Marketing Management

Tips and Training

Marketing Management

Farms must manage a variety of marketing activities:

  • Choosing and developing items to produce
  • Pricing product
  • Distributing product through selected market channels
  • Promoting products to build awareness of them

The marketing decisions you make should complement your value proposition — the perception your target customers hold of what’s great or unique about a product you offer or how you do business.

Why Marketing Management Is Key

Farm business survival depends on generating income from product sales to offset expenses and provide a financial reward to the business owners.

Therefore, operating a successful farm takes not only producing a product that meets a target customer’s needs, but it also involves reaching target customers with information about that product — features and benefits — and ultimately transacting with buyers.

To approach marketing strategically, design a marketing plan that coincides with overall business goals. This ensures the marketing function will move the business closer to the performance it wants to achieve.

Steps To Improving Marketing Management

These steps can help you master marketing management in your farm business:

  • Understand supply-demand dynamics for your products.
  • Build relationships with all stakeholders (e.g., input suppliers, logistics providers, employees, distributors) on which you rely to develop a product and bring it to the marketplace.
  • Evaluate current market trends in terms of what consumers want and expect.
  • Anticipate emerging changes in marketplace expectations; be prepared to alter your product mix to meet buyer wants.
  • Identify and study your competitors.
  • Draw on market research to gauge demand stability.
  • Segment the market, and select niche(s) most suitable for targeting. Don’t try to serve everyone.
  • Develop your marketing plan with overall business goals in mind. This ensures your marketing decisions will move the business in the desired direction.
  • Evaluate consumer willingness to pay, and set product prices accordingly.
  • Determine market channels that best reach target customers.
  • Estimate the cost-benefit tradeoffs associated with specific market channels and offering specific product attributes.
  • Sell through market channels that give you an opportunity to profit.
  • Think strategically about how to communicate with your target audience(s), so your promotional activities align with business goals.
  • Be realistic when setting goals.
  • Choose brand elements to apply consistently in your communication.
  • Pinpoint key marketing risks, and use tools or strategies (e.g., insurance, contracts, diversification) to mitigate them.

Additional Resources

The following resources provide further information about methods to improve your sales skills and grow your farm’s sales: