Green Marketing Tips for Organic Products
The Globe and Mail recently ran an article on Canadian Green Business Cenabal Gourmet Organics (web site, listing). I’m a big fan of the CBC’s Dragon’s Den and Jennifer MacDonald was one of the winners with her organic salad dressings.
I’ve always wondered what happened to all those folks who won or lost on the show. There are the occasional small updates but I’ve never seen a real success story appear. After reading the article, it’s clear that it doesn’t get any easier for the contestants even after the Dragon’s put their money in.
The Globe’s article deals with the trials Cenebal has encountered in increasing buzz about their product. Jennifer has moved away from salad dressings (though they may appear again soon) and is focusing on bread dipping oil. I imagine the Globe article will disappear behind the pay wall soon so here’s the problem in a nutshell:
- Cenabal has a marketing budget of $25 000 a year.
- The segment they are competing in is crowded and competitive.
- The product sells best when a believer is doing the selling…not an easy proposition in a store.
- The product’s benefits are not immediately clear or obvious.
The solutions are reasonable but some are beyond Jennifer’s budget. Of course, this type of advice can apply to your business as well.
The recommendations:
- Create additional uses for bread-dipping oil by including recipes.
- Broaden the product’s market by using a more general term than “bread dipping oil”.
- Clean up the product label and make the selling features of the product (unrefined, certified organic) more obvious and broaden the market.
- Become the go-to person in the media for unrefined oils.
- Tidy up the web site.
Good advice all around.
One thing that did catch my eye was the fact that 90% of her sales go to just one distributor. That would definitely bother me but I’m not in Jennifer’s shoes. She knows what’s best for her business and her success means she knows what she’s doing.
posted by: Steve | posted on: 19 08 2008 | categories: Food and Beverage