Eckert AgriMarketing Newsletter- December 2006

(click here for directory of past newsletters)

What do websites and seed catalogues have in common?

Answer: Winter is the best time to look them over, make some decisions, and take the necessary action to grow more revenue in the coming year. From the time you climb back up on that tractor, to the end of fall, you won't have much time to revise or add a website. But you might be thinking about it. Thinking thoughts like:

I hope folks can find our website. I hope they know what we offer.
I hope they can find the farm.

If you don't want to have those doubts, now is the best time to do what Wayne and Ann Bishop did, and contact Eckert AgriMarketing to revise your website:

"Business was up early in the season such as we have never seen, and we ended the season up 15%. We firmly believe much of that increase is due to the new website,"

Bishop's Pumpkin Farm

When you call, we'll talk about your business and what you need on your website to help you increase your business. After we talk with you, we give you a proposal specific to your ranch or farm. New websites begin at only $1,195.

Please, call us today while you have time to think about your web marketing needs. We also do electronic newsletters for quick delivery of customers to your gate.

December 2006

Cause Related Marketing-Make a Difference!

During the holidays, its easy to concentrate on celebration, giving to others, and shopping, but I have to admit, it’s also a great time to think about marketing.

I recently attended a meeting of the St. Louis Ag Business Club and was reminded of a marketing strategy where giving to others not only feels good but can bring you more business. It’s called, “cause related marketing.” The concept has been used since the early 1980’s when American Express launched a program for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty.

The speaker that I heard was Steve Drake, CEO of the National Christmas Tree Association, and he spoke about their two-year old program called “Trees for Troups.” The program basically has some of their members donate over 11,000 Christmas trees that are given away to U.S. troops and their families this holiday season. They have partnered with FedEx in order to make the deliveries happen in a timely manner.

Just what has this done for the association and its membership? It has given them increased visibility in the media and has dramatically increased the number of fresh trees sold. The sale of fresh Christmas trees in the past three years has increased by 40%. If you want to know more about their program just go their website www.christmastree.org.

It has been proven that we, as consumers, tend to patronize those businesses that support a cause that we believe in. According to the 2006 Cone Holiday Trend Tracker survey, 57% of the people surveyed said they were very likely to purchase a product when a percentage of the price is donated to a cause.

The holiday’s are not the only time when businesses use “cause related marketing” to create awareness and sales. I’ll be writing more about this topic and how you as a farm can use this strategy in an upcoming column in the Fruit & Vegetable Grower News.

Please keep in mind that cause-related marketing is not just about another way to sell product; the cause is important, and your marketing is reminding people to go outside of their own needs and to thing of others.

I hope you’ll join us in reflecting on how we can help the lives of those less fortunate than we are. Let’s not take for granted that we are the major food producers of this world. We live in a land of great abundance, yet even here, there are so many around us are not as fortunate. I take great pride in my family heritage of remembering others in need, and I know that most farm families do.

I sincerely hope you will have a peaceful and joyous Christmas. All of us here at Eckert AgriMarketing—Donna Mauk, administrative assistant; Bill Mauk, senior marketing director, and myself—wish you the very best for a happy and plentiful 2007!

P.S. Did you know that all of my articles in Fruit & Vegetable Grower News are posted on my website?

In case you missed any of them, this winter would be a good time to catch up your marketing savvy.

Click here to go straight to the articles on www.eckertagrimarketing.com.