If you are a small agricultural business marketing to farmers, your budget is probably pretty tight. While it can be tempting to cut back on promoting your business, most business owners understand that marketing is necessary to bring in new customers.
The key to successfully marketing your ag-based business to farmers is not to spend more but to spend smarter. So how do you do that? It’s actually much easier than you might think.
- Encourage reviews. Research shows that today’s customers trust online reviews as much as a recommendation from a friend or family member. That makes asking your customers to leave an online review extremely important.
- Hang out online. Find out where your target audience is hanging out online and join them. In addition to relationship building, social media is a great place get your business out there without directly selling. Plus, by posting interesting and relevant content that is shareable your audience will grow without you having to do any extra work.
- Share your knowledge. Consider speaking at local agriculture meetings or conventions so your name becomes synonymous with the products you are selling. This will strengthen your relationship with current customers and will get you in front of new ones. Plus, when people are ready to buy, you will be the first name that comes to mind. You also might want to consider getting in touch with ag-media outlets to offer your services when they need a source for a story or a quote for an article they are writing.
- Size up the competition. Are your competitors running Facebook ads? Do they publish a monthly newsletter? If your competitors are doing a good job of luring in customers, there is nothing wrong with taking a cue from them.
- Update your website. If you haven’t updated your website in a while it’s time to do it. In today’s digital marketplace, your website is the lifeblood of your business. In many cases customers will check out your website before deciding whether or not to do business with you. Make sure your website leaves visitors wanting to partner with your business.
Getting the word out about your ag-business is essential to its bottom line. Thankfully, there are some easy ways to get your business noticed without breaking the bank.