Here’s How Your Business Can Be Present and Available 24/7 – By Jim Eadie

 

 

The first and foremost important factor of Digital marketing is 24/7 access to customers. The ability to communicate at all times should be an essential part of every marketing plan in an age of evolving technology and rapid response. In today’s digital world, there’s no such thing as business hours because a business can never be truly “closed” anymore You can never stop paying attention. Whether that comes in the form of locating information on your website, interaction on your social media channels, searching you on an industry website or simply seeking you through google. Your presence and rapid response to your customers makes a huge difference when you are in a digital world.

The 24/7 availability of your business to your customers communicates that they’re your number one priority. Here are some tenets of 24/7-style service:

The ability to communicate at all times

Concerning Digital Marketing in the form of Advertising, having a presence on an Industry Agriculture site opens up many communication channels. It shows your presence each time they visit your website, it also provides you with the opportunity to educate your customers as well as non-customers with articles, videos, and messages. This is how you show your customer you’re here for them, you realize that they have a need and you’re going to address it as soon as possible.

 

Multiple post-purchase touchpoints

After making a purchase, customers are more likely to engage with you — five times more than usual. This means you need to take charge of your client onboarding processes and provide multiple communication touchpoints and proactive customer support. Especially for online purchases or high-value and high-dollar purchases, this type of comfort is essential to avoid purchase regret. You may also want your client to see you at Industry events, trade magazines, and multiple media channels to continue to solidify that strong recognition.

Paying attention to your customers’ needs

Make it as easy as possible for your customer to contact you or have access to your company’s information. To avail the opportunity for brand building and repetition you must have a marketing package on an industry website. You have to provide a form of comfort and stability for them to see you.

When you provide value to your customer above and beyond your product, you’ve already taken the next step in making a good relationship with your client and provided true 24/7 service.


It is also important to consider these three points concerning digital 24/7 access

  • Identifying – the Internet offers many ways of carrying out the essential market research needed to ascertain the customers’ needs and wants.
  • Anticipating – the Internet provides another way by which customers can access information and make purchases. It is also important to note the issue of ‘anticipating’ which also covers evaluating, demand, and matching theses with future resource allocation.
  • Satisfying – many of these digital channels offer a means to enhance customer satisfaction through better customer support and information flow.

Now it is time to take advantage of the 24/7 opportunity. Continue to tell your story and educate your brand

(Jim Eadie oversees AgricultureAdvertising.com which specializes in the Digital Publishing of Swineweb.com, Poultryproducer.com, Cropproducer.com.com, Dairyproducer.com, and Beefproducer.ca and has been involved in digital media in Agriculture for over 15 years.

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Story Telling: Present your brand narrative in a story form for your marketing approach

Storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to breathe life into your brand and often called one of the main components of a content marketing approach.

Every human decision is driven by emotions. When clients build a marketing or advertising campaign a lot of focus is on numbers and impressions. Many ideas are presented focused on creating awareness and creating a memorable campaign that is unforgettable. Stories are the most creative way to make your brand memorable and unforgettable. A marketing campaign that works through stories produce high quality conversions and stays in people’s minds for a lot longer.

Stories communicate messages in highly specific and emotionally impactful ways. They’re memorable, and they give us something to identify a brand with and hold on to. Statistics tell us what the reality is—stories tell us why it matters and why we need to care. Every product has a story, we just need to present it and effectively continue to write the next chapter.

Why Brand Storytelling Matters

Storytelling in marketing is vital to the success of your brand because of the connection-­building power it contains. Powerful connections give you loyalty and trust. The two things you cannot buy. but have everything to do with the livelihood of your brand and Return on Investment.

We are living in an age of swift and fast change. Swimming against the ferocious tide in a sea of noisy, subpar content. Storytelling is the buoy that will keep your brand afloat while others slowly sink around you. Telling the story of your brand will immediately help set you apart from your competition. Your story is what makes you different and it can help potential customers trust and become invested in you.

Storytelling, in some cases, will not increase conversions but can increase the value of the conversions. One study found that an Article in the Agriculture Industry became 16% more valuable when the clients  story was featured below it. One of the main reasons is watching more behind the scenes then just the product and build an actual connection.

What Kind of Stories are Most Effective in Marketing?

Good stories are memorable. We relate to them and the characters in them. Good stories affect us emotionally. They make us part of the story and so we can’t help but share it with others. They make us believers, and many, brand advocates.

When you’re telling your brand’s story, you need to tell it in a way that will connect you with your target audience.

The more people connect with a story, the more they remember it, so creating connections with your stories will help create lasting bonds and loyalty between your customers and your business.

There is a story about A Pig Farmer who created a diverse Product line for other Pig Farmers (Pig Easy). This was 4 decades in the making and to this day his family still operates the business. They can use this development, personal stories and timeline to engage the audience with how they invented the product, how the process started for finding a solution.

Knowing these details make it easy to listen to the pitch, then just seeing an ad for the product. The key is diversity, and continuous communication techniques.

Don’t just give people the facts, give people something to invest in.

Final Thoughts

Use the Story Telling approach as a continuous strategy as you tell your story and build your brand narrative over time. Use multiple tactics to educate your company from the past, present and future, and show that connectivity grows a robust communication tactic based around your brand narrative. Remember that product branding and awareness/general advertising techniques are already a part of this strategy but the core attribute is to always focus the story telling in your marketing approach rather than focus on sales and stats. People are more interested in your stories and less interested in your stats. So always focus on the story and build a brand!

 

(Jim Eadie oversees Swineweb.com, Poultryproducer.com, Growerspoint.com, Dairyproducer.ca, and Beefproducer.ca and has been involved in digital media in Agriculture for over 15 years.  In his spare time, he enjoys hiking in all areas of Canada and the USA as well as spending time with family.)

