Marketing Aquaculture Products — 1

local resources to build this national network
of interconnected sites of searchable
localized consumer and food industry data.
Active cooperating and fi nancial supporters
of the project include the national Agricultural
Marketing Resource Center (AgMRC)
headquartered at at Iowa State University,
United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA) National Institute of Food and
Agriculture, the University of Arkansas Applied
Sustainability Center, Illinois Council
on Food and Agricultural Research (C-
FAR), University of Illinois Cooperative Extension
Service, and ACE the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department
of Consumer and Agricultural Economics.
A policy advisory committee governs and
guides the MarketMaker network. Composed
of experts from partner states, these
individuals bring unique expertise and
insight to the direction of the site, as well as
guide the evolution of the national network.
MarketMaker is rich with searchable
demographic and business data. Detailed
information can be summarized on maps,
in lists or profi les, and in varying levels of
complexity or specifi city. One can do this
by focusing on producers or retailers; as
well as demographic markets that refl ect
wages, food-related expenditures or ethnicity.
One of the great strengths of the
MarketMaker site is that concentrations of
consumer markets and strategic business
partners can easily and quickly be identifi
ed; potentially saving producers transportation
and other costs, as well as promoting
other cost-saving increases in effi ciency.
Presenting this kind of information in a
graphic-interface map-based format is far
more eff ective than simple lists or statistical
tables.
Census data is a critical feature of the site.
For example, a producer wanting to sell
tilapia to Asian consumers can request a
map showing the greatest concentration
of upper-income Asian households; then
request a complete demographic profi le
of those locations, including seafood sales
data from area fi sh markets. To use this
marketing tool, there is a function called
Find a Market. By simply clicking the icon,
one can accesses the census data in the
following areas: Education, Foreign Born,
Household Type, Income, Income by Race,
and Race.
MarketMaker is a powerful tool for increasing
your visibility and fi nding outlets for
your product. MarketMaker is a great tool,
but it is not a silver bullet that will ensure
your business success. Th ere are many
things that go into marketing a successful
business, and the road to success, and
continued success, is a constant process.
Develop a marketing plan to augment your
business plan. Review and revise both on a
regular basis.
Let’s Use Market Maker:
MarketMaker is an invaluable resource for
the creation of a marketing strategy and
marketing plan. Additionally, AgMRC
(Th e Agricultural Marketing Resource Center)
website www.agmrc.org is a portal to
MarketMaker and has many great businessdevelopment
resources including marketing
strategies and thoughts on developing
business and marketing plans. Both the
MarketMaker and AgMRC web pages make
extensive use of key-word searching. Th is
tool allows you to fi nd supporting tools and
documents that can strengthen your business.
Now, let’s consider MarketMaker’s
capabilities and what it has to off er.
Marketing Aquaculture Products — 41