Identifying the Villain: A Call for Boldness and Clarity in AgTech Marketing
Challenging the Status Quo to Create Meaningful Change in Agriculture Technology
The biggest problem in agtech today is that most companies have failed to identify the right villain.
Or worse, they identify no villain at all.
This is what happens when companies say crazy things like, "We have no competition."
Of course you do! Failing to acknowledge them is simply sticking your head in the sand and allowing them to win by default.
If you can't find a villain or a competitor, you're not looking at the problem from your customer's perspective.
You're stuck on how unique you think your solution is. "We're the greatest."
Any business that matters is going to have competitors. Anything worth doing is going to be somewhat polarizing.
You are probably not the first solution your customer has attempted to use to solve the problem you solve, and you're definitely not the only one they are considering.
Your job is to reframe that problem in a unique way and provide a novel solution so that the pain of their past failures doesn't stop them from trying to work with you and so that they don't consider choices you know will hurt them in the long run.
People are always telling me that agtech needs to take a more collaborative approach, and I think, in some ways, that is true.
But in other cases, it's a failure or a refusal to identify the right villain.
As an industry, we don't challenge things we disagree with or push against a status quo that is causing our customers pain, and the only conclusion I can come to is that we don't actually care.
- Maybe we don't actually care that our customers are stuck with subpar solutions.
- Maybe we don't actually care about agriculture or farms or farm families at all.
- Maybe this has all been an attempt at a quick land grab and an early retirement.
We're so neutral, apathetic, and weak in our approach. Do we actually believe our solution is valuable at all?
A rising tide might lift all boats, but it certainly sinks those who blow a hole in their side to be well-liked or neutral.
If you are not willing to be polarizing in the way that you talk about the deficiencies of the status quo, then you don't need to be in business.
And if history is any indication, you soon won't be.
Do something different. Make people care. Make fans, not followers.