Do you ever ask yourself if your marketplace is different than others?
I ask because very often, firms try to take cues from other firms who operate in different industries with different audiences and find that just following the leader doesn’t work. Often, they are left wondering where things fell apart and they never consider the fact that what works in one industry, might not work in another industry with a unique culture.
Take, for instance, the Agriculture industry.
As an agency with a number of Agriculture (“Ag”) based clients, we have a significant investment of time and people in that marketplace. The investment is due to the fact that the Ag marketplace is unique and has distinctive characteristics that need to be understood when communicating to people who operate within it.
Probably more than any other market, face-to-face relationship is critical in Agriculture. Although social media and online technology is making inroads into the Ag industry, in most cases, they exist on the periphery of communications and where they are in use, they are used to augment established and well-maintained personal relationships.
Of course, relationship is important everywhere and we talk about that a lot on this blog. However, the Agricultural marketplace is rooted and steeped in a deeper and more personal understanding of community and as a result, the people within understand deeply how relationships are fundamental to commerce.
So how does that play out when communicating about new services and products in the Ag marketplace? Well, if you haven't worked on the relationship either before or during the pitch, your chances of success are minimal. But, when you have proven yourself to be trustworthy (that you deliver on your promise), you not only have extremely loyal customers, but passionate advocates as well…not just someone that appreciates your product, but someone that actually appreciates you.
There’s a person behind every purchase in the Agriculture industry. Approaching Agricultural marketing communications with any other perspective is asking for trouble.
So how does your marketplace differ? What are the unique aspects/characteristics of your audience and how will you speak to them?
We’re all ears (pun intended).
