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Agriculture Advertising and Marketing

Max Freedman
Max Freedman
business.com Contributing Writer
Updated Jul 28, 2021

Plant seeds of success with agricultural marketing.

Advertising is vital to the success of your agriculture business. Agricultural marketing is more important than ever, since the economy is in flux and your marketplace is growing more competitive each passing day. In the current economic climate, increasing your brand awareness through consistent media exposure is the best way to keep your company name in front of your potential customers.

An ad agency focused on agriculture marketing can give you targeted advice on marketing strategies to increase your bottom line and establish media relationships that will serve you well into the future. Agriculture advertising agencies can help you get the maximum return on your marketing investment by applying their expertise to your area of agriculture.

What is agricultural marketing?

Agricultural marketing is the process of marketing agricultural products to facilitate their transition from farms to the people buying them. It comprises the use of standard B2C marketing methods to interest consumers in a specific type or class of food or agricultural product. It also includes additional marketing approaches that may be more or less effective depending on the ideal customer for your products.

Bottom LineBottom line: Agricultural marketing is any promotional tactic intended to get consumers to buy certain agricultural products or foods.

What types of customers does agricultural marketing target?

Agricultural marketing targets all types of customers – after all, everybody eats. The more important question to ask might be, "How does agricultural marketing differ based on the product being sold?" That's where the differences among the world's many types of consumers come into play.

For example, marketing campaigns for organic or vegan agricultural products may fare better targeting younger or more affluent consumers. These buyers are more likely to purchase organic or vegan foods. Similarly, marketing healthy, farm-grown baby food to non-parents would be a bust.

In short, although agricultural marketing targets everyone, effective campaigns can only focus on so many people at once.

TipTip: Since everyone eats, it's tempting to target all consumers, but this would be a mistake. Instead, target the segment of the consumer base most likely to buy your foods based on their demographics.

What types of agricultural marketing are there?

Agricultural marketing covers all services involved from the growth of the product to distribution and sales. These services include planning, transportation, handling of produce, and storage in ways that satisfy the farmers, transporters, storage facilities, and consumers. The different types of agricultural marketing include two processes: input marketing and product marketing.

  • Input marketing deals with the marketing of farm inputs to farmers, such as fertilizers, diesel, electricity, farm machinery and pesticides.
  • Product marketing means the marketing of the goods following cultivation. This movement consists of the farmers, primary traders, wholesalers, importers, exporters, retailers and, finally, the consumers.

6 basic areas of agricultural marketing

These are the six basic areas of agriculture marketing:

Commodities marketing Agriculture ads for products coming from the earth
Wholesale agriculture advertising Farming advertisements
Retail agriculture advertising Marketing for retail outlets
Farmers market advertising Promotions for farmers selling directly to consumers
Green industry marketing Agricultural advertisements promoting plants, flowers, Christmas trees and seeds to distribution channels
Processed foods marketing Agricultural ads for the dairy, meat and poultry industries


What is the importance of agricultural marketing?

Agricultural marketing plays an essential role in stimulating production and consumption as well as the pace of economic development. Here are several reasons why agricultural marketing is important.

  • Increased income for farmers: If the marketing system is efficient, it provides higher income for the farmers because it reduces the number of middlemen. With an efficient system, the farmers get better prices for their products, which encourages them to increase productivity and production, leading to another increase in income.

  • Widening markets: An efficient agricultural marketing system helps widen the market for the product by providing it to areas far away from the point of growth. When the market widens, it helps to increase the demand on a continued basis, guaranteeing greater income for the farmer.

  • Reduced economic waste: The marketing system is crucial to the success of the development program, which is designed to encourage the population as a whole. An economic development plan geared toward the diminishment of poverty in the agricultural population reduces both economic waste and consumer food prices.

  • Price signals: Efficient marketing systems help farmers plan their production to meet the needs of the economy.

  • Multiple functions and beneficiaries: Agricultural marketing is productive for the farmer as well as other parties. For instance, the processing function adds to the product by changing a raw material into a finished product, which makes the product more useful than it was in the form produced by the farmer – for example, converting wheat into flour and then into bread. Many parties can profit from the original production, including transportation and storage companies, retailers, and consumers.

Bottom LineBottom line: An efficient agricultural marketing system optimizes output management and resource use. It increases the marketable surplus by reducing the losses from inefficient processing, storage, and transportation, ultimately aiding in the sustainability of faster growth in the agricultural sector.

How to market to potential customers

1. Utilize agriculture advertising agencies to relate to your customers.

Public relations in agricultural advertising is about managing relationships and gaining positive exposure for your company. Agriculture marketing services have a better understanding of the unique aspects of your business and strong established relationships with the media in your marketplace.

2. Market directly to consumers with agricultural advertisements.

Agriculture ads targeted directly to your consumers, also known as direct marketing, is a traditional and effective means of advertising. This method – which can include direct mail, email marketing and telemarketing – provides an easy way to track and measure your responses. Direct marketing in agriculture allows you to track your return on investment for each campaign so you can learn how to get the most bang for your buck.

3. Leverage internet opportunities for agricultural marketing.

Advertising and marketing online is becoming more widespread in the agriculture industry. The dissemination of information at a lower cost than traditional print advertising and the interactive component of online marketing make it a great way to reach a global audience on a budget.

Image Credit: Andree_Nery / Getty Images
Max Freedman
Max Freedman
business.com Contributing Writer
Max Freedman is a content writer who has written hundreds of articles about small business strategy and operations, with a focus on finance and HR topics. He's also published articles on payroll, small business funding, and content marketing. In addition to covering these business fundamentals, Max also writes about improving company culture, optimizing business social media pages, and choosing appropriate organizational structures for small businesses.