It’s time to rethink your route to market

No matter the category – whether it’s flooring or kitchens, clothing or spirits – there’s often a disconnect between who brands target and who actually influences the decision.

While most marketing stays laser-focused on the end customer, the professionals shaping the decision long before purchase are often overlooked. We’re talking about specifiers, installers, architects, bartenders, sales teams, influencers – the people who hold disproportionate sway.

If you want to unlock real commercial growth, it’s time to start influencing smarter.

Here’s why marketing to intermediaries isn’t just a nice-to-have. It’s your smartest commercial lever.

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1. The real decisions happen long before your customer gets involved

Homeowners don’t usually search for specific tile brands. Hospitality venues rarely ask for one gin over another. Most customers don’t go hunting for a particular heat pump or paint brand. They take the recommendation of someone they trust.

Specifiers, bartenders, tradespeople, planners, designers – they all make upstream decisions that shape what gets chosen. And if your brand isn’t part of their world, it won’t make it into the customer’s either.

If you’re not in the spec, not on the menu, not on the recommended list, you’re not even in the room when the decision is made.

That’s why B2B2C influence matters. It not only gets you into the tender in the first place, but it keeps you in when budgets get squeezed. And it turns passive consideration into confident commitment.

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2. They carry your brand promise

Your influencer network (whether that’s an architect, a bartender, or an installer) is expected to:

* Justify the price

* Explain performance and value

* Navigate compatibility, regulation, or logistics

* Reassure the customer

* Protect their own reputation

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If your assets are vague, your support materials unhelpful, and your messaging full of empty claims, you’re making their job harder, and your brand easier to swap out.

You’re expecting them to champion you, so you need to champion them first.

They need:

* Clear, credible product specs

* Honest, ready-to-use messaging

* Tools that genuinely save them time

* Proof points that hold up under scrutiny

* Answers, not promises

3. In a saturated market, their recommendation is your biggest differentiator

Most categories today are saturated. There are too many options, and too little real clarity. 

Consumers rely on experts to cut through the noise.

Real influencers drive belief.

If the people your customer trusts have worked with you before and had a good experience? You’re in.

If they haven’t or, worse, if your brand let them down? You’re out.

This applies whether you’re selling to architects or distributors, bartenders or builders. In every market, being known isn’t enough. But being trusted is everything.

The brands that win are the ones that make it easy to say yes.

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So what’s stopping more brands from doing it?

Mostly, habit. B2C thinking still dominates. But also assumption and the belief that trust from intermediaries will just come as the market grows.

It won’t. Not without intent.

You have to earn your place. Proactively, strategically and with substance.

The brands that lead categories are the most useful. They’re the ones that help others do their job better:

* The planner under pressure to get fast approvals

* The bartender trying to upsell with confidence

* The installer who needs a smooth fit

* The specifier who wants proof

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At Continuous, we help brands turn complexity into clarity and influence into impact.

We’ve helped trade-first brands become market leaders.

We’ve helped premium products win out over cheaper rivals.

And we’ve helped our clients move from being in the market to owning their space within it.

Want to own your space?

Download our guide: The Insider’s Guide to Specifiers

Book a 20-min call to talk about trade-driven growth