The Trade Marketing Manager is a senior manager role that leads the trade channel marketing (Trade Marketing) group. It is responsible for driving the category’s trade channels growth strategy, and for supporting the achievement of this growth strategy via collaboration activities with other functions, most especially the brand category marketing and field sales functions.
This role works closely with the brand category marketing teams and the field sales teams, to undertake the critical operations that translate brand and category marketing strategies and plans into detailed operational activities and guidelines, for effective and optimized execution across the various sales channels.
It is responsible for developing the category route-to-market strategy: analyzing, understanding, and creating new avenues for sales growth, and new opportunities for making available the category’s brands, products, and services to customers/shoppers/ consumers.
It works hand-in-hand with the marketing team to support the growth of brands and products by co-developing, and then deploying and measuring the effectiveness of, sales and marketing programs, including strategies and execution for promotions, merchandising, and point-of-sale activities and marketing materials.
It delivers timely and relevant analyses of sales information and channel analytics: in projections and in performance, for the sales and marketing teams, finance and supply chain, and the rest of the organization, for effective business decision-making.
Trade Channel Marketing is central to the Marketing-Sales Operations Management (MSOM) function, and serves as a crucial bridge between the brand category marketing and selling teams, most especially in the areas of sales channels growth, portfolio distribution and availability, price execution and monitoring, sales forecasting, marketing activation, merchandising and promotions, marketing and sales operations support, sales and offtake information and analyses, and business management.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead growth strategy development for trade channels and routes-to-market for the company’s brands and products.
- Set guidance for field sales and retail operations teams to execute the marketing strategy and programs in the trade channels and the route-to-market; including portfolio deployment, retail standards setting, and pricing.
- Set volume forecast, volume allocation plans and pricing execution detail for the sales team, as aligned with the brand marketing team.
- Co-develop marketing activities and programs with the brand category marketing team for deployment into trade channels and routes-to-market.
- Co-develop and deploy brand merchandising strategy and materials, as aligned with the brand marketing team, into trade channels and point-of-sale.
- Support the execution of marketing strategies and programs into the market and channels.
- Monitor sales and offtake performance of brands and products by trade channel and routes-to-market.
- Provide sales and trade channel information such as brand product sales, offtake, and inventory levels, to the sales and marketing team.
- Report competitor activities, such as pricing and promotions to the sales and marketing team.
- Team Development (management and growth of direct reports and their team members)
- Team Engagement (collaboration and assistance to team members outside of direct responsibilities)
- Performs other ad-hoc deliverables as may be assigned by the team leader.
