Masters Thesis
Opportunities, Challenges and Establishing a Gold Standard of Digital Marketing in the Beef Seedstock Industry
Abstract
Agriculture is a highly adaptive industry regarding new production technology and farming practices, but this is not always the case for digital marketing. Nevertheless, the adoption of online marketing is providing agricultural businesses a strong sense of autonomy and control of their products and services. Digital marketing is an area continually developing and, as such, does not have an established set of standard practices.
In the Australian beef seedstock industry, there is a disparity in how successfully different businesses are using digital marketing. This study establishes the gold standard of digital marketing practices and compares how successful seedstock producers are currently marketing.
There has been extensive research done on the more effective and efficient forms of digital marketing for businesses in the broader sense. This study uses existing studies to determine a set of best practices that have been successful when followed by businesses. The areas of focus are current recommended practices for business-to-business marketing in a general sense.
Introduction
Background and Importance
As one of the world's oldest industries, agriculture is known to grow, change, and adapt to the challenges it faces. While many of the challenges are related to farming and management practices, the communication and marketing landscape is swiftly changing and proving to be a new type of challenge. The adoption of online marketing has allowed agricultural businesses to establish a strong sense of autonomy and control of their products and services. However, it requires understanding an evolving medium with profound reach and a potential audience of millions (Price, 2019).
People today have access to more information more quickly than they have at any other time in history. The internet has changed how potential clients access and use this information in their decision-making process. As technology advances and changes, businesses must adapt to ensure they can connect relevant information with their audience and effectively use the available platforms.
Creating understanding and opening channels of communication within agriculture is vital to ensure the sustainability and support of the industry. An increasing percentage of developed nations' populations are living in cities, resulting in the public being, on average, three generations removed from any agricultural involvement (American Farm Bureau, Acc. 2021). Having a solid understanding of using digital marketing channels to connect with these diverse audiences is essential for the wider industry and individual businesses (Hawley, Hall, & Chowdhury, 2018).
Agricultural businesses have the dual benefit of communicating with those in the general public looking to understand aspects of the industry and to help foster better relationships with existing and potential customers within the industry (Chae, McHaney, & Sheu, 2021). Understanding how to use digital platforms to most effectively enhance business may be a challenge initially. However, there are many benefits: enhanced brand awareness, improved customer loyalty, the creation of a digital community, better access to other brands to communicate and learn, and financial gains.
Need and Purpose of the Study
In the Australian beef seedstock industry, there is a disparity in the level of success of businesses using digital marketing. This study aims to understand how high-achieving seedstock producers are currently using digital marketing and develop a gold standard of recommendations.
When it comes to helping businesses understand the tools that they have available, it is essential to provide data that relate directly to the specific industry and area of business in which they operate. Often, there is the assumption that agriculture lags in its take-up of technology and that general marketing strategies are unlikely to work (Price, 2019). Lack of knowledge on the available platforms, general overwhelm, and a lack of understanding about effectively integrating digital marketing into a more comprehensive marketing strategy are three barriers that prevent businesses from using digital platforms to help promote their business (Cartwright, Liu, & Raddats, 2021). The best practices found within this study can help remove these barriers.
There is a great need for more agriculture-specific studies concerning marketing and communication with the end goal of helping to create tools that are easily accessible and useable by those in the industry. The purpose of this study is not to create a ‘one-size-fits-all’ process nor to examine the best practices on a platform-by-platform basis. It aims to understand the ideologies and practices of high-performing beef seedstock businesses regarding their digital marketing. The challenges they face and the opportunities they see can be used to establish a gold standard in digital marketing in seedstock industries. Through this, other agricultural businesses will be provided with an established starting point on how to more effectively market through digital platforms.
Review of Literature
This study aims to establish a gold standard of marketing within the beef seedstock industry by examining what practices high-achieving stud businesses are using in their digital marketing. While there was a lack of information on this subject specifically, an extensive review of literature on general marketing, business-to-business marketing, and agricultural communications established a holistic overview of how digital marketing can be effectively used by businesses.
Examining how audience targeting can influence business marketing.
With the evolution of digital marketing, businesses are opening their doors to a potential audience of millions of internet users. A brand's audience refers to the individuals interested and interacting with the business digitally. The target market and ideal clients of a business consist of individuals in a position to purchase from the business and whose needs align with those that a business fulfils.
Traditionally, when businesses choose to market themselves, they usually only promote a good or a service they offer. Today, businesses promoting themselves do so by connecting with their audience across various areas: their brand values and story, the causes they support, and other more general information that appeals to their potential target audience (Holliman & Rowley, 2014). When businesses have a strong idea of the type of clients who want to purchase their goods or services, they can create consistent messages that appeal to their audience on more levels than just what they offer. Targeted messaging also helps keep clients interacting and involved with the brand after the purchase as the audience knows that the content created by the brand is relevant, personal, and enjoyable.
