Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
on interruption marketing and 40% on permission marketing, but we accept
that there is a shift and over time the percentages will alter and a business will
need to invest more and more money into permission-marketing techniques.
When looking at the marketing budget, most of the money spent on inter-
ruption marketing goes on tangible items such as advertising space; when it
comes to permission marketing most of the money is spent on time, the tan-
gible aspects are often free. For example, with regard to a comment posted on
a blog the cost is occurred in the writing and not the posting.
Where do you start?
Plan your marketing strategy
Marketing your business when visitors are likely to visit your region sounds
obvious, but sometimes it is not obvious. Successful operators market their
business before the visitors come to the region. If your major food tourism
season is, for example, May, then make sure the marketing campaign is well
established in April so that your enterprise becomes 'Top of Mind' before your
season commences. Leaving it to May means other businesses have taken up
that opportunity and the visitor will not have time to visit your establishment.
There may also be opportunities to market the business in more unusual
ways, as follows.
Celebrate the day
One of the keys to successful marketing is to be in tune with events in the
world and planning proactively. This really came home to us when Prince
George was born in July 2013 to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in
the UK. At the time John was working with a garden centre and men-
tioned to the garden centre team that everybody had a 'Birth Tree' and that
garden centres should build a promotion using the elm, Prince George's
birth tree.
An apprentice at the business took it on himself to create a display of elm
trees in the business. The normal turnover of elm trees in the business is three
times a year, if they are lucky. John agreed with the apprentice that the dis-
play had a life of around a week and then would need to be dismantled.
The display only lasted 4 days before the product had sold out. Marketing
is about being proactive and making decisions 'on the run' based on what is
catching the public attention.
The key lesson is that, in an ideal world, you need a 'festival' every week
to attract consumers. Luckily working with seasonal products allows a busi-
ness to develop and change the story every week.
Why celebrate?
•
It creates a reason for the consumer to come every week to experience a
new 'festival';
•
It increases the overall stock turn of the enterprise;
•
The average sale increases per customer;
