MAINE-ANJOU Headquarters
M. BLAKE NELSON AMAA Executive Vice President
Greetings, After a very busy but successful state fair run fall is quickly approaching. I love this time of year and getting to see the fresh prospects, cooler weather and football! I look forward to this sale season and seeing many of you in my travels. The demand for Maine-Anjou genetics continues to be strong even in this depressed market, quality still demands a premium and I believe the sales will reflect this. Promotion and marketing of our breed is essential in our future. With our great breed association celebrating it’s 50 year anniversary we have without a doubt seen many trends come and go, but some of the major obstacles that we face have stayed the same. Some of those hurdles that we always face are environment/feed, genetic selection and then how to reap the most profit from our labor and investment (marketing). We cannot control all of these things, but we must take an educated approach to all and eliminate as much risk as possible. One of the hurdles we can have more control over is how we market our product to reap the most benefit. Below you will find a couple of paragraphs that I have taken from a previous article I had written that still are very pertinent today. Developing your marketing program is essential to succeed in this increasingly competitive sales environment that we see today. Some things to consider and ask yourself before you get going and investing dollars: Mass vs Targeted, Personal vs NonPersonal, Quick vs Slow, One way interaction OCTOBER 2019
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vs two way, Cost vs Exposure? These are just a few things to get started. What are some avenues of promotion and marketing our product? I believe that there is no replacement for personal contact. In this day and age when it feels that you have to send out a text or e-mail just to let the household know that it is “Dinner Time”, calling a potential customer or making a farm visit can be refreshing and very effective. In agriculture most producers appreciate eye to eye conversation. This may even have more value today than it did for past generations because direct communication has decreased in society. Some great opportunities to make these contacts can be at conventions, cattlemen’s meetings, the local stockyards or coffee shop, just to name a few. Another great thing about personal contact is you have immediate two-way interaction with the potential customer, your conversation or promotional items may prompt questions and instant interest. If you believe in what your Maine-Anjou cattle have to offer, then get out and tell people about them, there is no replacement for your own convictions and faith in what you are producing! One avenue that we often use is print advertising. Targeted magazine ads can be extremely effective, especially when trying to market to a specific audience. Consistency within a specific magazine builds brand recognition and familiarity with your program. This can not only spark interest, but also let the customer feel more acquainted with your product. The Voice and other industry magazines are great avenues to consider. Regional publications and your local newspaper can be very cost effective, especially when you are marketing bulls or replacement females. Ultimately you have to honestly access your cattle and decide if they should be promoted for a local market or if they have the attributes to attract customers from a larger audience. Social media is the hottest venue and must be seriously considered as a marketing source. The speed of communicating through social media has changed our
world. Whether it is for the better or not, that is for you to decide, but without a doubt it is here and for real. Utilizing social media is extremely quick, cost effective and can reach a large population mass. E-mail blasts, Snapchat, search engines and social media forums. Today’s society thrives on having everything at their fingertips and cattlemen are no different. E-mail blasts are a great way to send a specific message to a targeted group, our goal is to prompt action by the customer. The AMAA offers these e-blasts services, so please contact Lindsey and she will be glad to assist you. Utilizing search engines can expose a large mass of folks to your product through the use of analytics and key words. Just about every major search engine (ex. Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.) offers these services and they are typically user friendly in setting them up. The use of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, just to name a few, can be very potent and give you instant contact with a big group. This is one of the most cost effective venues to promote your product and it can still have a personal touch to certain generations. I would encourage you to look into these options; if you are not comfortable I bet your kids or grandkids will lend a hand. A weekly promotion of your bulls, matriarch cows and sale cattle can all be great topics to showcase in these posts. Ultimately, I call on you to promote our cattle. It takes all of us to tell our story and reach both current and potential customers. The AMAA will be happy to help you with any questions on any of these topics you may have so please contact us, we are here to help you. Just a reminder, we will be celebrating our 50th anniversary in Louisville, November 1518, please join us for the annual membership meeting and National Show. If you have an elite spring born calf, keep in mind the AMAA’s Bright Lights Sale will be taking nominations. If you have any interest or questions regarding these programs, please contact myself, Josh or Lindsey. Best Regards, Blake MAINE-ANJOU- Vision, Vigor, Value!