Events: Worth It or a Waste of Time?

Ag shows, speaking slots, a branded stand and merch nobody asked for: events are one of the biggest line items in an agri-marketing budget and one of the least interrogated. In this episode, Olivia and new co-host Steph Rogers get into what actually makes an event worth showing up to, how to use shows and events in your wider marketing strategy before, during and after. And the question most brands ask but probably shouldn't be the only one: what was the ROI?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to the AgriWorks Podcast. I am Olivia Skiok, Head of Commercial Content at AgriWorks. For those of you that don't know AgriWorks, we are the in-house content marketing agency within AgriConnect working alongside Farms Guardian and other brands like Lama, LLT and Crop Tech. Now we have not only a special guest on the podcast today, it's somebody who has been on an episode before, but I'm really excited to introduce Steph as our next or our guest host for the Agroarts Podcast. So I'll hand over to you, Steph, and you can do a bit of a roundup of who you are and what you do.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Thank you. I'm really excited to be beyond as a guest host. So yeah, I'm Steph Rogers. I run the Social Farmhouse, which is a marketing agency doing social media marketing for agricultural businesses across the UK. So yeah, I'm just obsessed with social media marketing, and this is just such a joy to get to yap upon it.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Absolutely, and we've had, I would say, over the last few months that we've kind of known each other, we have a lot of conversations about marketing in general, what we love, what we don't love so much, and it just seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to really dissect things a bit more on this platform. So what we really wanted to do was make this podcast as interactive as possible. And we want you to think of it a little bit more like a therapy session than a formal seminar. We want your thoughts, we want you to let us know anything that you want us to pick apart, anything that you've seen. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Yeah, and I'm I guess since we're here at Groundswell, what are we starting with? Therapy session or strategy?

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Well, I think let's we're gonna cover events and what better place than Groundswell. So I think let's start a little bit on the therapy side. What have you seen that you loved and what have you seen that you kind of haven't liked as much? Ooh.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

So starting with what I loved. I've just seen loads of stands with like interactive stuff going on, and I think that's so so important because if people don't know who you are, don't know what you do, it's an excuse for them to come and interact with you and find out more about what you do. So yeah, there's some some really cool stuff going on. I mean, like on a big scale, like Frontier have like all of their crops put out and they're all labelled, and you can go over and see, you know, which is which. And I just think that's it's you know, it gets people drawn over there.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

It's also quite a soft way of going up to a stand, like you can do it without anyone necessarily approaching you. It can be quite subtle where a starting point where you then wait for the team to come and say, Oh, hi, can I help? Yeah. Um, which for me, somebody that finds it really hard, which shouldn't do in my job, but I find it really hard to just go up onto a stand and introduce myself.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

It's daunting.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

It's it's useful to have those kind of starting points.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Definitely. Uh yeah, like you said, it's a nice soft approach, whereas going into something I didn't like. Yesterday I walked past and someone shouted at me saying, Do you like trees? And I just thought, yeah, but that just really put me off going to meet.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

No, and it is it's a really fine balance of you want to get people onto your stand, and I do get that sometimes just asking people to come up is the quick way to do it, but you can end up a potential customer sort of being put off by that. So it's sort of finding that middle ground of something that's interesting and a reason to go up. I know this is going back to serials, but where I thought it was great was um soil benchmarking. Have I got the name right? Yeah, before right. Yeah, good.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Soil benchmark, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Soil benchmark where they had their equivalent of the snake game, and you could have a go and beat the high score and get a cap. And that to me, as somebody that grew up in the snake on Enochia mobile generation, I loved it. Yeah, you didn't have to interact if you didn't want to, but it was a way they could start a conversation.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Yeah, I mean it was a great way for them. I mean, it they took your email address, so it was, you know, it was a good way. Yeah, they did, and they did, yeah. So it was it was a marketing ploy for them. Yeah, each generation as well. Absolutely. Um, but like you said, it was a really fun way to get people in. And you weren't, it wasn't a hard sell, it wasn't like if you heard of Soil Benchmark, what you know, do you know what we do? You were there playing the game, and you just get chatting to them, and it was just it felt really organic and natural, and yeah, I think that is a a really good way of doing it. I think they've they've done it very well.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

