Fargo INC! February 2016 | Page 35

MARKETING customized – I want you to talk to me differently than you’d talk to my 18-year-old daughter. I think that’s hard for brands.” RR: “Before, it was, build Search engine marketing (SEM) is just one element of a successful online marketing campaign. your messages around feature benefits. Today, the whole attitude is starting a conversation with that customer base. Everything has to have a response. Even traditional – print, radio, television – it’s all based on trying to make a connection to get a response, to start a conversation with a prospect that’s out there. And a lot of times, what you have to focus on is it has to be a one-on-one conversation. You can’t send a single message to a household and think you’ve got them all. Because the husband, the daughter and the wife are all going to react to that message differently. Now you have different ways to reach each one of them. Bobcat to move stuff. “And once you start that conversation, now the whole deal is – it used to be, make a sale. Well, now everything’s about gaining a customer for life. How much is Rancher A worth to AGCO over a lifetime? That’s what they’re thinking about.” “Same piece of equipment, completely different usage and completely different messaging to each customer base. Bobcat’s a great example of how one piece of machinery can cross a whole gamut of audiences. Our job is to know those audiences.” What would be a specific example of that more customized marketing process? What do you see as the next frontier in marketing? RR: “Probably the Bobcat account is the best example of that. You’re selling the same piece of equipment, but you could be selling it to a guy who works in town but has a small acreage ranch and owns a Bobcat versus the same Bobcat being sold to a guy who has 8,000 acres who’s baling hay and needs the RR: “I’d say the next biggest thing we’re investing in is mobile. We’ve gotta keep driving the mobile side as that becomes bigger and bigger. “The clients aren’t asking for mobile a lot. They are here and there. I think – just like social, just like engaged marketing – clients aren’t paying attention. It’s up to us to bring it to them and tell them why they need to pay attention to it. I think our investment in mobile is a little ahead of our clients because we’ve got to be the ones to tell them how to use it best in their situations.” What kinds of mobile, specifically? JD: “Mobile response to websites is probably the biggest thing.” RR: “And building of apps. Apps that are maybe not long-term apps that you’re going to keep on your phone for three, four years, but they’re apps related to a certain campaign or a trade show. Or an app you’re going to download for a specific reason and it will probably go away after the campaign’s over.” 33