Many people associate farmers with a very stereotypical image - simple men, distrustful of innovation, working hard physically on their piece of land. Meanwhile, farmers today are thriving entrepreneurs, eager to embrace new technologies and open to new knowledge and development. Therefore, building PR communication around an agriculture-related business can be an effective way to attract new customers or clients.
In March 2023, Good One PR agency launched communication activities for the HeavyFinance brand - a climate tech investment platform for agriculture. The main communication messages focused on the topic of financing agricultural entrepreneurs and regenerative agriculture and the associated marketing of carbon certificates. Amongst other things, the agency was tasked with educating the target group, which was primarily farmers, about the newly emerging industry solutions. Due to the rather intricate nature of the topic, which was previously unknown in the industry, the activities carried out required an emphasis on building the client's brand credibility and developing relationships with journalists from the trade media.
Social responsibility in the agricultural sector
The growing trend in recent years towards a more responsible approach to food production, as well as concern for the environment, has made agriculture an important subject of public debate both in Poland and in the context of international regulations, and communication related to actors in this industry has gained potential. How, as Good One PR, have we used it?
Close relations
In the agricultural market, the number of trade media is limited. While this can be seen as a disadvantage, it is also an advantage - a smaller number of journalists is conducive to building deeper relationships. We thus gain communication partners, especially if we take care to project an expert image and provide editors with valuable, substantive content in specific areas.
Relations with the media can be strengthened not only in the standard way, i.e. by daily email or telephone contact. Meetings that offer value for all participants are a good opportunity. This is the case, for example, with press conferences aimed at a larger number of editors, or so-called press trips of journalists directly to farms where work of interest to the media is being carried out, such as collecting soil samples for research. This is precisely the kind of activity we recommended to HeavyFinance. Through such events, on the one hand, we gain the satisfaction of journalists, who will be given access to interesting experts and their activities. On the other hand, farmers, who have the chance to present and promote their work and experience.
Be where your customers are
Due to the niche nature of the industry, it is worth thinking carefully about where people interested in it turn up. A great opportunity to build your brand is at industry events.
Good One PR Agency was responsible for editorial support, preparation of press materials and coordination of HeavyFinance's participation in the "National Challenges in Agriculture" conference, organized by the largest agricultural magazine in Poland. Farmer. Thanks to the cooperation initiated by our agency with this medium, mentions of the HeavyFinance brand regularly appeared on the identical web portal. In addition, the agency also took advantage of the fact that the client's activities fit in with the themes of ecology, green transformation and caring for the environment by arranging the client's participation in events such as the Sustainable Economy Summit or the ESG Innovators Forum.
Participation in such initiatives provided an opportunity to increase HeavyFinance's brand recognition among its target group, but also provided a great networking opportunity. This is a good way to build industry contacts and get to know both your potential customers and your competitors better.
Expert positioning
New technologies, methods or ways of financing farm development are topics that are definitely of interest to agricultural customers. Any information on these topics is received enthusiastically, but it is worthwhile to have a credible face of the expert 'behind the words'. Building recognition and an image of someone who will bring educational value to the communication through the creation of advisory content is a great way to build openness and trust in the brand. An example of this type of action is an extended expert statement by a representative of HeavyFinance, arranged by the Good One PR agency, which was published in the "Przedsiębiorcy radzą przedsiębiorcom" supplement of the Rzeczpospolita daily.
It is also worth bearing in mind the key seasonality in the agricultural sector. Changing weather conditions or the specific nature of the crops of different species make it possible to tailor communication ideally to the current needs and interests of recipients. The situation on the market is changing dynamically and the strategy must take this into account. In particular, the winter period, when there is significantly less work, is a great time to reach farmers and attract their attention. In this regard, Good One PR agency recommended to the client, among other things, to organise an autumn meeting for clients and media on one of the farms using sustainable farming methods. Due to the 'low' season and few current media contexts, the meeting attracted wide interest from journalists, such as Farmer, Agroprofil and Wiadomości Rolnicze Polska.
Agriculture is a business
The agricultural industry is one of the largest sectors of the economy. Running a company in this area should not only involve visibility in agricultural media, but also business or general media. Visibility in business media helps build brand credibility. Representatives who regularly appear in prominent, widely-circulated titles attest, as it were, to their position as businessmen. This is especially important for young companies that are not yet well known in the market. That is why we took care to regularly expose representatives of the HeavyFinance brand in this type of media, ensuring publications in, among others, Biznes24 TV, Comparic TV, Gazeta Finansowa, the Parkiet daily newspaper and the forbes.pl portal.
In summary, public relations activities in the agricultural sector can bring many benefits to a company. First of all, they build the image of brand representatives as experts in their field and increase the trust of the environment towards the products or services offered by the company. In addition, they allow the establishment of industry contacts, which can be a very important tool in building and developing business. They also make it possible to reach the target group interested in the company's activities with valuable messages and to familiarise themselves with the company's offer.
