I’ve read plenty of articles which make marketing sound like a dark art. While I’d never suggest there is a magic formula, I’d like to present a few ideas which any agri-business can try, to help boost their profile in 2020.
1. Who are you speaking to and what do you want to say?
This is the strategic part of your marketing plan, and it might sound obvious, but having a clear idea of who you want to target and what you want to say will make life easier in the long run and ultimately, make your marketing strategy more effective.
It's important to establish an outline of your target market and then put together some key messages for them.
Doing this helps focus the communications planning, which should stem from it.
2. Making the most of your news
Identifying and promoting your news can be a powerful marketing tactic.
While it’s important to steer away from promoting items for the sake of it in an already noisy digital space, what’s day-to-day stuff to you, may be interesting and valuable to your customers.
For example, if part of your work is related to policy changes, updating your audience on those changes and the impact they might have could add value to your working relationships.
Case studies or testimonials are also very effective in showcasing what you do without shouting about how good you are yourselves.
Or, if there is new research that’s been released which relates to your business, is this a good opportunity to let your customers know?
Sharing your news is a great way of creating engaging content that’s informative, positioning you as experts in your field.
And keep it up, have regular meetings to look at what’s coming up and what you can focus on to offer value to your current and potential customers.
3. Disseminating news and views on social media
Most businesses are using social media already, but could do with a review to establish whether it’s effective.
There are so many platforms on offer, and you might be overwhelmed with the options.
Choose the platforms you want to work with carefully, as social media is time consuming, and it could be an idea to focus attention on one platform to begin with.
If targeting farmers, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are all effective, but it’s important to tailor the content to each output.
Be strategic in your approach: Are you tailoring your content to your audience and are you measuring the efficacy of your strategy?
In terms of content, a mixture of your news and views as well as other industry news, stats and facts is a good start. And in agriculture, farmers like hearing what other farmers have to say, so case studies are always good.
Don’t post for the sake of it, post because you have something to say. Social media management now is about engaging your audience and retaining them, so content needs to be good quality and relevant.
High quality images and videos to accompany posts are also important.
Lastly, enjoy it, it doesn't always have to be serious and your company culture and personality should shine through!
Contact Wilesmith if you would like to explore more marketing ideas.
