Review Step 3. Dark Forest's Go-To-Market Strategy scorecard

My mantra: find a problem to solve, research, create, implement, review, evaluate and iterate.

So, how did my go-to-market strategy go? (if you haven’t read my go-to-market strategy, check out the post before you read this review).

As a Manager in the Corporate world, it is fair to say that you are sheltered from the limitations of a Start-up, especially if you are a self-funded start-up with delusions of grandeur. ( I can't buy lottery tickets anymore because the shock of not winning makes me question my connection to the Universe). 

Cost centres become your bank balance, and the philosophy of "buying in bulk to save" results in you living around your product's packaging and mad scrambles to buy chest freezers when specific fruit comes in season.

Eight years on, I am confident my nose has been bumped so often that I am breathing down the back of my neck. 

I designed and printed 10,000 labels that were 2mm too wide, rendering the label to bubble when applied to the bottle; I ordered seven pallets of cardboard boxes, which I had to hand offload, taking six trips to the manufacturer only to get to the other end and drag them up to my living room (I live in a pole home which sits atop a very steep driveway)... 

Memories like these make you giggle and vow to be detail-orientated and look for the easy way when you get to the other side. And there is, you can get things delivered, outsource, and eventually pay someone to do anything. 

I once paid $1000 to a "construction consultant" to make three phone calls on my behalf that would end up being of little to no value to me or the construction project I was initiating. I would later take on the role of Owner Builder of my manufacturing facility, and although it was crushing at times, I now have the experience and knowledge of building a manufacturing facility from brownfield (Builder talk for vacant block).

How valuable the information is - well, only the Universe knows that, and my husband just told me we didn't win last night's lottery, so the Universe and I are on the outer. 

As for the go-to-market strategy scorecard for Dark Forest Beverages, well, let's break it down: 

Market research:  The research was solid and remains true today. One in 20 people will develop Type 2 diabetes, which can be linked to diet.

Product labelling has become more transparent, debunking the health messages around zero-sugar products.

The most significant market segment consuming non-alcoholic beer is women.

Target Audience: People who buy Dark Forest Beverages are health-conscious adults, 76% women, who drink it whilst socialising as an alternative to alcohol, soft drinks or water and buy it for home for their family.

Product Positioning: Dark Forest was launched in 2018 just as the single-serve aluminium can entered the market. The 200ml can is cute, compactable, great for disposal, and precisely the right size to be served as a mixer or soft drink over ice. Great for hospitality venues, camping, picnics, and home use. They travel well, are light and don't break like glass bottles.

Dark Forest could be packaged in cans, but I would have to use a copacker and lose control over production or buy a canning line, which I wasn’t prepared to do at the time (estimated budget for canning line $150k). 

Sales Channels: Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) is a complex industry governed by well-established conglomerates looking to support products most likely to perform well. Products that perform well have excellent in-store shelf positioning, loads of marketing support, and a long (stable) shelf life (preferably for years...) 

Field sales is a great way to keep in touch with your clients and add value to their business. You can gain insight into their commercial world and often pick up on trends before the market steps away from you. 

With the growth of social media since 2018, having a company website isn't necessary, as you can do everything you need with a Shopify store - marketing, blogs, product and inventory management, and even shipping and logistics. 

If your business will be predominant online, think about the product. eCommerce is excellent for light, robust, shelf-stable products such as clothing, dry goods like tea, cosmetics, and supplements. It is not ideal for temperature-sensitive, fragile glass products like Kombucha and Water Kefir.

Pricing Strategy: Dark Forest Beverages is a premium product, and at the time of this go-to-market strategy, the product was hand-packaged and bespoke to order. The price did not include my time; it would have been priced out of the market if it did. I needed scale to reduce operating costs like bottling, packaging, etc (COGS), and to do that, I would need a manufacturing facility, equipment and the support of retail chains like supermarkets. 

Three ways to grow a business are to buy, borrow or build. I was going to build. More on that later.

Sales and Marketing Plan: The plan was to educate, which takes time and consistency. When this strategy was in place, social media had grown, and people started to demand videos in the form of Reels and TikTok content.  

The benefit of this style of content is that it is quick, fun, and engaging, but you can only do so much planning because the content needs to be fresh, relevant and of its time. The good news is that it doesn't have to be polished - remember, people are engaged at best for 5 seconds. 

Sales Enablement:  Sales collateral and social media posts can be outsourced if you compile a robust brief. Some companies specialise in this and are set up to punch out the work quickly. This is an area in which you can save a lot of time outsourcing. And the time you get back can be spent finding new clients or honing in on better processes.  

That said, I was once quoted $3,000 for 9 product photos - again, there are better ways this can be achieved. Talk to your social media people; they will know how to get product photos done cheaply. 

Launch Plan: My plan to build quietly needed to be revised. This is where I honestly could have done better in the go-to-market strategy of life. If you don't speak loudly, you don't get heard, and you need to be heard. 

Collaborations work if they are genuine and mutually beneficial. Don't be too eager as I was with a condom lady start-up - you can see it right - "Have a safe night in with said condom and a refreshing kombucha". If it's not set up well from the beginning, someone will be disappointed - I think this was my ghosted phase..... 

Customer Support, Feedback and Strategy Iteration: Initially, my phone number on the website, business card, bottle and sales collateral was essential. I heard first-hand what worked and what didn't, and for some beautiful kindness, people appreciated that I picked up the phone and responded.  

In the eight years I have been running the show, my number is still the main number, and I get back to everyone. It is an area I pride myself on. And in that time, I have never had anyone yell at me or write a bad review on socials - that's as good a win as you're gonna get.

Metrics and Measurement:  As a product manager, I wanted to measure everything, and you can do so with the magic of plug-ins and Google Analytics. 

The one learning I had, which cost me around $8,000 when I didn't have it, was online advertising via Facebook and Instagram... 

You will get advised that "the algorithm needs to learn, and it could take two weeks or two months to collect enough data to start learning how best to serve your business".  

My advice is to start small and targetted. If after one week you don't see any data coming through, consider expanding your target but don’t increase your budget. 

I increased my daily budget and waited for two months so the machine could learn. Ultimately, I received two leads from multi-national petrol stations, which led to no sales. How did I let that happen? Remember when I told you I banned myself from buying lottery tickets??? Yep, that's how that happened.  

I was convinced that online ads would work, and I got single-minded and couldn't let go. Yes, there are a lot of people online, and they buy products. But they don't buy every product served to them in a nice little ad while reading their news or catching up on their socials. 

I later found out when I asked someone who saw my ads what they did as a response, they said they bought Kombucha when they were next at the supermarket...... it still hurts. 

Bye for now,

Jo