The following general principles are worth considering:
Aside from a coffee's quality, the variable that usually
attracts the highest premium is the story. There is a
marketing proverb that says: "different is always better". While
better may not always be true in every case, being different does
create awareness and curiosity. For a specialty coffee to
pull itself out of the commodity heap it must create a sense of
excitement and of curiosity for the end user. Coffee is
very human oriented. It is grown, processed, exported, imported,
roasted and served by people who all have their own stories and who
love to hear about other stories. The travel industry has done an
incredible job of telling the stories of places. If the stories and
pictures of a destination did not look inviting, no one would go
there….
Some of the best marketing stories for coffee are a
combination of the coffee profile, the people profile, and the
ecology profile. To create these stories a producer must
gather a tremendous amount of information: about the growing and
production of the coffee, the farmers, the culture, the ecosystem,
the history, the food, the animals, and even the music of the area.
Each area is unique and of great interest to those not living
there. Sometimes it is difficult to view your own area as curiously
as an outsider would but this is the first step in telling the
story. Gather as much information about the growing region as
possible. Altitude, climate, harvest periods, size of farms,
production, type of husbandry, location, topographical features,
language, culture, history, and religion are all important aspects
to a specialty roaster/retailer.
Take as many photos/videos as is possible of the
surroundings and the people. Funds permitting, have a
video made professionally. One that can be used for PR purposes.
Ensure the images are of good quality so they can be reproduced for
brochures, posters etc. Do not think that only pictures of coffee
plantations or of processing are useful: they are critical but do
not necessarily help identify the coffee or the region as unique.
Most coffee trees look pretty much the same but people,
animals, landscapes and cultures vary tremendously! A picture is
truly worth a thousand words…
Before you start on all this, consider carefully what
your theme will be.It is the first step towards
the branding of your product. Branding creates an image of
a product in the mind of the consumer. The easy part is knowing
what you want your customer to think about your product - the
difficult part is matching the product and the marketing program to
that desired image. Whatever you do, do not say things that are not
true. Therefore, be sure you know what if anything sets your coffee
apart from others so you do not waste the buyer's time. Good
marketing information leads many US specialty buyers to focus on a
particular coffee first, to the exclusion of others. If the coffee
then matches the expectations raised in the marketing story, you
are well ahead. But if it does not …
The most successful branding is accomplished when all of the
activities and marketing pieces (pictures, videos, posters,
brochures, flyers and even just post cards for direct mailing) are
created using the same or similar wording and imagery. Imagine how
confusing it would be if one brochure described the coffee as
mellow and soft, and another called it lively and bright. Or if
completely different scenery was shown. Without consistency the
message gets lost whereas for a retailer consistency across stores
is almost sacred. Ensure also that any text is interesting and
written in such a way that it is understandable, that your message
gets across.
Finally, if you only have a limited budget, then stick
to just one or two avenues to deliver your message and do it well!
It is far better to do one thing well than to do two things
badly…
Posted 11 August 2005