At DMA Solutions, we are constantly learning and challenging ourselves in order to advance the marketing of fresh fruits and vegetables to consumers and trade buyers. What we discovered during last week’s HubSpot 2013 Inbound Marketing Conference was that in order for fresh produce marketers to evolve and improve, our goal should be simple: to become truly remarkable marketers.
Why? The overall theme of the HubSpot conference focused on attaining remarkability. In our industry, we feel that remarkable marketing is attained by connecting people to fresh produce – and not just selling more produce – but selling more because that is what the people CHOOSE to purchase.
On the heels of #Inbound13, we are confident that the marketing within fresh produce can be just as successful, innovative and remarkable as any industry out there, but it will require fresh produce marketers to refine and challenge our own status quo.
With that in mind, we’ve captured 13 thought-provoking insights from #Inbound13 that define remarkable marketing.
1. Fear of failure prevents innovation. (Click to Tweet This)
The guy that invented the ship also invented the shipwreck. Successful innovation is a repeated series of failures until it actually works! Remarkable marketers challenge themselves and never stop evolving their methodology. Big risks = big rewards!
2. Marketers become remarkable by proving it. (Click to Tweet This)
The Inbound marketing philosophy empowers you to measure your marketing effectiveness while qualifying and quantifying potential customers.
3. Remarkable marketers are transparent. (Click to Tweet This)
Transparency in marketing builds trust and reliability. Getting out of your marketing comfort zone might be, well, uncomfortable, but if you aren’t a little uncomfortable you aren’t being transparent enough.
4. Remarkable marketers understand and know their audience. (Click to Tweet This)
How much do you really know and understand about the wants and needs of the people who consume your fresh products? Having the right “context” or understanding of our audience gives marketers the ability to give the right content to the right people at the right place and the right time. Do you know what your audiences want?
5. Remarkable marketers are generous. (Click to Tweet This)
One of our favorite marketers, Seth Godin, pointed out that no one wants to do business with entities or people who are selfish. Connect with your audiences through your generosity and willingness to share and give them something that they find valuable; not all content needs to sell!
6. Content marketing + context marketing = Remarkable Results. (Click to Tweet This)
Remarkable marketers provide context, or a frame of reference, for the people they are marketing to, allowing them to personalize messages based on what the audience wants or needs from them. Context combined with strong content is what turns leads into customers.
7. Remarkable marketers obsess over their buyer experience. (Click to Tweet This)
By connecting and not coercing, interacting and not interrupting and personalizing instead of generalizing the messages, products or services they offer, remarkable marketers delight audiences with a memorable buying experience.
8. One size does not fit all in remarkable marketing. (Click to Tweet This)
Appealing to the masses is an approach that will only get you average results because you are appealing to “average” people. Focus on learning the needs of your specific audiences and offering each of them marketing that caters to their lives to get remarkable results.
9. Remarkable marketers stay ahead of the status quo. (Click to Tweet This)
Technological advancements change the way your audience wants to be communicated with. Don’t get left in the dark; refine marketing strategies to echo current marketing techniques and technological chances and be nimble when new trends emerge.
10. Remarkable marketers understand that the best customers aren’t always those that buy the most. (Click to Tweet This)
That’s right: your best customers aren’t always those that consumer your products the most, rather they are those that advocate on behalf of your brand. Once you’ve made a real personal connection with another human through a delightful buying experience, your audiences will do the talking for you.
11. Remarkable marketers conquer the planet. (Click to Tweet This)
According to the International Telecommunications Union, 2014 is the year that the number of mobile accounts will exceed the world’s population. Remarkable marketers are armed, ready and mobile optimized.
12. Audiences will miss remarkable marketers when they aren’t there. (Click to Tweet This)
If your audience doesn’t miss you when you’re gone, what sort of value are you really offering? Yes, maybe your customers can get the same fresh products elsewhere, but the experience should be more enjoyable and preferred when it is with you.
13. This is not the time for small tweaks; it is the time for transformation. (Click to Tweet This)
Consumers are more informed, in touch and in charge of the products and services they purchase more than ever before. We cannot continue to focus on the same old marketing methods and expect to receive new or different results.
Over the last 2 years, I have been a student and practitioner of the Inbound marketing methodology and I am happy to share that it has transformed our thinking, the way we market our services and our business. We continue to work to be remarkable marketers and challenge ourselves on a daily basis to think differently about how we address our audiences in a way that is meaningful, memorable and helpful. Can Inbound marketing transform your business and way of thinking? The short answer is “yes.”
Let’s talk. I would like to speak with you one on one and help you discover two things: 1) what Inbound marketing is and how it relates to the fresh produce industry and 2) how Inbound marketing relates to your business and the success of your business. Click on my forehead (it’s hard to miss!) below and let’s talk about transforming fresh produce marketing together.