They have, they've thought outside the box, which is something that you and I talk about a lot of brands trying to do it a bit differently. Um, and I think you need a reason to go up if it's not a business that you already know is on your target list of people you want to chat to and you're using this as a way to build your customer base or lead generation, there needs to be a a clear reason. Definitely. Um so that kind of goes into this whole turning up is not enough. Exactly. Um you have to do a bit more than that, whether it is I guess it's somewhere like ground as well, speaking at speaking at a session and that kind of thing. To go back a little bit, because this is something that I can't decide where I sit on, and it's one of my kind of feel like I need a bit of a therapy session on it. Yeah. It's what I've heard referred to as event tat. The stuff that people hand out on stands, which is that touch point, it is what gets somebody onto the stand, whether it's because they want the tat. Tat's sorry, it's not the right word, but you know what I mean. Some of it is. Um, or it's in the case of soil benchmark, it was not tat because it was a cap I really wanted, it's nice. Um, but you had to give you details to then play the game to then get it. Yeah. Where do you stand on it?

SPEAKER_01 5:42

It's a really tricky one. I yeah, something I need to get this out in a therapy session as well. Um, because I have mixed feelings because part of me thinks you give that tat out, you know, soil benchmark were quite, you know, they were holding that back, they weren't giving it to you easy, you had to earn it. You did have to wear that. Um, which I think from their point of view, it's it's a cost, isn't it? Yeah. But I do think from another point of view, that is a really nice cap, for example. So you know, exactly. You're gonna wear it when you get home, it's gonna be sat on the you know, hung up. Um you're gonna see it, it's another touch point.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Completely, and I think they've hit the nail on the head in terms of their branding of it, that it has their logo, but it's not blazoned with words where you get it home, you go, I don't really want to wear it, be walking. Whereas actually, to me, it looks like something I could buy in a shop that I'd quite like, and therefore I will wear it wandering around. Yeah. So I think from my perspective, there's a balance between what is just something that you pick up. You see, I mean, more at agricultural shows where you've got your teenagers going around trying to competitions of how much if you can get the most freebies, and the stuff that they tend to collect is something that's just going to go in and bin at the end, and bearing in mind you're at grounds well, there is a big sustainability conversation around that. Because it's just if somebody's taken a home for it to get thrown away, it's not doing the branding purpose because you've had it for the day and you've gone and is going into a landfill. It's the I know the stat is something like is it you have to have seen a brand 11.4 times before that conversion starts. I heard that that's gone up even more now. It wouldn't surprise me actually basically everything's flooded.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

The way we the way we consume now is so different to the way we used to. We used to be like, you know, you'd see an ad in the paper however many times, and that would stick with you. But now we see so much content.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

We switch off from it quite quick, yeah. So, okay, let's that it's gonna be higher than that. I do think there's a place then for these marketing assets where they are good quality and somebody takes it home and keeps it because actually, if it's something that they have at home and they see every other day, you're getting that number up quite quickly. So, from my perspective, I have still got a tote bag, a dog lead, and an umbrella from CLA. They're great quality. And I use the dog lead three times a day, the tote bag every time I go shopping, and the umbrella sits in the boot of my car. And I, it's free, they've had four years nearly a free branding from me. From I don't know how much those things probably cost them in total. Let's say it's good, they're good things, £50, 60 pounds maybe.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

It's yeah, it's oh it's such a difficult one too. It really is, and even like something a good quality pen, like the amount I've got a couple of pens from different businesses.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