When it comes to creating this targeted messaging and understanding of potential audience, businesses typically break the audience down into different market segments (Thomas, 2019). The characteristics of each market segment that a business was targeting would influence the platforms used and the tone and messaging that would be most effective. Demographic segmentation was one of the most used methods to separate an audience (Thomas, 2019). Factors such as age, gender, income, and occupation were targeted to ensure that a business’s marketing was as relevant as possible to that specific audience (Thomas, 2019).
More than ever, individuals are shopping online and making purchasing decisions based solely on digital interactions, frequently without seeing the item they are purchasing in person first (Holliman & Rowley, 2014). As a result, a high level of trust from the target audience results in purchasing decisions being made more readily. This trust can be established by showing reviews, sharing past clients’ results, and creating a brand where people feel comfortable investing money (Leeflang, Verhoef, Dahlström, & Freundt, 2014). The power of brand trust is evident both for well-known digital brands like Amazon (Conley, Acc. 2021) but also more niche sites such as AuctionsPlus. In 2021, they saw an increase of more than $1 billion in annual turnover as more agricultural businesses moved to sell more online (Brann, 2021).
By first focusing on a specific target audience and then focusing on the platforms they most use, brand managers can save substantial time and money by ensuring they emphasise effort on areas with the highest returns.
Understanding which platforms are most effective for marketing a business.
Traditional marketing was substantially simpler because there were fewer choices for where to market. For example, only a few relevant papers were available if a brand wanted to market in a newspaper. As the number of available platforms has increased, so has the confusion about which platform a business should be using. On Google, the search "which digital platform should I market on" comes up with 5.78 billion results (Google, Acc. 2022). Today, there is no clear single best way to get the information a business needs to share with the audience that wants to hear it.
Understanding why individuals use different media platforms allows businesses to decide which platforms to focus on based on the needs that different platforms are meeting. Knowing the target audience's needs helps businesses determine which may be the most effective for them to use. For example, the primary use of social media is to ask and answer questions and be a part of a community (Dolega, Rowe, & Branagan, 2021), while a main focus of websites is to provide greater in-depth knowledge (Michael, 2014). By trying to understand their ideal clients' needs by being on a specific platform, businesses can focus on the platforms that best allow them to communicate to their audience.
After determining which platform to use, businesses need to format the content and information they want to share to fit that specific platform. Businesses are better able to ensure that the messaging and media that they publish on a specific platform will reach their target audience, when they have a deep understanding of who their audience is and the needs of their audience,
Explaining how the concept of brand is introduced and used in digital marketing.
As digital marketplaces and communities continue to expand, the options presented to audiences are also growing. With more than 6,800 individual stud cattle businesses in Australia, this trend occurs in the seedstock industry (Australian Registered Cattle Breeders Association, Acc. 2020). Creating a solid brand is key to ensuring that people in the selected audience can identify an individual business and know why they should do business with them specifically. While a business refers to the company at work, the brand is the image and identity associated with it – whether intentionally or not (Westgarth, Acc. 2022).
With the increasing number of choices, audiences are now searching for a business that does not just fulfil a need but also has a brand they agree with – socially, ethically, environmentally, or personally (Holt, 2016). How a business establishes its brand online will help an audience determine whether they want to do business with them. The type of voice, the language used, and the type of content across different platforms are three aspects that should remain consistent but not identical (Chen, 2020).
Businesses that have a clear brand and know how to communicate it in a way audiences connect with will establish themselves as industry leaders (Aaker, 1992). While the concept is not new, the methods for connecting with audiences have multiplied with the introduction of digital marketing. Social media has enabled a brand's audience to shape the brand’s story. Businesses are no longer the sole authors of their brand story (Gensler, Völckner, Liu-Thompkins, & Wiertz, 2013). Past and potential customers will judge the business more on what they do and what they see the business doing than on what is being marketed to them (Gensler, Völckner, Liu-Thompkins, & Wiertz, 2013).
Successful brands use this to connect and invite audiences into their business and show them how they are working towards goals or incorporating their values into their work. The emphasis is not on what a brand is selling but on all the things that make up a brand and that make them unique (Bonnin & Alfonso, 2019).
Determining how marketing strategy is being implemented.
With a strong understanding of a target audience and how they are using different platforms, businesses can shape their messaging to positively engage the audience. For example, if their audience is on social media, they will be more likely to engage with images and client reviews than long-form text (Dolega, Rowe, & Branagan, 2021). Conversely, for a website audience, the in-depth text is the more effective content type (Dolega, Rowe, & Branagan, 2021).
