MARKETING ORGANIC AND NATURAL PRODUC
Benchmarking
Challenges and
For many in the natural and organic products movement,
marketing their product began with the live demo, first to their friends and neighbors,
then to the local natural foods store. It began with a high degree of enthusiasm and belief
in the goodness of their food or product. Many of the early pioneers went from store to
store convincing the store owners, their staff and their customers of the value of their offer-
ings. They demoed their products, lectured to whoever would listen and created informa-
tion-rich labels and brochures. This was their core marketing plan, and through these
efforts early companies flourished.
Since its early days, the natural products indus-
try has grown and matured. Today, according to
SPINS, natural products is a $23 billion market,
growing at a healthy rate of 9. 2 percent, and or-
ganics makes up almost $7.5 billion of those
sales, with sales growth at 8. 8 percent.
During this span of time something else happened that impacted the way all products are
marketed. Before the internet, there was print,
radio, television and outdoor advertising, as well
as public relations (PR), direct mail, catalogs and
brochures. Today, many companies are incorporating more and more web-based marketing tactics and media to generate interest and sales,
from search engine optimization (SEO) and pay
per click (PPC) advertising to social media,
mobile marketing, the blogosphere—and
it seems like more new technologies are
emerging every day.
But how much has the online revolu-
tion changed the way natural and or-
ganic products and foods are marketed?
Is it possible to market the taste and texture of an
organic yogurt in an email? With all the techno-
logical advancements in the marketing world,
what tools are natural and organic companies
using to capture the attention of their target au-
dience? What is working for them right now?
Pure Research, the research arm of Pure
Branding, looked for any recent report on how
natural products are marketed and came up
empty. That’s when we de-
cided to conduct our own
research, the end result
being the Natural
