Marketing strategies and their applications

¶ … Sweet Grass cheese's development and growth over the years, focusing on planned and unplanned occurrences that grew their business. In addition, it discusses challenges and opportunities that they, and other small businesses, have to face. Lastly, the future challenges of Sweet Grass is discussed.

Handcrafted Cheese from Georgia?

Sweet Grass Cheese's Development From the Early Days to Today:

Desiree Whener didn't start out to become one of America's finest cheese makers; she simply evolved into the position. Wehner and her husband had started off with an interest in veterinary sciences that led them to the management of several large dairy operations. They tired of this type of dairy business where the cattle rarely spent time in their more natural pastures, and instead decided to open their own dairy farm, where their cows could graze on rotated pastures, and quality was preferred over quantity.

This unplanned effort took them on an entirely new venture. Instead of utilizing the traditional method of feeding and milking cattle, the Wheners used a New Zealand method of pasture rotation. Cattle were allowed to graze on rich, fresh pastures rather than being fed dried grains.

A cheese-making lesson for her home-schooled son and a sampling of goat cheese at a dairy conference and Desiree unexpectedly begin to think about expanding their dairy product line up. This was a planned decision that began with a discussion with her husband, as well as the purchase of 13 goats for a milk supply, creating Sweet Grass cheeses. Her first year in the cheese business, Wehner received immediate accolades.

She knew that her goal wasn't to produce the most cheese, but she wanted to produce the best. With that in mind, Wehner sent a sample of her cheese, the first year, to the American Cheese Society competition, hoping to get some constructive criticism from the judges. To her surprise, she won third place.

Although her entry into the competition was planned to be a way of improving her cheeses, unplanned benefits were reaped. Her third place win gave her notoriety and word of mouth business. Wehner realized what a powerful marketing tool these competitions were, especially in the high quality gourmet category her cheeses fell.

In addition, Wehner cultivated a relationship with Raymond Hook, a cheese expert based in Atlanta. She also hired Jean Marc Maisonnaire, a cheese maker form the Pyrenees in France, to work with her for a short period. All of these activities were conscious efforts and when paired with the unconscious efforts of adding her daughter and son-in-law to the business, they helped grow Sweet Grass cheeses from a roadside farm stand to a $350,000/year business.

Problems and Opportunities the Small Businesses Face:

There are a multitude of problems and opportunities that small businesses face, as Wehner discovered with the creation of Sweet Grass cheeses. One of the most daunting challenges is distribution. Wehner's first distribution efforts consisted of a roadside farm stand, at their farm, where locals could buy her cheeses. Farmer's markets too offered a fairly inexpensive distribution channel.

The second problem many small businesses face is limited capital for marketing. Wehner conquered this dilemma by using word of mouth marketing as an effective tool to growing her business. By taking part in prestigious cheese competitions, and winning those awards, Wehner was able to build her business quite successfully. High quality restaurants became frequent customers, as did caterers and other farm market vendors also looking for the very best. This increased their word of mouth advertising and eventually led to a very large order from a grocery chain, Fresh Market. This word of mouth marketing helped expand their distribution channels as well.

The greatest opportunity for a small business, like Sweet Grass, is to focus on what they do best and serve a niche market. Sweet Grass isn't trying to be the largest dairy producer, with an all-encompassing product mix, instead, they are satisfied by providing consistent high quality cheeses. And it is cheese that they do oh so well.

Small businesses have the ability to focus all of their efforts on a limited line up of products. They can discover what they do best, and differentiate themselves from the rest of the market by doing just that. Small businesses may not be able to compete in areas such as cost or large deliverable quantities, but quality is an area they can often excel at. Small business owners have the unique advantage of being able to oversee much more of their organization than those of large businesses, allowing them to personally ensure the high levels of quality that companies like Sweet Grass achieve.

They can also focus their efforts on meeting niche markets. Unique customer needs are often difficult for larger organization to handle, especially if their needs are of small quantities. In employing economies of scale, it becomes evermore difficult to customize orders and meet individual preferences. A small business is often geared to producing in small batches, and for this reason, an alteration to make a unique product is less difficult.

Problems Sweet Grass May Have in the Future:

Sweet Grass is currently riding a wave of success. Wehner has been able to grow her company from a part-time hobby to a thriving business. However, there may be challenges in the future.