Five Places to Gain a Fresh Perspective on Ag Marketing
Marketing to farmers can be tough. To successfully market to farmers you need to know who exactly your customers are, what they need right now and how you can best meet those needs. But it doesn’t end there.
Even if you have what your customers need, you need to figure out how to let farmers know that you have it. This means communicating with them in such a way that they want to purchase what you are selling at the price you have set for it.
One challenge all marketers face is that many times they spend so much time in the office trying to figure out how to best do their job that they lose touch with the very people they need to know about-their target audience.
If you are an Ag marketer, perhaps the best way to jump start your marketing efforts is to get out among the people you are trying to connect with. By doing so you will gain a fresh perspective on marketing to farmers. Here are some places you are likely to find inspiration:
- On the road. Drive by fields, visit Ag dealers or consider a university field tour. Whatever gets you out among others in the Ag industry.
- Farm shows. Talking to farmers at Ag shows can do wonders for your perspective. Study what farmers are interested in right now. What products or displays are attracting the most attention?
- On the farm. Visit family, friends or customers who live and work on farms. These are the people in the trenches. They know what works, what doesn’t work and what they are looking for to make their jobs easier. Further, they are more likely to be honest and open when they are on their own turf.
- Industry events. Talking to other Ag marketers and sharing stories of success or failure can help you see things more clearly. What worked for one marketer might work for you. You also may hear cautionary tales about something that didn’t work for them.
- Non-industry gatherings. Sometimes you need to get outside your own head and your specific industry. How about attending general marketing events or talk to people who are marketing to people completely outside of the Ag industry? Doing so will allow you to think about marketing in different ways and will help to get your creative juices flowing again.
Remember, great marketing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. The surest way to be out of touch with your target audience is to remain behind a desk all day or on the phone. Instead, get out there and discover what is going on in the world of Ag and beyond. Then when you do get back to your desk you will have a whole new perspective on how to best market to your target audience of farmers.