Um, like ones like good quality ones are hard to come back.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Exactly, yeah. Like I'm not always like what oh I need a new pen, but there'll be one in my bag somewhere, there'll be one in my car from an event somewhere. And yeah, it's I think yeah, it is worth the investment if it's good quality, but it is another one of those things that you can't really measure because you can't go home from a show and be like, oh, I got rid of this many items.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Yeah, and that's translated too. It just doesn't work like that. It's not, and there was an interesting conversation I had yesterday on their pilgrim stand. They've got these little squishy pigs that are really cute, but I'll be honest, in my head, they would lean to my marketing brain in something that someone takes home and maybe goes in the bin, albeit probably sits on a desk because it is a stressful thing, so the one that I've taken probably will sit on my desk. So I'm undoing my own argument here. But what they were saying was they have a tussle, so the guys on the stand have quite often had a tussle with their marketing team who've said they're so expensive, be really careful about who you hand them out to, or can we stop doing them all together? And he made the point that he had an inquiry recently that it's turned into a conversion, um, and he asked, as he does all the time, where did you find out about us? And apparently it was at Lama four years ago. They were walking past, and their toddler wanted one of the pigs and got given one, and there was a bit of a short conversation, not enough where they thought it would have ever been a lead, it was just a nice thing to do. And the couple said we wanted to buy full and business that would do that, that we had an upset toddler and it cheered them up, and that's the kind of business that we want to buy into. That's so powerful, isn't it? So I guess it's the story that then goes around what you're handing out. Definitely, yeah. Um, which is important, but there is a lot of stuff around. And what are your favourite? If you try and collect things from stands, I mean for me, pens is up there.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Yeah, it's a pen. A good pen. Um, I do like a cap. I got a soil benchmark cap. Love it as well. Um and then also the um it was the only farmers at cereals. Yes. I was I spotted a few people with it on, and I was like, where can I get that cap? And at the end of the day I managed to get one.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

Well that's the thing, is that if they're good enough, so it happened with the soil benchmark cap was I saw you in it, and I was like, well, one of those. What competition do I have to enter? Who do I have to give my details to? And it's I'm going back to Farmfest actually, where CFMoto had got massive sun hats essentially, branded on, and they had the attitude of it's a really hot day, let's just throw them out there. I love content around that. Yeah, they gave everybody one. They were then there in the evening um when the music was playing, throwing them into the crowd. So that provided social media content of clips of that. It also meant when I appeared the next day, every other person was wandering around with a CF Moto hat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

What more could you want? And I think as well, depending on what your audience is. So, like, I've had um success in the past with like sunglasses, yes. Which was difficult to get over the line. This was the years and years ago. Hills can do that a lot. Hills Green have got great sunglasses. I think I've got a pair in my bag actually. They might do as well. Yeah, so I I think, especially if it's a younger audience, if that is part of your target demographic, they are always really good. And like, yeah, the Royal Welsh years and years ago, I was giving them out on the stand where I worked. Um, but I'd say, okay, let me get a video of you in them before you can take them. So I had loads of content for social media. They were walking around in sunglasses. I remember being in the members bath later that evening, and all I could see was these kiwi kit sunglasses.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

And yeah, I was just like, this works, and it's buying for the audience you've got, so knowing that it's gonna be a hot day is you're gonna bring sun hats, not woolly hats. Um, knowing that sunny sunglasses, it's yeah, it's being quite strategic and everything always goes back to strategy about what you put out there. We've touched then on social media content, and I think there's a big conversation around shows and events in general, a from a social media perspective, but also going into the content that is on at the shows. Yeah. So if we start with social media, I'm gonna kind of let you lead on this because this is your area and not mine so much.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

I just think it's so underutilised at the minute. Brands just think that turning up a show is enough and saying we're here, maybe getting a nice picture of the team to post, or just a picture of the stand, which really infuriates me when people do that. That's such a pet picture because the only thing you do is it's a bit like, come on. Oh, it's so dull. Um, so yeah, I think it's just so underutilised. You've got your team there, yeah, you've got your clients there. It's such a great way to get everyone involved, get content together. You get some case studies, some testimonials, just a little quick video of someone being like, Oh yeah, I had, you know, I used this and it's had this results. And it's just really positive, and everyone's generally in a good mood at an event as well, and probably a bit more open to talking to when you kind of maybe turn up on farm and try and get someone to talk, they might be a bit like, oh well especially somewhere like Granzell where there might have been a bar open.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