In today’s digital marketing sphere, having a strong marketing strategy means integrating different digital platforms and using each to its strengths (Wang, Malthouse, Calder, & Uzunoglu, 2019). In addition, having a clear digital marketing plan that everyone involved in the business understands helps ensure that the content shared, both by the business and by those representing it (such as employees), is a positive representation of the brand.
The primary goal within these plans has shifted from getting clicks onto a business’s website towards sustained engagement with the audience (Harris & Rae, 2009). Today, individuals spend 11.4 hours per day (excluding work) consuming information (Webster, 2014). As people have become increasingly used to being 'sold to', businesses who are online-only promoting what they are selling are experiencing much lower engagement than those who are using their digital platforms to share things that an audience enjoys seeing (Canziani, Welsh, Dana, & Ramadani, 2020). Recently, a conscious shift from selling to helping is evident across social media. It sees audiences enjoying interacting with a brand as they know there is no expected investment immediately (Harris & Rae, 2009). In turn, when promoting an offer, the audience is more likely to want to support the brand (Harris & Rae, 2009).
Understanding the role audiences play in the future of digital marketing.
A common denominator regarding how businesses shape their brand is the audience they intend to reach and engage. Different audiences respond better to different messages on different platforms, and it is up to the business to ensure that they can communicate effectively (Fisher, 2021).
As technology continues to evolve to focus on more content-driven marketing through channels such as social media, the importance of the audience cannot be overstated. As more people interact more frequently on social media, this is increasingly where they go to ask for reviews and recommendations on different products and brands they are considering (Holt, 2016). Therefore, brands must have a strong digital presence.
Digital audiences increasingly control the conversation, sharing their stories concerning a brand rather than waiting for a brand to tell the audience what to think. The business’s increased involvement opens them to many opportunities. When businesses successfully create positive relationships with customers, they can promote brand loyalty, along with stronger word-of-mouth, which frequently results in a higher return on investment for the digital marketing expenses (Nyadzayo, Cassidy, & Thaichon, 2020).
Gold Standard Digital Marketing Practices
This literature review helped to establish an initial understanding of what current research and published recommendations are in relation to how businesses market themselves. This research can be synthesised into a brief five-point list that would be able to be used to structure the interview questions and methodology. The list includes:
Identify a target audience.
Focus on multichannel marketing.
Know core brand values and messages and how to communicate these.
Develop a strategy – focus on being discoverable.
Have a strong emphasis on people-based marketing.
Methodology
In the Australian beef seedstock industry, there is a disparity in how successfully and efficiently businesses use digital marketing. This study aims to establish the best standard digital marketing practices for businesses and compare this to what successful seedstock producers are currently doing. The result is to establish a list of gold standard marketing practices specifically relevant to the beef seedstock industry.
This study relies on information gathered from two main areas. Information regarding the best standard practices in the general marketing industry is compiled from an extensive review of existing literature. This will be complemented by the primary research section of this study, which is conducted as in-depth interviews with high-performing Australian seedstock cattle businesses. The aim is to examine these businesses' current digital marketing practices and ideologies, and determine the areas in which agricultural marketing in the seedstock industry aligns and diverges from practices that occur in a broader business-to-business marketing landscape.
The interviews aim to answer the five key research questions established from the list of best practices within the general marketing industry:
How does audience targeting influence businesses marketing?
Which digital marketing platforms are most effective for marketing a business?
How is the concept of branding introduced and used in digital marketing?
How is marketing strategy being implemented?
What is the role of audiences in the future of digital marketing?
The interviews involved a small sample size and continued until the interview responses reached thematic saturation on significant points. The businesses interviewed are Australian seedstock producers who have an online marketing presence and were selected due to their success in one of the following categories:
Twenty highest average bull sales in 2021
Ten highest average bull sales in 2020
Twenty highest individual bull sale prices in 2021
Ten highest individual bull sale prices in 2020
A list of all individual studs that met these criteria was created, with duplications removed to ensure a single representation. From this list, businesses were chosen at random to be interviewed. If a selected business did not have any digital presence, they were removed from the pool. Of the final businesses selected, either an owner, partner or manager in charge was contacted and interviewed. While these interviews were initially planned to be conducted in person, restrictions and concerns related to COVID-19 required the interviews to be conducted by Zoom or phone calls.
The interviews followed a semi-structured approach, with a base list of questions asked of each interviewee and follow up questions asked when necessary. This helped ensure the information gathered could be compared to other responses and allowed respondents to help direct the conversation to incorporate key points and aspects that may not have initially been identified as important factors.
