Why Integrated marketing is the way forward for your farm

Lucy Swanston, co-founder and Managing Director of Nutshell Creative Ltd speaks to Farm Diversity about why integrated marketing is the way forward for your farm business.

If there’s one thing you learn in farming it’s that combining traditional practices with new ones can prove more effective than going all-out modern. For instance, cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB) has been on the rise because of no real effective chemical option. The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) advocates an integrated pest management approach for the control of CSFB, one that incorporates more traditional methods like trap crops, and managed defoliation such as sheep grazing early drillings.

And the principle is the same with marketing; mix it up, use a multichannel approach. The trend and spend may be ever more geared towards digital but don’t underestimate the power of traditional mediums like print to drive traffic to websites, or nudge consumers to revisit and fulfil abandoned online shopping baskets. Door drops and direct mails with samples or coupons attached are great vehicles to incentivise trialling of new products or services. And if you think print can’t be measured like digital, then you’d be wrong; it can. 

Digital fatigue

Undoubtedly, digital affects the way we live, work and communicate, and it certainly proved a communication and transactional lifeline during Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. Some 46%* of marketing budgets are now devoted to digital media but confidence in digital is not absolute, indeed many marketers are questioning the effectiveness of digital marketing. Email campaigns are no longer delivering the response and conversion rates hoped for, and it’s becoming increasingly hard to reliably engage consumers on digital platforms.

Last November I tuned in to a virtual House of Commons debate where industry heavyweights debated if digital communication were more important than ever in building brands (the motion was defeated, by the way). An opposer of the motion talked about increasing consumer awareness of the perils of digital and how manipulative social media and digital marketing have become in exploiting individuals’ data. He urged brands to consider their use of ‘hyper targeting’ given that consumers now understand how this technology has been used −and abused − and may not like it.

Opponents weren’t advocating a mass return to print among this digital fatigue, more an openness to multichannel approaches, using a mix of direct and indirect, digital and physical channels. The novelty of digital is wearing off and it was particularly noticeable during lockdown when people craved physical communication. Ask yourself, would you rather receive a wedding invite via Facebook or a beautiful, handwritten one through the post?

Make it a sensory experience

83% of marketing communication appeals to one sense only; visual. Don’t underestimate the importance of physicality when it comes to marketing, you only have to look at companies like Apple which uses its packaging as part of its brand experience (see later). There are several well-tested theories that show that branded materials and merchandise switch on our right-brain thinking, building memories with a clear sense of place. Think about hotel branded mementoes like shower gels and bathrobes, they trigger memories long after the excursion itself has ended.

Last year I co-facilitated a virtual marketing event where Olga Munroe of the Retail Institute spoke about sensory marketing and haptic engagement and how using print and different effects in packaging can increase consumer satisfaction. She discussed all the senses and how, for example, 75% of our emotions are influenced by smell, suggesting that olfactory linked to memory can be positively ascribed to brands. 

She talked about consumer purchase drivers, external triggers like packaging price and brand, and internal ones such as hedonism or utilitarian. She talked about achieving premiumisation, referencing how the seductive suction of lifting the lid on an iPhone box was no accident, it was engineered to heighten sensory engagement. It’s well worth watching her presentation on YouTube; it might give you a few ideas.

Marry tradition with innovation

2020/2021 was a year like no other but research† conducted during lockdown revealed that direct mail (DM) enjoyed incredible cut-through; 88%† paid the same or more attention to it. Indeed 41%† of businesses planned to increase spend on DM this year. 

And let’s not forget that when Boris Johnson wanted to rally the Great British public he wrote a letter delivered to every household. I’m not saying it’s a superior channel but it is good for brands. Around 70%1 of people said DM, rather than email, made them feel valued and gave them a better impression of the company that sent it.

DM can seem more costly than digital communications but it will often be more profitable in the long run and with none of the reputational or other risks associated with some digital media. Always consider the value of the investment and the risks, not just the cost. 

If you don’t feel confident choosing which channels might be best for your diversification enterprise to attract and retain customers, then consider consulting an integrated or multichannel marketing agency. The more channels you can afford to use the greater your returns. Studies2 show that using two platforms can increase return on investment (ROI) by 19%, rising to 35% with five platforms. 

The perfect diet for gaining pounds: a case study on Natural Animal Nutrition

When the owner of one of our customers, Natural Animal Nutrition (NAN) made healthier changes to her own diet, she was inspired to investigate what she fed her dogs. This proved the catalyst for her launching a raw diet business. 

NAN already had a very good profile of its customer and delivered free within a 15-mile radius. We recommended a door drop campaign as the most effective method to accurately target and localise. The printed door drop drove people to a special website landing page which enabled NAN to measure who visited and who downloaded the 25% off voucher and raw feed guide. This not only improved brand engagement but also the ability to measure ROI. 

The campaign lasted a few weeks and cost NAN almost 10% of its turnover but the results were incredible and more than covered the cost of the investment. The campaign increased NAN’s revenue by 23.5%. 

“We’re a relatively small business and what we needed was realistic, and we knew people would stay once their animals tried our products. The campaign exceeded where we hoped we’d be, with more to come. If you understand the value of your customer, and can make the offer relevant and attractive, and can profile your target then it’s the most fantastic medium,” NAN managing director. 

* Source: Canon Insight Report - Creating customer value
† Source: Royal Mail and Trinity McQueen
1 Source: Royal Mail, Market Reach Physically Irresistible
2 Source: Analytic Partners 2016