For many marketers, the idea of being “on the cutting edge” of your industry is a desirable position to be in. However, It’s no simple task considering how rapidly technology transforms in our digital age. In the fresh produce industry, we face our own set of unique marketing challenges, many of which are influenced by Mother Nature. Yet despite these challenges, technology has never before put our industry’s marketers in a better position to succeed and reach both consumers and buyers in a way that is measurable and obtainable. Do you want to set yourself apart from your competition as well as stand out amongst marketers throughout our industry? If the answer is yes, consider these tips:
- Conduct Research
A tried and true method, investing in customer and consumer research can ensure your company has a leg-up in terms of understanding your audience and their needs. This understanding is key to marketing success – and you don’t necessarily have to start with outsourcing a third-party research firm. While employing companies like Nielsen Perishables Group to help you conduct research is extremely beneficial, if you have budget constraints you may want to consider simply asking your audiences yourself from the comfort of your own desk. Use social media and forms on your website to ask your audience strategic and intentional questions that will help you learn about their needs in exchange for something helpful from you in return.
- Leverage Your Sales Team
Smart marketers know that marketing and sales must work together to be a truly effective machine on behalf of your company – this is known as “smarketing.” Begin by interviewing your sales team about the things they know your customers struggle with or the questions they have to answer on a daily basis. From there, you can formulate your marketing content to address these needs. In addition, by sharing consumer insights and shopper information you’ve collected through the research mentioned previously with sales, you will empower them to provide helpful data to your customers.
- Read as Much Marketing Information as Possible
If you’re reading this, you’re already implementing this cutting edge strategy – good for you! The absolute best way for marketers to stay on top of trends and best practices is to consume as much marketing content as possible. Reading The Core Blog each week will put you in a great position, but we also recommend devouring info from Hubspot’s blog, Moz Blog, and The Content Marketing Institute. Subscribe to these and make it your morning ritual to read a few blog pieces while having a cup of coffee or tea.
- Don’t Be Afraid to Outsource Help
Many of the produce marketers we know are one or two person acts. Your resources are limited and you have to pick and choose your battles wisely if you’re going to succeed. If you’re a marketer without a large team, how can you stay on the cutting edge? You can outsource the help and use a marketing agency as an extension of your team to do the heavy lifting. Often a less-expensive alternative to hiring another full-time team member, a marketing agency can provide expert (cutting edge!) assistance on a variety of initiatives, delivering results with expertise and speed. Consider these reasons why you may want to hire an agency.
- Be Agile with Your Planning
It’s true that you can and should plan as much as possible in advance in order to set yourself up for marketing success. However, the nature of social media and our digital communications channels guarantees that something could come along and change or affect our plans along the way. Agile marketers understand this reality and view their plan as a guideline vs. a rule. Instead, they have a plan but are prepared to adjust to be relevant and seize timely opportunities as they come.
- Don’t Try to Please Everybody
During the Inbound 2015 conference, marketer Seth Godin spoke about standing by your company and product’s differentiation. Many brands make adjustments to try and appeal to a larger, mass market, and lose what makes them unique in the process. Don’t be afraid to be the brand that focuses on reaching and conquering success and brand equity with a defined audience. You can’t please everybody, but you can identify what your brand has to offer the people that truly need and want your products.
- Be a Guinea Pig
We’re a cautious group, aren’t we fresh produce marketers? We don’t like to jump into things that aren’t familiar or that no one has tried before. But how can we, as an industry, stay on the cutting edge and compete effectively with the CPG brands? We can’t do it without jumping in and trying the things that we’ve never tried before. Don’t be the “me too” company that waits for a competitor to try something first – volunteer to be the guinea pig and give new strategies and technologies a try, as long as you’re able to measure success!
- Ask Questions
Along with reading and absorbing as much marketing information as possible, the cutting edge marketer asks questions to understand where missed opportunities lie. You should be asking why your analytics are what they are – what story do they tell you? Ask what your goals are. What does success look like? How are you going to use audience insights and research to your benefit? You should ask these questions of yourself, of your internal team, the agencies you work with, your sales team, and even company leadership. Asking will help you understand how to pave a path forward.
Don’t wait for your competitors to start marketing like a modern day marketer – BE the modern day marketer that others in the industry look to as an example of success. Take a look at our marketing resources library for helpful tools you can use to start on your journey to cutting-edge success!
