Marketing for Agriculture

BUILD YOUR BUSINESS PROFITS

Being a successful rural businessman or woman is a difficult managerial role. Very few non-rural businesses are presented with the continuing changes and variations that confront a rural business. The impact of climate means the rural manager has to continually consider, evaluate, assess (and reassess) often on a daily or even hourly basis, the numerous changes and types of information that may affect the rural business success. This course develops your ability to analyse and manage marketing problems in an agricultural enterprise

Lesson Structure

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. Agricultural Marketing Concepts
   • The Role of Marketing
   • Approaches to Marketing
   • The Production Approach: 1820sto 1910s
   • The Sales Approach: 1920s to 1960s
   • The Marketing Approach: Stage One - 1960s to 1980s
   • The Marketing Approach: Stage Two - 1980s to Present
   • The Goals of Marketing
   • Managing the Marketing Process
   • Marketing - An Evolutionary Process
2. Farm Marketing Objectives and Strategies
   • Supply And Demand
   • The Marketing Mix
   • Developing a Farm Marketing Plan
   • Organising the Planning Process
3. Target Marketing
   • Preliminary Research
   • Analysing Market Opportunities
   • External Influences
   • Overseas Influences
   • Internal Influences
   • Analysis of Business Resources
   • Analysis of Market Share
   • Analysis of Product Characteristics
   • Analysis of Advertising
   • Analysis of Price
   • Financial Capacity
   • Analysis of Innovative Potential
   • Selecting Target Markets - Market Segmentation
   • Physical Basis for Segmenting the Market
   • Behavioural Basis for Segmenting the Market
4. Handling Produce
   • Developing the Marketing Mix
   • The ‘Product’ Element
   • The ‘Price’ Element
   • The ‘Promotion’ Element
   • The ‘Place’ Element
   • Product Life Cycle
5. Customer Relations
   • Customer Service
   • Customer Care Policy
   • Customer Care - Levels of Involvement
   • Effective Communication
   • Dealing with Complaints
   • Maximising Customer Service
6. Market Research
   • The Importance of Market Research
   • The Research Process
   • Analysing Costs and Benefits
7. Promotions
   • Promoting Products
   • Channels of Communication
   • Publicity Marketing
   • Advertising
   • Structuring an Advertisement or Promotion
   • Copywriting in Advertising
8. Managing Marketing
   • Managing the Marketing Plan
   • Sales and the Market

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Explain the role of marketing in business and the importance of marketing in the business plan.
• Assess the relative importance of marketing planning and to determine marketing strategies in relation to farming.
• Identify target markets to select suitable marketing methods.
• Explain the physical handling of products in the marketing process including packaging, labeling, presentation and transportation.
• Plan to maintain sound customer relations in an agricultural business.
• Conduct market research into a product or service in the agricultural industry.
• Plan to manage the promotional program for an agricultural business.
• Develop strategies to manage the marketing of an agricultural enterprise.

Get Your Marketing Strategy on Course

Farm produce can with  or without value adding. You may choose to sell animals live; as a carcass, or as a processed product made from thew carcass. Crops can be harvested and sold as bulk product; or processed  and sold  at a higher price or to a different type of customer, because of the way it was processed.

Different types of agricultural products will have different potential markets in different countries. There is no point in spending money and time producing value added quality products at a high cost, if the markets you have access to, are not going to buy that product. In other situations though; value adding can be very profitable, and may be a way of turning an unprofitable farm into a profitable one.

Strategies may be designed to achieve different purposes, for example:

1. market retention
2. balancing strategy
3. market development
4. market growth

Market retention strategy basically looks towards maintaining market share in established markets. Established firms with successful products are likely to follow this style of strategy. Often they will incorporate some degree of product modification so as not to become stale and possibly lose market share.

Balancing strategy involves assessing costs against revenue (ie. is it cost effective?), and attempting to control marketing operation rather than outlaying funds in order to develop products. In older (ie. established) markets the market is usually relatively controlled and the competition is well known and new developments unlikely.

Market development strategy involves taking an existing product and improving or refining that product in the hope or belief that it will attract a larger share of an existing market. A good example of this type of marketing would be the Big M promotions, which were trying to, and largely succeeding in popularising flavoured milk.

Market growth strategy is where new products are being launched in the hope of creating new markets. This type of marketing usually involves high risk for a business, as it will require heavy promotion and there may be no guarantees that the product will be successful. It also promises the greatest profits should the market take off.   

Learn to Understand Marketing and Make Better Decisions for Better Business Outcomes

This course will increase your knowledge and understanding of farm marketing, and in doing so, you will see options for what can be produced and how it can be marketed in the agricultural sector.

You will look at farm produce differently and better see the potential when it exists; and be more likely to recognise the lack of potential and take action faster, when that is the situation.

This is a course for

• Farmers
• Farm Managers
• Agricultural Marketers
• Investors and Innovators, Agents and anyone else who works in the agricultural sector