August 25th, 2009
Jack Stanley asked: Marketing honey in today’s market is going to pose a bit of a challenge since you have so many commercial level sellers doing this with the resources to promote and market the product since not all places will purchase and carry your product. This is why many small businesses who do this sell to lower end stores and mom and pop places because when they get people buying that’s how many of them end up in large scale stores like Whole Foods Market and other stores that carry name brand organic food. Part of the marketing strategy is to be able to utilize the internet as well since people can open up online stores to sell their products, but you also have to have an effective system in place to pack and ship items all over the world because you will have customers who will be buying your product as far away as England or even Japan.
Your business should reflect handling online orders or you can sub-contract a company to pack and ship your items and take the guesswork out of your hands so you’re not stuck having to deal with lost or misdirected packages.
Starting at the bottom for marketing helps you to learn little things that will make your business successful and can thrive in years to come when you know what it takes to make it work. Promotion isn’t a skill placed on auto-pilot you have to spend time working it every single day because a business doesn’t run itself it takes a good deal of persistence and effort to make it work and to make it where you want it to be. It’s easier for people who have prior experience in running a business to be able to effectively carry out a sure-fire way to market a single product and still gain revenue. It’s just that when you market products you have to know what is actually the demand for that particular product in question.
Selling honey is always a product that people will buy and is in demand, but it’s the companies that make it are the ones who are having to deal with a lot of competition since many small end businesses are extending themselves to the outside world and relying on larger companies to do the larger scale selling. Websites are effective because this is how many co-ops are formed because many food production companies try to find cost effective ways to produce a product through sub-contracting farms and contractors to handle the mass production of honey making and making products out of beeswax.
This is why so many small businesses are reaching out to bigger companies, but it’s helpful to give small businesses the tools needed to increase their exposure for business and even clients with farmers and suppliers. Beekeeping is more than just a hobby it’s a full time job and business. It may look difficult because it requires you to be in all kinds of weather wearing a puncture and sting proof body suit with a face net just to put that sweetener you use for your biscuits and toast in the morning or that cup of hot chamomile tea, remember the beekeepers who endured that to make it possible to have that sticky sweet indulgence you put in your food and drinks.
beekeeping
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