Marketing concepts for agricultural lenders

With the weak demand, low volume, and competitiveness of today's agrilending market, an aggressive marketing strategy is critical. A marketing strategy demands analysis of product characteristics, pricing, promotion, and positioning, all relative to the competition. Critical to the strategy is a marketing segmentation process whereby a bank identifies segments and the products required by those segments; determines the profit potential of providing the products; assesses the competition's strategies and market penetration potential; and customizes products and marketing strategies for each segment. A six step process to developing a marketing strategy involves: 1) segmenting the market and determining the size of each segment; 2) identifying products demanded by each segment; 3) estimating the cost of providing products to the segments; 4) evaluating the competition; 5) determining the profit potential for each product in each segment; and 6) developing a sales strategy.