Helping people to

manage their

marketing

John O’Sullivan

Farm Management & Marketing

Specialist

N.C. A&T State University

Marketing-its all the

steps beyond and on

top of production

August 30, 2005

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Our job is

education.

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What is the challenge?

zA mindset that producers

produce and somebody else
does the rest…

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The traditional 4 “P’s” of
Marketing.
z Product,
z Placement,
z Pricing,
z Promotion.

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So the educational goal is?

z Help the producer to address

the marketing issues?? YES
but
z Looking way beyond that to

what the customer wants…

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Moving beyond the
producer mindset to
“Being” the customer
From: Producing worms, or flowers
or whatever and therefore
delivering a commodity…
To: …Delivering what Your

Customer wants!

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Why bother?
--Don’t bother if you have
all the markets and
income you want and
are comfortable with
the way things have
been going.
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If you want things to be
different then you got to
do different!
“If we do things like we did
before, we probably are
going to get results like we
did!”
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 This is about using your
brain cells…

1. Put on your glasses to see…

2. Open your ears to listen…
3. Be creative…
4. Be open to new and different…
5. Plan, implement and evaluate.
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 Where to start?
1. Learn from others…
2. Learn everything you can
about the customer you want,
3. Get it in front of the customer
what with the customer wants,
when they want it, how they
want it and at the price they
can live with.
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 Where to start? With the

customer

1. Learn everything you can

about the customer you want,
2. Get it in front of the customer
what with the customer wants,
when they want it, how they
want it and at the price they
can live with.
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 Where to start? With the
competition…
1. Observe the approaches
used by the best in the
business and see how you
can do better…

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The traditional 4 “P’s” of
Marketing matter. They are
the four areas in which a
producer can make changes.
But the challenge is to get
beyond them to the 4 “C’s”.

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Marketing 101- The 4 P’s of
Marketing- The bedrock
1. Product
2. Placement
3. Pricing
4. Promotion

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Product
z Can you view your “product”
(Service/ Experience) as
meeting a customer’s
wants…
z With the Quality they expect?

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 Placement

z Location matters
z Much bigger than “ location”
z Ready for the world as a
market? The world is at your

doorstep.

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Pricing
z Costs of production, harvesting,
post-harvest and “break-even
analysis”;
z Competition and market share;
z Commodity in the market- a

supply/demand mindset.

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Promotion
z Getting in front of the customer

‹ Advertising- Logo, Promos;

‹ Word of Mouth

‹ Display

‹ Merchandising.

‹ Packaging.

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From the 4 P’s of Marketing to
the 4 C’s of marketing- its
where you start from that
matters.
The 4 P’s- Producer Focus, from the

Producer Perspective

The 4 C’s- Customer Focus, from the

Customer Perspective.

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From the 4 P’s of Marketing
to the 4 C’s of marketing
The 4 P’s- Producer Focus
9 Product, Placement, Price, Promotion

The 4 C’s- Customer Focus

9 Consumer Wants, Convenience, Cost,
Communication.

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Customer Wants-
z Not yesterday’s buzz, but
today’s or even tomorrows…
z “the wrap-around”, “the
bundle”
z No confusion, no

contradictions.

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 Convenience to the

Customer

z When they want it, the way they want it,

how they want it- ready to use/
experience;
z Time is a lot more than money these
days,
z Beyond placement to Instant
Accessibility- from text messages to
parking, packaging and presentation.
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Cost- the Value that the
Customer sees being met…
z Yes built on Costs/
Competition/ Communication
(Breakeven), but…
z Can you express the benefit
of what you are doing?
(“Benefit” to the customer).
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Communication
z When is a tomato more than a tomato…
‹ Study how a car is not a car; a beer is
not a beer;
‹ Understand and communicate back to
the customer the attributes the
customer is looking for;
‹ Advertising & Word of Mouth matter…
‹ Display & Merchandising matter…
‹ Image projection matters!

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How do you help plan
production & marketing
in these terms?
z Study groups;

z Courses at local community

colleges;
z Study Tours;
z Hands-on Practice.
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What is to be learned?
z Customer Demographics;
z The direction the market is going
(the new buzz)
z Where the production side is
going
z The values and goals of the farm
business itself.
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How is it to be learned?
z Customer Demographics?
Google. Customer research.
z New directions in marketing and
product? Trade shows and travel
visits.
z The values and goals of the farm
business itself? Business
planning and communication.
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Resources
z Customers, farmers, family,
friends;
z Cooperative Extension;
z Competition;
z Community colleges;
z Bookstores;
z The Web.

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Summary
z Plans to improve marketing
start with a customer focused
mindset;
z Research;
z Design;
z Implement;
z Evaluate.
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Special thanks to the
Carrboro Farmers
Market; Whole Foods
Market, Chapel Hill,
Earth Fare Food Market,
Greensboro, NC.
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John M. O’Sullivan

z Farm Management &

Marketing Specialist

z Tel (336) 334-7957

z E-mail: johno@ncat.edu.

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