We can’t even imagine our lives without the agriculture industry, let alone living it. From providing the food on our tables to being the primary source of livelihood for many, the agriculture industry forms an indispensable part of India’s economy.
With more than 50% of our population engaged in agriculture and other allied sectors, this industry is growing rapidly.
The plight of Indian farmers is not unheard of! While some are facing the brunt of illiteracy, others have to deal with the number of intermediaries in this supply chain. Even though farmers are well-versed with all the old and upcoming technologies to keep their livestock and crops in top condition, they are resoundingly ignorant of how the digital world can be a boon for their business.
Government and several other organisations are constantly taking the initiative to educate farmers on the subject of high-yielding seed-varieties, organic fertilizers and new equipment. However, finding a suitable market for the agricultural produce still remains a challenge. Thus, the agriculture industry requires modern techniques in marketing so that it can reach a wider audience.
If you’re wondering how digital marketing can help your agribusiness, let us simplify it for you.
Digital Marketing helps you convert people into customers by educating them about your product or service on a global scale. Yes, you can address people on a global scale through the digital world.
How to approach your target audience?
Before you set out to build a relationship with your prospects, we would like to remind you that the problems and concerns nagging a farmer are not the usual ones. For the same reason, it is important that you develop a thorough understanding of your audience’s difficulties and how you plan on providing solutions for the same.
Here are a few tips that can help you while devising the brand language for your agribusiness:
- Consider farmers as a business group you’re interacting with. Use B2B marketing techniques.
- Traditional farmers are very different from the new-age farmers. If you are reaching out to both the groups with your products or services, make sure you use a B2C approach for the latter and B2B marketing techniques for the former.
- You need to understand that there is special focus on economic value, quality, reliability and lifespan when it comes to farmers. This is because farmers are looking for products that can stand the test of time and save them from repetitive splurges.
Now, let’s take a look at why farmers should discard traditional methods of marketing and adopt new ones.
The traditional approach to advertising involves spreading one message to multiple consumers through radio channels, TV advertisements, newspapers etc. However, in the present scenario, farmers are constantly searching for answers to their age-old problems.
Which technology, resource or equipment is working well in other parts of the world? Is it possible to try foreign methods in the local market? What are the latest innovations in the industry?
These are just a few questions farmers are constantly battling with. By targeting issues like these and providing significant solutions, you can exhibit your expertise in this field. You can use videos demonstrating products or blogs outlining various issues in the agriculture sector too. The objective of your marketing approach should be to tackle multiple concerns through your product or service.
Thus, it is important to create content that makes the farmers believe that you know what they are struggling with and you have relevant solutions for the same. Digital marketing is one such method that offers you a coherent platform to learn about your customers and build a relationship with them. Your digital marketing efforts might take some time to be noticed by your target audience; however, a succinct and consistent approach will pay off in the long run.
The best part about digital marketing? It allows you to use multiple channels and tactics to reach out to your target audience. Let’s take a look at a few of them-
1) E-commerce Website
Traditional markets are gradually being replaced by e-commerce platforms. Developing a e-commerce website is the best way to boost sales for your agribusiness as your prospects can explore and understand your business right from the comfort of their homes.
You can display your entire range of products and services for people to view and buy on the website. This can prove to be very lucrative for your business as there are not many agribusinesses with e-commerce websites. You can pick a good digital marketing agency that offers web development services to help you with the same. The website will help you reach a wider audience and generate brand awareness.
2) Social Media Marketing
Social Media Marketing makes use of social media platforms (like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and LinkedIn) to connect with your prospects in order to promote your brand, boost sales and generate website traffic.
You can use the social media platforms to showcase what agriculture is all about and display your products in creative and unique ways. Read here top 10 reasons
3) Paid Advertising or Pay Per Click (PPC)
Once you’ve taken your business online, your next step should be to make yourself prominent and noticeable so that people buy your products. PPC is used to drive traffic to your website by paying a publisher every time your ad is visited by a customer. Paid advertising also helps you focus on a highly targeted audience, thereby increasing your chances of converting prospects to customers.
Google Ads is one of the most common ways of PPC wherein you pay for top results on Google’s search engines. You can also approach digital marketing agencies to help you gain high returns on your investment. Paid ads on Facebook, Twitter campaigns and sponsored ads on LinkedIn are a few other forms of PPC.
4) Content Marketing
It involves the creation of content assets like blogs, videos and infographics that does not essentially promote a brand but invokes interest in the brand’s product or services.
You can use these content assets to educate your audience on different subjects related to the agriculture sector. This will not only demonstrate your business’s expertise but also help you generate organic traffic for your agribusiness.
5) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
This method optimizes your website so that it ranks higher in search results, thereby increasing the free traffic on your website. The better visibility you have in search results, the more likely you are to garner the attention of prospective and existing customers.
Here’s a quick round-up of the benefits of the aforementioned digital marketing channels for your agribusiness:
- Allows you to explore new markets and reach a global marketplace
- Requires less money than traditional marketing methods
- Enables you to track and measure your marketing efforts
- Improves conversion rates
- Helps you build a relationship with your customers which in turn helps in building customer loyalty
- Allows you to personalize your website with offers and coupons with the help of your customer database
- Provides access to modern farming methods and techniques
With the increasing literacy in rural areas and growth in the agricultural infrastructure, it is safe to say that the agribusiness sector is gradually moving to the digital platform as well. Initiatives like the ‘Digital India Movement’ will encourage more and more people to join the digital bandwagon. Thus, the transformation of rural India to a digitally powered sector does not seem to be a far-fetched idea.