Questions asked of Participants
General Background:
How many animals is the business managing currently?
How many animals are sold annually?
How long has the business been operating?
How long has the interviewee been involved in the business?
What does success look like for the business in a big-picture sense? What metrics are used to measure this?
Which digital platforms is the business currently using? Are there different purposes for the different platforms?
Which digital platforms are the most effective for getting leads, which are most effective for getting sales?
Does the business have a clearly identified target market or ideal client?
How did the brand look when the interviewee first became involved in contrast to how the business looks now? Has this change been intentional?
How much of the business’s marketing is faceless, and how much is personal?
What does client relationship management look like throughout the year?
What aspects of the brand are most important to the interviewee? What aspects of the brand are most important for the audience to connect with?
Does the business have a business or marketing plan? If so, what form does this take?
What areas would be prioritised if the interviewee had to start the business from scratch, with no brand name and just $10,000?
The primary aim of these in-depth interviews was to establish the digital marketing practices and ideologies currently held by these businesses. This study also provides background to understand what these businesses are trying to achieve and how they are using digital marketing as a tool. The data gathered helps to better understand what successful digital marketing looks like in the beef seedstock industry and provides a base of understanding for further study into related areas and industries. This study aims to provide key findings on the opportunities and challenges in this area and creates understanding to establish a gold standard of marketing for beef seedstock that could also be used in similar agricultural industries.
Results and Findings
Background Information
The interviews provided a rich understanding of how the businesses are being run, how marketing is changing, and some of the key opportunities and challenges beef seedstock businesses face in the current digital climate. Businesses of varying sizes and stages were interviewed. While all businesses had achieved a high level of success within the industry, few other traits were similar among all participants.
The number of stud animals on the properties ranged from 350 to 6,250, with between 100 and 1,000 stud bulls sold annually. The median scores of these datasets were used to account for outliers: the median number of animals in an operation was 775 and the median number of bulls sold annually was 200.
The median length of time that the business had been operating was 53 years. There was a large range among businesses – the newest business being 14 years and the oldest being established more than 150 years ago. Similarly, the length of time that the interviewees had been involved in their respective businesses ranged from almost 5 years to more than 35 years, with the median length of time in business 28 years.
Defining Success.
The interviewed businesses were selected from a pool of more than forty businesses that met selection criteria of significant financial success in the Australian seedstock market within the last two years. This metric allowed for a simplified way to select interviewees but is not an indicator of how the business views success. To account for this, the first question asked participants what success looked like to them and what metrics they used to measure this. This question was initially asked to provide a point of reference that could help account for differences in marketing methods, both between different seedstock businesses and between agriculture and general marketing. There was considerable similarity for many of the success measures among the selected businesses.
Among the seedstock businesses interviewed, financial measures were not viewed as the primary indicator of success. As stated by one interviewee, "we decided to take money out of our conversation to a certain extent, because it was not an accurate reflection of how we wanted to measure our success.” (Intv.5). This includes specific financial measures such as return on assets, cash flow, profitability, and more general financial measures such as annual sale averages, total profit, and revenue. While businesses indicated that these areas were vital for the sustainability of the business, both client results and team happiness and wellbeing were viewed as more important indicators for success within the business. The financial metrics tended to be viewed as a "tick the box" measure rather than a key indicator of success (Intv. 3).
The happiness and wellbeing of the individuals involved in the running of the business were vital – success was "not just in our business, but also with our personal wellbeing" (Intv. 5). This was typically judged through frequent conversations to ensure that the employees and families of the interviewees were passionate about what they do, were happy in the position they were in, and motivated by the business's goals and vision. Simply asking “Are you happy”…" and "Do you like what you do?" were simple ways to check in with a team (Intv. 3). The health and wellbeing of a team was linked directly to the longevity and sustainability of the business over “not one year, not two years… (but over) a generation” (Intv. 4). Their clients' results after using livestock purchased from this business were undoubtedly the number one measure of success.
The concept that the “strength and success of brand comes from how you perform for clients” (Intv. 4), continued throughout multiple interviews. These client results were viewed in terms of breeding success and through creating relationships where clients return to this business because their needs have been so well met. As this was the primary indicator of success for these businesses, it indicated the importance of having a strong understanding of the target market that they were trying to serve.
Examining how audience targeting can influence business marketing.
A business’s marketing can be extensively influenced by the depth of understanding of the audience they are targeting (Abrahams, Coupey, Zhong, Barkhi, & Manasantivongs, 2013). This dictates both the platforms that are used and the messaging, and the type of product that the business is producing. Through these interviews, it became clear that traditional audience analysis and segmentation by interviewees differed from businesses operating in more general areas. When asked whether their business had a clear target market, the interviewees tended to focus on the needs they were trying to fulfil for their market, showing a preference toward psychographic segmentation rather than demographic segmentation (Thomas, 2019).
