Communication between dealers and distributors has long been a weak spot — mostly transactional, limited to an as-needed basis. You’d speak to your distributor when you needed something and that was about it. The distributor was there to get you product, and that’s the end.
But there’s no reason that has to be the end of the communication, and one wholesale distributor is upping the standard with a new form of dealer/distributor interaction. Iron Valley Supply, an Alabama-based wholesale distributor of more than 150 of the nation’s best-known products in the hunting and outdoor industry, has launched Iron Valley TV. Iron Valley calls this new channel “an adventure culture content channel that celebrates the outdoor lifestyle and those in the outdoor sporting goods industry.”
The channel enables Iron Valley (formerly known as Bangers) to create and deliver valuable marketing content that can give you, the dealer, an advantage in the marketplace. Share it with your social media followers, use it to spark inspiration for your in-store marketing, or just use it as a learning tool to better familiarize yourself with some of the brands your customers are asking about.
Distributors as content creators is a pretty innovative concept, and Iron Valley is fully committed to the idea. They’ve built out an on-demand 4K studio in their Birmingham headquarters, which allows them to livestream, use dynamic video backgrounds, and bring in guests remotely to participate in filming as needed.
On the Iron Valley YouTube channel, you can view messages and insight from CEO Brent Wouters about some of the ways Iron Valley is streamlining the business and saving dealers money, and then dive into the Iron Valley TV episodes. To get the channel off on the right foot, they’ve chosen a compelling subject and product for one of the first episodes: An exclusive Colt 1911 that pays tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Solider and the Tomb Guard Platoon who guards it. Iron Valley partnered with the Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (SHGTUS) to offer the exclusive Colt 1911 100th Anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Limited Edition and Challenge Coin.
It’s a custom-engraved, stainless steel Colt 1911 (.45 caliber), and each will be engraved with a special serial number. To honor the Centennial of America’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (November 11, 2021), Iron Valley Supply is donating serial number TOTUS-100, which is a special-edition, gold-inlaid model, to the Society for auction.
Iron Valley brought two former Tomb Guards into the studio to debut these special 1911s, and you can watch the first part below, and watch the four-part video series here. Then poke around the YouTube channel and explore other episodes of Iron Valley TV.
If you’re used to basic, transactional communication with your distributors, the idea of distributors as content creators might seem like a radical one. But Iron Valley TV is proof that there’s great value in building the dealer/distributor relationship beyond those formal transactions — and you’ll almost certainly learn something that will improve your business along the way.
