Creating Movements, Not Just Products: A New Identity for AgTech Adoption
Redefining the role of technology in agriculture through identity shaping and movement creation.
The Achilles' heel in agtech adoption isn't about the performance of the product.
💰 It doesn't revolve around pricing.
💹 It isn't only restricted to our business models.
🤝 It's not just about winning customer trust.
Sure, all these elements are vital, and absolutely crucial to boosting adoption in agtech. But they play second fiddle to the actual issue:
Agtech companies, so far, haven’t successfully crafted a new identity for their customers and, as a result, they have not effectively created movements around their products.
If the prevailing mindset is... "I'll keep doing things the way my Dad, Grandpa, etc., did because that's the norm for people like us."
Then it's on us, the sellers of cutting-edge possibilities, to provide them with a fresh identity.
“I am a ______, so I use this product in a specific way to win because that’s what people like us do.”
In 'The True Believer,' Eric Hoffer asserts that "the practical organization offers opportunities for self-advancement..."
This is where most of us are stuck today - selling yet another “improvement” offer. “WE'RE BETTER THAN ____!” (chest thump)
On the other hand, a mass movement “appeals not to those intent on bolstering and advancing a cherished self, but to those who crave to be rid of an unwanted self.” - Hoffer.
We can not tweak or incrementally improve our way out of a broken food system, struggling rural economies, or depleting acres of topsoil.
🔄 We need to create movements.
💡 We must provide our customers with a new way to think about themselves and their businesses.
🔎 We need to provide a new lens through which to see the problem.
Change begins when we stop selling widgets and start selling worldviews.
Make something different. Make people care. Make fans, not followers.
Hi Dan, Thanks for the article. Movements take long time and investment. Based on article from Shane Thomas, adoption of a change in Agriculture takes almost 20 to 30 years. I don't want to ask success recipe but a dialogue on implementing a successful movement.