The importance of treading new paths

Written by Lucied Marques, Marketing Director, Yara, Brazil

Marketing strategies focused on the fertilizer segment have been developing according to the expectations and needs of our customers in the field, who, like in other sectors, increasingly seek in the companies solutions for their daily challenges. Today, farmers value other attributes besides the traditional price and quality of the inputs. They desire to find a real partner in a company and take qualities such as convenience, agility, availability, engagement and responsibility into account.

When we look to the market of agricultural inputs, this change also requires from the companies the adoption of a consulting stance/role that exceeds simple price quotation. Customer centricity serves to leverage their entire brand experience journey that starts with the identification of their needs but does not have a defined end, as the consultant continues listening and seeking the optimal solution to add more value through all stages. This is the path for companies to become a great partner for farmers.

Times when fertilizers were simple commodities are long gone, as with the advance of technologies into the field, the industry was able to add more value to the farmer’s business. Today, solutions and nutrition programs that combine innovation and a vast agronomic know-how are available so that farmers can achieve maximum performance of their crop. This strategy is useful not only to increase their yield/return but also to effectively contribute to sustainability, as a higher production does not necessarily mean an expansion of the cultivated area or even an intensification of their fertilizer usage, it translates to assertiveness - or what we call “Precision Agriculture”.  

 The survey “The Mind of the Brazilian Farmer in the Digital Era”, recently published by the consulting company McKinsey & Company, highlights the changes in the Brazilian farmers’ behavior with respect to their use of digital tools. According to their analysis, Brazil is ahead of the USA and Europe regarding their preference for technologies which are now considered essential for their daily work in the fields.

This trend also reflects on business structures. For example, a preference to use digital channels in Brazil can already be seen in the large number of agricultural inputs online purchases. It is fundamental for the sector to operate on multichannel platforms, as the companies need to be present where the customers want to meet them while being capable to always assist different audiences and farmer profiles. The use of tools - such as WhatsApp - to enhance consultative sales, online events, video calls and others was boosted due to the impossibility to meet in person because of the pandemic, and they are the major catalysts of this increase.

For those who work in this sector, it is obvious that face-to-face contact with farmers is not going to stop. Field visits and in loco consulting are some of the essential practices that will never be replaced. But they can be improved with the help of technology, especially with respect to disseminating knowledge. Lectures, for instance, or workshops for farmers that used to gather 40 people in a physical room can now be conducted online, without the need for displacement, and the audience can be multiplied by four - and what’s more, the events are recorded and can be watched anytime from anywhere. This progress is undeniable and cannot be ignored.

Fact of the matter is that - even before the current health crisis - we already saw an extremely strong shift towards the use of new technologies, in all industries. Covid-19 has certainly accelerated this trend, and if the field had not been prepared for this change by now, and already with established strong bases, we would not have been able to turn this key as quickly and effectively as we did, maintaining the good outcomes we achieved in 2020, despite the adversities. In any case, one of the legacies of this pandemic in agribusiness will be the conviction that the digitalization in the field only tends to grow further, even with all peculiarities of Brazil.

When we analyze the agriculture scenario in Brazil we see a vast country and an extremely diverse profile, starting with the size of the properties. Most part of the domestic consumption is supplied by family farmers who have small properties and often work in a business model of cooperatives. But at the same time we have extensive rural properties in Brazil, usually focused on the export of soybeans, corn and other crops. And the same happens with technology, on one hand we see technologically highly savvy farmers with digital monitoring, state-of-the-art machinery and other novel solutions, and on the other hand we still have a large number of growers who have not even access to the internet and all its benefits.

Different people have different needs. This is a lesson we already learned. We live in times where the customer asks for customized solutions according to their needs. Many may hereby imagine offers of a complete portfolio, or to build various channels. And they are right, but the journey starts before that. How can we think of different solutions with professionals who think alike? And this is why the first stage of this challenge is won from the inside by forming a team who represents diversity and all the complexities of Brazil.

When representing the different profiles of society in our company, be it in production, in the office or as our customer contact point, we establish a collaborative and engaging environment for all who are part of our work. But it goes way beyond that. When we look strategically to Diversity & Inclusion as a business theme, as one of our fundamental cornerstones and not as a policy of the Human Resources department, we generate value inside and outside our gates. A plural group brings different life experiences and views to the business, and naturally thinks differently. A diversity of experience, age group, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation is aggregating and currently one of the major assets of every company.

This is evidenced by the great strength ESG gained in Brazil, especially in the last year, by encompassing environmental, social and governance practices with a sense of urgency and by measuring the results. It is the prioritization of the purpose in a year that has been so challenging in every sense. ESG reflects the concerns of the market regarding sustainability to meet the expectations of the population itself while demanding from the companies to assume their role and responsibility in this scenario.

And thus we can see the growth of the term “Stakeholder Capitalism”, with the creation of long-term value and a 360o view not only towards profit but for the first time on the “whole”. It is about true integration of companies with their different target groups by creating strong and long-term alliances, with concrete exchange and without empty narratives - be it through social responsibility and their engagement with the communities they are involved with (now being evidenced with the donations to mitigate the impacts caused by Covid-19), or with their commitment to act on the digital transformations, on the inclusion and diversity, and on the adoption of environmentally practices.

This entire transformation has a direct impact on the companies’ marketing strategies. A society more aware of the business’ social, environmental and ethical requirements brings about a more demanding customer who often wants to know in detail the positioning of a brand and its interaction with people and the Planet, in addition to the quality of their products or services. While this may come as a challenge, it is also a great opportunity for the companies to establish a deeper relationship with their customers, which necessarily begins with transparency and has a huge potential to generate value for the buyer, the seller and the future of us all.

In other words, the market is shifting towards total integration in every sense. But for this to happen in a strategic and organized way, marketing activities need to evolve from a product’s perspective to a 100% focus on the customer, so that we can build a more inclusive, diverse and sustainable society together. After all, different customers have different needs, even more so in the Brazilian market with its peculiar characteristics and in these unprecedented times for humanity. Today’s world requires quick solutions to add value. And the field is no different. It is crucial for us all to walk these new paths together.