Why Advertising is Important for Agriculture
And how you can get the best of it
When’s the last time you’ve heard someone say: “I like IGOR apples better than JUN apples”?
Now imagine you get to choose between a Spalding basketball and a Voit basketball, which one would you pick?
Wouldn’t it be great for your customers to take a quick glance at an apple bag, identify the brand in half a second, and just put it in their shopping cart?
Almost every decision that we make is based on our habits. You see the sun coming through your window, you rise. You walk out to your kitchen, you see the coffee-maker and start making coffee. You take a sip of coffee and think: “well, I better start making some breakfast”. In his book “The Power of Habit” Charles Duhigg explains that for every familiar cue there’s a routine, and then a reward.
When you see that tasty bag of crispy, seasoned potato chips (the cue), you think of the satisfaction (the reward) it gives you while you’re watching TV, so you immediately pick it up (the routine) and put it in your cart.
Would you like to see shoppers seeing a bag of your produce, putting it in their cart without thinking about it twice, because they know they’re getting a quality, healthy, organic and delicious product?
So how can agriculture benefit from advertising?
Advertising helps build consumer habits.
There are many things that drive people to buy things. If you asked a bunch of people why they buy fruits and vegetables they’d probably say: “because it’s healthy”. Others are vegetarians, and others like to support companies with green products.
The answer lies in showcasing your produce like it is: a natural, beneficial product that emerges from a year-long toil, that won’t change it’s quality from bag to bag.
People want to see how produce is grown and prepared
In this day and age information is at our fingertips. One quick search with Google yields amazing results for any topic. This has shifted the way people consume stuff, especially food.
If a person is interested in buying oranges from your grove, it is more than likely that that person is going to google your brand. This is why agricultural companies need to have great-looking social media accounts.
If people see that the farms they’re buying from are carefully taking care of their image, they’ll trust that brand. Also, if they can see the hard work that takes place at a farm, from preparing the soil to harvesting the crops, they’ll trust the farms even more.
They want to see ethical farming
People are concerned about the way farms manage themselves today. This means that if you don’t show the measures that you’re taking to be a responsible farmer, you’re probably pushing would-be clients away.
Keeping your Instagram feed updated will attract more and more millennials, as they’re the key demographic to target with responsible farming. With over 1 billion people using Instagram every month, and 75% of businesses in the US using it, you can see that the platform is now business-heavy.
If more and more Americans are opting for organic produce, agricultural companies should all strive to start being sustainable and ethical. But it still won’t matter if they don’t show it to their clients.
Another important issue is, of course, the COVID-19 crisis. A recent survey showed that young consumers believe that brands “should step up and help”, showing their efforts such as: consumer safety, employee welfare, honoring first responders, among other things.
If they see the same produce quality, they will pick the one with the better packaging.
This one is a no-brainer. If you see two random shampoo bottles at the same price, you’d probably pick the one with the better packaging. If you see two gallons of milk at the exact same price, you will pick the brand that looks better.
Which bag of carrots do you think people will grab at the supermarket: the one with a generic label or the one with the personalized, modern label that also invites you to see how you’re growing your crops?
A better image goes a long way
Having a great brand is very important for B2B sales opportunities too. If you show that you take care of every little detail, from a single email to every social media post, your company is already a great candidate to collaborate with.
It shows that you treat your products with the attention they deserve, and always strive to make them better, and that just yells: more sales!
Brand awareness is a joint effort. If your produce is great, why not show it to the world?
The role of advertising is paramount in today’s markets because:
- Advertising helps build customer loyalty by portraying your company values.
- Advertising takes your image everywhere to increase sales.
- Advertising helps launch new products in an efficient way.
By using social media you can sell directly to your customers, and at the same time portray life in the fields, crop preparation and other types of content. The former is great for a campaign or a special product, and the latter to cement your brand into the minds of your audience.
With more and more people buying online every day, from Boomers to Millennials, now is the perfect time to start building your company’s brand by showing to the whole world how agriculture works, its importance, and the effort put into every day’s toil.
