SEO & Online Marketing

I started my working career (1966) in Trail BC at Cominco (now Teck Cominco) as a labourer. The work was dirty and dangerous – but not particularly hard and certainly not intellectually challenging. However, looking back, many of things I learnt there are still relevant. One of the most important was in the field of marketing. Which, at that time, was as far from being one of my career goals as a fish trying to fly.

I was working filling bags of fertilizer at Cominco’s Warfield operation.

Fertilizer is a by product of their main operation, changing rock into metal. ( Mainly lead and zinc. ) There was a huge hopper full of fertilizer which fed into a small machine that filled the 50 and 100 pound bags. Most of the process was automatic. My job was to make sure the machine had bags and move the full bags onto a pallet for shipping. Occasionally I would signal the crane operator to load the hopper with more fertilizer from the main storage bins.

Cominco markets its fertilizer under the name ‘Elephant Brand Fertilizer’. It was sold in heavy paper bags at most farming supply centres all over Canada and around the world. I can’t remember seeing it in any ‘Garden Centre’ – matter of fact I can’t remember and ‘Garder Centres’, although I suppose there were some. I do remember every spring the gas station chains would have fertilizer for sale under their own brand name.

I had been on the job for about two weeks when the boss came over and said not to load any more bags – we had a rush order for ‘Texaco’. (One of the fore mentioned gas station chains.)

A few minutes later he comes over with a load of new 20 pound bags – all with the familiar ‘Texaco’ star. As we loaded new bags into the machine and reset it for the lighter weight, I got my first lesson in marketing (Although I didn’t know it at the time.)

I asked if I should clear the fertilizer from the hopper and which bin held the ‘Texaco’ fertilizer? He just smiled and said "Don’t change anything – it is all the same stuff".

I knew the 20 lb bag of ‘Texaco’ fertilizer cost more than the 50 lb bag of ‘Elephant’ brand. But, the only real difference was the bag.

Of course, what I would come to appreciate much later, was the real difference was ‘Perceived Value’. After all, "You Can Trust Your Car To The Man Who Wears The Star", so why not trust him for your other needs. While ‘Texaco’ fertilizer was for growing suburban lawns – ‘Elephant Brand Fertilizer’ was for farmers. And, it cost more – so it MUST be better.

From fertilizer to Tiffany’s blue box (the colour is a registered trademark) packaging is a large part of ‘Perceived Value’. Increase the ‘Perceived Value’ and you can increase the price. Which would cost more – a diamond necklace at Tiffany’s or the same necklace at a pawn shop? Which would your wife or girl friend appreciate more?

Your products ‘Perceived Value’ is what your customer says it is. It has nothing to do with performace – but everything to do with the way you present the product. It is your products ‘story’, the packaging, the target market, and the price. ‘Elephant Brand Fertilizer’ was for farmers who appreciated the lower price as long as it worked. ‘Texaco’ fertilizer was for the suburbanite who wanted a name the could trust. Both got what they wanted.

Tags: branding, marketing, marketing strategy

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