Has this happened to you? You’re having a tough time connecting with your ag audience. Or maybe your brand has lost its way. Before you gather your communications teams for a brand summit or reach out to a brand strategist, take a moment. Perhaps a little agrimarketing therapy is what you need to get a different perspective.
What’s agrimarketing therapy? Much like how retail therapy or an extreme workout can boost your attitude or help sort through an issue, agrimarketing therapy helps you see your brand or farm audience through a different lens. And it can take many forms.
Farm Shows. Stroll around farm shows looking at what other marketers are doing – both good and bad – to reach their ag audiences. Shows are also good venues to observe farmers and hear their questions and opinions.
The Road. Find inspiration with windshield time. Hit the roads, so you can better see your products through the eyes of your customers. Drive by fields, check out test plots, take in a university field day or visit dealers. You likely will have great conversations with others while on the road.
On the Farm. Take it a step further and go visit your families and friends who farm or even your best customers. These folks don’t have a filter; they will be honest with you on what does or doesn’t work. This honesty can help breathe some fresh air into stagnant brands.
Industry Relationships. Reach out to someone else in the ag industry, a fellow agrimarketer whose work you have admired, and strike up a conversation. Share stories and find inspiration in what helps them keep their brand energized. If you want to be even more ambitious, connect with a brand manager outside the ag industry and learn what helps them connect with their audience. These cutting-edge marketers love to talk shop with others who are as interested in marketing as they are.
Look Outside of Ag. Find a marketing conference to attend. Get outside your walls and talk to other marketers looking to do the same thing as you. You’ll definitely think it was a worthwhile investment of time and money when you come away with plenty of new ideas and new connections as well.
Sometimes it’s these types of conversations in informal settings when the freshest ideas emerge.
Once you finished your agrimarketing therapy, you will have a fresh perspective of your business, can bring new life to your brand, and connect better with your ag audience. Then you might be ready for that brand summit or brand strategist.