We never stop exploring what the best marketing tools are so to bring them to our customers, and January seems to always put an added focus on this. There are so many marketing tools to choose from and so at Green Acre Marketing we put it to the floor for each of the team to deem what they feel is most important for 2022.
Influencer marketing – Lisa Dunphy
Influencer marketing is still achieving results and helping to drive product sales for many brands. However, it has gathered some scepticism. Senior Account Director, Lisa Dunphy pointed out that the most effective influencer marketing is a collaboration that provides relevance and a strong association to your brand. It is not about finding a popular figure and simply putting your product in their hands. It should be about finding someone who would benefit from using your product and will be happy to tell more like-minded people about it. Lisa describes modern influencer marketing as ‘word of mouth’ simply amplified.
More video – Lisa Meyler
Lisa Meyler who manages and coordinates an impressive array of video production says video is going nowhere any time soon. According to Lisa it still achieves the most engagement online.
“For 2022 we will need to consider what has changed when it comes to using video within our marketing mix”, Lisa stated
There are many different types of video productions; snippets for social media, larger productions for online events, emotive creations for advertising, etc. Therefore, as with all aspects of marketing giving due consideration to the objective of your video production is the starting point.
Lisa advises, “Consider where you want video to be used and what you want it to achieve. Video marketing is continuously evolving, however what we do know is that hosting a low-quality video with little, or no context won’t work if you want to stay ahead of the competition. The content, length, and format of video are all important factors to consider if you’re looking to achieve better results for the year ahead.
With mobile use at an all-time high and our attention spans reducing, creating quick catchy videos will become even more important in the year ahead. Short form video ads and the increasingly popular reels and stories on social media are a great way to showcase your company’s personality, build anticipation and attract your target audience to take further action.
Believe it or not, silent video watching is becoming a bigger trend, therefore the addition of subtitles and text animations will be vital to effectively reach and communicate with your audience.
Last but certainly not least – take the time to ensure that the video is being seen by as many people as possible. Just like website text and imagery, make sure to include clear keywords, descriptions and titles.”
Upskilling – Aileen Barron
Like so many aspects of farming and of any business, factors change; challenges arise, new technology comes into play, new legislation and rules apply, and the marketing landscape is no different. Aileen’s advice is that agribusinesses need to make a commitment to upskilling their marketing teams and resigning themselves to the fact that they are going to have to embrace a further skillet – whether that takes place internally or by employing the expertise of an external agency. “We constantly see digital marketing platforms alter their algorithms, change how we need to present campaigns online and even rule changes when it comes to sponsored and paid content. Unless your team are committed to keeping up with these changes the existing skillset can become very quickly outdated.
“As Managing Director of Green Acre Marketing my thoughts are always around best practise and best results so that we are not only future proofing Green Acre Marketing but ensuring our clients are benefitting from the most effective marketing tools and tactics,” Aileen stated.
SEO and User Experience – Tom Sinnott
Tom may have cheated here as he has given two tips in the form of one. According to Tom, “I have put these two together as I believe they coexist. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is, put simply, about getting found when a person does a Google search for information and uses a word/phrase that closely relates to your product or service offering. Then, once your site has been found, the user journey to achieve a specific goal should be as seamless and efficient as possible. How users perceive a product during their first use will determine their emotional reaction to it, so if they have a positive experience with your site, they will be likely to come back again. Therefore, you can see how both SEO and user experience merge into the one customer journey.”
When Tom thinks user experience he said we need to consider the visual and written word so that what is in front of your potential customer is visually impactful and easy to understand which helps make navigating the site far more satisfying when trying to complete a task.
Being good at everything – Anne Eviston
Being good at everything probably does come easy to Anne but when it comes to marketing there is an abundance of effective and proven marketing tools to choose from and she argues that for any agribusiness to be good at delivering on all of these is next to impossible, especially given that most operate with limited marketing resources.
Anne advises, “By working through your marketing strategy and giving serious thought to your customer personas, you can establish some focus.
“I only joined Green Acre Marketing in 2021 but seeing companies nailing the key marketing tools that are going to deliver the most value over a set period of time have delivered the best results. When these are established and working well, then you should take the time to start exploring more marketing tactics and build from there. By closely monitoring analytical data on what is working and what isn’t we can make more informed decisions on what should be brought into the marketing mix,” Anne concluded.
The one that got away
We couldn’t finish without one more inclusion that we all agreed on – Don’t confuse your social media marketing with your digital marketing.
So often we see Social Media Marketing deemed as Digital Marketing. Yes, it is a digital marketing tool, but not the only one. Yes, it has proved itself as a really powerful tool especially when managed correctly but there are lots of other digital marketing tools, some of which we have mentioned above.
So that’s a round up from the Green Acre Marketing team. We are driven by working with ideas that are in their infancy and watching them flourish to become really rewarding campaigns for our customers, and we are genuinely invigorated by this. There will be lots to keep an eye on in 2022.