Yeah, everyone's always a little bit more chatty, always helps me on camera. That kind of one or two beer mark.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Yeah. Um yeah, so I think it's just so underutilised and planning before you go to the event is so important. I think you turn up with a strategy for and a plan for what you want to get out of your um event content because you can get content that's gonna last months in advance. It doesn't have to be centred around the show. I mean it can be used for your next event as well. Um so yeah, I think that turning up with a plan, but also leaving a little bit of room for reactive content. Stuff the fun stuff happens at shows. So I think, yeah, having a bit of an eye for that, it takes a little bit of time to get into that mode when you're on a show stand because you've got lots of other things to think about.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

I guess that there's a couple of points that have just come into my head there, so I don't know which to go for with first. First of all, I would say it's a great environment if you're a business that doesn't necessarily lean on social media trends. It's probably if you're gonna do it the right time to do it, because it's a bit of a fun sort of scenario, and maybe if you occasionally want to do it, that's the right time. And then on the other point is staffing. It's yes, everyone's there for uh usually a different reason. If you don't have a big marketing team, the chances are there's not somebody there dedicated to socials. But maybe before you go is working out who the best person is out of the team, you're in who's savvy with a camera and a phone, who's willing to chat to people, and kind of say to give them an hour each day, two hours each day where they're not on stand selling, and I know for a lot of people that will be making you go, oh god no, because that's where we're getting our money. But you've got to think of the long game.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you someone could come to you after you don't know when someone comes to you three months later if it's because they spoke to you on a show stand, saw your social media post, saw you input. Do you know what I mean? It I think it's a combination of all of those things. So it is something that needs a little bit of love as well, is taking the time for your social media events. Um, yeah, having that one dedicated person to do that job, because I think often sales team feel like this isn't my job. I'm just here to sell.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

But it all comes together, it all works together. Definitely, and it is that I'm kind of jumping away a bit from the social media side, but it's that awareness piece and that relationship building. Um, I know I spoke earlier to Alex Hardy at um Harper Adams and School of Sustainable Food and Farming, and he was saying how important it is for them to just speak to people, raise awareness of what they're doing, um, and if nothing comes from it, okay, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

Um another aspect of events is making the most of them without necessarily using social media, but at the event. So, you know, could you be speaking on a panel?

SPEAKER_00 16:20

Could you be getting involved in a workshop? What's your thoughts on that? So that then goes back into the second type of content, I guess, is yeah, especially like somewhere like Groundswell, it is a content-driven event. And we are seeing more and more of these hybrid kind of events, which I think, again, we can come to that in a second. But I would say building your business profile up is trying to get speaking slots. I know at Groundswell, I was chatting to a few people yesterday where it's near impossible now. Um, somebody was saying that the last few years they'd apply for several and maybe get three or four, and this year they got none. Wow. And it is, I think for every every session, there's about 30 applications. I think I'm I'm trying to remember what was said yesterday, but it's very high. Yeah. But there are lots of other events where maybe the competition isn't as tough, tough. Um, but it gets your experts out there, it's a different touch point.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Definitely, yeah, and as well, there's the stands that have their own little things going on as well. And I think probably should have touched on that at the beginning with things that I love, is like Pasture for Life Stand, do it so well. They have their slots throughout the day. That tent is packed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

And we did it for um, it wasn't necessarily a talk at the Farmer's Guardian stand where we wanted a big audience, but it's amazing how we recorded two podcast episodes, and albeit you couldn't hear particularly well because it's designed to then go out, it still brings a crowd. It still makes enough people go, Oh, what's happening?

