When you think about equine business marketing, do websites or events or social media come to mind? Today, let’s go deeper than marketing platforms and look at the foundation; the heart and soul of all good marketing in these 6 principles for your equine business.
The Purpose of Marketing
Businesses market to increase their income, not to throw money out the window. When you find the marketing plan that works for you, you’ll get a return on your investment. A well thought through and well-executed marketing plan will gain new clients for your business, encourage your old clients to do business with you again and boost your income.
What’s a Target Market?
Marketing to people who are interested in and need your product or service saves you a lot of time and money. This group of people is called your “target market.”
If you breed dressage prospects from proven bloodlines, you want to market to serious farms and competitors who are willing to spend the money on a top-level horse. Marketing a $65,000 horse to someone with a $200 budget isn’t smart, and neither is marketing to someone who will spend $65,000 but is looking for a barrel horse.
As you can see, determining your target market is not very difficult. First, decide who can benefit from the services, products or animals you offer. Are they young? Old? What’s their income status? Where do they live? Are they a full-time competitor or a weekend trail rider? What’s their gender? Answering these questions will make it clear who you’re marketing to so that you can research where to find them.
Brand Voice
Just as brands identify where livestock is from and who they belong to, your brand is what identifies you in the marketplace. It’s what you do, your core values, your personality, and goals.
Asking yourself these questions can help determine your brand voice:
- Why am I in this business?
- What are my personal values in life and business?
- How does my work benefit others?
- How do I differ from other equine businesses in my field?
- What are my goals for this business and/or these animals?
Intersecting Goals
Do you have your business goals in mind? If you do, think about what your ideal clients want. What are their needs, goals, and desires? What problems do they have that you can solve?
Marketing is essentially finding a place where your goals intersect with that of your target market. It’s creating content that answers your prospective client’s question while simultaneously helping you reach your goals. For example: if you want to sell more horse joint supplement, create content that answers horse owners’ questions about joint care and joint problems. If you need more horses in your training program, create content and hold clinics that answer people’s questions about starting colts or dealing with behavior problems.
Equine Business Marketing in 3 Steps:
Step 1: Awareness
The first step of equine business marketing is creating awareness. At this point, you’re getting your name out in front of new people who have never heard of you. This step of marketing should convey who you are and what you do. People probably aren’t ready to buy your product, animal or service yet at this point. It usually takes 5 or 7 exposures to your business before people make the decision to buy your pressure-relieving saddle pads or sign up for fall riding lessons.
Step 2: Gaining Fans
The second step is getting people to like your business. Now that they know what you do, appeal to them with your brand voice and give them valuable answers to their questions through content and/or events. The old adage is true that “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Step 3: Building Trust
Now that people know who you are and like you, they’re more likely to trust you with their money and convert over to being a paying client. You’ve already been building their trust in step 2 by offering them solutions to their problems that work. Another excellent way to build trust is spreading the testimonials of previous clients about how your business helped them. This is a powerful tool for turning fans into paying clients.
Following Through
Crafting a good marketing plan is only half the battle. Many people plan to execute an amazing marketing plan, only to put it on the back burner, procrastinate on it or realize that they don’t have time to actually do it. Following through with your plan is the only way to reap the benefits of increasing clients and income.
If you don’t have time to invest in online marketing, or marketing for events, a Virtual Assistant who knows the equine industry and is an expert marketer can help you execute your marketing goals while still having time to run your business.
Next week, we’ll review the top 20 specific ways to market your equine business.
