Much of the past 2020 year has been a challenge and yet with all the trauma and Corona virus (C-19) fear, we have managed as a family to stay healthy. With staying healthy and aligning ourselves with the latest guidelines being the most important priority, the impact as maple syrup producer facilitated the need to reinvent ourselves and move away from our past methods of marketing and selling our maple syrup to that of vigorously embracing our existing social media platforms which are mainly our MapleWorxz web page and related Face Book page. Shifting from a past light maintenance of each to a focused effort on E-Commerce became our new strategic direction.
Months later, we now have achieved what we started out to do and that was to create a brand name, logo familiarity and sales beyond our past successful Famer’s Market successes. Fortunately, we were also able to continue to participate in one weekly farmers market that was not one of the many C-19 closures. The combined efforts of these two initiatives allowed us to created customer interest, demand for our maple syrup and a grow a maple syrup following.
Yet the most important and significant strategy that was started months earlier became our greatest marketing and sales niche. Becoming Organically Certified through the Ohio Ecological Farm and Food Association (OEFFA) just prior to the 2020 Maple Syrup production year enabled a significant marketing opportunity and demand for our maple syrup. Organic certification provided the market segmentation and uniqueness that we were seeking prior to the C-19 pandemic impact and that made a significant difference in brand and logo recognition which continues to position us as different in our maple and value added products today.
In spite of our limited social media experience, we learned a significant body of knowledge in “faceless” E-commerce selling and look forward to sharing our experiences with other Maple Producers who were faced with the same challenges this past year. After all, with the Michigan MDHHS directives related to social gathering, opportunities for sharing are minimal which emphasizes the value of social media collaboration opportunities. As with all maple producers, we hope to serve our customers with a superior product that remains consistent over time.
All of us at MapleWorxz look forward to your thoughts!