Coast of Maine

Since 1996, Coast of Maine Brands has been creating world-class compost blends. With a company passion for local retailers and organic gardening practices, Coast of Maine has long been on the forefront of producing video, social media, and donation programs to drive traffic to their retail partners.

Cameron Bonsey, VP of Marketing explains, “We had influencers before they were called influencers. I would visit garden centers and they would tell me how amazing our Quoddy Lobster Compost works. I would hear story after story. So we started bringing a video camera to capture those moments. That led to creating video content that highlighted the garden center and reinforced the idea of ‘buy local.’”

Coast of Maine Brands also created Facebook pages for customers along with ‘how to’ videos instructing garden centers how to post and digitally connect with their customers.

Like every horticultural company on a limited budget, Coast of Maine Brands continued looking for organic ways to build their brand.

“We realized our garden centers were constantly being asked for donations from the community. We love educating consumers and we know how important children are to the future of farming and gardening. We realized that we could support ‘buy local,’ create a deeper sense of community, and build the Coast of Maine brand by donating soil through the local retailer. That was the beginning of our Growing Good Program,” Bonsey enthuses.

The Growing Good program encourages the school garden coordinator to apply online at www.coastofmaine.com. They describe the school’s garden program and designate the local retailer they would like to work with. Coast of Maine connects the retailer with the coordinator, donating 10 cubic feet of Coast of Maine soil.

The web page contains the following explanation:

Because it has long been the philosophy of the Coast of Maine brand that our locally made products should only be sold by local independent retailers / garden centers, (not in “big box stores”) we ask all school Garden Coordinators to not only pick up your donations at your local garden center, but to also thank that garden center publicly on your social media pages! The garden center receives a credit for the sale of the product from Coast of Maine and YOU get to feel great about supporting and promoting a local community business. Win – Win!

“We are driven to use our marketing platforms to create deeper relationships with our retailers and the communities they serve,” Bonsey says. ‘Buy local’ is more important now than it has ever been.

If you are interested in selling Coast of Maine Brands, please check out www.coastofmaine.com or call 800-345-9315.