All small food manufactures struggle with selling their products in regular grocery stores. Everyone thinks "sales" is the key to the bank vault of success. They are ALL WRONG. It has ZERO to do with sales and everything to do with MARKETING! 

What is Marketing? I graduated from the University Of Tennessee in 1974 with a BS degree in business administration with a focus in Marketing. The last two years of college is when you get into the subjects of your major. To be honest  I was asking myself  "what the hell is marketing?" Why was I confused? Because "Marketing" is everything to do with building a brand---EVERYTHING!

The first big corporation I worked for was a company owned by American Home Products called Boyle-Midway. This company had a full marketing department with people focused on each brand. In other words a group of people worked on Woolite, Easy Off Oven Cleaners, Wizard Air Fresheners, etc. Their job was to build the brands market share. There were sixty or more people just working in the "Marketing Department". Every week I received large envelopes full of written materials about what was going on with each brand. I was expected to keep this information in an organized filing system so when I made a sales call I had information to help me "sell" the brand. As you might wonder what was more important--- Marketing or Sales? The answer depended on which side of the fence you were on. It was a constant battle! If the brand did good it was because of marketing. If the brand was declining it was the fault of the sales team.  I can tell you there was a lot of conflict especially at national meetings when we were all in the same place for three days.

Small companies do not have the luxury of having a Marketing department. The owner usually wears all the hats. Over the next few months I am going to try and give the small company owner in the food business some ideas about how good marketing works. Stay tuned and sign up with you e-mail address to get the latest updates on this subject.