How To Use Business Intelligence When Marketing To Farmers

Sales and marketing make up a massive sector in nearly every industry. That’s to be expected – after all, without the ability to effectively market and sell their products and services, businesses would quickly lose revenue. And as with other sectors, sales and marketing services, techniques and tools must continue to evolve to respond to current and future business needs. 

In 2022, harnessing data to streamline and improve business operations is hardly a new concept. But are you using current technology to its full advantage? Can you make better use of business intelligence in your farm marketing strategies? 

As technologies and capabilities continue to improve and adapt, our marketing plans must also continue to improve.

With DTN Farm Market data, you can use our exclusive, unmatched producer and farmer data to power your sales and marketing strategy. 

Let’s look at how business intelligence is helping agribusinesses market to farmers by guiding them in understanding their target market, applying data in practical ways and tracking and responding to changes. 

 

Defining Business Intelligence in Marketing

Business intelligence in marketing primarily relates to leveraging customer data to achieve better outcomes in marketing initiatives. This means more than merely collecting data – it means taking various sets of data and presenting them in a unified format that allows you to identify actionable insights. 

You can create data-driven campaigns based on clear, accurate information about your target market. You can clearly express how your solutions impact their operations. Let’s further explore how you can use business intelligence to understand your target market.  

 

Understand your target market

Before a marketing campaign can even begin, it is essential to identify and understand your target market. Without clearly identifying and getting to know your ideal customer, reaching and appealing to them is impossible. How does business intelligence help with this? 

Once you know your target audience, you can collect and sort thousands of data points relevant to your ideal customer. For example, this may include information such as acreage, crops, and real estate data. These data points can help you better understand your customers’ preferences, behavior, and relationships – and the better you can understand them, the more equipped you will be to reach them. 

Instead of marketing to a broad audience, business intelligence allows you to focus your efforts and ensure that the data inform your ads for the right audiences.

You may be an experienced marketer and wonder if this data collection and analysis level is worth it. After all, you may know your product and see that it is the solution that will significantly improve their operations.

Let’s look at two reasons why it is not just important but rather vital that you use business intelligence when when marketing to farmers.

First, you cannot afford to sound ill-informed. For example, promoting crop insurance to a group of cattle farmers is, at best wasteful. At worst, you appear out of touch. 

Secondly, if you do not take advantage of the data tools available, that doesn’t mean your competition will do the same. When your competitors are out using the insights they need to make meaningful connections, they will be making an impression on the market you are trying to reach.

Farmers don’t have time to listen to messaging that isn’t meant for them. You don’t have the time or budget to create a campaign that will miss the mark. 

Use data tools, like Farm Market data tools, to clearly understand your market and gain the actionable insights you need to optimize your next marketing initiative. 

 

Application of Farm Data 

Let’s look at three specific examples of how different agribusinesses can benefit from actionable data about their customers. 

 

Farm Management

On average, a farmer in the United States is 58 years old. With this aging population, the most critical question facing many farms is, “who will take care of these farms”? Using future owner information and crop analysis can help you distinguish between farms operating effectively and those that could use your help.

 

Farm Machinery and Equipment

Fewer agribusinesses are more specialized than machinery and equipment. After all, many of your products and solutions may be geared to specific farm sizes, crops or harvesting techniques. 

Armed with that specific information, you are more than equipped to identify and hone in on your ideal market. 

 

Seeds

Much farming begins with a seed. However, with so many choices, how do you know if a specific farmer should purchase your seeds? 

There are several factors to consider, such as the size of the operation, whether the farmer practices crop rotation and if he practices organic farming practices. Armed with clear, accurate, and up-to-date information, this can help you quickly match which of your products is most suitable for a specific farm. 

These are just a few examples, as the applications of farm data in improving your marketing initiatives are nearly endless. 

 

Track and respond to changes

As with nearly every business process, marketing cannot be a static process. The strategies that may have worked yesterday will not necessarily work tomorrow. 

The ag industry is constantly shifting and evolving, and if your marketing strategies are not keeping up, you are sure to fall behind. Business intelligence can help you stay up-to-date with changes in several ways. 

First, you need detailed analytics on your marketing campaigns’ and failures to assess accurately assess performance. Then, you can make any needed changes and further optimize your campaign. This allows marketing budgets to be allocated more effectively towards the most successful campaigns. 

Second, business intelligence can help predict customer behaviors and improve the accuracy of sales forecasts. For example, knowing previous purchases, the likelihood of a farm growing soon, and other factors can impact future behavior. Access to more accurate predictive analysis helps decision makers better use allocated funds, execute more effective campaigns, and maintain profit margins.

 

Give your next marketing campaign the edge it needs

You don’t need to spend marketing dollars on inefficient campaigns. See how you can get more from your marketing spend by putting DTN Farm Market data to work for you. With access to ag’s largest customer database, you can develop your target audience and unify your marketing efforts with data-driven tactics. 

DTN Farm Market Data includes: 

• Database coverage of over 95 percent of growers
• Custom audience creation based on over 150 demographics
• Over 911 million acres of farmland, including 300 million acres of cropland, 34 million fields and over 2 million active farm owners and operators

Learn more about how your business can leverage the most accurate farm data producer.