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Evolution of a Marketing Program
by Bill Rishel, North Platte, Neb.
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| "People like doing business with those they know and trust," Rishel told Angus enthusiasts attending the 2002 National Angus Conference in Sacramento, Calif. |
The vast majority of people who get started in the purebred Angus cattle business do not give much thought to marketing or merchandizing their product in the earlier years of establishing their herd. Eventually, on every farm or ranch there comes a time when increasing numbers of cattle and expenses necessitates the need to merchandise some cattle and look for a return on investment. For most of us in this business, who have our roots in production rather than sales, this can be a rude awakening.
I’m going to attempt to describe how our marketing program developed and changed over 35 years in the Angus business, and perhaps I can touch on some ideas that will help other breeders along the way.
Let me start by saying that I don’t believe there is one perfect marketing plan or panacea that fits all programs and all personalities. But, there are a few fundamentals that remain fairly constant throughout time.
Fundamental #1:
It sounds simple, but we all like doing business with people we feel like we know and trust. In the early days of our program we concentrated on private treaty sales because we did not have enough numbers to consider a production sale. The need to establish a potential clientele dictated that we made an effort to go to other sales, field days and cattlemens meetings etc., to meet people and lay the foundation for future business relationships. Association and consignment sales supplied one method of being able to merchandise a few numbers, meet people and begin to develop a customer base. In recent years some people have used a type of silent auction that we never used, but, I believe has a great deal of appeal when you are getting started and your numbers are few.
Fundamental #2:
Customer satisfaction is paramount to success. This never changes no matter how long we have been in the business. There have been times that we have made adjustments on purchases that may not have been necessary, however, it takes much more time, and money to find new customers than to keep old ones.
Since the beginning of our operation we recognized the importance of advertising, but the big question is always, how much and how often? In our early days, we adopted the philosophy that we would spend most of our advertising dollars when we had something to sell. Those that promote advertising as the single most important part of a marketing plan would lead us to believe that advertising can create sales regardless of the product. I heard one speaker say, a few years ago, that advertising creates “perception” and perception is the only reality.
Fundamental #3:
Sooner or later the ability of your product to function and perform up to expectations will be your greatest marketing tool or your greatest downfall.
When our herd numbers expanded, we started a fall production sale that we have held for 25 consecutive years. Early on the majority of these cattle sold mostly in-state and relatively close to home. Soon after that, we started an annual spring bull sale that we have held for 21 consecutive years. Obviously, most of these bulls sold in state and close to home. As the number of cattle being merchandised increased, we increased the advertising dollars accordingly. But, we still spent the majority of those advertising dollars in the primary marketing area.
Fundamental #4:
It is important to identify your primary marketing area and spend most of your advertising dollars there.
As we matured in the business, we slowly but surely developed certain principles of our program. Instead of concentrating our efforts on producing cattle that were perceived as “right for the times” we dedicated ourselves to producing a product that was right for the cattle industry “regardless of the times.” We also no longer sought to produce the proverbial “great one” but rather concentrated our efforts on reducing the number of culls and increasing the uniformity and consistency of the calf crop.
You may ask, what does this have to do with marketing? I have come to believe that one does not really have a marketing program until you can define and enunciate with some clarity the direction and purpose of your breeding program.
Fundamental #5:
You must attempt to differentiate your program from the competition. I believe you cannot differentiate your program until you have a specific purpose and direction in mind.
In recent years, as our product has become more exposed to a national and international market, we have tried to leverage that exposure into more marketing opportunities by increasing the advertising budget, which included becoming a contract advertiser in the Angus Journal. We do see a few more bulls going into registered programs, but we are dedicated to the purpose of producing genetics that will allow our commercial bull customers to participate in value added programs that will enhance the bottom line of their ranching and farming enterprises.
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