Purina mills' customer program.Serving the rural lifestyle consumer market can present new sales opportunities, and some challenges, to marketers. Many of the consumers in the segment are now owning animals (horses, cattle, poultry poultry, domesticated fowl kept primarily for meat and eggs; including birds of the order Galliformes, e.g., the chicken, turkey, guinea fowl, pheasant, quail, and peacock; and natatorial (swimming) birds, e.g., the duck and goose. , etc.--even companion animals) for the first time and have a plethora plethora /pleth·o·ra/ (pleth´ah-rah) 1. an excess of blood. 2. by extension, a red florid complexion.pletho´ric pleth·o·ra n. 1. of questions about proper husbandry husbandry careful management of e.g. animals. Implies thrifty, humane, caring. See also animal husbandry. . Or, after years of being away from animals, they need a refresher of what they learned from their 4-H and FFA FFA free fatty acids. projects so many years ago. Additionally, dealers of livestock products need a different set of services and approaches to the marketplace. Afterall, their heritage was to provide high volume, bulk and bag feed and animal health products to large commercial feeders. To assist its consumers and dealers, Land O' Lakes Purina Feed recently introduced its new "Better Animals Program," the next generation of its "Gold Program" that was launched 13 years ago. GOALS Centered around the theme "Animals Make Better People, We Make Better Animals," the program is designed to help customers' animals perform better, live longer, be healthier and, if the owner has commercial goals for their animals, produce more eggs, milk, jump higher, run faster, learn quicker, etc. "With the Better Animals Program, we can now target and speak directly to today's sophisticated and fragmented frag·ment n. 1. A small part broken off or detached. 2. An incomplete or isolated portion; a bit: overheard fragments of their conversation; extant fragments of an old manuscript. 3. Lifestyle and Cattle animal owners," says Kurt Schultz, Dir (1) (DIRectory) A CP/M, DOS and OS/2 command that lists the file names on the disk. See DOS Dir. (2) (DIR) (Digital Instrumentation R of Mktg Svcs. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "The program is designed to directly reach our customers, steer them into our dealers and, of course, increase sales," Schultz reports. ABOUT THE PROGRAM Specifically, the program includes the "Animal Makeover" TV show which airs on RFD-TV four times each week. Shows segments have included "Crawfish crawfish: see crayfish. Raising," "Pig Showmanship," "Pond Management," "A Horse Rescue Story, "Raising Goats" and many others. In addition to featuring Purina Mills brand feeds, it also includes commercials from other suppliers whose products are sold by its dealers, including Alpharma, Zinpro and Wellmark. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "The TV show, as well as our other promotional materials, directs people to www.betteranimals.com Web site," Schultz explains. "While they are there, customers can sign up for our free Better Animals e-newsletter, post their photos and stories in the "Better Animals Show & Tell" section, find the local Purina Mills dealer, as well as watch the TV show and read past newsletters, all of which have been archived." The Web site also includes blogs in which customers can post their comments and questions. "They can get peer-to-peer advice from each other or interface directly with Purina nutritionists and other specialist. It makes the Web site truly interactive and useful to the user," Schultz reports. They can also register for prize drawings. Past winners received a John Deere Gator, a full year's supply of feed, or other valuable prizes. The Web site is averaging over 300,000 hits per month. The program also includes a direct mail element. When enrolled, customers and prospects from its internal database who are within a 25-mile radius of the participating dealer receive Purina Mills feed offers including coupons that are redeemed re·deem tr.v. re·deemed, re·deem·ing, re·deems 1. To recover ownership of by paying a specified sum. 2. To pay off (a promissory note, for example). 3. from the dealer. To assist their dealers and their employees' with education and communications, the program also includes the "Media Package." Dealers can purchase a Dish TV Dish TV is a satellite broadcasting service available to users in India,Sri Lanka,Pakistan,Bangladesh,Nepal and parts of South East Asia. It is a commercial service, and offers a variety of plans. system and display it in their store(s). During business hours BUSINESS HOURS. The time of the day during which business is transacted. In respect to the time of presentment and demand of bills and notes, business hours generally range through the whole day down to the hours of rest in the evening, except when the paper is payable it a bank or by a , the Animal Makeover shows loop for customers to view. During off-hours, they receive the latest information from Land O'Lakes
Element of marketing concerned especially with the sale of goods and services to customers. One aspect of merchandising is advertising, which aims to capture the interest of the segment of the population most likely to buy the product. tips and new product opportunities. Participating dealers also receive a DVR/Receiver combo that allows them to record live television and play the programming back when it is convenient to them and their staff. RESULTS The company has been extremely pleased by the results the program. "Of our 4,000 dealers, 1,300 are participating in this exciting and innovative program,'" Schultz says. In addition, the Purina Mills Web site traffic has increased over 50% and some sections have had stellar results, such as the cattle section that now has 600% more traffic. Successfully developing and serving new markets requires innovation. Purina Mills Better Animal Program is certainly an example of that. by the AgriMarketing Editors |
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