The research conducted in this paper was designed to fill this void. A statistical sampling was taken, utilizing e-mail surveys, to discover as much as possible about each institution's advertising needs. The research conducted was exploratory in nature, rather than specific, and was used to quantify the need for a centralized advertising and marketing service for the Farm Credit System.
Open-ended questions were utilized in order to solicit detailed answers from the small group of respondents. The researcher focused on how each institution was now acquiring their advertising materials, if they were through their own organization or through advertising agencies. In addition, gaps in the resources they had available were identified (See Figure 1).
Secondary research was conducted through the use of the Internet. This research focused on the gathering of related information about the use of in-house, single source marketing agencies. This research was then applied to the Farm Credit System industry, to uncover how it may be of use to their segment.
Limitations:
The researcher discovered that there was limited access to the Farm Credit System institutions' marketing and advertising budget information. This information would have been useful in comparing an in-house (AgFirst) single source of marketing materials, as a cost effective solution. However, without these numbers, this aspect of the topic could not be studied.
For this reason, this research focused on the convenience factor of using an in-house single source for the institution's marketing and advertising needs. In addition, whether or not a resulting unified message and consistent look would occur, if an in-house single source, such as AgFirst, were utilized for their advertising materials, was explored. These topics were examined in length, rather than the cost saving issues that still may result.
In addition, the sample size of this survey was inadequate to draw any firm conclusions. 3 System institutions responded to the e-mail questionnaires, out of 97 total associations, for a response rate of 3.09%. However, despite this small sample size, the consistency of the answers from the respondents, suggests that the researcher's theories are correct and support further future research on this topic.
The final limitation of this study may lie in the essay format of the questionnaire itself. Although the open-ended questions allowed for respondents to expound upon the issues presented, they were not useful in quantifying subjective material. As such, a Likert-type scale, giving a numerical range of choices to the respondents such as: on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest likelihood of the effectiveness of a unified Farm Credit marketing approach, rate your opinion, may have been more appropriate for some questions. This would have allowed for a quantitative analysis of the response received for some of the questions, as opposed to the qualitative analysis that follows, that may be prone to subjectivity.
Hypotheses:
As the institutions comprising the Farm Credit System are made up of a group of diverse, cooperatively owned members, each institution is unique. However, each of these institutions is a part of the larger Farm Credit System family. As such, it is hypothesized:
Many institutions do not have an in-house advertising and marketing service
System institutions would benefit from a single source for the attainment of their marketing and advertising needs.
And, a unified message for the Farm Credit System is a preference that System institutions have.
Furthermore, this paper will discuss why so many disparate messages being conveyed to the consumers are having a negative effect on the Farm Credit System and its institutions. In addition, what drawbacks there may be to a 'national brand' will be discussed, as will any roadblocks to the success of such an advertising campaign.
Literature Review:
In Sullivan's article, Farm Credit Banks Turn up Heat in Agriculture Lending, the author describes the late 1990s push for System institutions to become competitive with the rest of the mainstream lending industry. As of 1998, Sullivan notes that the Farm Credit System only held 25% of the agricultural lending market. Clearly, more aggressive, more efficient, and more effective marketing is needed to gain valuable market share in an industry that should be dominated by the specialized System.
This aggressive, efficient and effective marketing can be presented as a unified message for the entire Farm Credit System. Lewczak and Starr point out just how effective this type of cohesive industry wide advertising can be, in another agricultural industry, the dairy industry. The 'Got Milk?' campaign, complete with milk mustaches, of the Dairy Council has been very successful in the promotion of milk products, as was the 'Beef: It's What's for Dinner' and 'Pork, the Other White Meat' campaigns. However, the challenge, of these campaigns,...
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