Have you ever experienced second thoughts after selling stock? Perhaps you have wondered if your stock were right for the market or if you could have done something differently.
How well do you market your products?
In the past you may have been successful or unsuccessful from a marketing perspective. You may or may not have had deliberate strategies in mind when making marketing decisions for your business.
Marketing livestock consists of two components:
- Long-term: Setting the direction and strategy for marketing your livestock.
- Short-term: Choosing the best selling option for your next turnoff.
By developing a greater understanding of the past marketing performance of your business, you will be able to develop longer-term marketing strategies and make better marketing decisions. In order to increase your chances of success you need to ensure that you focus on marketing not just production.
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Are you production focused or marketing focused?
The production focused person produces what suits them and then asks, "What is the best price I can get?". They would therefore judge their success mostly on price received. The marketing focused person asks, "What is the best net return I can get out there in the marketplace?" and then aims to tailor their production to meet each target market requirements. They would therefore judge their success mostly on margin received and ability to meet target market specifications.
You can adopt a marketing focus by setting long-term marketing plans for your livestock business. A major part of developing future marketing plans is to consider the external environment and what will influence returns down the track when it is time to make selling decisions.
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Do you only react to current prices or do you look for the things that cause those prices?
Many producers simply use current livestock prices to make their plans for volumes of supply and target markets. Prices for meat and livestock change for numerous reasons, many of which are out of producers' control. Sometimes these reasons are unexpected and you can be caught unprepared. At other times, the market movements are related to underlying factors that cause gradual shifts in a particular direction.
As a result, having sound information on such factors is vital in determining business success.
Track the factors influencing prices, not just the current price.
You have probably heard or even used the expression ‘our price depends on supply and demand’. This is quite true. The reason we need to gather information on supply and demand is to help us make business decisions.
Reduce the guesswork when making decisions for your business.
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How would marketing strategies and a marketing plan benefit your business?
A greater understanding of the current and past marketing performance of your business, as well as knowing the external marketing environment in which the business operates, enables you to develop strategies. This also allows you to make decisions by matching the capabilities of your business with the opportunities that exist in the marketplace.
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