journey until their next purchase. Maybe that's the focus tactically for your sustainment. How's that Brian? How am I doing?
Brian Cole (14:38):
I'm thinking about a few things. So the philosophy of spike and sustain, which is more philosophy, it's more like proof in what matters is that it's not about having a spike and then a long-term sustainment. It is about building in a series of spikes and plateaus that gets you better performance long-term for your marketing. And so a couple of things come to mind. There's likely to be a spike at the moment. You are revealing or announcing a product that could be a PR moment when you're announcing it. It could be you're taking it to the biggest event of the year and doing a big unveiling. That's a spike that you can support with some marketing that happens. What you don't want to do is have a spike happen independent of other marketing and vice versa. Another spike might be depending on when you're releasing a product, to plug a little bit of the SSI side of trader's business, the data that we looked at from the warranty registration at dates and volumes across products across industries demonstrate like RV as an example, lots and lots of activity in the marketplace.
(15:54):
Platforms that happen around say Q3, like your late summer, early fall, but purchasing is always highest around Q2, like late spring, early summer. And so you might build in another spike, you might build in a spike at the end of the season where you turn up the volume a little bit on a couple new products to say, Hey, you just had another season of using the product you've owned for a while. Maybe next year is the year to upgrade to this new thing. Or maybe it's time to flip over. That's you building into the way and the timing of people shopping. That is another spike. But again, it doesn't happen independent of that. Sustained always on advertising. All of this really is underpinned by having a really good understanding of who is the buyer for this product and where are they, where do we find them, how do they shop all of this. We're saying all these things about do marketing longer. It is more complex than that and it really matters that you know who your intended buyer of a product is so that you can do more with your money just to be direct about it. You can do more with your money by being more targeted with how you're advertising a product.
Reid Morris (17:06):
That's great. That's really great. Well, I'm curious, so we're going to go on and we're going to have some conversation here in another episode about this new versus used conversation. But before we transition to that, I'm curious in the context of what we talked about today, is there anything that's kicking around in either of your minds questions you still have, we got lots of great data from the platforms, the consumers, our OEM interviews, but is there anything that you feel like wasn't answered by the researcher areas where your mind is going as we're actually working with OEMs on implementing these practices?
Brian Cole (17:34):
The thing that I've been thinking about a lot related to this is where does the split happen in ownership of marketing new products and how people shop for them between the OEM and the dealer? So our research talked to a lot of OEMs and lots of consumers, not as many dealers. We talked about that earlier on that we want to talk more to dealers about their experience with these new product launches and how they're marketed. And I think there's more learning we can do and more exploration and testing. Basically we can do about is there a handoff point? Is there a handoff point where the OEM's marketing of a new product needs to at some point imagining a Venn diagram need to become more of a dealer's marketing of a and promotion of a new product because of the timing and when it is that tied to when the next model year is getting ready to come out, what does that look like? And I think there's more we can learn there. We may talk about that more in a future episode too.
Scott Smith (18:37):
Yeah, I think that's a great point Brian. And I would say that what really interests me in the OEM conversations that we had as well as the SSI data that we reviewed is the concept of trajectory and momentum and how long it takes to reach, I guess sales velocity, let's call it on a new model. I've been inside of sort of OEM marketing departments where there can be a feeling of mild disappointment after a really highly anticipated launch in the first 60 days. And it's not selling out, so to speak. It really does take time to reach the audience at scale. And like the SSI data shows us sales peaks typically don't happen until later in the model year or even into the next fiscal year. I do think that this concept of sustainment dovetails quite nicely with what the data tells us that you really do have to look at your new model as being new all year rather than just in the first 60 or 90 days when your campaign activity is maybe most concentrated,
Brian Cole (19:48):
Which in some ways is an advantage. I mean, a lot of these companies aren't producing their products in a way where the moment they announce a thing that The Inventory is already built up. And so part of that is just based on the production schedules of this and that it takes that long for a new product to be on lots and then in owner's hands and there is a match there. And if you keep the marketing of a new product short, then you're mismatching to how long it takes for people to actually catch up to the thing existing and actually making those purchases.
Reid Morris (20:22):
I think that's a great place for us to wrap up. Well, I think we'll get more into that conversation around production inventory, how this stuff moves, in our next conversation. But some really great stuff today guys. I appreciate you both jumping on.
Brian Cole (20:35):
Thanks. Talk to you next time.
Reid Morris (20:36):
Pleasure. As always, The Inventory is brought to you by Element Three. We're a full-service marketing agency that helps modernize go-to-market strategies for organizations that market in the OEM-to-dealer business model. And this series has been brought to you in partnership with Trader Interactive here, the organization behind brands like RV Trader, Cycle Trader, Bullet Mart, and Statistical Surveys. For more information on the Element Three, you can head to elementthree.com. And for more on Trader, you can head to traderinteractive.com.