Will You Make The Same Rural Marketing Mistakes in 2024 That You Made in 2023?

Placing your faith in fancy pant ad agencies to solve your rural sales woes is wishful thinking.

Most of them don't even understand Ag.

Same for relying on vanity metrics like Facebook likes and followers or mass "spray and pray" advertising that has little attribution or accountability.

Or falling for the the post-it planning fallacy that your marketing manager tries to seduce you with whilst they whip up enthusiasm for their endless attempts at "strategising" where nothing really gets done.

Doing this exercise more than once a year alone shows you don't have a strategy.

Strategy has always been over-rated - and it's always meant different things to different people anyway.

Execution isn't and hasn't.

It's everything.

Taking action is what makes things happen.

Taking the right action matters of course vs. blindly spending money in areas that don't.

If there was one piece of advice I could give to rural businesses this year it would be:

Do the basics brilliantly.

Don't get distracted by the flash, shiny new stuff.

Focus on the fundamentals:

• Double down on knowing your customers. Talk to them and learn from them. Keep them close as they are your single biggest marketing asset
• Build your list so you can communicate with customers anytime without any gate keepers (remember COVID?)
• Build a predictable, reliable and repeatable lead generation marketing machine that supports your sales team
• Position your brand effectively based on its fundamental truths or founders' philosophy so it can defend margin at the emotional and rational level
• Commit to a cadence of specific, useful and valuable content that serves your customers best interests, not your own (give before you get)

It's a crime to see so much marketing wastage these days, especially when they are often private family businesses who work very hard for their money.

There are so many other proven options out there along with countless case studies.

Test other things to keep your other marketing activity accountable.

Run split tests, controls and trials.

You wouldn't plant the same crop in the same paddock year after year. You know you need to rotate or you'll experience the law of diminishing returns.

The same applies to your rural marketing.

Don't fall for the complex or beguiling.

And don't keep doing what you've always done.

That's lazy as well as a slow road to ruin because customers have changed and become far more sophisticated in the way they buy.

Burning platforms might not be on fire but smoke always sends a signal.

Do the few simple specific things right.

Don't get distracted.

Do what you know needs to be done.

And reach out to me if you don't.

Happy New Year.

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I am on a mission to help rural business owners, sales managers and rural reps get the results and respect they deserve.

If you're struggling with rural sales or generating predictable, reliable qualified leads, you can grab a free 30-minute rural sales coaching call with me here

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PPS. If you liked reading this article, you might enjoy these ones too:

1. Grab a free copy of my "How To Succeed In Rural Sales" eBook - it's the roadmap to helping you make more rural sales quickly, easily and simply. Click here

2. Join our How To Master Rural Sales Psychology Group - our private Facebook community where I share a ton of free tools and resources. Join here

3. Sign up for our Rural Sales Success? Programme - we will teach you and your team how to become rural sales legends. Email me back with the word “SALES” and I’ll send you the details.

4. Work with me - if you'd like to work with me and smash your sales goals, email me back with the word “WORK” and tell me a bit about what you do and what you need help with most.

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