SPEAKER_01 17:42

And as soon as a couple of people sort of say, Oh, what's happening, it draws in even more. That's the thing about having something interactive on your stand. Yes. Like back to Soil Benchmark again, someone was doing really well and everyone's getting a bit excited, like, oh they're gonna beat the top score. People start coming to watch.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

So you've got, I guess it can fit into two categories depending on what your business is. If you are quite well known and established, going down that talks route works really well because you've already got that industry awareness where people are like, they know what they're talking about, that's where I want to. Yeah, they've got experts on your team, you want to showcase them. That then goes into having quite a good marketing strategy ahead of the event. Yes. Is not just assuming everyone's gonna take up, you've got to really talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Absolutely, yeah. It's making the most of it. You've paid a lot of money to be here. Why not make the most of the opportunity? But yeah, it's it's it's knowing your audience and knowing where you're at as a business. Like you said, those more established businesses go down the talks route. Yeah, but then a newer business, no one knows who you are. You need to be interactive, you need to be a little bit fun, bit scrappy. Yeah, and think outside the box, you don't need to spend loads of money.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

No, I think that makes you more creative. Definitely. Tight budget means that you have to think out of the box. You've got to like really make the most of it all. I'm gonna go quickly into what we think of these hybrid, where we're heading in. I know Groundswell has started content right from the beginning, but there's a lot of events you're seeing it at um county shows. I think it was can't remember which one this year had like a whole future farming stage, and I know at Lama we're making a big push on actually the content and the speaking side because there seems to be appetite for it. Do you think we're gonna enter a an era where there aren't it's there's no one or the other?

SPEAKER_01 19:25

I think it is changing, definitely, because I think people don't want to go to an event and just be sold to. Um, and I think there is that social side of things, and I think you know, shows perhaps like the Royal Welsh that have that big social element that is like for a lot of farmers, that's their holiday in Wales. Um that that was my holiday as a child. That was the county show, and yeah, Royal Welsh. So there's always gonna be that social element, but for a lot of people they're gonna need something else to want to go to a show. Yeah, um, and I think that educational piece is is really key because I think people, a lot of younger people as well coming into the industry, they want they're hungry for more information and they they want to be involved in these discussions, and I think yeah, it's a really good opportunity.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Definitely is, and then it was interesting. I sat and caught the end of is it the agri leaders' circle on the AHDB stand yesterday? Um, and they were asked what's the best part for them of Groundswell, um, and I can't remember who it was that had said it's the social side, and yes, it was a bit of a tongue in cheek because obviously this is a very social event, but the comment was made that all the sessions are recorded, so actually you can watch those after the fact. It's a relationship building that should be at the forefront. I don't know if I wholeheartedly agree, I think it depends on where you're coming from, but that then leans into if you're doing content on the stand, film it because that again is that evergreen content that you can share, yeah, you can drip feed for the rest of the year.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Absolutely, yeah, and it's it's content you can use to promote yourself again the next year. You know, we were this was from last year, and people were like, oh, you want to build FOMO, I think. That's something that you've worked on the Lama campaign. And I had FOMO this year. Llama's never really been, I've been once before, but that's never been somewhere I I really wanted to go. Be there in January though. I probably will, yeah. You sold it to me. Um yeah, but it's build it, I mean Groundswell do it really well. The Groundswell social team themselves. That's all that's been on my feet. Completely.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

Um and it just and it really captures like the energy and I think everybody personally posting about it is that like last night I got back and it's just like a constant stream of oh first day, Groundswell, and I mean you just if I wasn't here, I would be properly like all. And that's what you want to create out of your stand or your event. I'm gonna jump ahead because we are like there's so much to pick apart, influencers on stands. You don't get it very much here, but llama has become quite a big yeah, meet and greets. Meet and greets thought feel like this is gonna be a bit of a therapy.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Yeah, I have mixed feelings on it. I'd love to to know from businesses that do it what the what their results are. I've never done it.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Let us know if you're listening to this and you've got some responses.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Yeah, we would love to know actually. Yeah, what's you know, ROI on that. Because I think it does bring people to your stand, and like we've just said, bring a couple of people to your stand, more flock there. And I think again, it's it probably is a way of getting people to know your brand. You can if you've got someone there who can strike up a conversation while they're waiting for the meet and greet, then yeah, definitely. I think it can be seen as a bit cringe.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

