Digital marketing has so many cool tools and new things pop up seemingly each week. Digital billboards, smart speakers, chatbots are just a few of the new things that a sales person will likely bring up to you in the next few months.
But which tactics do you choose and which have to wait? Reaching the greatest number of growers, requires you to use the tactics used by the greatest number of growers. No matter how cool the new tools might be, go where the farmers already go.
- Web sites. According to ongoing research, the old standby for digital marketing to farmers has to be the web. Seventy percent of growers are using web sites at least weekly for ag-specific reasons. It is the dominant location to find farmers at scale. But the web offers a massive hole where you can pour your marketing dollars if you use it wrong. Choosing only the top tier premium publishers for direct buys and then spending the greater proportion of your web-based marketing dollars with farmer-focused programmatic offerings will earn you scale without overspending.
- That same research shows that farmers use eNewsletters nearly as often on a weekly basis and there are a lot of them. While there are programmatic methods to reach growers, the performance metrics point you in the direction of the premium publishers. Pick your favorite niche brands and start the conversation. When judging one against another, you need to have an apples-to-apples comparison on list size, list makeup, average open rate and the average click-through rate on the ads. Knowing these facts will allow you to weigh the options. By the way, make sure you are getting a unique open rate. Some publishers like to embellish their metrics by quoting irrelevant figures.
- Mobile texting. The options aren’t plentiful but they are growing. Meanwhile, the usage of the mobile phone for ag-specific reasons is growing fast. Companies like Cropstream and publishers like Farm Journal and Farm Progress all offer unique ways to put messages in the back pockets of farmers. But using a company like EZ Texting, you can set up a group of your best customers and be in contact with them consistently and efficiently. There’s nothing more responsive than a mobile message. Almost all of the messages are opened and viewed and the engagement can top 50 percent on the right type of messaging. It is also a great honor to have access to a grower’s phone, so have a great strategy that honors the recipient with good information and doesn’t do it too often.
These three areas are musts if you want to reach growers. Even if you can’t execute all three today, you should be formulating plans to take advantage.
Don’t miss the Ag Marketing in the Digital Age conference, March 24 in St. Louis. To hear more about it from Chief Digital Officer James Arnold, listen here. To read more about the conference, click here.
If you are interested in more information about how Rooster Strategic Solutions can help you, reach out via our Contact page.