What is your product?

• Traditional commodity
• Value-added commodity
• Value-added branded product

Alaska salmon is comes in three overall product classes. The first is the traditional commodity product form. We often think of this as fish in the round or head and gut. Perhaps even can salmon qualifies under this category.

The second category is value-added commodity. Many people think that because they sell a boneless/skinless fillet, they are selling something special. However, given the incredible glut of farm salmon on the market, entering the country as boneless/skinless, that product form has really become a commodity.

The third category is the value-added branded product. This a product that has some level of value added processing; however, the seller also took the time to brand the product. The branding effort conveys a message of quality, consistency, and uniqueness to the consumer that sets it apart from your basic value-added commodity category.

Niche Marketing

• Most marketing today is niche marketing
• Alaska has been "niched"
• Generic product niche: wild, natural, sustainable
• End user
• Distribution level
• Customer size
• Service
• Geographic

Most marketing today is niche marketing. Niche marketing may be defined as targeting, communicating and selling to the heaviest users of your products.

Alaska salmon has been niched in the market today. It carries the connotation to the consumers of “wild, natural and sustainable.” It is the job of salmon marketers to target and communicate with the market segment that care about these features.

Market Identification

• The right size for your operation
• Should match your ability to source and service

In defining your target market, there are a number of facets to consider.
You determine the end user that best fits the attributes of your product. Similarly, you must determine the product that best fits the desires of your end user.

Based on your operation, consideration must be put to what point of the distribution chain you will sell to.

The customer size must be determined. You may have selected an end user that cannot absorb all of your product, leading to reduced prices. Conversely, you may not be able to service consumer demand which might lead to increased consumer dissatisfaction.

Niche marketing requires determining what level of service you intend to provide. Quite often it requires constant availability to service complaints and concerns.

The geographic range will dictate the volume requirements, nature of distribution and cost of marketing efforts.

• What does the market want?
• What needs are not being fulfilled?
• Is there market demand for what we want to produce?
• What is current pricing?

A part of identifying your market is to gauge whether it is the right size for your operation. If you typically move 1,000,000 pounds of boneless/skinless salmon, you need to target a market that can handle that much product.

Be sure not to target a market that will exceed your ability to source and service. Aside from having adequate product volume, you also need to have enough manpower to handle customer complaints and other problems.

Market Research

• The most important phase of any marketing
• Doesn't always have to be formal
• Visit, look, and listen
• Be ready to hear what the market is telling you

Prior to plunging into a detailed marketing program, be sure to ask the following basic questions?

What does the market want? Does your market appear to demand the product? For instance, would it be wise to market sea cucumbers to the US Midwest?

What needs are not being fulfilled? Look at your target marketing and see if there are things that they want that are not available. Perhaps the retailers in your market require a quality control program.

Is there market demand for what we want to produce? If the market appears unwilling to accept the existing product line, is it possible to adapt the product line?

What is current pricing? At expected prices in an area, will your operation be profitable? For instance, will selling Premium boneless/skinless sockeye fillets to a developing country provide the highest price for your efforts?

Sources of Supply

• Consistency is the key in the marketplace
• Need to come up with creative solutions for wild harvest fluctuations

Oftentimes the one area people forsake in a marketing program is market research. Don’t eliminate this important activity. It is the most important thing to do.

Market research does not need to be formal. You can do things as simple as call up customers and ask them what they want or what they think about your products.

Be sure to go where your product is being sold. Understanding the environment that your buyers are required to operate in provides you better insight into what their concerns might entail.

Don’t take criticism personally. Different markets will want different things. It is important to learn from feedback, not resent it.

Product Packaging

• What does the market demand?
• How can packaging add-value to the product?
• What are the best in the business doing?

One of the greatest quandaries about selling wild Alaska salmon is that consistent supply is difficult to come by. Some producers have solved this by selling only frozen product. Obviously the can product was one way of dealing with the ebb and flow of nature.

Whether you play up the uniqueness of scarcity, or find a product line that can be maintained throughout the year, be sure to accommodate for Alaska salmon’s inconsistent supply.

Value-Added Product Development

• Must be customer-driven
• Don't test on your customers
• In order to be successful it has to offer something more or different that what is already out there.

Be sure you develop packaging that meets the market’s expectations. If your competition is using an attractive vacuum packed wrapper, don’t send your product in a bread bag.

Oftentimes your packaging can add value to the product. Using vacuum packaging is an obvious example. Attractive packaging, or packaging features that lend to convenience for the consumer, are important items to consider.

Check out your competition. Check out the best in the business. Consumers react positively to innovative and convenient packaging.