Often, in the world of agriculture, you will see the words "commodity marketing" together. I believe commodity selling and active marketing are worlds apart.
For the past three years I have been involved in establishing the marketing function of a business called The Merino Company, or TMC. TMC offers wool growers in Australia and South Africa the opportunity to effectively market their wool, rather than sell it via the commodity auction system. TMC's now underway and there's a terrific team taking it from strength to strength. My experience with TMC has been quite a revelation; wool producers desperately want this marketing alternative and customers loved the customer focused and differentiated product.
This marketing approach works so well for wool, well how about the other agricultural commodities? That's what struck me and my business partner, William Lempriere. Why can't we market our grain, meat, fish, eggs, or poultry as differentiated and valuable - rather than the "volume and price-point" commodity?? So we created our marketing service called New-Market.
Wool growers embrace this marketing alternative for the same reasons the apparel brands, retailers and textile brands also do. The reasons are these;
- Relationships - are formed between the producer and the customer.
- Matching - a basic matching process occurs between the quality and type of produce the grower produces and what it is the customer actually wants.
- Communication - an ongoing dialogue of communication is established between the producer and the customer.
- View - because a marketing channel has been established, there's a view from the grower to the customer. Customers and consumers have the opportunity to look right back to the grower.
I view commodity selling and branded marketing at either end of a spectrum. In its purest form, commodity selling does not encourage any of the four points above. At the other end, when marketing is working well, these points are all important for success.
I'll write up a post on each of the four points above, hoping to encourage some discussion!!
