Whether your agribusiness is well established or you’re just getting started, your company’s branding can have a profound impact on your market value. Investing in your brand is one of the best ways to increase sales and grow your business.
In this post, we’ll take a look at the importance of having an effective brand strategy for your farm equipment supply company, and potential consequences of neglecting your brand.
What Happens When You Neglect Your Brand
Over time, your message can grow stale. Even for companies with a well targeted message and strong positioning, it’s important that your brand keeps up with trends and changes in your market or industry. Successful companies recognize that their brand must grow and change with the times.
Even in a mature industry such as agriculture, your customers’ needs can evolve, so you need to keep your messaging relevant and responsive. However, ensuring that your brand stays fresh includes more than your message, which may still be on target. It also includes the look and feel of your brand. If it’s been a while since you updated your branding elements, consider whether your website, marketing collateral, jingle, or logo may be in need of a facelift. Many of the most famous agribusinesses in the world have updated or redesigned their logo over time in order to stay relevant — like John Deere.
Another risk of neglecting your brand is you may open the door for the competition. One of the most valuable aspects of good branding is the ability to stand out in the minds of customers. Not investing enough in your brand strategy can allow a competitor to steal the spotlight.
Finally, neglecting your brand can inhibit your company’s growth potential. Just because you have customers now doesn’t mean your brand is no longer important. For sustainable success, you need a solid brand.
3 Tips to Keep Your Brand Healthy and Growing
- Make your difference maker shine. First, that means identifying your “difference maker” — the unique qualities of your business that set you apart from your competitors. We talked about this at length in a previous post. Once you have your difference maker down pat, then you need to develop a strategy to tell your story.
At Zimmer Radio, Inc., we believe in taking a bricks and mortar approach, in which the bricks are the stories that bring your “difference maker” to life and the mortar represents the consistent elements of your marketing message. With this method, your “bricks” may change throughout the year, but your “mortar” — your voice, mission, or other fundamental brand elements — stays consistent so that your brand is recognizable. - Develop a plan for auditing your brand on a regular basis. As discussed above, neglecting your brand can hurt your business. Your routine market research should also include a reassessment of your target audience, as well as your position in the agricultural market. Is your brand still relevant? Is your message still clear and unique? Has another player entered the market, and what does that mean for your audience?
- Work with branding professionals. You know your business well, but you might not have the time or expertise to build and stick to a sound brand strategy. The marketing professionals at Zimmer Radio, Inc. can develop your “bricks and mortar” plan, as well as conduct routine brand audits to help you understand what opportunities are available and what adjustments should be made.
With the growth of local retailers and online options, agricultural customers have more choices than in years past. Your brand needs to stand out as a trustworthy expert, and it also needs to stay fresh and relevant in the minds of your target audience. A brand strategy is not just a nice-to-have but a requirement if you want your farm equipment business to keep blooming.
