Even today, Agriculture remains the primary source of income and livelihood for almost 58% of the Indian population. With 195 m ha of Indian soil being used for cultivation, the country is the second largest producer of wheat, rice, cotton, sheep, sugarcane, fruits and vegetables in the world. Additionally, we are also the largest producer of pulses, spices and milk in the world. All of this has earned India the recognition of being a global agricultural powerhouse.
Despite this, 70% of India’s poor live in rural areas and depend on incomes from agriculture and related fields. These numbers do not make sense when you take into account the large value of exports (41.25 billion US dollars in FY21) and the increasing demand for goods in the Indian market. So how can we really improve this situation?
Several start-ups are trying to bridge the gap between farmers and consumers (as seen on Shark Tank India) and have created apps and websites for them to sell their produce directly to the consumer without any other middleman. One thing that many start-ups struggle with, however, is gaining traction and visibility for their ventures in the digital space.
If you’re one of the start-ups we are talking about or want to find new strategies to grow your business, we’ve got you covered. We curated a list of Top 10 Digital Marketing Strategies for Companies in the Agricultural Industry.
How is Digital Marketing Effective for the Agricultural Industry?
The Agricultural Industry is an industry whose market extends beyond their immediate geographical area. Not only do they have to overcome this barrier, but they have to also connect with consumers who are interested in their products. This is not a particularly easy task for individuals who do not have connections or contacts in the city. Digital marketing thus helps overcome this barrier in the following ways:
1. It enables you to get a better understanding of your target audience by identifying their demographics and customer profile.
2. You will be able to generate personalized messages and connect with your target audience directly.
3. It allows you to share information, updates and latest news about your produce, its harvest, and availability in the market
4. You will notice an increase in the returns you get through online campaigns and awareness programmes you conduct to promote your products and services
Top 10 Digital Marketing Strategies for Agriculture Industry
To survive in today’s competitive world, it is essential that companies familiarize themselves with new advancements in technology, especially in the online world. This helps overcome two challenges faced by individuals in the agricultural industry; their limited resources to find customers beyond their immediate geographical area and the rotting away of surplus harvest due to limited customers.
A strong digital marketing plan is the medium through which your company can build its brand name and promote its services to a larger target audience. Conversely, a poor digital footprint could be detrimental to your business and result in a decline in your sales and profits.
Companies may find it tough to stand out in the online space and be able to inform consumers about their products and services. To make the transition of your business from offline to online a smooth one, we have listed down 10 Digital Marketing Strategies that you must know to grow your business.
1. Create a User Friendly Website
The website will be like the face of your company. It is the first thing your customer will see and engage with. Therefore investing in the creation of a modern website that is user friendly is a good idea. A user-friendly website is one that is easy to use, and conveys all important information appropriately while being responsive to the needs of different customers.
The primary feature of a user-friendly website is its design. The font used for the text, background colour, font colour, size of images and text and the placement of text all help to create a unique persona for your website. Don’t forget that adding images and videos to your website is very important to make it more attractive and readable for the target audience.
Additionally, you could offer customers a personalized user experience when they visit your website. To accomplish this, you could invest in Artificial Intelligence that offers you the following advantages:
1. A Visual Recognition algorithm will remember the products that consumers have used in the past or shown interest in. It will then offer consumers recommendations and alternative products based on this knowledge.
2. Adding a Chatbox feature will help you improve customer support because consumers can ask the Chatbox all their queries and clarifications at any time of the day. This will also help you reduce manpower costs.
2. Make Sure That Your Website is Mobile Friendly
A large proportion of traffic seen on websites comes from mobile phone users (amounting to almost 58%). Additionally, consumers want their demands to be met immediately. For example, someone cooking dinner remembers that they do not have onions at home, and then they turn to an online app that will deliver onions to their house immediately. In today’s fast paced world, if consumers cannot purchase your products on the mobile phone at their convenience, then you will be left behind by your competition.
Making your website mobile friendly allows customers easy access to your products and services, and also provides them with information about your company at the palm of their hands. To do this, you have to see how your website looks on a smaller screen; Is the size of the text and images appropriate? Are all the buttons easily visible? Or is there any overlap of the text and images? All of this improves the readability of your website on the small screen. Further, consumers have stated that they are more likely to recommend and share your website if it has been optimised for a mobile phone.
3. Use Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Wisely
Search Engine Optimisation or SEO is the process of analyzing and boosting the performance and visibility of your website on the internet. It generates organic traffic when someone searches for a particular phrase, product or service and increases the number of engagements and sales seen by your business. For businesses from the agricultural industry, it is crucial to optimise your website in order to attract your target audience effectively. Digital marketing tactics allow you to analyse the current performance of your website and make appropriate modifications to improve its functioning and increase traffic on the website.
There are numerous ways of optimising the search engine to boost your website to Google’s top search results rankings. This could include using industry appropriate keywords or collecting customer reviews among other things. Each factor is assigned an independent value to ascertain the overall performance of your website and give it a rank. Conducting a content SEO audit through Google Analytics, Screaming Frog or Buzzsumo would give you deeper insight into the gaps in your website’s content, allowing you to revise your Digital Marketing strategy.
