A captive audience is the dream of a lifetime for a marketer. Taking advantage is another thing altogether. Once a customer is found, they need to be given what they want, and in a form they can understand. Most “modern” marketing hooks have been tried, but some more unconventional ideas haven’t. If a company can find a hook that will appeal to a captive audience, a very tidy profit will be at hand.
Earth Bio Fuels Inc., a producer, distributor and marketer of renewable fuels, offers a range of products targeting transportation end-uses. The company’s main product lines include renewable fuels oriented around ethanol, biodiesel and liquid natural gas. Its main product line is biodiesel.
The company markets its products directly to wholesalers on a regional basis. Its biodiesel products tend to sell well in the truck-stop and fueling marketplaces after blending into B20 diesel products. Its liquefied natural gas products are sold through its wholly owned subsidiary Earth LNG in Oklahoma and Texas.
The company’s strength lies in its regional appeal to a fairly targeted marketplace. The South-Western US and parts of California rely on the long haul trucker to move goods between major metropolitan markets. These movements tend to concentrate refueling locations at many strategically located sites where one type/blend of fuel will typically be used as a standard between refueling locations. Having one type of fuel allows for consistency within an engine, which leads to better engine efficiencies.
To capitalize on this particular aspect of end-user preference, the company has hooked its horse to a unique marketing tool within the regional trucking market. BioWillie (a fuel idea begun by singer Willie Nelson at a nowhere truck-stop involving the fueling of his tour bus) branded biofuels are a trucking phenomenon within this region and have a regional spread and appeal. The company has exclusive license to this biofuel marketing opportunity, and is using it as an advantage.
Interestingly, trucker preference leans toward biofuels in a region that has a wide range of pricing patterns. California is fairly high priced, while other stops along the TX-CA corridor are less so. As the company’s products are largely based on canola, soy and other somewhat less expensive natural products, it has advantages to ply. Ethanol is a consideration, but the company has such a spread of resources it is fairly well-positioned regardless of price direction in any one category of fuel used. Bio Fuels Inc. is on a long stretch of highway and has profit centers along the entire stretch.
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