Marketing Agribusiness – Start by Knowing Your Customer
The wealth of information available to entrepreneurs never ceases to amaze me. The Mid-Region Council of Governments provided an informative meeting of the Agribusiness Collaborative today. Ann Simon organized the event.
Discussion focused on product marketing. The usual questions popped up. How can I produce a product that a big company will buy? Can I trademark my recipe? Am I a candidate for International trade?
Dennis Robinson, Food Technologist and International Food Marketing Specialist encouraged a focus on basics. Who is your customer? What do they want? Why do they choose your brand? He emphasized the value in quality and discussed the importance of pricing. A good sale is when you make a profit, he noted, telling the story of a local manufacturer who forgot to include distribution costs in his price.
I teamed up to discuss packaging your product for the media and other customers of note. “Building Brand and Buzz” talks about secrets of highly successful media kits. Again, stories carried the presentation. Local businesses like Cervantes Food Products were featured. The group examined media kits from Perennial Toys and Betty’s Bath and Day Spa. (Disclosure: I’ve done work for each of these businesses and had their permission to use specific examples.)
Participants walked away with specific information that could be put to use immediately. Best of all, the experience was free, provided as an outreach program by the state. I mention this only to point out that you might also have an opportunity to learn, to ask questions from someone who has been there, and grow your business as a result.
What are you doing to raise the bar at your business? Is there an opportunity with your name on it?
Discussion focused on product marketing. The usual questions popped up. How can I produce a product that a big company will buy? Can I trademark my recipe? Am I a candidate for International trade?
Dennis Robinson, Food Technologist and International Food Marketing Specialist encouraged a focus on basics. Who is your customer? What do they want? Why do they choose your brand? He emphasized the value in quality and discussed the importance of pricing. A good sale is when you make a profit, he noted, telling the story of a local manufacturer who forgot to include distribution costs in his price.
I teamed up to discuss packaging your product for the media and other customers of note. “Building Brand and Buzz” talks about secrets of highly successful media kits. Again, stories carried the presentation. Local businesses like Cervantes Food Products were featured. The group examined media kits from Perennial Toys and Betty’s Bath and Day Spa. (Disclosure: I’ve done work for each of these businesses and had their permission to use specific examples.)
Participants walked away with specific information that could be put to use immediately. Best of all, the experience was free, provided as an outreach program by the state. I mention this only to point out that you might also have an opportunity to learn, to ask questions from someone who has been there, and grow your business as a result.
What are you doing to raise the bar at your business? Is there an opportunity with your name on it?
Labels: cricital audience: customer, critical audience media
posted by the profitmeister at
9:30 PM
1 Comments:
Then there are those pesky little costs and challenges - label design (sure, you've got it on the shelf, now you've got to get off the shelf and into the ultimate end customer's mouth...); jar shape and size (easy stocking, customer appeal)...and so on and so forth.
Also - shocking to many of us here in NM - not everyone everywhere likes - say - green chile! ;-) (and, let's face it, there are only so many things one can do with tomatoes, chile, and onions. At some point, salsa is salsa.)
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