The Key to Growing a Successful Ag Business? Nurture Your Marketing Efforts

If you own an Ag business, chances are you have strong feelings about the benefits of marketing that business. You are not alone. Most business owners either believe that marketing is essential to their success or they believe that marketing is overrated and even unnecessary.

At US Farm Data, we talk to business owners who tell us that marketing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. These individuals usually fall into one of two categories. The first category is business owners who don’t believe in marketing at all. They tell us that business is brisk so rather than invest money in marketing, they want to invest it in new products or similar endeavors.

The second category is those whose business is on shaky ground. Sales are flat and their number one concern is keeping their business in the black. They do some marketing here and there but when cuts are necessary the first thing on the chopping block is marketing.

What is hard for both categories of business owners to understand is that no matter how outstanding your product, marketing is necessary for lead generation and to build brand awareness – both of which lead to converting sales. Further, while running a tight ship makes good business sense, saving your way to profitability won’t work. Cutting marketing costs to increase profits is impossible, since marketing is what drives revenue.

If you own an Ag business that needs to cut expenses because costs are exceeding revenue, we get it. However, would you be surprised to learn that when it comes to struggling businesses, the ones that turn things around are usually the ones that keep their marketing budget intact?  It’s true. The fact is that successful businesses, even when times are tough, adhere to a very basic principle: When it comes to driving revenue, sales and marketing go hand-in-hand.

Finally, many business owners in the Ag industry (and most other industries) become frustrated with the amount of time it takes for some marketing initiatives to produce measurable results. We understand this frustration and know well that patience can be hard to come by, especially when business is slow. But opting out of marketing because it doesn’t provide instant results can prove extremely costly. And things like brand awareness, for example, require an investment of time and money. There are no two ways around it.

If you offer a quality product to farmers or others in the Ag industry, you simply cannot afford to scrimp on marketing. At US Farm Data, we help Ag businesses just like yours drive sales through marketing. It may take some time but ask any of our clients and they will tell you that it was time well spent. To learn more, call us today at 800-960-6267 or visit us online at www.usfarmdata.com.