Podcast: Modernizing the Way We Learn | Jim Eadie

 

About the Guest

Jim Eadie is the founder of Swineweb.com and is pioneering in the modern technology of how Pork Producers access information timely and concisely starting in 2005. After growing the brand and business, the group expanded with a Marketing Consulting Service (www.agricultureadvertising.com) and spin-off sites for Dairy (www.dairyproducer.com), Poultry (www.poultryproducer.com), Crops (www.cropproducer.com), and Beef (www.beefproducer.ca). Passionate about storytelling, brand building, and leveraging technology to break the news instantly, the websites, email lists, and social media have continued to accelerate how people use digital technologies in our industry as a management platform. He is married to his wife Tanya and is the father of two girls, Ayva 10 and Berkley 2.

  • Jim Eadie

What can you learn from this episode of Popular Pig?

  • Jim Eadie’s background and role today.
  • The founding of SwineWeb.com and how it came together.
  • How the Industry can leverage digital technologies.
  • How to tell a story and its evolution.
  • Jim Eadie’s “golden nugget”
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The “Ead”ffective Approach to Agriculture Marketing Strategy, By Jim Eadie

The “Ead”ffective approach; at the very least I can say I made up my own word. I think permitting me this creative license is more appropriate and accurate than simply using “effective” as an adjective to describe my method. Everyone has a different idea and value of what works and I, over time in Agriculture Marketing have developed my own strategy to yield an effective return. As a motivated and very passionate AG marketer, I wanted to share my list of strategies that can benefit you in developing your own fluid and effective marketing plan. The tenants I rely upon are Story Telling, Brand Building, Repetition & Consistency, Customer Service & Agility, and Strategy. Below you will find my explanation of each tenant.

Story Telling:
Humans are natural story-tellers and story listeners. Storytelling is the most engaging and easy to follow method of communicating with customers. Your story evolves every day and deserves to be told and heard! You need to tell that story and find the channels to make your story can resonate with customers. As your story evolves so should you and so should your message. This evolution allows you to hone in on what makes your company unique and better than your competitors. If you are always talking, promoting, and engaging it also gives the perception that you’re growing and you are building a great brand.
For a more in-depth description of Story Telling check out: https://agricultureadvertising.com/story-telling-present-your-brand-narrative-in-story-form-for-your-marketing-approach/

Brand Building:
Brand building is a never-ending process that continues from conception throughout the entire life expectancy of your business. Usually, Brand Building is seen as the fun part of marketing. Its goal is build something that your customers can cherish, want to be part of, and allows them many engagement opportunities. Shotgun marketing rarely works. You must start with defining a strategy and then building your brand through constant awareness. This will pay dividends by giving your brand a focus and goals. Brand awareness is a combination of customer and potential customer education, positive articles, and advantageous Media Placements. It is orchestrating all of the facets of marketing that tie things together.  For a more in-depth description of Brand Building check out: https://agricultureadvertising.com/heres-how-your-business-can-be-present-and-available-24-7-by-jim-eadie/

Repetition & Consistency:
Repetition, repetition, repetition! Continue, repeat and do not take failure as an option. Consistent and persistent exposure will ensure over the long term people are aware of and understand your business. Over-communication of your messages is impossible! You need to be present, available, and memorable.
Consistency is the steady influencer, doing the right things consistently pays off.  A customer will notice you at the time that is right for them, not necessarily the first, second, or even third time you attempt to reach out. Having a constant and continuous approach allows you to open the aperture of when you will reach them.  Just like we are always there to teach and inform our children, we need we need to always to inform our customers.

Customer Service & Agility:
Customers expect things to be easy and efficient. If you are quickly responsive, agile, and always put your customers’ needs ahead of anything else they will notice. Usually, it is the little things that make you special and create the bigger results. In our organization we strive to ensure when a customer needs something, we put that need ahead of anything else being worked on internally. This is a core strategy we use to build trust. You always must put your customers’ needs ahead of your own; they will know if you do not. Agility is also essential to be flexible and work within any parameters your customer needs with no questions asked. To be agile and quickly responsive, you will need to ensure that your staff are empowered to make decisions and know your intent.

