The bags are packed. Your last minute meeting plans and details are coming together. Showtime is around the corner and Fresh Summit 2014 will begin. The PMA marketing team has once again teed us up for a successful show, with over 18,000 attendees planning to walk the show floor. With a two-day exhibition, one full day of education and networking opportunities galore, PMA is encouraging each attendee, student and exhibitor to consider the future of our industry. And with nearly every buzz word in modern marketing rhetoric on display, the invitation to think differently is compelling.

Here’s the reality about the future of your marketing. To survive and thrive we must be one thing – relevant. That’s it.

Are you relevant? Does the product or service that you offer matter? Does your message speak to your target audience?

Are you satisfying your target audience’s needs, interests and desires enough for them to continue to buy, consume and champion your products and services? Are you sure? And how do you know?

Are you nurturing and measuring the satisfaction of your customers and consumers? Who’s the target and what triggers a purchasing decision and repeat? Are they coming back? What’s your marketing plan past the initial PO?

These are the questions we are asking at DMA Solutions. They are tough, but necessary. We are a company that continues to work hard at being “found” and “present,” but we realize our future is about being relevant.

The great news – relevancy is a conscious quest and one that can be measured. Focus on relevancy and the return will come. And for marketers far and wide, it is the calm we’ve been seeking in an ever-changing digital, consumer-in-command world.

As you prepare to travel to Anaheim next month, think about this: are you relevant in the produce industry?

Posted by: The Entertainer (Dan’l Mackey Almy)