Being known as a marketer is sometimes not seen as a totally positive thing. There is a perception that marketers tend to manipulate, or to border on not being truthful.

We all have the image of the stereotypical used car salesman who will tell you anything to get you to drive away in a new car. We need to replace that image of marketing.

In actuality, that is not marketing at all. It is simply bad salesmanship. Marketing, at its core, is about building upon a foundation of earned trust. It is about making promises and delivering on and exceeding the expectations you have created.

Good marketing begins and ends with the quality of the product.

Another myth about marketing is that you are trying to sell someone something they don’t need, or you are trying to get a customer to pay more than they should pay. Again, marketing fundamentally begins with building the right product, and that can only be accomplished by understanding what it is that the customer wants.

What they want

For cow-calf producers, the right product is well-defined. Customers are looking for healthy cattle in load-lot sizes that are uniform and have been managed from a nutritional and health standpoint that allows their genetics to be expressed. They want information on those cattle and the genetics to grow rapidly and to grow efficiently. They want cattle that will marble and garner carcass premiums, and they expect to take cattle to higher weights than they ever have before.

Seth Godin said it best: “It’s easier to make products and services for the customers you seek to serve than it is to find customers for your products and services.”

That is why marketing is the opposite of being selfish. It is about creating a product that other people want, a product that helps other people achieve their goals and be more profitable. It is providing people with accurate information that gives them the insight so they can buy with confidence.

Step 1

Good marketing begins and ends with the quality of the product.

In the old commodity system, there were actual people who made a good living selling a below-average product at average prices; a few were even able to sell an average product at above-average prices. You can’t sell a commodity product at premium price levels — at least you can’t for long. It is an unsustainable business model.

Step 2

Once you have made a good product, you need to present it and offer it in a way that provides additional value to a subset of buyers. This may include things like weaning, vaccination programs and access to certain markets. Attributes like hide color no longer serve as major price differentiators. They are simply expected.

It means getting to know your buyers. Do they have a need for certain weights of cattle? Certain delivery dates? Or, does their supply chain have more important marketing windows? How can you forge a relationship with these buyers so information can be exchanged? How can you embark on a path of continual incremental improvement with your buyers to make an ever-improving product that creates more value for them?

Step 3

The third step is about documenting and verifying the data, where buyers are not buying hype, but real-world documented results.

Step 4

The fourth step is the one we tend to focus on when we think of marketing and that is building excitement around the product, telling our story and getting the right product in front of the right people at the right time.

Step 5

The final step may be the most important. We all understand its importance intuitively, but in some ways it is the most difficult, as well. This step is about consistency, honesty and commitment. It takes time to build confidence, create trust and establish relationships. All of those are fostered not by one interaction, but by the consistent application of these principles.

One of the most difficult marketing concepts to apply is preached by nearly every marketing expert. It works nearly every time, but it is contrary to our human nature. We want everyone to want our product. We want our product to be a solution for everyone’s needs. We don’t want to ever turn away a potential customer. We want to be all things to all people.

The irony is that the perfect product can only be perfect for a relatively small group of people. That select group can see such tremendous value that they have no alternative to purchasing your product. You inevitably increase margins by decreasing the size of your target audience. It is about finding customers who are aligned with what you are producing.

AngusLink^SM is designed to help commercial cattlemen succeed in all five steps. Look for the next edition of “The Link.” We’ll focus not just on direct marketing of your calves, but also creating a brand marketing program, as well.

In the end, what you say about your cattle is not nearly as important as what others say about your cattle. Marketing is making the right cattle, managing them properly, describing them accurately, and telling that story to the right people, then following up with them to make sure nobody does a better job of meeting their needs in the future.

Editor’s note: Troy Marshall is director of industry relations for the American Angus Association. To learn more about AngusLink, visit https://www.angus.org/anguslink.

Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA, Vol. 17, No. 2-B