Interviewees had an extremely strong understanding of market wants and needs, emphasising market demands leading market trends rather than the producer. While audience demands would impact the type of livestock that these businesses sold, it was also recognised that “it is part of (the seedstock producer’s) responsibility to understand what the clients are going to need next" and help to shape the market through doing so (Intv. 7).
When asked to elaborate on the ideal client that the businesses work with, the descriptions were based on the values, needs and interests rather than descriptions of individual clients. The most typically targeted groups were progressive, leaders, good people, and good businessmen and women. Businesses "get to choose the people that (they) like to work with… (they) make sure that (they) have a family of people (they) work with”, and were emphasising working with people whose goals, ambitions and values aligned with their own programs (Intv. 3).
The rise and evolution of digital marketing has meant businesses are more easily able to share what is important to them and their story with a wide audience. While digital platforms have provided greater chances of connecting with an audience, all interviewees spoke about the importance of connecting with potential clients on a personal level. Interviewees wanted to work with clients who align with their business goals and values, as these businesses were “not just selling a bull, (but) selling a whole program" (Intv. 2). This was explained as being vital to the longevity of business relationships. Each interviewee reiterated the importance of genuinely caring and being interested in their clients as this would reflect throughout both marketing and client relationships.
This care and dedication to elite customer service was evident by including comprehensive guarantees and support if a problem arose. Phone calls, at least once a year and typically around specific events on the farm, were the most common mode of contact with past clients. These calls were used to get ahead of any issues, provide extra support if needed, and generally make sure that these customers felt valued by the business.
Digital media was viewed as a strong tool for helping to create initial impressions and basic connections. Despite this, digital marketing was primarily used as an extension of in-person marketing rather than a replacement. One interviewee explained that in selling livestock in the current market, “we needed that digital stuff to help us get across the line” (Intv. 7), while another elaborated that "you still want to have that personal touch with all your clients" (Intv. 8). The personal connection created by these businesses has seen clients returning for years, decades, in between generations of clients. By understanding the audience they are targeting, businesses can determine what platforms are the most effective and the most valued by their clients.
Understanding which platforms are most effective for marketing a business.
Many of the businesses interviewed were early adopters of new technology; however, interviewees made it abundantly clear that whatever the platform, the relationship with the audience was the key factor. Building a relationship based on trust meant that “some clients… at our bull sale each year, has bought at (the stud) for 18 years, and never set foot on the property” (Intv. 8). These types of relationships existed before digital marketing, but the increase of information that can be shared with clients today makes this significantly easier. Agriculture is typically a word-of-mouth-style industry, and personal relationships are key sales drivers (Leroux, Wortman, & Mathias, 2001).
Along with relationships, another vital factor for successful digital marketing is understanding how to use different platforms for their strengths. Of all the digital marketing platforms available, only two were used by all interviewees and their businesses (Intv. General). Websites and online selling platforms (such as AuctionsPlus & Elite Livestock Auctions) were the two most used platforms, closely followed by Facebook (Intv. General).
Each of these three digital marketing platforms was extensively used for different purposes. Websites were key as an information bank that clients could access easily and at any time. When used effectively, websites could handle a significant number of general inquiries and could increase efficiency to the point of the website "becoming maybe two employees for me" (Intv. 1). In-depth information about the type of animals the stud is producing, sales and purchase information, contact details, and elaboration about the brand story and business values were important aspects to share here.
The online selling platforms were targeted more towards an audience that was in a ready-to-buy rather than information-finding state. These platforms have been instrumental in providing opportunities for businesses to overcome the challenges provided by distance and location. This type of platform was used for an existing audience rather than individuals who have not previously heard of them. The online platforms are typically integrated with annual sales and allow better and easier access to the business’s existing audience.
More than any other social media platform, Facebook provided the widest audience and the greatest opportunity to create connections. One interviewee who extensively used Facebook explained that "a number of people who come to my sale know us through our Facebook page. And feel as though they know us and that they can then trust us" (Intv. 2). This platform is primarily used to share a business’s brand and story with a wide audience, as it has the advantage of personalising the marketing experience for the audience.
Email marketing was used by almost half and was effective at sharing information with an engaged audience but carried the challenge of crafting emails that were valuable to the audience and maintained the brands' voice and tone. Traditional media sources such as advertising and newspapers were still common, but the cost and the lack of analytics provided was contributing to decreased usage. Of the businesses that used Google AdWords, they stated this was a platform that provided the best return on investment and was one area they were increasingly “putting more budgeting dollars towards” (Intv. 8); however, only three participants utilised AdWords.
