Marketing Syrup as Reverse Osmosis or Pipeline Free

[not_for_sale]

I think the different breed of syrup producer are pretty well classified in Don's post above. The hobbyist, whom doesn't need to rely on Maple Syrup sales and the Maple Syrup business.

While there may be a honorable approach, a better approach one thing is pretty clear: the customers decide with their feet. And I guarantee that 100 years of advertising have proven hat differentiation based on customers fears and worries work better than appealing to customers good feelings.

Ask yourself this:

1 - why do guns sell better when there is a shooting and a government push for gun control.
2 - why does insulation sell better if people are worried that energy prices rise?
3 - why so you believe that Obama is a socialist?
4 - why do you believe that Romney is (more) out of touch than Obama?
5 - why does hoarding happen
6 - why are there scores of people prepping for an economic collapse?
7 - why are there lines in front of gas stations when Bush invaded Iraq in 1990?

Fears! And there are many, many more examples.


The fact is that humans and other animals have primal fears that can be tapped into to influence them. All it takes is one business owner in a market to employ those techniques. It happens every day.

I have many years of experience in this. That is how I make my living. I am a hired gun, and if you hire me your competition is toast. And i don't employ a toaster. It doesn't mean my marketing is sleazy. All I do is use what works best. As long as its legal or ethical for the particular line of business.

I have yet to see a market where positive works better than negative. Not one. Not even marketing of a church.

[not_for_sale]

Bowtie,

The unfortunate thing is that the wolfs like to eat sheep. I agree with everything you say.

However, the wolves don't think it's wrong to eat sheep. And the wolves win. And the winner writes history.

This is a philosophical discussion about right and wrong. However, that discussion is has been retired a long time ago in marketing and advertising.

[DonMcJr]

Just out of the blue here, but with Michigan's Cottage Food Law you can sell Maple Syrup, under $15,000 I think and not be inspected by the Agricutlure dept.

You have to put a sticker on each bottle that says, " Made in a Facility Not Inspected by the Michigan Department of Agriculture"

Talk about a negative thing there...almost EVERYONE asks me about that sticker and I have to explain my process and use of all Food Grade buckets etc. and then explain why the sticker is one there...

Just had to comment on that that definitely does not help sales for us small guys!

I usually end that with " if it's gonna kill you it's gonna kill me cause I use my Syrup on everything from in my Coffee to on my Ice Cream and everything in between!

[not_for_sale]

I was wondering what that sticker would do.

[childsr2]

I've enjoyed reading this thread. Many have touched on using reverse osmosis. I have a question for the group. Should there be a limit on how far sap can be concentrated using ro?

[not_for_sale]

There is a natural limit where it will become more expensive to create the pressure than to boil it.

[hookhill]

Interesting debate. We boil on outdated equipment, some sap goes through an RO, all of it comes from tubing. Now, given the choice to eat syrup made from our operation, or a non RO, bucket operation with welded stainless equipment and no diatomaceous earth.......... I don't know. Sap that is going through miles of plastic, pumps, membranes that can't be better than a traditional bucket operation on updated stainless equipment.

[GeneralStark]

Interesting debate. We boil on outdated equipment, some sap goes through an RO, all of it comes from tubing. Now, given the choice to eat syrup made from our operation, or a non RO, bucket operation with welded stainless equipment and no diatomaceous earth.......... I don't know. Sap that is going through miles of plastic, pumps, membranes that can't be better than a traditional bucket operation on updated stainless equipment.

So why do modern operations keep winning syrup awards. I see that Glenn Goodrich just won an award for syrup flavor and quality...and his operation is large and modern as they come. The usual winners at our local ag. fair are almost always vac. tubing, ro, and even oil-fired!!. Sure there are fewer and fewer "traditional" operations every year so perhaps fewer options means people's flavor perception of maple syrup is changing.

[GeneralStark]

Perhaps it is time to revive this old thread. I have been thinking recently about what makes "traditional" maple syrup. Given that traditions change and evolve with time, how do we distinguish "traditional" maple syrup. The Native Americans used hollowed out logs and hot rocks to evaporate water from sap. Colonists used metal kettles to boil over an open fire and used proper spouts instead of just slashing the tree with an axe like the Native American heathens... Are these the "traditional" methods?

At the time of the invention of the "flue pan" this was a major development for the industry. It also lead the shift from batch to continuous flow evaporators. At the time was this seen as a major technological improvement, but were some opposed to this development for philosophical reasons? Was this the first major shift away from "traditional" techniques?

As has been discussed in this thread, it is all about marketing. So, for those that market their own syrup, how do you decide how to do so given your own given production methods?

[markcasper]

Perhaps it is time to revive this old thread. I have been thinking recently about what makes "traditional" maple syrup. Given that traditions change and evolve with time, how do we distinguish "traditional" maple syrup. The Native Americans used hollowed out logs and hot rocks to evaporate water from sap. Colonists used metal kettles to boil over an open fire and used proper spouts instead of just slashing the tree with an axe like the Native American heathens... Are these the "traditional" methods?

At the time of the invention of the "flue pan" this was a major development for the industry. It also lead the shift from batch to continuous flow evaporators. At the time was this seen as a major technological improvement, but were some opposed to this development for philosophical reasons? Was this the first major shift away from "traditional" techniques?

As has been discussed in this thread, it is all about marketing. So, for those that market their own syrup, how do you decide how to do so given your own given production methods?

In my opinion, burning with wood sets any operation apart from using a hydrocarbon. Many of the people on this forum burn oil or gas in their evaporators, but then turn around and complain and are concerned about so called global warming. I don't like using tubing, I use it because if I didn't I couldn't or wouldn't make maple syrup. Same for RO.

I think you have opened a can of worms here where the answer is difficult. I can say that all of the technology has done nothing but put more syrup on the market and drive the price down.