On the Market

mar·ket·ing/ˈmärkitiNG/

Noun: The action or business of promoting and selling products or services.

I'm sure that in our life times we have all been told something along the lines of "it's extremely important to market yourself" or even something simple as "is that how you want others to see you?". This is because marketing plays a role in almost every aspect of life. Simply from letting people know who you want to be to running a major corporation, marketing plays a role. When most people "on the outside" think about agriculture I don't think they understand how much business sense really goes into it. If you've ever bought food after watching a commercial on it, for example, you've seen agricultural related marketing at work and even bought into it! Most farms have names and business cards, marketing at work. We get tons of magazines a year such as Cowsmopolitan, Cattlemen, and Northern Horse Review, marketing at work. The examples can go on and on and on because, well marketing is important! In 4-H about 4 years ago I was put in charge of the sales catalog, and boy was it an eye opening experience. Everything from collecting the pictures and write-ups to contacting printers to search for the best prices was different then I thought. The saying really holds true that you don't know how much work goes into something until you have tried it! Anyways I cut some deals and shook some hands and came up with my first sales catalog in 2008. It was just a standard green paper sales catalog but regardless I was pretty proud. The main thing about marketing is, however, that you always have to be improving. I tried to improve the sales catalog each year and on top of that encourage my club to write their blurbs better while improving my own as well. The catalog definitely improved and is now on glossy paper with a better design that looks much more professional! The write ups are slowly getting better and the juniors most certainly have improved! It's great to see!



The Sales Catalogs Through the Years



Me with 2011 Sales Catalogs!



If you are interested in checking out some sales and seeing how everyone is marketing themselves check out this link Alberta 4-H Livestock 2011 Show and Sales. It'll tell you all the dates, times, and places! :). My Show and Sale is on June 1, 2011 at the Eckville Arena. The show starts at 1:00, there is a free 4-H appreciation supper at 4:30 followed by the sale at 6:00.