Marketing Tips for Ag-Industry Veterans at Brand-New Companies
It’s an exciting time to be in agriculture with new innovations and solutions coming to the market every day. With those innovations, many agriculture industry veterans are finding themselves jumping from, say, a storied ag behemoth to an exciting new startup. Their leadership and insights into our complex and nuanced industry are invaluable. But in the years I’ve worked in this space, I’ve also seen a pattern of hiccups that occur when these leaders make this kind of switch in the ag world. What follows are lessons I see them learning over and over again.
1. Don’t Take Awareness for Granted
Industry veterans likely have experience launching a new product, but its rare for them to market a new company altogether. Awareness matters. You cannot just enter and leave through a normal selling cycle. Brand recognition takes years and an investment of consistently defining who you are and what you are about. Many new companies do not have a corporate-sized marketing budget, but awareness and regular communications cannot be put on the back-burner. Priorities should be put in place to build awareness while also trying to sell. You can’t assume that your audience will remember who you are from one season to the next without consistency in your presence
2. Resist the Temptation to Focus on Hiring Firefighters for the Short Term: Play the Long Game
Taking the leadership role in a startup can feel a lot like trying to build a plane while flying it. So, it can feel counter-intuitive to focus on the candidate you need long-term when you’re struggling to get the aircraft off the runway in one piece. Consider investing in that mid- to senior-level experienced person to run your marketing, with long-term goals in mind and not just a firefighter. Even with a solid agency behind you, the success of your marketing begins and ends with the people you put in direct management of those assets from Day 1.
3. Avoid Expecting a Deal Because You’re a Start-Up
Regardless of the size of the budget, you will likely be able to find someone willing to do the work, that’s not the issue. Similar to when you hire work done on your car or home, it comes down to how much you prioritize quality and a knowledge-base specific to the industry. Keep in mind quality can come in the form of agencies or independents. Big agencies and small. The size of the business does not equate to the quality of the work. Find a partner that can run efficiently beside you, the investment in the right people from the start sets your brand up for success early.
4. Marketing Isn’t Just Advertising Costs
Today’s marketing budgets should include a blend of integrated tactics and rarely is that limited to just an ad buy. If you want to make an impact, you have to have a right-sized budget to carry you through to your market. Today’s farm audiences are flooded with messages from all angles and they start to blur together. If you want to get their attention, you have to break through the noise on a number of different levels.
5. Don’t Expect One Magic Tactic to be the Golden Ticket
I hear it all the time. “We just need a … [fill in the blank]!” Unfortunately, even the most beautifully shot video in the world will not be enough, on its own, to accomplish everything you want it to. However, an engaging video combined with a content marketing plan that includes media relations and social media marketing can work in tandem to reach the audience. One-off tactics can greatly increase awareness for a moment and even drive some early sales, but you need a more cohesive and calculated program to really move the needle in adoption. Expecting too much from one tactic can create frustration all around and lead to a break in forward progress for your brand.
6. Consumer Principles Don’t Translate to the Farmer Audience
Advertising is advertising, right? Well, not exactly. The broad principles applied to many mainstream brands work for a lot of companies, whether it be FB marketing or content development. But, American farmers are a distinct and nuanced market -- even if they drive billions of dollars of annual revenue for so many companies. Engaging them and winning their trust is not a simple task. Investing in a strategic partner who knows farmers and knows which side of the combine has the boom can save you a lot of headaches and gaffes with our core audience. For new companies/startups, especially, thinking you can teach someone else what they don’t know about the ag industry is often more draining of your already limited time and budget.
At Grit, we work with companies just starting out and those with established brand presence to get the most efficient and targeted use of a marketing budget. If you are interested in learning more, please feel free to reach out.
