By Aileen Barron, Green Acre Marketing
Already well reported is just how impactful, and, in some cases, challenging Covid-19 has been on marketing teams across the agri-business sector.
However, in light of the marketing trends and tools predicted to be key players for 2020, agri-businesses that have already incorporated these into their marketing strategy have been able to adapt and easily shift their budgets to really focus on these areas.
Every marketing team across the agri-business sector should take the time now to note the shifting consumer behaviour that is unfolding.
Customers’ behaviour is likely to fall within one of the following categories; those that still need your product as before, bulk purchasers; or the ‘wait and see’, who will now have moved down the pipeline as a deferred opportunity.
Review of marketing activity in light of recent trends
Whilst we are almost halfway through the calendar year, it is the seasonality of farming and the sectors within it, that offers a great opportunity to review individual campaigns that were delivered over the winter and spring.
These seasons can act as a start and end point. By utilising tools such as Google Analytics and Social Media Insights, Webmaster Tools or reviewing your e-newsletter results, to name a few, you can draw a pretty good conclusion as to what is working well and what would benefit from improvement.
Key marketing areas that should rank highly for marketing teams at this stage include; search engine optimisation (SEO); content marketing; website development; pay per click (PPC) campaigns; social media campaigns; interactive content, and so on.
Whilst all of above may sound like digital marketing is the be all and end all – this is not the case. Traditional marketing methods are still an extremely important part of the marketing mix; however, they too will play a role in driving traffic to your online platforms and increasing the engagement on them.
For companies that have been highlighted as leaders or providing solutions in the press or through the airwaves, these stories when reshared online, offer the opportunity for customers to engage with the content and start a conversation.
Changing behaviour
There is little to dispute that Covid-19 has led to people spending more time at home and, as a result, spending more time consuming news.
A large portion of this media consumption is being seen online. As a result, it opens the opportunity for agri-businesses to engage with customers in a new way.
Sales teams have first-hand knowledge of customers’ needs and wants, and now more than ever, marketing and sales teams must lean on each other in order to produce engaging content. This can be achieved by profiling the skills of your sales team as individuals and working with the content they can give in relation to product benefits, etc.
There is a strong chance that marketing budgets will come under fire when agri-businesses enter their next financial year.
By driving highly targeted and engaging campaigns, and closely measuring their results through key analytic tools, it gives marketing teams the data to refine marketing spend that will deliver results for future campaigns.
There are indications that businesses within food, pharma and media are expected to experience higher sales conversation rates. The agri sector will feature high here but this will only prove true if agri-businesses start utilising the key marketing tools that are available to them.
For marketing support on any of the items mentioned, contact Green Acre Marketing on: [email protected].
