Got Expertise? Share It

Matt Cook, President of LBP Manufacturing, offers insights into the booming single-serve category, discusses the art of building business relationships, and proposes ways to nurture those relationships within the social media realm and beyond…
Take a Taste of Our “Business Blend”
The entrepreneurial core of LBP is deeply rooted in two central business practices – building quality, lasting relationships with our clients and innovating solutions based on their needs. With the development and launch of our UpShot™ Single-Serve Solution, we quickly learned a lot about the coffee roasting community – likes, dislikes, processes, goals, etc.  As our engagement within the single-serve category continues, learning how to grow and engage on a digital scale is an essential part of our business strategy, a strategy we would like to share with you…
Be “Bold” Online
Exuding passion, delivering innovation, and connecting with others is done every day in business, at LBP, and of course within your roasting facilities.  The addition of social media to the marketing mix provides an avenue to reach larger audiences.  With a simple click of the mouse, an update to your profile picture, or a post containing hash tags, you can share special pieces of your brand beyond promotional coupons or flavors of the week.  Use social media as a platform, have actual conversations with your customers, take in what they have to say, and work to become a better business.
In a similar fashion, with the launch of the UpShot Solution, we outlined a social media strategy to deliver messages apart from our packaging capabilities.  As mentioned, the essence of our business is centered on identifying needs and working closely with our clients to enhance their operations.  We are an all-around solutions provider, not a simple packaging manufacturer, and our goals were to create profile pages that demonstrate expertise, promote trends, and bring us closer to potential clients. Now, take a moment to ask yourself what some of your communication objectives are?
If stuck, I think I have some information to help. Through research, and better yet, observation, we know consumers enjoy talking about coffee online – its health benefits, their preferences, their caffeine addictions, their brand allegiances…they review every aspect.  Within the specific single-serve category, we know discussions are being had about choice, variety, quality, and sustainability.  The desire for a better brew is out there!  Ultimately, as a roaster using social media, you have the ability to get customers closer to your roasts by exposing your processes and becoming a source for important industry news.  What you do day in and day out is an interesting mystery to consumers, so share it!
Think of social media as a give and take, a push and pull.  Push out good information and pull in feedback, dialogs, and motivation.  Give your consumers a virtual taste of your signature coffee blends.  Beyond the bean, help them understand the planting, picking, and roasting processes with enticing, exciting visuals.  The more transparent and exposed you become, the more business advantages you will gain.  In return you receive a dedicated peer base, a group to bounce ideas off of, to introduce new products to, and a group to share your journey with.
Research Is Key
In pursuit of discovering our audience base and to better understand the overall coffee roasting community, my team worked with CoffeeTalk, for their extensive roaster database and industry expertise, to execute an online survey – centered on roasters’ business involvement in the digital space.  Together, we distributed the survey to roaster professionals nationwide to learn what they thought was compelling content and where business conversations were occurring online.  Now that we know the majority of you are out there on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, look to us as a helpful industry resource in those channels.
We understand the roasting process takes your attention away from your computer screens, many of you are online for less than an hour each day.  We promise to deliver concise, rich content that will fuel your business.  As decision makers, we know you see value in social media and are searching for innovation.
Overall, I hope always to continue to learn, to cultivate lasting relationships amongst roasters, and to ensure that our online strategies are designed in your favor.
Legal: ©2013 LBP Manufacturing, Inc. The ‘Filter in Circle’ Design is a trademark of LBP Manufacturing. Patent(s) Pending.