...
Making the emotional connection to build a brand relationship
The wide open spaces sure seem to be getting noisier lately. Farmers are just like the rest of us – flooded with a massive number of marketing messages on a daily basis. It can become a wall of white noise that farmers ignore.
Sure, hitting them at just the right time with the right solution for a particular need or problem can help a brand gain traction. But what’s the long game? How do you make a lasting relationship that puts your brand at the top of their toolbox beyond that moment?
The answer certainly is not to push tons of content at them, no matter how useful. This just adds to the problem mentioned above.
Something more than just the facts
Something more meaningful has to happen. Something that helps your brand stay important to them, even when a competitive advantage fades away. They need to believe that your brand “gets” them. Align your brand stories, experiences and values with their life stories, experiences and values. In other words, can your brand build a meaningful connection on an emotional level?
Of course, a brand has to be relevant, of value and unique. But what really makes a brand attractive and standout to farmers? How does it make them feel?
Purchase decisions go beyond the rational
When a brand makes an emotional connection, good things can happen as the brand and the farmer’s stories (including language and attitude) align. It creates a special kind of synergy and energy between the two that can have a lasting impact.
The simple fact is: Farmers, like the rest of us, make the vast majority of purchases on an emotional level (though they will NEVER admit it, even to themselves). That’s because facts can overwhelm and complicate the issue. Facts take too much mental energy and effort to sift through when there’s so much else to do. At the end of the day, their gut makes the decision and their head justifies it with facts as a sort of confidence booster.
Not just another face in the crowd
So make your brand one that speaks farmer language and empathizes with where they’re coming from. A brand that makes a meaningful emotional appeal is like a familiar face in a crowded room. It will be the one that sticks out, the one that the farmer is drawn to, the one that farmer will want to talk with and the one that will share a mutual respect with the farmer.
And all those other faces who want to chat with your farmer-customer? They’ll just fade into the background like white noise.