According to a recent study by a team of British scientists, organic food may not be any healthier than conventional food. But whether you’re a fan of organic products or not, I think there’s a lot that we can learn about marketing from the organic food industry.
Now, I’m not a nutritional expert, and personally, I’ve never been very much into organic foods – but I’ve always admired (if a little warily) the business success of organic food producers and retailers.
A quick look at the numbers as reported by ABC News:
In the United States, the organic food industry has grown about 20% every year since 1990. Today, organic food accounts for a whopping $14 billion in consumer sales annually. Clearly they’re doing something right.
Here’s what I’ve learned about marketing success from the organic industry:
1. It’s about perceived value. Maybe organic food is much healthier than conventional food, and maybe it isn’t. That hasn’t stopped millions of people from spending billions of dollars on organic foods. The important thing is that these consumers believe – truly, honestly believe – that they are spending their on something worthwhile. It’s easy to see why; a few extra dollars is a small price to pay for better health!
Do your customers believe – truly, honestly believe – that your product is worth their money? Or are they buying from you under pressure from underhanded sales tactics?
2. It’s gotta make sense. Whatever your unique selling proposition is, it’s gotta make simple logical sense. Why are people so eager to buy into organic food? Because it sounds very reasonable that all-natural food grown without the use of chemicals could be better for you. It’s doesn’t take a genius to make the logical connection – and that’s the beauty of it. When something seems so simple, people drop their defenses and believe it.
Now I know that just because something seems to make sense, doesn’t mean that it’s actually true. But that’s not really the point.
The point is: people are much more likely to believe what you have to say if it seems like common sense. If you make your product pitch too complicated, people automatically assume that you’ve got something to hide. Why not simplify your message a bit? It’s less work for you, and it might even get you better results.
3. It’s gotta be personal. Now wait a second, you might say. What does a $14 billion organic food industry know about being personal? Quite a lot, I think. Recall some of those commercials for organic foods and farms that you’ve seen. Many of them probably involved a story about a small, family-owned farm that’s been growing food naturally for generations. That’s a personal message.
I think one of the big reasons organic food has succeeded so spectacularly is its association with the idea of a small, independent, trustworthy farmer producing quality food by hand (as opposed to a mass-producing industrial farming complex). The organic food industry has done a fantastic job of marketing itself. When you buy organic food, they tell you, you’re buying from real people, who make an honest living working hard – just like you.
It’s personal. And it’s effective.
A few questions for you:
- Do you think the organic food industry has done a good job of marketing its products? Why or why not?
- If you buy organic, what convinced you to do so? If you don’t buy organic, why don’t you?
- Have you applied any of the above strategies in your business? How did it work out for you?
6 Comments on “What Organic Food Taught Me About Marketing”
says:
1] Yes your article has proved and yes to be frank I do agree that its a good lesson to be learned from marketing stragey of Organic food industry .
2] I still feel Organic food to be a big cheating .. Yes I would love to buy from a farmer's market , but not just organic because it is labeled ..
3] Would love to apply this pointers let u know about it
Regards
Sudeep
says:
Thanks for your comment, Sudeep! Please do let me know if any of these tips are helpful to you.
says:
Excellent post, I came to this blog from Zen Habits after reading your comment in their latest post, and I must say that after reading this entry you have gained a new subscriber!
That being said, up to your questions:
1) I think the organic food industry has done an EXCELLENT job marketing their products. The reason? Me and many others I have met try to buy organic products even if we do not know for sure how healthy they are, but they simply seem healthy enough to pay that extra few bucks per item.
2) What caught my eye about the organic products was that first, they were always more expensive, and second, people still bought them. This made me thought that they MUST be better than the regular products because otherwise, no one would buy them, right? Well, turns out no one else knew for sure, but we were all buying the products. Beyond that, I think they always seem cleaner and fresher, and the marketing (labels, containers) were always quite aesthetic and made you feel the “freshness” or “healthiness” of the products. Most people are obsessed with health, so this appeal to healthiness, real or not, made me buy the products.
3) I have done very little (~none?) marketing in my lifetime, but I am definitely taking a closer look at this before I do. :)
says:
Thanks for subscribing, Omar! It's really encouraging to know that you enjoyed the post. I like what you said in point #2. Many people think that lowering your prices is the best way to get customers, but that simply isn't always true. Sometimes people actually buy things because they're expensive … something that's high-priced should also be high-quality, right?
Thanks for pointing out the importance of aesthetics too. I was always taught never to judge a book by its cover – but I'm sure I do so anyway. Definitely an important part of marketing a product.
says:
Exactly. When I first got to Japan and found a cockroach in my room, I went down to the convenient store and out of the three choices I had of products to kill them I chose the most expensive one. Wise choice? Not sure, but I reasoned it must be good if they can sell it at that price.
Maybe it's not the smartest way to shop, but with little information, sometimes it's the most intuitive thing to think!
says:
1. The nutritional value might not be measurable at this point in time, but over a much longer period it might well be due to the system of organic farming not damaging the land so much.
2. The big thing is though, to my mind, that is even if the nutrition is the same between organic and industrial farm produced vegetables now, the chemicals using in industrial farming methods (fertiliser, pesticides etc) are poisonous and harm human health. Even if you thoroughly wash and peel vegetables, some of the chemicals are going into your body when you eat.
So this study and the media coverage is really a form of pro-industrial farming propaganda! :-)
Best wishes.