6 THE CAAR COMMUNICATOR Branding always comes first for a company—it shows consumers who your business is for (the dairy community or organic produce, for example). It also tells the consumer what your company is about, such as whether you are a precision ag technology specialist. Marketing? That’s how you build awareness of your brand. So, marketing has nothing to do with branding, but branding has something to do with marketing. Now that you know the difference, we can tell you that there are different types of brand marketing, though the end goal is always the same. Because it’s always good to have the experts involved, cutting-edge AI software company ONPASSIVE (www.onpassive.com) said that the top five most common types of brand marketing are: 1. Product Branding; 2. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Branding; 3. Enterprise Branding; 4. Public relations (PR) Branding, and; 5. Social Media Marketing. As an agricultural retailer or manufacturer, you may focus on any one or all of the above, but plain old brand marketing trumps them all because it focuses on all of them. But, like we first alluded to, there’s no quick and dirty fix. It will take time and commitment because brand marketing is a long game. And though it takes time to unravel, it works. How to do brand marketing Brand marketing involves growing a base of loyal customers by communicating and growing your brand’s identity and values. That means letting people know all about you, your shop, and, of course, your products—but it also means taking things further to ensure you gain repeat customers and more sales. For example, regarding tractors, North American farmers know all about Case IH, John Deere, Kubota, Massey Ferguson, and New Holland (and others, of course). But what about those people who don’t plant fields of corn or soybeans? What about the urbanite? Massey Ferguson may ring a bell among an older crowd, but everyone—in ag or outside of it—knows about John Deere. This isn’t to put any of those brands down. It’s to point out that John Deere has developed brand recognition even outside the ag industry and into the urban schoolground. But outside of knowing that “Nothing runs like a Deere”, we would be hard-pressed to find the average person knowing that the company makes anything more than “tractors.” In other words, while the company is certainly thriving and far-reaching, John Deere’s brand marketing still has a limit to its reach. But we didn’t mean to demean any of the other companies. We are sure that Deere, Case IH, Kubota, Massey Ferguson, and New Holland et al., are wellknown and well-respected by a large swathe of the ag population, who provide each with repeat business purchasing their noteworthy brands. Number One The first step a company must take to succeed is to determine what the company is, to whom you wish to serve, and how you wish to serve them. Let’s suppose you have a grain storage facility or a brick-and-mortar shop in Anytown, Canada, or Smalltown, US. In that case, you need to determine if your goal is to service that area, a larger portion of the province, the entire provincial area (the Maritimes, for example), or all of Canada, which may include international business. If your business is online only, which of those above-noted areas will you serve? Do you have restrictions—such as not selling fertilizer to such countries? It’s okay. We’ve seen such restrictions placed on the online auction site eBay. It’s the seller’s prerogative, but hopefully that’s as far as it should go. Or perhaps your Anytown brick-and-mortar shop is the centrepiece of your ag retail empire. That initial building could be your high-end showcase, where people will want to travel to a place to see and test-drive something they might not otherwise get a chance to do elsewhere. While the point here is to create a customer destination that is the place to be, it can also have an online sales presence to widen your customer service area of attention or to service those unable to travel to your destination shop. Whichever way you choose to do it, it boils down to the services you care to provide—and how you will give them. The How Now that you know who you are, what you are selling, and to whom, how do you tell people you exist to serve them? BRAND MARKETING
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc0MDI3