I think it depends why you're doing it. I think if there's a natural tie-in, they are appropriate to your business. Yes, that's absolutely. I think it's great, especially if there's somebody that's used your product services, that side of things, if it is purely a let's bring people onto the stand. Yeah, she's she's gone can see white things. She's got thousands of TikTok followers.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

But I think you know, someone like Harriet Cowan, um, that worked quite well because it I think she's a great advocate. She, I think she uses the I can't remember what I think she was on track to brand stand part of it. She does quite a few, yeah, because I can't remember who it was, but that was really good content. People like her, people, you know, want to be in her space, but it was also really relevant and yeah, it worked.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

It worked, and I think, yeah, I think it's it's very much think it's it's strategy again, is make sure it fits in with everything else you're doing and doesn't stick out like a sort of film. It's not disjointed. Yeah, completely. I guess we've I'm just looking at my notes, we've um sort of onto that know your audience, which we've sort of drip fed throughout this conversation because you can't really talk about anything.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

No, I think it just it ties into the whole strategy, really, doesn't it? Is knowing what's for you and what's for your company because what works for you know one of the legacy brands isn't gonna work for a startup. Yeah. And yeah, I think it's that's where I like to take a lot of inspiration from outside the industry. Yes, because there are a lot of cool scrappy startups and we can learn a lot from them, and this is definitely you know, but there's a lot of like legacy brands that you know they can just turn up and everyone knows the logo, everyone knows the team because they've been there for 20 years.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

We're in a great the summer. There's so many, I think a sports event seems to do it really well in terms of how they market and tie in and how brands jump on stuff. I mean, the one of the ones that I've really enjoyed is the whole thing with um this is where you can tell that I don't watch sports very much. I think it was Super Bowl and or it might be the World Cup and I think it's the Levi's Stadium. Okay. And because they're not a sponsor, they've had to remove they're not allowed the branding on or anything. So they've removed, I'm pretty sure they've removed Levi's and they've just left, or they've no, they've covered up their logo. And what they've then done is on every bit of marketing, every social media post, their logo is covered up and they've made a thing of not being able to.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

That's so good. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 24:46

Yeah, and there's been a few others that since then have kind of drip fed and bounced off it and done the same thing because they're not allowed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

I another one, so another startup is Salt, who I just love on social media. Um, at the London Marathon, they um there was there was another um electrolyte brand sponsoring, and they they couldn't get involved. They were very anti this electrolyte company, their values are very different. And they were driving around in this um like open top Jeep, branded all up with salt with a massive um like I think it was a blow-up version of their electrolyte. And we're literally parked in front of this pop-up from the actual sponsor, and we're just like taunting them all over social media, which is something a scrappy startup can do.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

It is, yeah, you're not it's not something you're sort of established. No, established can do, especially in this industry if you're leaning towards the policy side, and that's where it goes wrong. I mean, we've seen I mentioned it at an event at your event last week where the Department for Education seems to be getting it really wrong at the moment in terms of trying to jump on trends and do things and collaborate in a way that to me it just it's not quite right. Yeah, doesn't it? Um all right, last point because I know that it's always a big conversation when it comes to being at events from a standard perspective because it's not cheap, is return on investment and kind of benchmarking and knowing whether you've succeeded. And what does success look like? I spoke with Alex Hardy and also Emily from OMEX about what they class as great return on investment. And what I took from that is very similar but sometimes different. There's a lead generation side from OMEX that's quite key, um, and that building relationships, whereas it was very building relationships from Hal Pradam's perspective that to have conversations with prospective students, it might be a while before.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Yeah, they might be 16, 17, but they'll remember that they met a nice person on the half adam stand.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