These are some benefits of SEO for the Agriculture Industry:
- Building a brand name and loyalty for your company
- Ensuring your businesses growth in the long term
- Increasing your market share
- Improving sales and boosting revenue without any ad budget
- Growing website traffic organically and across social segments
4. Never Underestimate the Value of Good Content
Content that you generate for your online website and social media can be of many types. It could include text, blogs, photographs, videos, and customer reviews. Each type of content has its own function and role in building your brand name and drawing in customers to make a purchase. All types of content should be visually appealing, original, engaging, relevant, and informative. Only if your content is able to catch a customer’s attention will they be tempted to try. Your product or service, in that case, will be purchased at least once, post which you can develop customer loyalty through quality and benefits.
Do not underestimate the value of a blog for your Agriculture related business. Generating content like “5 reasons why you should switch to organic food today” or “5 indigenous ingredients that have healing properties” could appeal to the health conscious audience and also provide them with solutions to improve their diet or calorie intake. This would help build a positive relationship with your clients. To boost traffic, you need to include as many relevant keywords as you can to your website.
5. Use Pay-Per-Click Advertisement
Pay-per-click or PPC advertisements have become one of the most commonly used Digital Marketing strategies today. This strategy places an advertisement of your company in high engagement areas to attract more customers. Advertisers are required to pay the marketing company for each time a user clicks on the ad (thus the name). In fact, Google claims that businesses can earn 2 USD for every 1 USD they spend on this marketing strategy. These are some things you need to keep in mind for PPC advertisements:
1. You need to use the right keywords. Research on the top keyword for your industry to identify what is trending so that you do not miss out on any accurate keywords in your marketing campaign.
2. The top 3 spots on Google’s search results are taken up by paid ads and thus garner almost 46% of search traffic. It was also found that users who click on search advertisements have a 50% chance of converting as well. A paid ad can thus boost visibility and garner more traffic when compared to organic search, thereby bringing in measurable and immediate results.
6. Tap into the Social Media Market
Today, businesses are recognising the role of social media as an effective Digital Marketing Strategy. Individuals of all age groups spend a considerable amount of time scrolling through social media on their mobile phones. If you are not on social media for your business yet, almost 50% of mobile phone users are probably not even aware that your business exists. Here are some ways in which you can promote your business using social media:
1. Consumers remember visual elements like images and videos more clearly than compared to written text. Thus, frequently posting aesthetic videos and photos will reinforce the freshness of fruits and vegetables in your customer’s minds.
2. Social media is an ideal place to let customers know about the latest offers, discounts and new schemes offered by your business. You can also inform them about which goods are available for a limited time here.
3. You can also encourage customers to leave a review on your Facebook page or share posts and stories on Instagram. Make sure they tag your account so that your products get recognition among their followers. This helps create a positive image of your business and inspires potential customers to try out your products.
4. You can design contests and giveaways to attract potential customers while spreading the word in the market.
5. Another possible option could be to collaborate with influencers who promote vegan or organic food. This could drive traffic to your page while promoting your product.
7. Video Marketing is your Best Friend
Imagine this; you tell your target audience that you sell fresh vegetables versus you share a short 15 seconds video where customers can see the redness of a tomato or the juiciness of an orange. According to you, which one would attract a larger audience?
If you still aren’t convinced, then here this: Hubspot has found that 60% of marketers strongly believe that videos bring in the largest number of leads for their products and services. As an Agriculture related business, you can share explainer videos on your YouTube channel, share interactive videos on Facebook, or create short teasers and glimpses into your products for your Instagram handle. Try to create videos that are engaging, informative and visually appealing to instil desire about in the minds of potential customers.
8. Emailer Marketing Builds Relationships
With the growth of social media, companies often overlook email marketing as an effective Digital Marketing Strategy. However, emails are the most direct and personal way you can communicate with your existing clientele as well as connect with potential customers. Not only does this help build a long term relationship with your customers, it can help inform customers about your available products, limited offers, and deals for services offered by you.
You could offer customers the option to subscribe to your newsletter or to get emails from you about the latest updates. Giving them this option improves the chances that a user will read through the content of your email and get back to you with a purchase decision. Email marketing is also a good way to collect reviews and feedback from customers, which could give you insight about ways that you can improve the customer experience.
9. Regularly Review and Revise your Digital Marketing Strategy
The first Digital Marketing plan you make is not the final one. When you start promoting your business in the online space, you will observe trends among users to gauge a better understanding of their online behaviour patterns. Analyzing and assessing this information is crucial to make appropriate modifications and alterations to improve your
Digital Marketing plan.
For example, if you see that Instagram is garnering the largest inflow of customers, then you can reallocate company resources to flush out more content for Instagram than other social media platforms. Or, if you notice that a particular genre of blogs is attracting more traffic than others, you could increase the number of blogs you put out for that genre on a weekly basis.
10. Tracking KPI Data with Google Analytics
It is essential that you understand how customers come to your website, how long they remain on the website and which pages they spend the most time on to improve its functionality and design. Google Analytics is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to accurately measure KPIs and monitor the growth of your website. KPI tracking helps measure user interest through average click-through-rate (CTR) for high value search topics. The greatest advantage of using Google Analytics is seeing how your business places on the Google Index.
Conclusion
These 10 Digital Marketing Strategies will help your Agricultural related business grow effectively. Remember to design a plan that suits your business based on the resources you have at your disposal. It is advised that you flush out content regularly in order to engage with customers better and keep them interested in your products.
Every year, the demand for food products is increasing exponentially, indicating a positive potential for growth for your business. So don’t be disheartened if your first marketing plan doesn’t reap your desired profits. The important thing is to invest in digital marketing, regularly monitor what the data says about your business, and finally, double down on what’s creating value.
