Conferences like Expo West are quite a good time. Ripe with natural products, organic foods and healthy treats, companies that exhibit at Expo West cater to a very specific type of customer.

And, for the most part, these companies are completely ignoring those that would buy their products.

Their business model is simple and traditional. Find distribution, send them a limited supply of product, buy advertising, hope it sells quickly and then pray the distributor orders more. Coupons are heavily depended on and it’s purely a numbers game.

But it shouldn’t be. Natural and organic buyers are dedicated. Nearly fanatical. They read ingredients, they research business practices and they talk. They talk a lot.

Connecting with them should be easy. Monitor conversations, find out what they’re talking about and answer their questions.

But companies don’t. They’re scared and I have no idea why. They have absolutely nothing to lose. The customers are ALREADY TALKING, so why aren’t they talking about you?

It always amazes me when companies look at me in shock after pulling a quick Techrigy or Radian6 report showing the lack of ownership of search terms in their industry. Southwest Air owns social media in the airline industry, Comcast does the same with ISPs and Zappos rules whatever you’d call what they do.

The aforementioned companies each do fairly singular things very well. There’s no difference between their customer goals and any niche company looking to connect with their clients.

So natural and/or organic companies, why aren’t you standing out? Why aren’t you telling the world your story? It takes a lot of work, passion and perseverance to launch a company that improves people’s lives, so why aren’t you telling your story?

You’d be surprised how many people are already listening. Go talk to them. They want to be your best marketers.