Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The key to success is to be proactive in getting involved with the commu-
nity. You will need to make a decision on how much of the marketing budget
time and money will be allocated to community marketing.
Most businesses will get involved in one of six ways:
•
Volunteer space in store for local community promotion;
•
Provide talks to the local chamber of commerce group;
•
Give talks to community groups;
•
Adopt a local project as their own;
•
Allow the sales team members to get involved in a predetermined pro-
ject for a set number of hours as part of their job;
•
Gift product that is not selling to local events as a marketing tool.
Over the last couple of years we were involved in setting up a local
community garden. It was interesting to see local involvement in ac-
tion at close quarters and observe how retailers were prepared to get
involved.
Partnership not sponsorship
One of the first lessons to be learned is that progressive businesses want to
be partners in the local community and not be sponsors. We ensured we de-
veloped partnerships to enable local businesses to feel they were partners
on a journey. The partnership was divided up into bronze, silver, gold and
platinum partners in the project.
We then contacted businesses who we felt would benefit the most from
a partner arrangement. We highlighted the benefits and approached each
business personally.
It was interesting how different retailers reacted and we are sure there is
a lesson for all businesses based on our experience.
We approached one retailer in our town who read through all our litera-
ture and then came back to us and explained he would like to get involved,
but retailing was tough and he did not feel he could help our cause. That was
the end of the conversation.
As a result we then approached another retailer who was in the same
retail sector. They again looked at our proposal and requested a meeting.
Their spokesperson asked if they could use the community garden as a
training area for their own team and would we provide barbecue nights for
their team throughout the year. They asked if they could have a plot in the
garden as an area where they could train their team and also engage with
the consumer. This was apart from the partnership conversation we had
with them.
That retailer could see the benefits of a true partnership at a local level to
grow sales and engage his team with local consumers.
Partnerships are about engaging with the local community, sponsorships
are about donating to the community. As a food tourism operator a business
