SBIR-STTR Award

Our proposal with this research is to determine feasibility for successfully marketing high protein, low ash fish meals made from fish scrap to the aquaculture, agriculture, and pet food industries. APPROACH: We will use appropriate market research methods and tools to; 1) determine customer needs in each market, 2) understand the competitive landscape, 3) determine volume expectations, 4) establish values by market, 5) understand barriers to entry, and 6) rank market opportunities. NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Bio-Oregon is developing an innovative process to convert seafood waste into hydrolyzed and non-hydrolyzed high protein, low ash fish meals. Successful introduction of unique fish meals made from seafood processing waste into competitive markets requires strategic marketing. Businesses developing new products need a marketing plan to link the activities of technological development with an intimate understanding of potential customers. At this time, Bio-Oregon has not developed a plan to market the hydrolyzed and non hydrolyzed protein fish meals it has demonstrated it can recover from fish scrap. Although it appears that these new products can be manufactured economically and have industry leading attributes and benefits, lack of market planning means the company may make un-needed expenditures and achieve poor market positioning. Development of a preliminary marketing plan will help ensure that it is economic to convert seafood processing waste into unique, high protein fish meals. This success, in turn, will increase jobs and wages in rural, fishing communities. In addition, the results of this project will guide Bio-Oregon to focus future market and product research on achieving the best customer position and highest possible values for its products. Finally, this research can be a model for other small businesses that need strategic marketing to compliment product development strengths.

Keywords:
marketing new products; seafood processing waste; fish protein

Introducing new products into a competitive market can be frustrating and problematic. At this time, Bio-Oregon feels it can successfully market the novel fish-based ingredients it is developing to segments of the aquaculture, agriculture, and pet food industries. However, the company has not developed a comprehensive plan to support introduction and growth of its new products. The significance of this is that without a marketing strategy it is likely Bio-Oregon will make wasteful promotion and selling expenditures, and miss-direct the future technical development of its unique products. In addition, the best marketing opportunities may be entirely overlooked and the company may not find the highest value markets. The purpose of our project is to create profitable, sustainable sales of novel fish-based ingredients that are produced from fish carcass waste using technology developed with support from SBIR/CREES. Specifically, the outcome of our work will; identify discrete market opportunities(segments, customers) that have sufficient sales potential, communicate product and value propositions to customers, create sustainable sales, establish a quality reputation for Bio-Oregon, establish a service record, and increase industry awareness of Bio-Oregon. The revenue from sales of our new products will support business diversification, further capital expenditures and investment, and increase manufacturing employment.