Strategy:
Focus on strategy over perceived results. There is a difference between measures of performance, ie, are we doing things right, and measures of effectiveness, ie, are we doing the right things. For instance, if your company wants to focus on digital marketing, you should determine what channels you will use to build your brand, and then determine in advance what success will look like. More visits to your webpage would be an indicator that your digital marketing is working whereas more sales would indicate that your overall strategy is effective. The right strategy will always drive your business forward; an example is the challenge of interpreting data correctly. In a fury to provide results based on numbers could be an ad impression or click. Sometimes high clicks are due to bots (and not a success), low clicks are a perceived failure (which in my opinion is inaccurate). For a strategy to be seen if your ad was seen and not clicked on is their science to show it is not effective? When talking to a Dairy Farmer he stated all the ads on Dairyproducer.com were reassuring as it was all suppliers his operation worked with. He did not click on the ads, but the constant awareness resonated positivity in the strategy these companies were using through online marketing. They were hitting the target audience of a Dairy only website, but the click statistics may not tell that story. A result can be interpreted in many ways, but your strategy and gut feelings are vital for success by focusing on your strategy.

 

Through the “Ead”ffective approach to Agriculture marketing, embracing the tenants of  Story Telling, Brand Building, Repetition & Consistency, Customer Service & Agility, and Strategy you can develop your own fluid and effective marketing plan. Do not forget though, constant learning, staying ahead of the curb, and innovation are all also key areas to focus on. Continue to drive your business onward and upward, dealing with challenges is part of the process to success. I want to wish you luck as we all remain steady, consistent and persistent.

(Jim Eadie oversees Swineweb.com, Poultryproducer.com, Cropproducer.com, Dairyproducer.com, 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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Podcast 4: Three key AG marketing considerations: Story Telling, Brand Building and the difference between Facebook and Industry ads

Jim Eadie from AgricultureAdvertising.com discusses how important it is to focus on Story Telling, Brand Building, and the difference between Facebook and Industry ads. Sometimes marketers get caught up in the numbers game and lose focus on a strategic long term plan of resonating brands and stories to the forefront of customers minds.

 

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Podcast 3: Legendary Pork Producer Tork Whisler talks about Ag-Tech, the prowess of Digital Media and how print is dead

Episode Summary:

-Tork talks about his career in the Pork industry and the evolution
-Tork talks about how tech savvy the industry is and how print media is dying
-Tork talks about this media company This’ll Do Farm, and how is son Sawyer (shown below) is a young entrepreneur

-Tork talks about effective Livestock marketing techniques to the modern producer
-Open Floor; Tork ends the podcast with her final thoughts

Visit the Facebook Page

 

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Podcast 2: Marketing Guru Tiffany Obrecht from BLNKPG Marketing sits down to talk Agriculture Marketing!

Episode Summary:

-Tiffany talks about her story, and how her agency has become a leading digital media agency for Agriculture
-Tiffany talks about key strategies and expertise for clients
-Tiffany talks about staying ahead of the curb with trends and how Agribusiness professionals can stay ahead
-Tiffany talks about swift solutions to help clients
-Open Floor- Tiffany ends the podcast with her final thoughts
–Visit the BLNKPG website

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A  niche-agency model, BLNKPG concentrates on starting from scratch for  each client objective without a templated approach.

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“Today’s agency  world is like many other businesses – you have to be big or small, with a  lot of the medium players being absorbed by larger agencies,”  Obrecht-Johnson said. “I wanted to create an agency that spent more time  with an open mind rather than preconceived solutions. Every idea should  be built based on the specific need a client has, no matter the size of  the project. BLNKPG is about a clean slate for every challenge.”

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Digital Marketing Strategies Correlate to Building a Successful Marriage, By Jim Eadie

Successful marketing has many correlations to a successful marriage, or any other commitment in your life, for that matter. Commitment is the key to the strategy, as each day you have to allow yourself to consistently evolve. You effectively navigate the highs and the lows, cultivating attributes like pivoting, growing, and learning. You cultivate your patience and dedication to doing a combination of the right things consistently to mold yourself, your relationship, or your business goals into a measured success.

All points of success can be attributed to commitment and lifelong learning.  There is not one key success to marketing and branding; there are several!

The internet has become more widely accessible over time, and would you believe that even today, the number of people who go online on a daily basis is still increasing and has increased up to 5% over the last three years? Even in Canada, recently, the Government has announced long term investment in rural internet access which will continue the boom.

