Building Optionality Should Be Part of Your Brand Strategy From Day One

The conversations in our industry are focused heavily on growth, retail expansion, and raising capital. While these are essential elements of building a successful brand, I've noticed a gap in how we approach long-term strategy.

Through multiple conversations and being around numerous successful CPG brands, I've observed that optionality, which is the having the ability to pursue multiple successful outcomes, is rarely discussed until it becomes a reality.

The brand building playbook says there’s really two primary paths: you're either building a unicorn or you are so obsessed on the executing your vision everything else will fall in line. This is a very binary thought process and frankly doesn’t serve founders. Doubly so in emerging industry like cannabevs.

Think about it like this, cannabevs as a category is growing like crazy. There’s a new brand every day and opportunities to expand while hard seem endless. Eventually though, the market will mature. Large players like AB, Constellation, and more will enter the space, consolidation will occur, and having multiple paths to success won't just be nice to have, it will be necessary.

I am not trying to tell you to plan for failure or that you lack conviction in your vision. I am saying being strategic and forward-thinking with the brand you're building is crucial. The best partnerships, acquisitions, and strategic opportunities happen when you don't need them, and when both parties are operating from positions of strength.

Rethinking Retail Strategy

The conventional wisdom suggests building slowly through independent accounts before approaching larger retailers. However, I'm seeing successful brands challenge this notion by taking a more focused approach to retail expansion.

Rather than spreading themselves thin across numerous small accounts, they're concentrating their efforts on fewer, more impactful retail partnerships. This strategy allows brands to maximize their marketing spend, build stronger buyer relationships, and create compelling success stories that attract both investors and potential strategic partners.

This approach is more about building a brand that can showcase scalability as well as market impact. By showcasing success within key accounts rather than various results amongst several small retailers you are building a valuable story that you can take to current and potential stakeholders.

Building Value Beyond Revenue

We also need to discuss how brands can build value outside of revenue or retail growth. Smart brands should be developing assets that drive value beyond these numbers. Some examples are proprietary formulations or processes, unique consumer insights or data, innovative marketing strategies and campaigns, strategic partnerships and campaigns that mesh with your brand persona.

The point here is that you should be able to document and showcase these assets in a way that highlights your brand’s potential beyond its current market share/position. I don’t want to confuse or mislead here, we aren’t trying to distract from the core business with these, but instead we are creating leverage and option for the future state of the industry.

The Marketing Advantage

I may be biased but the how you derive and build your marketing strategy is essential to building the optionality that I am speaking about for your brand. You obviously need to focus on consumer facing content but you need to go deeper. You need to have a plan to develop thought leadership style content that positions your brand as a category leader. But even more than that, you need to be promoting and elevating the individuals within your organization that same way.

Your founder(s) should be leading the way here. By creating content around the ‘why’ of the organization and different market trends. Let consumers see behind the curtain. Uplift and encourage your team members to be doing the same. This gives not only the team leverage and notoriety in the industry but also build trust for consumers with your company too.

Share insights about:

• Market trends and consumer behavior

• Retail strategy and execution

• Category development

• Innovation in product and marketing

This type of content serves multiple purposes: it drives consumer engagement, attracts retail partners, and creates a narrative that makes your brand valuable to potential strategic partners. Even if this is not something you dedicate hours to every week you can work with an external partner like a ghostwriter who can cut back on the time suck of content development.

Moving Forward

The most successful brand I see today are taking this dual approach, pursuing aggressive retail expansion while at the same time building optionality into their game plan. Yes, being focused on current sales is crucial, we have to pay the bills after all. But they’re also focused on creating valuable brands that have numerous paths to success.

Spending 5% of your time building these strategic relationships and positioning your brand for various outcomes isn't a distraction, it's an investment in your company's future. The founders who understand this are the ones who will have the most options when the market inevitably shifts.

Remember: Building optionality isn't about lacking confidence in your vision. You’re being strategic and responsible with the brand you’re building. Cannabevs is obviously an emerging category, having the ability to adapt and pivot is just as valuable as rapid growth.

The time to think about optionality isn't when you need it, it's when you're operating from a position of strength. Start building those relationships, documenting those successes, and creating those strategic advantages now. Your future self will thank you.