 

 

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Agriculture Industry: Understanding the value of a Digital Boutique Publisher

Are you sick of those dreaded media sales calls? Maybe you shouldn’t be! Is it possible that a Boutique Digital Publisher might have a tool that they want to educate you on and help your business grow?  Is it possible that the story goes beyond selling an ad, and might have more to do with creating relationships and presenting creative and outside the box solutions to revolutionize your marketing plan? I believe in further education, learning on the job and in business and to take the time to listen, learn, and grow.

Digital marketing should be part of a fluid strategy. There is a reason why the internet has grown significantly (just as much in Agriculture) as a powerful commutation and influential source.

Below I wanted to touch on some notes about the Value of a Digital Boutique Publisher, and also some misconceptions and myths.

Digital Boutique Publisher, what is it and the value?

-Swineweb.com is a “Boutique” firm, a robust digital magazine, which hosts all of the greatest Industry content in a one stop shop source.  If you are in the Swine Industry you are going to Swineweb.com to access popular Commentaries, events, news, leading articles, and tools to increase profitability.  Your customers and potential customers are on Swineweb.com Daily, weekly, and monthly. Brainstorm a way to keep that presence and communication in front of them

-What makes us different then a yearly tradeshow or monthly magazine is the commitment to publishing the latest and most enriching content every day.  We prepare our product fresh every day, it is not prepackaged to go in the mail or to the retail outlet.  We spend a great deal of time, energy and pride to release information quick and timely.

-Our websites have direct social media channels sharing news to our audience, thousands of email connections to cover all areas of communication with website users to constantly have an engaging forum and to stay on top of current trends.

-It is important to have your product shown and affiliated with a trusted Industry resource. Having your brand exposed where your customers and potential customers access content daily and weekly. Use marketing tools like email blasts and newsletter marketing to directly communicate with active subscribers.  Digital Ads are perfect for messaging, branding, and repetition, Videos provide interactivity and Sponsored Pages/Content is providing direct access to your expertise and knowledge.

-The true value in digital media is an investment in your brand every day (Repetition, Repetition, Repetition).  Having a position on a leading digital publication is strategic in the sense of always being seen and having coverage.

-We are not just trying to sell an advertisement; we are building relationships and trying to help you with digital solutions. We work closely with clients to provide a high level of service, value and reach, and have a proven track record of helping with key exposure.

-Swineweb.com is a community. Like going to an event where people congregate, we have the same format except the resource is key articles, research and popular commentary.

-Swineweb.com is a library full of thousands of Swine related articles. We are so focused with our content and reach that you need to be positioned among the unique content and searches happening in relation to your product.

-Regardless of size, every successful company is built on proven advertising techniques. Embrace and engage the power of Digital marketing in relation to Boutique Agriculture media publications like Swineweb.com.

“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does” – Steuart Henderson Britt

Misconceptions or Myths:

-Some people feel like if they have Facebook or social media ads that they are covered in digital marketing.  Facebook ads are direct ads for customers to like your product or page, if you increase followers to your page you are buying a fan who might want to buy your product.  Marketing on a specialized digital media publication with us is like Marketing with a Tradeshow (you go because your clients and potential customers are there). Our site users are influenced because we have a community accessing content each day on our site, we are a trusted credible source of information and seeing advertisers there daily build habits and awareness.  It isn’t like a social media ad where you just target them to like your page. On our site you have a larger Producer audience to engage, build a brand and share messages and they always come back for the latest content. Those Producers are accessing our content each day, which helps them with knowledge and profitability.

-My budget has decreased. Smaller budgets are more effective with Digital Marketing. Digital allows more frequency and innovative tools. There are so many tools to use for digital marketing and without expensive print or travel related costs. If you integrate a custom digital approach you will see a higher ROI long term because of the consistency. Digital is flexible and custom!

–I can see my customer at a show but it seems invisible online. You cannot compare the physical connection compared to online (numbers are numbers even if they are online). Technology has evolved; we are becoming more comfortable with knowing there is an audience rather than only just physically seeing it. It comes down to a mental approach and education on the product, take the time to learn about the digital product and service. Customers also tend to go online for research and to remain anonymous. Just because you cannot physically see that does not mean activity is not there.

-I need a direct Return on Investment. For any marketing effort there is no “light switch” approach to instant success! It is part of a building block for communication and the repetition required to engage client’s potential customers for trust and credibility. For Print and Tradeshows there are no direct ROI capabilities but at least with digital you can track certain components to show you are getting value.

-Business is good I don’t need to advertise. Five key points to combat that.

  1. If business is strong and money is coming in, you have an available cash flow to support an advertising campaign.
  2. A strong client or customer base removes the unnecessary pressure of “this campaign NEEDS to bring in this many new customers.” When you focus on the end result you tend to lose sight of the path that gets you there in the first place.
  3. In contrast, without that stress you are more likely to “think outside the box” and allow your marketing to be more creative. Creative advertising has a better chance to create an emotional response in potential customers. Emotional responses trigger chemicals in their brain. This helps them remember your brand.
  4. Current customers may have forgotten about other services or products you offer. Use efficient soft selling to gain more of their business. They already trust you or your brand. You’ve won 90% of the battle already.
  5. Advertising works in cycles and may take some time before the prospect becomes a customer. Advertising doesn’t typically make customers want to buy a product or service they aren’t ready for yet. It’s a game of timing. This is why we see the same commercials on television and hear the same radio ads throughout the day. It’s about brand awareness.  If you wait until you are struggling you won’t have the ability to advertise properly.

“Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time.” – Henry Ford

Always strive to remain at the forefront of a customer’s mind, if you aren’t, someone else is.

Jim Eadie

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