Imran Saleh. (Fingers crossed since he passed his goal of stocking 8 tons of mature cheese. Now he’s moving toward 16.)
We’ve done many articles about Imran Saleh in Lahore, Pakistan.* During the course of writing these articles, we noticed that Imran’s business, Farmer’s Cheese employs a lot of marketing strategies that we rarely, if ever see in the States. We thought (hoped) you might find them interesting.
Most of the pictures below came from Imran’s very active Facebook page – (click here)
10 Marketing Strategies
1. The company makes over 50 different kinds of cheese. New ones are constantly being introduced.
This is their impressive list of products in January, 2021:
2. They emphasize that their cheese is low carbohydrate and low sugar. This is because the Keto diet (low carb) is very popular in Pakistan.
3. They offer home delivery in Lahore and nearby cities for a slight charge.
4. They make videos regularly about the business and the quality of their cheese. You can see many of his videos on YouTube (click here).
Imran told us:
“Every Sunday I am in my office making informative videos to spread information about cheese and good food. Since it’s mostly in urdu ( language we speak ) you won’t understand them. But now, I plan to do some in English so that it might help or motivate others, too.”
5. Their Facebook page is filled with photos of their cheeses being used in recipes.
6. They post frequent pictures and videos of the employees. Some of their videos show the workers dancing and singing! We’re not sure what this is about, but it is very cool!
That’s Imran at right. This picture was taken at the former facility.
Screenshot from a short video on their Facebook page.
7. They have “Buy 1, Get 1 Free” sales. We seldom see this with cheese (at least in our neck of the woods).
8. They sell cheese platters. Some are custom made:
9. They package a lot of their cheese in boxes. As Imran told us:
“Packaging catches the eyes first. So, in that context, my company decided to use coloured packages for as many products as we can. It worked well and now people can get pure cheese in beautiful packaging.”
10. Lastly, Imran is a very strong presence in his advertising. He constantly posts messages about the importance of healthy eating.
In fact, he told us:
“The coronavirus had taught us one thing – the importance of pure and natural food to build a great immune system. You might not believe this, but I was exposed to corona patients several times accidentally and I was not effected at all. I didn’t even test positive. When my family was effected last year, I was the one who was looking after them all the time. I think the credit goes to cheese, olive oil, lemons and honey which I have eaten regularly for the last few years.”
Summary:
We think it’s possible that we have a lot to learn from Imran’s marketing strategies. What do you think?
*Previous blog articles about Imran:
Imran Saleh’s New Building in Lahore, Pakistan (2021)
Imran Saleh Update – The Pandemic in Pakistan (2020)
Imran Saleh in Lahore, Pakistan – An Update (2019)
Imran Saleh in Pakistan – Expanding Again! (2017)
Imran Saleh – Changing the Culture of Pakistan (2015)
Teaching a Workshop in Pakistan with Imran Saleh (2013)
Making “Dry” Mozzarella in Pakistan (2013)
Making Cheese in Pakistan (2013)