Two of the biggest challenges faced by participants was managing the time and effort involved in keeping the individual platforms up to date and a sense of uncertainty on how to use these platforms most efficiently. Many interviewees stated that they "should" be using digital marketing more or differently than they currently are, but it was not an option for them at that time. This was primarily due to time, outsourcing costs, and not feeling confident in managing this themselves. One area that interviewees highlighted as a potential issue was relating to a number of newer businesses entering the agricultural sphere. These businesses had spent money on establishing an attractive online brand but not taking the time to ensure that they could uphold these expectations in person – both through meeting market needs and through no real client relationships.
Each platform had distinct advantages and uses, but interviewees noted the importance of being recognisable across all platforms and using a tone similar to what individuals would get in person. Having clear messaging and a good understanding of how to communicate the brand story across different platforms can create a connection between individuals in the target market. It was important to allow clients to feel that digital marketing "is a personal conversation between us and them" (Intv. 5). This connection to a brand can help speed up a target market’s buying process and turn potential clients into loyal customers.
Explaining how the concept of brand is introduced and used in digital marketing.
Branding is a tool used to connect with audiences that are not dependent solely on the product that businesses provide, helping to differentiate them from their competitors. It is especially important in highly competitive and highly saturated markets where customers can choose between a greater selection of businesses. Generally, interviewees agreed that when "there are so many places you can buy (cattle from), why…would you buy from someone you do not trust?" (Intv. 7). With just shy of 7,000 individual cattle studs across Australia all aiming to help improve some aspect of their market, the beef seedstock industry is highly competitive (Australian Registered Cattle Breeders Association, Acc. 2020).
For an audience to connect with the brand presented to them, it is vital that the business has taken the time to understand what they want that brand to stand for and represent. "You have got to have relationships with people, and they have got to want to support you. So you have got to do everything you can to support them" (Intv. 6). Whether the interviewees had started their own business or were entering into an established business, one of the first things they did was work to ensure that the brand was a good representation of the messages and values they wanted to stand behind. One interviewee explained that “I was not a good marketer when I did not have a product I believed in” (Intv. 1). The brand vision established during this time tended not to shift with the changes in technology, information, and farming practices.
One of the key aspects of branding is deciding what values businesses want their audience to associate with their brand. Of the businesses interviewed, there were many variations of the key values the businesses wanted to convey to their audiences. The highest prioritised values included that these businesses with family farms, that they operated with integrity, that they produced high-quality livestock, that these businesses were here for the long haul, and that clients could trust in them.
Once these key values were established, they provided a sound base for structuring their marketing. For most businesses, this was not a strategic decision but came from wanting to ensure that they could create a genuine relationship with clients through digital marketing as they typically did in person. Branding was seen as essential to the client experience. It was one of the areas that helped differentiate them from competitors and ensured that the clients they worked with could feel a part of the business and would help create stronger brand loyalty.
Determining how marketing strategy is being implemented.
In the seedstock businesses interviewed, written plans and strategies were only used by four businesses. The businesses with marketing plans had a strong focus on making them in-depth but emphasised that "keeping it simple is the best way to go about it” (Intv. 8). Typically, businesses that had a larger staff and more people involved outside of a family unit had these plans to ensure that everybody was being consistent. One interviewee explained that their process for ensuring the team had a sound understanding of the marketing was to “have them involved in the entire process… they are involved in creating what that marketing message is, and they are actually a part of developing it" (Intv. 8).
While not all businesses had these written documents, all interviewees spoke of the goals and visions that they had for the business in the future, “every five years or so we try and do ‘where do we want to be in 5-10 years?’” (Intv. 3). It became evident that business' strategy was structured around conversations about these goals. The marketing strategies themselves are typically related to locations to target and key messages relevant to that season to share with clients. This ties heavily back into understanding the clients’ current needs and having the ability to look forward and estimate what potential future needs may be as "part of what our clients pay us to do is research and development” (Intv. 7). By focusing on what clients’ needs are in the current season and situation, businesses could target messaging around the what clients were experiencing, thinking about, and what was of concern.
The type of content shared was another area that was not strictly structured by strategy. The content and messaging across different digital media platforms were typically centred around different sales and events occurring throughout the year (Intv. General). While not specifically strategy, basic workflows were frequently built around sales and events to ensure that past and potential clients had access to all the information that they may need. More structured workflows and explicit strategies tended to be used as businesses grew in size and more people became involved in the selling process (Intv. General). The more casual approach to workplace and strategy allowed for more flexibility in client relations and allowed businesses to customise contact with individual clients’ stages of business and personal requirements (Intv. 5).
