Lessons learned selling crickets on how to educate a market & position your product for mass consumption.
We’ve talked, in the past, about the difficulty in educating a new market. This process can will be time and cost expensive.,, and when you’re selling something like crickets, things are bound to get even more tricky. However, no matter what you’re bringing to market, or how innovative you are, or how much educating needs to be done, there are rules you can follow that will help you survive.
Selling Crickets Isn’t Easy, How to Position Your Product
Vincent Vitale, Digital Specialist in the areas of SEO and Content Creation, is leading the charge by getting people interested in Aketta, which is a complete and sustainable source of cricket protein and nutrition. Vincent knew, from the very beginning that he had his work cut out, because 1) people don’t know the benefits of eating crickets, and 2) they probably haven’t tasted one either… oh, and 3) they probably have assumed the crickets don’t taste good too.
Number 3 on that list is kind of tricky, but, this can also be a beautiful scenario for success. You see, the bar is set low, because the product is so new, the expectations are also low, and the competition is almost non-existent. The same is true for every new innovation brought to market. And if you can get your product positioning right, you can take over the world, kind of.
The Rules of Educating Your Market
The best rules are the ones that are the most simplistic, and because of their simplicity, they are usually the ones we skip without even thinking about it. Don’t do that. In order to get your product positioning right, you have to follow these rules:
Rule #1: Identify Potential Markets. According to Vincent, with Aketta crickets, you get health benefits similar to eating meat with a lot less impact on the environment. As a whole, we are becoming more aware of the importance of sustainability, and so with this angle, the food source itself becomes much less important. There is a large eco-friendly crowd out there who cares about sustainability and how their food is farmed. Millennials are also very into cutting edge food right now, and pushing the boundaries of what is edible, yet another group Vincent identified as having potential interest in Aketta.
Rule #2: Know What’s Important. Each market you identify will have different priorities and part of this process, of educating the market, is understanding these priorities. What is important to each potential market? What do they really care about? How does your product fit into the guidelines of how they spend their time, what they eat, and where their money goes? If it doesn’t, go back to Rule #1 and start over.
Rule #3: Tailor Your Message. Each group you identify as being a potential market should be spoken to in a way that speaks to them. Your potential market might hear something 100 different times, 100 different ways, from 100 different people, and you have to be the one to get through to them. You message has to grab their attention, has to have an emotional pull, and has to be tailored so they know you are talking to them. Marketing in its finest, brightest moment, doing what it does best.
Rule #4: Make smart comparisons. Vincent mentioned sushi and lobster, and even grasshoppers, as comparisons of extreme food ideas that are now very mainstream or well on their way. Find similarities to your product and other innovative breakthroughs to help people align with your vision.
Getting to Loyalty
Vincent has noticed a trend with all potential markets, that once they hear the story, the sell becomes much easier, and I notice this with just about every product I help bring to market. When you get your tribe on your side, not only does the sell become easier, but they will be your best unpaid salespeople. If you instill in them the love you have for your product, through your story, loyalty and referrals are an awesome byproduct.
Read the original INC article published on October 23, 2017.
