For a farmer, branding may conjure up images of fire-heated marks left on a steer. This tagging method identified which farm the livestock belonged to. But an impression about the farm supported that mark as well. Similarly, branding your farm identifies products coming from your efforts.
Furthermore, branding is your stamp on the world, how others recognize you. Think of some of the major names in the agricultural industry. These names are widely known in supermarkets simply by the familiarity of their looks and the consumer impression behind them.
Whether you want to develop into a national company or remain a regional entity, branding helps you meet your goal. Why is this marketing strategy, seemingly foreign to the natural landscape of the farm, so important? Check it out.
What is Agricultural Branding?
Agricultural branding goes beyond the fields of wheat or rows of corn logo and carefully chosen fonts. While these items represent your brand, the concept delves much deeper. In short, branding encapsulates who you are and portrays that image to the consumer, if done well.
Effective agricultural branding includes every aspect of farm life and production. Your mission and vision for the work you do, the way you maintain your farm and production facilities, and your involvement in local and charitable affairs all impact consumer attitudes. This is your brand.
What Does Branding Do for Your Farm?
While you may understand the need for the branding of products and services, using this strategy on the farm may seem a bit far-fetched. After all, should and could a commodity be branded? In reality, you may not survive the market without it. Farm branding is very important! Your farm’s brand accomplishes the following.
Becomes Your Image to Consumers
Again, a brand takes the sum of who you are and feeds it to consumers – your look regarding name, words, symbols, and design in combination with the associated attributes. Through continued contact with your branding, people get to know you and your products. You are instantly recognized. And consumers gravitate toward the familiar.
For instance, if the central focus of your mission is to offer organic products and invest in sustainability, your brand makes this message public. If you want consumers to know that you provide hormone-free meat products from a trusted source, you build a brand to say just that.
Boosts Your Competitive Edge
A key to any business is standing out among the competition. Branding tells consumers how you are different and why they should choose your products over those from the hundreds of acres next door. Branding in agriculture is just as important as the brand on your favorite snack at the grocery store.
This differentiation enables you to avoid price wars and competition on volume versus cost alone. Your value becomes tied to consumer preference, not function. By creating this type of value in the eyes of the consumer, your competitive edge sharpens and becomes sustainable.
Breeds Customer Loyalty
Consider your loyalty to brands. What company manufactures your tractors? Which feed company do you continually choose to feed your livestock? Where do you purchase feed bags and packaging materials from? Yes, farmers are loyal to their brands.
And consumers prove to be the same. Achieving and maintaining customer loyalty through your brand requires sustained effort. But, the payoff comes in repeat business. Customers loyal to specific brands invest three to four times as much money on food as those purchasing based on price.
What Does Branding Do for the Industry?
And there’s more. Branding goes beyond the gates of your farm and the products you ship. This vital strategy also works to shape consumer perceptions of the industry. Just imagine the impact that poor treatment of livestock in general (as believed by the consumer) has on local beef farmers.
Furthermore, a sense of pride comes to individuals and farms associated with branded, recognizable entities. Whether involved in the hands-on production, promotion or sale, and distribution of these products, individuals feel good about what the produce. This positive morale reaps efficiency and better products on farms and bolsters the industry as a whole.
Are You Ready to Brand Your Farm?
Branding puts the mission and actions of your efforts into words and symbols to speak boldly to the consumer of the value and unique offerings you bring to the marketplace. In fact, consumers believe branded items hold greater value, prove more reliable, and are of higher quality than non-branded products.
Grab the bull by the horns, and get a jump on your farm branding efforts today. We promise you will be pleased with the results. Start by using customized bulk bags to promote your farm brand everywhere your product is stored and transported. Imagine how many people will see your company name and logo.
Thank you for taking the time to read our blog! Let us know how can we help you? Contact us today.
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