If your company manufactures do-it-yourself products, chances are good that new product development is a key part of your strategic plan. New products often serve as the life-blood of DIY categories that have come to expect a continual flow of new choices. As you look at current revenue and profits, you might ask how much of that financial performance was due to products you've introduced in the past 5 years alone. In many categories that number can easily exceed 50%. To make sure your new product development process is doing all it can for company growth and your brand position at retail, here are some practices we have noted to be successful in the DIY channel.

View These Winning Designs Announced At The 2016 NRHA Awards Program

If you are considering an update to your packaging and in-store POP merchandising, there are some great idea starters represented in this year’s awards program sponsored by the North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA). Full disclosure: because the top packaging honor went to Heinzeroth Marketing Group for a Rain Bird package, we have a special interest in this awards program. But despite that small qualifier, we do think all of the winning designs are worth sharing.

Strategies for Connecting with This Audience

In Part 1 of this blog post, we discussed why it’s time to start marketing home improvement products to millennials. This post is dedicated to exploring how we can effectively reach this important audience with media, messaging and merchandising strategies that build relationships and, ultimately, drive sales.

Millennials (adults 20 to 34) represent a massive consumer audience with growing economic might. They are 74 million strong, accounting for 25% of the U.S. population and representing $170 billion in spending power. They grew up in a time when there has always been an internet, so their on-demand access to information and social networking has formed who they are as human beings and consumers. They represent the future of our industry… a world where marketing is a two-way ongoing dialog and the consumer has equal weight in the equation. 

Will your products sell successfully in another channel? It’s a common question and perhaps a tempting option to pursue if your products are nearing the mature stage of their lifecycle. Before you invest in a new channel initiative and get your team working on campaign materials, you might think first about how your business model would fare in another channel. If your company and brand strengths don’t transfer well, it’s likely that your products will need more than a marketing push. 

Preparing for a product line review (PLR) with a major retailer can be a challenging process. In the early stages of planning, it's normally best to follow the outline of topics your buyer has provided in advance of the meeting. Still, if that outline is rather sparse, or you suspect there will be other important issues discussed, it's always good practice to have your bases covered if the meeting takes off in a completely different direction. Perhaps these ideas will help you do a pre-flight check.

We often hear that our clients' retail buyers begin a product line review meeting with challenge statements, focusing on price and other issues that can cast a bit of gloom before you've had a chance to present your new products and merchandising. To steer the meeting your way and capture/hold the buyer's attention from the onset, it is important to frame your presentation with research.

Another product line review? So soon? If your company’s channel marketing strategy involves big box retailers, it seems that there is nearly always a product line review on the dashboard. In our research and creative support for companies that have been participating in these annual (or more frequent) “trips to the shark tank,” we’re seeing a few things about the process that have been changing the past couple of years. Among those changes:

Heinzeroth Marketing Group has received a national design award for its work on Culligan Water Filtration Cartridges packaging.

Sponsored by the North American Retail Hardware Association, the award competition honors brands that help hardware stores grow their market influence through better in-store merchandising and packaging. Culligan's refrigerator cartridge packaging received honorable mention and will be among winning entries spotlighted at the Packaging and Merchandising Awards Ceremony at the National Hardware Show May 6-8 in Las Vegas.

A recent study referenced in Advertising Ageis another indicator of how important it is to tailor message content and media touch points to the unique interests of customers at each stage of the relationship. The study is an effort of MEC Media and is derived from research involving more than 100,000 consumers worldwide.