Hitting Target Audiences with the Beef Checkoff
With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.
Marketing and promotion of beef has changed dramatically over the years. Greg Hanes, Cattlemen’s Beef Board CEO, says, social media now plays a large role in helping to see insight into which consumers are being reached…
“You can really see the demographics and whose doing what among those consumers. It makes it much easier to leverage those messages and target very specific groups and change their behavior That is where I think we have seen really good results where these targeted groups are buying more beef and consuming more and expanding their knowledge of it.”
On the flip side, Hanes says, because much of the advertising such as Beef Checkoff promotions, are not seen by producers, many producers have questioned their effectiveness…
“The producers don’t always see it because they are not getting targeted. So, you have a lot of producers say, well, I don’t see anything that’s going on, there’s no checkoff advertising. That is because we assume they are eating the beef, so they are not seeing it. I can assure you that it is going to those consumers who are buying it.”
The Beef Checkoff focuses on many different targets when marketing, Hanes said, including those metropolitan areas with a lot of people and not many cattle producers. Urban areas provide many protein options, Hanes said, so it is important to remind people that beef is a great choice.
