CHALLENGE:
Recognizing their need for support in commercialization, EcoWool has approached the Business and Commercialization Innovation Centre to support the advancement of their product. There are two ways to support this, the first is to provide the research on the horticultural and agricultural industries, the size of the market, how they make purchase decisions. The second is to support the development of their current B2C operations, increasing their sales, which directly support the cash flow of the business, supporting the funding of additional research for the commercial applications..
SOLUTION:
To develop a strategy and understand the potential within target markets for EcoWool, the team worked on discovering the trends in soil amendment and other plant-related products to understand how to best put them into recommendations.
This included a detailed analysis of competitors, a look at the impact of Covid-19 on the attitudes of consumers and the regulations for businesses and an exploration of market constraints. Reviewing everything allowed for the development of the target audiences and recommendations of their key pain points to develop targeted campaigns.
The promotions strategy focused on personal selling as a B2B tool for EcoWool to pursue entry into retail distributors, combined with B2C promotional tools to drive consumer demand and support EcoWool’s e-commerce strategy. Understanding how to tell the story of how the product can best fit into the needs and requirements of each target audience allows for cohesive promotions. Recommendations were made for media assets for content and website design. A social media and direct marketing strategy were outlined for EcoWool to reach more niche target audiences and advertisement strategy was outlined to further supplement B2C distribution. Finally, an SEO strategy was outlined to supplement EcoWool’s Amazon strategy and website performance.
This project was made possible by funding from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, through the Niagara College-led Greenhouse Technology Network (GTN).