By keeping the marketing strategy more focused on the goals and visions of the business, seedstock businesses were unintentionally creating a timeless marketing approach. In addition, because marketing was centred around a bigger picture, potential clients and the audience were drawn to the business. Clients could feel a part of the direction the business was taking.
Understanding the role audiences play in the future of digital marketing.
Throughout these interview responses, a recurring theme was the importance of personal relationships with the business’s audience and the client base. Traditionally, agriculture has been a relationship-based selling industry (Wicaksono, Nugroho, Lakner, Dunay, & Illés, 2021). In the past, sales were more product-driven than personality-driven (Docherty, 2012). However, as the market grew and there was increasingly more choice for buyers, the sellers' reputation, brand, and personality became increasingly important.
This meant that as agricultural businesses began moving online and onto digital platforms, there was already an extremely strong understanding of the importance of connecting with the audience. The participants’ businesses sell significantly more than just products (Intv. General). They are using digital platforms to complement in-person marketing to connect with audiences and invite people to feel a part of their program. This is not inherently planned by these businesses but created by a genuine want to allow clients and their audience to know them better.
The interviewed businesses for this study understood the importance of using connections to build trust. Digital marketing, in addition to personal relationships, had allowed these businesses to have clients invest in livestock based solely on the recommendation of others in the business, something that "does not come easy. You have got to earn that trust to be able to do that" (Intv. 8). While good marketing may result in the sale being made, creating genuine relationships has resulted in brand loyalty that extends not just year-to-year but lasting decades and generations of clients.
With the median age of businesses operating at 53 years, the interviewed businesses had seen multiple changes in the marketing landscape for agriculture and in general (Intv. General). These brands shifted their marketing to ensure they were showing up in the communication spaces of their customers. In addition, they were structuring their marketing to show clients they had the product to fulfil their needs and the brand that would support them into the future.
The platforms on which businesses market will change to move with the audience (Intv. General). By having such a strong focus on their business’s brand, values, and product, these agricultural businesses were more flexible with the method and platform they would use to market. This was reiterated when interviewees were asked where they would start if they had to restart their business. All answers focused on establishing a brand before trying to create the perfect product or reach a wider audience.
Discussion
This research began with a list of five 'Gold Standard Digital Marketing Practices' that was synthesised from secondary sources in the literature review. This list helped shape the research questions to establish whether this list would apply to the beef seedstock industry and general marketing industry. The interview component ensured that this list was able to be cross-checked and examined in relation to the current practices and ideologies that exist in the Australian beef seedstock industry.
General Gold Standard Digital Marketing Practices
Identify a target audience.
Focus on multichannel marketing.
Know core brand values and messages and how to communicate these.
Develop a strategy – focus on being discoverable.
Have a strong emphasis on people-based marketing.
Identify success. Set goals & metrics.
Identifying what success looks like for individual businesses is not on the original ‘gold standard marketing practices’ list, however, it became clear throughout the interview process that understanding what drives a business is entirely integrated into the processes and marketing of that business. This understanding of which indicators will be used by a business allows the most relevant goals and metrics to be chosen, helping businesses streamline their decision-making throughout the marketing process. While these measures do not necessarily have to be written in extensive business plans, they should be communicated and understood by all members of the team operating on the business.
Identify target audience. Focus on their demands.
The responses given throughout the interview process indicated that this area was very similar to that of businesses operating in a more general sense. It was clear that audience targeting was extremely important to ensure the businesses could reach clients and ensure that they were able to fulfil their needs effectively.
One of the biggest disparities between the two groups of businesses was how they targeted an audience. General businesses tended to segment the audiences more commonly on a demographic basis. However, beef seedstock businesses more frequently use geographic and psychographic segmentation (Intv. General).
The location of a market was extremely important to seedstock businesses, typically producing livestock that would be best suited to a specific region. Psychographic segmentation was more frequently used than demographic segmentation as businesses focused on attracting clients with similar values, interests, and production needs rather than focusing on the physical characteristics of potential clients.
This understanding of the target audience meant that agricultural businesses could more easily form relationships with clients as the business transaction itself only formed one area in which both parties were interested. Agricultural businesses had a strong intrinsic understanding of their audience's demands and how to integrate this into their business and what they were producing.
Use digital marketing channels as a complement to in-person marketing.
Businesses need to understand which platforms available to them will be the most effective to communicate with their audience. Like general businesses, understanding how their audience uses different platforms is one of the key drivers of this decision.