Marketing has always been about connecting with your audience in the right place and at the right time. Today, that means you need to meet them where they are already spending time: on the internet. The great advantage of digital marketing is that you can target only the prospects most likely to purchase your product or service. Now, you can accurately tailor your marketing message to reach just your target demographic, in a very defined way. This is a far more efficient and cost-effective approach to the crude shotgun scatter methods originally employed in early direct marketing campaigns. The difference is the internet.

Digital Marketing Benefits

1. Global Reach
Internet marketing provides businesses with a wider base of customers for their services or products than ever before, with access to communicate with millions of customers each day.

2. 24/7 Marketing
In today’s digital world, there’s no such thing as business hours because a business can never be truly “closed” anymore. Just as in a marriage, you can never stop paying attention to the needs of your customers (or your marriage partner). Whether that comes in the form of locating information on your website, interaction on your social media channels, searching for you on an industry website, or it could be simply locating you through Google.

Your accessibility and rapid response to your customers makes a huge difference when you are in a digital world.
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. Make it as easy as possible for your customer to contact you or have access to your company’s information. Your 24/7 presence lets them know that you care about their interests and their concerns and this fosters the growth of a rewarding relationship for all parties.

3. Lower Cost and More Methods of Marketing
The internet allows for lower cost and higher customizable options in your marketing strategy. The digital platform can offer opportunities for podcasts, videos, digital ads, and a suite of other high impact and effective strategies, including:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Content Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Pay Per Click (PPC)
• Affiliate Marketing
• Native Advertising
• Marketing Automation
• Email Marketing
• Online PR
• Inbound Marketing
• Sponsored Content

4. Social Media
Social media is now a must, in digital advertising. This is because customers look at comments and reviews posted by other consumers online. Businesses can easily incorporate social network tools in their advertising campaigns and increase profits by gaining new customers that rely heavily on communicating through social media.

However, do not rely just on social media channels, as they are becoming cluttered and it should not take away from your wholistic brand to consumer approach.

5. Build Lasting Relationships
If your business has an online presence, your customers will always find you. With internet marketing, suppliers can easily access the email addresses or contact details of both their prospects and their buyers. Businesses can use this data to cultivate a lasting relationship by sending updates to their customers regarding special discounts, new products or services, new coupons and products available. Furthermore, businesses can continue interacting with their clients after the initial sale.

6. Blogging and Storytelling
Blogging allows you to connect personally with your customer and tell your story as you define your brand and educate your customer.

The best example is, as in a marriage, we need to be kind, helpful, supportive, tolerant and flexible. Taking one aspect of this concept, you can manage and focus on being “kind”, and work on your strategies to succeed in being kind on a daily basis. Yet, having success in kindness, has borne results in just that one single locus.

It doesn’t also turn on the light switch for everything else to work as it is only one step in a process that is required every day. You must focus equally on all aspects of your endeavors to bring your marriage to a satisfactory level of contentment, or your marketing strategy to a satisfactory level of achievement.

In this example for digital marketing, you have brand building using elements like print, digital, customer service tradeshows and electronic advertising. If the digital marketplace is a key focus because you know where your customers are, then you can build a great digital campaign with digital ads, videos, and content. However, achieving instant results is rare. You need to cultivate a long-term focus of trusting the process and doing the right thing digitally to tell your story every day.

This structured, methodical approach will benefit your business in the long term, with patience, and putting your trust in the consistent employment of a variety of successful tactics.

Like a lasting, rewarding marriage relationship, you need to keep working at it. There is no quick and easy “light switch approach”, just hard work, repetition, consistency and belief in what you are doing.

Jim Eadie oversees Swineweb.com, Poultryproducer.com, Cropproducer.com, Dairyproducer.com, 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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Podcast 1: Agriculture Marketing- Technology platforms

This episode touches on the important of marketing in Agriculture. Jim Eadie touches on Mobile App Technology and other management systems as a strategic long-term approach to focus on with looking at ways to help Agriculture Producers. Mr. Eadie also reviews marketing trends such as Social Media and Podcasts benefits, but also the caution of getting caught up in the clutter of popularity and keeping focused on the next big trend change. Always prepare to pivot early!

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