Five months, 44 questions, 411 respondents, 116 charts, and one 160-page report later, we are eager to share the insights, observations, and juicy data from the first-ever survey of natural products marketers. Even with all that number crunching, our favorite part of the report remains the words of wisdom offered by natural products marketers to their peers, in free-form responses. Here are our top 10 quoted verbatim:
10. “Pay attention to high costs of creating and differentiating a brand. Getting the distribution is only part of the success.”
9. “Do not sacrifice profitability for growth.”
8. “Increase marketing budget substantially. Sell fun, not frump. Sell on the up, not on what organics don’t have.”
7. “Don’t market a commodity product that requires significant consumer education without adequate funding.”
6. “Analyze your consumer and her values. Generation G is the new consumer who expects from brands more than products.”
5. “Be honest and don’t try to compete with the schlocky marketers on their level.”
4. “Spend money on raising awareness for core products rather than development of too many new ones.”
3. “If you are going to expand into mainstream channels, make sure you have a realistic pricing strategy.”
2. “Start with easy, low (or no-cost) marketing solutions — Twitter, Facebook and Constant Contact.”
1. “Performing one marketing tactic well is better than committing to several tactics and executing them on a less-than-excellent level.”