One critical component for agricultural businesses is that while digital marketing channels can increase their potential audience into the thousands, these channels should be used to complement in-person marketing and as an extension rather than as a replacement. While many businesses operating in a general industry may shift the majority of their business marketing online, this did not appear to be the case for beef seedstock businesses. While technology more easily and broadly allows businesses to share more information, businesses must first establish trust and a relationship with their clients on a personal level or they are unlikely to see the same levels of success as has occurred for the businesses interviewed.
Determine the core values and messages.
When seedstock businesses begin to market online, similar to more general businesses, it is vital to know the core values and messages of the brand and how to communicate these with an audience. When audiences can see that they align with a business across multiple facets, such as values, goals, and needs being fulfilled, they are more likely to want to engage in a relationship with this business.
Agricultural businesses rely on relationships, and these areas are integral aspects for an audience to decide to do business with them and establish a level of trust. By having explicit core values and well-understood messages, businesses can make it easier for their teams to communicate these and easier for audiences to understand them by taking the guesswork out of the situation. Once these have been established, matching the communication method with the distribution platform ensures that values and messages are best understood and seen by the relevant audience.
Develop a strategy. Focus on being consistent.
Across general businesses, strategies were implemented to help ensure that the business's core values and messages were being communicated in the most efficient way possible. In general, the emphasis was on being discoverable and engaging.
In agricultural businesses, where digital marketing is still in its early stages of integration for the majority, the focus should be less on being discoverable and more and being consistent. This is primarily because of the existing relationships that many agricultural brands already have with their clients. Therefore, digital marketing is primarily a way for businesses to foster relationships with an existing audience and clients rather than selling to a cold audience.
With this in mind, the digital marketing strategy is more about consistency than being discoverable. Throughout the interview process, businesses indicated the importance of ensuring that their audience knew what to expect. This understanding was developed through the use of tone, content, and the type of information being shared.
Focus on people-based marketing.
Whether the businesses are operating in a general market or an agricultural-specific market, the movement towards people-based marketing is vital to business longevity. In agricultural industries, success was viewed on a significantly longer basis. Many of the interviewees had been involved with their business with their parents and grandparents as family businesses. They had been serving clients that were found in relationships their grandparents had created. When the most common indicator of success was client results, the emphasis that agricultural brands put on customer care, satisfaction, and retention is unsurprising.
This concept has been carried into how agricultural businesses market digitally. Because of this client-care mentality that is extremely common within the agricultural industry, many agricultural brands have the potential to use digital marketing extremely effectively as a method of gaining new customers, deepening relationships with existing customers, and attracting a significant audience.
Gold Standard Digital Marketing Practices for the Beef Seedstock Industry
The digital marketing practices that occur within the beef seedstock industry in Australia contain number of similarities to the digital marketing practices that occur in wider industry. In seedstock businesses, the practices and strategies that were occurring were of a lower priority to working with and getting results for their target clients. The original ‘Gold Standard Digital Marketing Practices’ list established through the literature review can be amended to better suit businesses working in the beef seedstock industry.
Identify what constitutes success for the business. Set goals about what this looks like and decide what metrics will be used to measure this.
Identify the audience that can be targeted to achieve success. Focus on this audience and determine what they are demanding from the market.
Use digital marketing channels as a complement to in-person marketing.
Determine the core values and messages that will help connect the audience with the business and know how to communicate these.
Develop a strategy – focus on being consistent.
Focus on People-Based Marketing
Challenges
One of the major challenges faced by businesses in agriculture was not about their approach to digital marketing but instead related more to their knowledge and understanding of how to use platforms effectively. Therefore, better education on the available platforms and how to structure them towards an agriculture-specific audience would be extremely beneficial to helping more agricultural businesses use digital marketing effectively.
One of the other major challenges and one of the reasons agricultural businesses has taken longer to integrate digital marketing strategies is the lack of infrastructure in the unreliability of services in rural and remote areas. However, as better phone reception and internet service become more widely available, significantly more agricultural businesses will take on more digital marketing practices.
Conclusion
Now more than ever, businesses need to understand their audience on several levels. As businesses move towards digital marketing, their potential online reach expands. There is a greater need to ensure that the content businesses produce is relevant, transparent, and valuable to this larger audience. Businesses need to adapt and change as technology changes. As the audience moves to control the narrative relating to businesses, it is the responsibility of businesses to learn how to share and shape their story without having to control every aspect.
Digital media platforms are massive tools businesses can use to market effectively. However, unfortunately, the abundance of platforms and options on what to post can overwhelm businesses who instead choose not to engage.
This study shows that the way businesses share their story may have changed, but at the core, marketing in agriculture contains the same principles, just managed in a different way.
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