Posts Tagged ‘organic’

Organically Approved Handcrafted Compost Blends

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

With the recent proliferation of high cost, handcrafted, organically approved soils in the urban gardening market, gardening consumers are more aware of what ingredients combine to make a healthy environment for plants to thrive.

Coast of Maine has been making handcrafted compost blends since 1996 using marine residuals, like lobster shells, that are rich in calcium and chitin.

Many years ago Dr. William Albrecht, one of the foremost authorities on the relation of soil fertility to human health, wrote about calcium in one of his many volumes of research.

“Calcium perhaps plays more roles in the overall health of both the plant and the soil than any other nutrient. If we get the calcium right in the soil, most of our work is done.”

At Coast of Maine we know that once we hand craft our soils our work is not done. When you place your order with us we will work to help you market your garden center with our expertise in social media in a way that you won’t receive from any other vendor.

I’ll come to your garden center myself and host the “Great Coast of Maine” giveaway to bring customers to you and stimulate sales.

Give me a call today and I’ll explain how we market your garden center while providing you with outstanding handcrafted, organically approved compost blends.

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The Coast of Maine Broadcast Network

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

At Coast of Maine we are constantly looking for ways to promote the independent garden centers who carry our products. Last year we started posting videos to the Facebook pages of those garden centers. You may have seen a few on your Facebook page.

The results have been wonderful. Views of our videos are way up and early sales of products like our Quoddy Lobster Compost are ahead of last year.

We have “liked” over 350 garden center Facebook pages on the Coast of Maine Facebook page. You may be able to learn from them to improve or build your own Facebook page.

We are also here to help you build or improve your Facebook page. We only ask that you “like” the Coast of Maine Facebook page once this is done.

In addition we will post video content to your Facebook page for the Coast of Maine products that you specifically sell while we invite your customers to view the videos and then go to your garden center to purchases those specific products.

We are building a broadcast network specifically developed to promote and market independent garden centers. I would like to invite you to view the Coast of Maine Facebook Page to see how we highlighted almost 50 garden centers last year.

In addition you may want to check out the Coast of Maine YouTube Channel . You will see that we have begun to produce videos for the garden centers that carry our products. We actually have a section of the YouTube channel set up to promote independent garden centers. We might be able to do this for your garden center too. Just ask us.

We love doing business with independent garden centers and we want to help you market your business.

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Relationships, Beautiful Places and Great Products

Friday, April 30th, 2010

One of our longtime customers, Nathan Russell from Granite Gardens in Tenants Harbor, Maine called to place his order the other day. Nathan uses his own truck to pick up our compost products for his garden center. Although it is beautiful, the ride is over 3 hours to our composting and bagging facility in Marion, Maine.  

After he ordered he asked, “Can I leave my rig in your yard over the weekend? My wife and I eloped to West Quoddy Head 11 years ago and this weekend is our anniversary. I would like to drive up with my truck on Friday and leave my rig in the Coast of Maine yard while we celebrate over the weekend in Lubec.”

This request made me smile because it reflects the relationship we have with our customers. I knew the answer would be yes but I had to check to make sure it was O.K. with Ruby Trott and Jeff Moore who run our compost facility.

This time of year is crazy with production, bagging and loading trucks. Jeff and Ruby do a wonderful job making sure that everything is running up to par. They are two of the hardest working people I know. They are also partners in life and have great big “Downeast” souls and sensibilities.

Ruby checked with Jeff and of course it was fine with them.

Nathan will drive up with his wife, spend a beautiful weekend in Lubec, along the Bay of Fundy, and then pick up his load of Coast of Maine soils.

His load will include our Fundy Enriching Mulch named after the Bay of Fundy and our Penobscot Blend Complete Planting Mix named after Penobscot Bay, where Nathan lives.

Granite Gardens also sells of Quoddy Lobster Compost  , so whether Nathan and his wife Jody are working at the garden center, celebrating their marriage or simply visiting one of the most beautiful places in the world, Coast of Maine will always be there even if it is just to offer some free parking.

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Making the Right Product Choices for Your Independent Business

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Independent retailers are constantly challenged with deciding on what products to carry. Does the product represent their business philosophy? Does it have enough intrinsic value and brand recognition to maintain good margins? Is the packaging attractive and informative? Is the product quality and availability good and consistent? In short does the product increase the bottom line while building customer loyalty and trust?

On a recent visit to Riverside Nursery & Garden Center in Collinsville, Connecticut, recognized by Today’s Garden Center as one of the top 100 Revolutionary Garden Centers in the country; I interviewed Jena Hinman Keller in regard to these very questions.

The result of the interview is a four and a half minute video in which Jena articulately explains her thought process in selecting the products she carries. She is very aware of the look, the credibility of the product, the message that Riverside is sending to the customer by carrying the product, how the product enhances the garden center’s reputation as the “gardening experts” and her choice to be more upfront in pushing organic products.

We invite you to watch the video and we thank Jena for choosing Coast of Maine.

Click the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/cameronbonsey#p/a/u/2/EzEqrQ1CRO0

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