Circle Media’s top insights into agricultural advertising
Marketers pride themselves on understanding people and how they work. Whether it’s their clients or target audiences, they know who they’re dealing with. Yet one demographic that marketers continually fail to reach or understand is our agricultural community. We’re talking about farmers, primary producers and the wider rural community. Metro Agencies find them difficult to market to, and worse still, they don’t know they’ve failed until they don’t make the sale. So here are Circle Media’s top tips to successful agricultural advertising.
1 – Manners are key.
When talking to your potential client, you’ll find that farmers are unfailingly polite. And, while this seems like a benefit, it makes them particularly hard to read. You’ve asked for their time and they’ll give it to you. But, if you start telling them things they know are untrue, or if anything is beginning to seem fake or forced they invisibly tune out. They’ll happily sit there seemingly listening, but behind that facade they’ve already made up their minds. They’re just giving you common courtesy.
2 – They’re great judges of character (that’s why they work with us)
Not to generalise, but as a whole the rural community are great judges of character. They’re constantly assessing you and won’t let you know until they’ve made up their minds. So take this as a warning and be careful how you act. Being patronising or disingenuous won’t win you the business.
3 – Don’t underestimate them.
There’s a common misconception that farmers are unsophisticated, when in reality it’s the opposite. They run high value, sophisticated businesses, so they understand more than you’re giving them credit for. Marketers often make the mistake of assuming that a farmer spends all their time outside, working hands on. But, what they aren’t appreciating is that owning and running a farm requires you to wear a lot of hats – generally none of them an Akubra (Marketing Generalisation #1). Don’t get me started on checked shirts either. This morning you’re marketing and doing HR, the next you’re outside harvesting, the next you’re managing finances and the following day you’re running the business.
Farms are multimillion-dollar turnover operations, and they’re much more challenging than people give them credit for. By speaking down to them you are automatically alienating your client or target audience.
4 – It all comes back to the source.
Above all else, the rural community listen to each other. Farmers respect peer opinions and experiences over what marketers are trying to sell them. Understanding this as a channel and an opportunity is an important step to understanding agricultural advertising.
5 – It comes down to the fundamentals.
The disconnect between marketers and primary producers doesn’t all come down to the marketer not knowing the demographics. Farmers are fundamentally wary of marketing. Every year they’re gambling their entire income and putting everything on the table, so being hesitant about marketing is understandable.
Do these sound like familiar problems? That’s where we come in. Circle Media understand both sides of the equation. We understand the industry and the people involved, because we’ve worked in it. We understand your operation and when harvest season is. Plus, we can more than hold our own in a conversation about tractors or tillage. This gives us a whole other appreciation for the agricultural industry that many marketing agencies lack.
From the marketing perspective, we know your demographics so we can help you find the right voice and the right channels to get your information where you need it to go. We know your audience and we can help you understand them too. Have a talk to the team at Circle Media today for more insights on agricultural advertising.