To All,

<What marketing tools do you use?>

Well its finally arrived.  The new buzz word in marketing appears to be "Artisan".   According to USA Weekend's Food section "Good things come in small batches" by Natalie Ermann Russell, gourmet retailers such as as Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's provide shoppers with "artisan" products, generally, delicacies smaller producers make with much smaller budgets.   Ari Weinzwig, co-owner of the popular specialty-foods store Zingerman's in Ann Arbor, Mich.  "I'm looking for flavor and tradition and the integrity of the producer".  

 That pretty much sums it all up, don't you think?

"The most important way to determine if an artisan food is worth buying is to taste it, which is not difficult to do, because many stores offer samples. "    "Artisan foods more be more flavorful, but they're often more expensive too."

As I've mentioned before, smaller producers have to SELL their product.   Whether its a new catchy marketing phrase or an attractive label, hang tags, point of purchase signs or banners for windows, you can best get your product out the door by offering all of the above and samples.   Sam's Club is always giving away samples.  Do you think they do that for your benefit?  Samples sell.....period.

Consumers today are the smartest and most informed  they've ever been and yet we still can be stimulated to buy something we don't need or have never used by sight, oral or olfactory stimulation.  We are always wanting something "different" to stimulate our senses.   As honey producers, we should capitalize on our different products.   Have you ever been to a meeting where you have everybody bring samples of their honey gathered from all over the globe?   We had one several years ago and had over 100 different honeys and they all tasted different.   Some good, some bad, some great but they were all different.   So, always offer samples where you can and always be positive in your marketing approach.

We have used Cross Marketing as a good tool where you sell Honey Lemonade and Honey Kettle Corn, Honey Fudge, etc. etc.   Getting todays busy mom to actually put things together is difficult but if you can show them how to make a product that uses honey and the kids like it, mom knows its healthier than all sugar products, then they may continue to remake and repurchase.  We have to constantly educate the buyer today as to why they should use honey.   I have family members who still have the honey I gave them a year ago for Christmas sitting in their pantry.   Once it's not used daily, it gets put on a back shelf and just sits like the other stuff purchased at the spur of the moment and forgotten. 

The difference between success and failure is sometimes so small as to be barely noticeable, but it all boils down to effort.    You can no longer just put a honey product on the shelf and expect it to move by itself.  It has to be sold.   You cannot compete with price,  and there has to be a percieved value for the customer to pay more.   But again, sometimes this percieved value has to only be a small difference.   After all with the amount of honey purchased by the average consumer today, paying an extra dollar a pound is not going to break the family food budget.

This "artisan" marketing concept is all about the small producer, so get out there and sell.
Tim Tucker

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