8 Things That Feel Like Cheat Codes When You’re Building a CPG Brand

When you’re building a consumer brand from the ground up, it often feels like everyone else has some secret playbook you don’t.

They have the funding, the team, the connections. You’ve got a Google Drive full of half-built decks, a Slack channel called “emergency,” and 87 open tabs on freight rates.

But here’s the truth: the best founders I know — the ones who build traction early, without big budgets or fancy backing — aren’t luckier. They’re more resourceful.

They find shortcuts that look boring from the outside but compound like crazy over time.
They find their cheat codes.

Here are eight of mine.

1️⃣ Use your retail doors as marketing.

When you finally land distribution, it’s tempting to go big — blast your announcement everywhere, run broad national ads, and hope it sticks.

Don’t.

Start small.
Geo-target ads around the stores that already carry you.
Run local content that literally says, “Find us at the Whole Foods on Main Street.”

Your best customers aren’t across the country — they’re within ten miles of those doors.
Turn retail into your best marketing channel.

2️⃣ Screenshot every comment, DM, and review.

You don’t need an agency to tell your story — your customers are already doing it.

The next time someone sends you a heartfelt message, screenshots your product on a shelf, or writes a detailed review… save it.

That’s your best copy.
Those are the real words that convert.

When I see a brand’s ad using “brand voice” instead of customer voice, I know they’re overthinking it. The most persuasive language is already sitting in your inbox.

3️⃣ Use LinkedIn and TikTok as distribution, not awareness.

Stop trying to go viral.
Start showing up.

Post your founder journey — the messy, unfiltered, real side. The part of the story that people don’t see when they’re just buying your product.

Your face builds trust faster than any paid campaign ever could.
When you talk about what you’re learning, your audience becomes your investors, customers, and collaborators.

People don’t buy from faceless brands anymore.
They buy from builders.

4️⃣ Collaborate with another brand in your aisle before you chase influencer deals.

If you’re in the same aisle, you already share customers — and likely share pain.

Co-promote each other.
Bundle products.
Do cross-channel shoutouts.

You’ll both grow faster, cheaper, and with more authenticity than any influencer partnership can offer.

Influencers rent you attention.
Partnerships build you community.

5️⃣ Audit your packaging under retail lighting.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen founders fall in love with their design files — only to have the product disappear on shelf.

What looks premium on a bright laptop screen can look dead under fluorescent lights.
Grab a $20 light box, print mockups, and test them under the same lighting your customer will see.

If you can’t win the three-second shelf test, nothing else matters.

6️⃣ Use store locators from brands you admire to build your first wholesale list.

When I started The New Primal, I didn’t have brokers, distributors, or a sales team.

So I went to Clif Bar’s website and opened their store locator.
But not to find major retailers — I was after the weird ones.
The climbing gyms.
The bike shops.
The mom-and-pop stores that supported local, healthy food.

I built my first 500 retail leads that way — and closed half of them through cold emails.
No money, no magic. Just resourcefulness.

7️⃣ Send 10 handwritten thank-you notes a week.

To buyers.
To brokers.
To store managers.
To the shelf stockers who face your product every day.

Gratitude is the cheapest, most effective sales strategy you’ll ever use.
Everyone’s busy trying to automate their follow-ups. You’ll stand out by being human.

Relationships move boxes.

8️⃣ Read every product review — yours and your competitors’.

This is where your next innovation lives.

Every “wish it had more flavor,” “too much sugar,” or “love this, but…” is a breadcrumb.
Follow enough of them, and they’ll lead you to your next product line.

The best R&D teams in the world are just really good listeners.

The truth behind the “cheat codes.”

Most of this stuff isn’t sexy.
It won’t go viral.
It won’t impress investors.

But it works.

It builds traction before you have a team.
It builds momentum before you have money.
And it builds the kind of brand that’s hard to copy — because it’s rooted in discipline, empathy, and human connection.

That’s what I mean by being scrappy.
That’s what turns small brands into scalable ones.

If this resonates, I break down systems like these every week in my Scrappy to Scalable community and on my Substack.