Marketing Intervention Services to Women
NY FarmNet 1986-2006
Steve Richards
Chanda Lindsay
Keegan and Associates
NY FarmNet began as a toll-free hotline in March, 1986 in response to one of the worst farm
financial crises in history. The purpose of the program, at that time, was to address the needs of
distressed farm families through personal and financial consulting. The farm crisis of the 1980’s
eventually faded, but the demand for NY FarmNet’s services has grown ever since. Our
challenge now is to grow within the constraints of our budget, which means that we need to
closely target our audience with our advertising. Through this process, we have found that our
advertising is most effective when targeted towards women in agriculture.
The 1980’s through the 1990’s
During the 1980’s, when the farm incomes suffered drastically, FarmNet programs were
marketed primarily through bankers- who were able to identify families in need of assistance and
refer them to FarmNet. Through the next ten years, FarmNet was marketed mainly by word of
mouth from people who had received assistance--financial and personal consultants made over
10,000 consultations with farm families. 97% of these families said they would call NY
FarmNet again and 85% said they had referred a neighbor to NY FarmNet.
The next big crisis that spurred recognition of FarmNet was the 1998 ice storm in
Northern New York. At this time, disaster assistance was uncoordinated, and FarmNet
took in many calls a day directing farmers to resources to help solve their problems.
Even the Red Cross was referring farmers to FarmNet. In recognition of the huge effort
made by the FarmNet staff, an emergency fund of $100,000 was given to NY FarmNet
by the State Attorney General. The media that followed this event helped propel NY
FarmNet back into the forefront of helping farm families.
2000-2005: Do we need to wait for the next big crisis to promote our efforts?
It doesn’t take a crisis in order for FarmNet’s services to be needed by the farm
community. We realize that crisis can occur at different times and intensities for each
farm. Making others (farmers and funders alike) realize this is a constant marketing
challenge. Word of mouth is a tremendous marketing tool- but other methods have been
employed to spread the word about FarmNet services. Staff have attended trade shows,
published weekly advertisements in the statewide farm newsletter and distributed
brochures through local agencies such as Cooperative Extension and USDA offices. One
of the most successful tools thus far has been a simple refrigerator magnet! Most farm
kitchens have a FarmNet refrigerator magnet on them!
Our focus today:
Through the years, staff at FarmNet noticed that it is generally the farm women who are
first to identify that there is a problem and ask for help. Women are involved in all
aspects of agriculture, but frequently are the primary book keepers and health care
keepers in farm families. Not only are women typically more in tune with the financial
and mental/physical health of the family, but they seem to be more likely to ask for help
than men. Because of this observation, the marketing firm Keegan and Associates was
hired to assess potential marketing tools- targeted towards women. Some of the points
that Keegan and Associates stressed were:
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Make sure you clearly explain the benefits of your product or service.
Make it personal and friendly.
Listen first. Sell later.
Provide women with an easy way to reach you.
Say thank you.
Don’t overlook the environment.
Promote exceptional customer service.
It comes down to building relationships.
Outcomes so far:
One tool that was developed was a simple radio ad. The radio ad ran as a trial in just one
county, and was timed to coincide with the drive to and from work- as many farm women
hold off-farm jobs for extra income and health insurance benefits. Within the first two
weeks of the radio ad running, FarmNet received 10 calls. Based on the success of this
tool, FarmNet plans to continue to focus marketing strategies towards farm women. To
help with targeting women in agriculture in the future, Keegan and Associates is going to
host focus groups to refine our message. Current plans include: increasing the numbers
of radio ads, including testimonials from women in both paper and radio advertising, and
release of a documentary of FarmNet focusing on excellent delivery of programs to
encourage word of mouth marketing.
The Future:
Farmers are facing a future that includes: much more intensive management of all
aspects of their farms, unpredictable markets and rising costs for inputs such as fuel and
fertilizer. All of these factors add up to increasingly stressful conditions on the farm.
This indicates that the demand for services such as those offered by NY FarmNet will
only increase. Effective marketing is imperative to ensure that farmers know where to
get help when they need it. We hope that, by targeting farm women, our services will
become well known and well utilized by farm families who are in need of them in NY
State.