And I think you have a gut feeling about this stuff, you know whether it's been good or not.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

Definitely. Yeah, I mean I spoke to um Emily Udall from AHDB, who um is she's dairy knowledge exchange manager there, and I kind of said, you know, how do you feel about events like this? You know, it's is it, you know, C2C, is it B2B? And she was like, it shouldn't be B2B, but it kind of is. She said, you know, it's a great opportunity. She's on the stand talking to levy payers, but then she gets an opportunity to go around and speak to other businesses that they can collaborate with. Yeah. And it is just that wider building relationship.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

It's a weird industry for that in terms of the whole B2B, B2C, because you can't you walk in a fine line between a lot of businesses are selling to other businesses, as in not farmers, like clear B2B. But then when you're selling directly to a farmer, it is a bit of both. It is B2B, but it's also you're dealing with that one person, it's B2C. It's yeah, it's it's a fine line to navigate. From your perspective, what would you look at as a return on investment? It's like so many things in marketing that there's not a direct.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Yeah, it's um yeah, it is a tricky one. I don't think you can unless you're selling directly off your stand, yeah, you can't go home and say, well, this generated this much revenue.

SPEAKER_00 27:59

Because Farmer's Guardian can do it in the sense of how many memberships have you sold. Um and that's one of our like benchmarks to go against.

SPEAKER_01 28:06

Yeah, I mean, a lot of businesses will be like the quality of leaves they get, yeah, will be another one. Um I mean, it depends, you know, if with your CRM system, can you log? Um, you know, I had a great conversation with X, Y, and Z. Um, I think it's important that you reflect on events afterwards. Um, like I said, go in with a plan. Yeah, go in with a plan, know what you know what is success to you and your business. Um, because then you can measure it, otherwise you can come home from an event and be like, I don't know, like now, had some good conversations, but I don't know if it was actually worth thousands of pounds I spent being there. Um and I think you know, like with events like I think Farmfest, like a couple of stands maybe didn't have as as great a time at the same time on that one. Yeah, I feel like we could do a whole episode on that. Um, but it like it goes back to the piece, like making the most of the event when you're there. So yeah, it's going in with the goal that you might know that okay, there might be quite a general public audience here, but how can we get the most out of the farmers while we're here?

SPEAKER_00 29:04

Completely, and I think it goes back to sort of loads of the points that we've made is that having that initial strategy because let's say you go and you come away from it where you might have spoken to one person, and that doesn't really equate to it being worth it. But if you have then got loads of video clips, loads of photos, you've been to see talks that can turn into like a reflection piece in an email, actually suddenly you've got a load out of it that might then lead to a conversion later down the line.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

Definitely, and like the conversations you have on the stand can be turned into content later for your newsletter, for your socials, it it's you know, like people use like social comments to create more content, and I think events like this are great for making more content and yeah, getting your voice, your brand voice, and an opinion out on what's going on. Yeah, it's just utilising it.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

Definitely. Right. Before we wrap up, what's been your favourite show so far? Because we've there's still a few to go, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

I love it here, it's just a completely different vibe. It is, it's so different to any other agricultural event. What about you?

SPEAKER_00 30:12

Groundswell, but I was I really loved cereals this year. It was my first time, yeah, and everyone said this is a good one. Yeah. So I'm I don't know, I think they're probably they're very different, so it's really hard to like compare. Also, lamma. I mean, I kind of have to say that, but yeah. Um cool. Well, I feel like we've covered a lot, but could have probably spoken a lot more. Oh, yeah. Um, but yeah, thank you very much for listening. This is the AgriWorks Podcast. It would be amazing if you could give us a follow um and subscribe because it means that you'll get notified every time that we put out a new episode. And we will have staff joining us for the foreseeable, which is fantastic. I was so excited, really enjoyed this. Thank you. Thanks.