NAMA is pleased to announce Brighton Agency as a new Sustaining Partner.   

The Brighton Agency, headquartered in St. Louis, MO., works collaboratively with its clients to define and execute powerful marketing solutions to grow businesses. Brighton is one of the leaders in advertising for agri-marketing, and their support is not only an endorsement of the industry and the Association today, but also a pledge to help us—and our members— continue to be at the forefront of agricultural marketing in the years to come. We are delighted with this statement of support.

Click here to view press release.

Congratulations to Jeanne Case, Pennsylvania State University, and Cody Rine, The Ohio State University!  Jeanne and Cody will be part of a group of 100 students traveling to Washington, D.C. March 17 – 19, to participate in the Ag Day Celebration.

This opportunity for two Student NAMA members is available thanks to GROWMARK, Inc. and the Ag Council of America (ACA).  GROWMARK, Inc. volunteered to cover the travel costs for two students and onsite costs for participation are covered through the ACA.  Jeanne and Cody will visit Capitol Hill and meet directly with legislators and advisors from their home state, in addition to attending a luncheon on Capitol Hill March 19. 

Again, congratulations!

New members who joined NAMA between November 5 and December 10, noting the person who referred them, had their names entered in a drawing for a $100 Best Buy gift card.  In addition, those NAMA members who referred the new members between November 5 and December 10 were included in a second $100 Best Buy gift card drawing.  The winners were announced December 10 and cards were mailed that day to the winners.

Richard Johnston, who works at KeyPlex, in Winter Park, FL, is a new NAMA member and winner of a $100 Best Buy gift card.  Lyn Cacella and Gerry Bogden referred him to join NAMA.

Julie Kenney, from DuPont Pioneer in Johnston, IA, won a $100 Best Buy gift card for referring NAMA membership to Lindie Hoaglund.

Congratulations to both!

Cornhusker NAMA (formerly Midlands NAMA) underwent a name change this past September for the chapter to better represent the geographical area it covers.  They recently rolled out a new logo to support this new initiative.

There is still time to register for NAMA’s  Webinar!

Knowing – and Growing – Your Base of  Business
December 6, 1pm Central

Does the way you are building your customer base match your business goals?

That’s the central question in the innovative approach described in this webinar, which uses buyer behavior patterns to define – and prioritize – key marketing strategies. Discover how to balance your acquisition, retention, and up-sell or cross-sell efforts. Understand your customers by examining how purchasing patterns reflect their relationship with you … and develop simple methods to target communications to nurture (or repair!) that relationship.

Participants will learn how to:

•     Compare and track buying patterns so that you can nurture highest value customers (advocates)

•     Identify changes in behavior patterns that may indicate a prospective change in the customer relationship

•     Calculate the potential financial impact of specific changes in current trends

Alan Weber is Principal of Data to Strategy Group, a marketing consulting firm that focuses on just that – helping organizations use analytics to improve the effectiveness of their strategic marketing efforts.  Alan is also a member of the Adjunct Faculty at UMKC and the author of three books – Data-Driven Business Models and Desktop Database Marketing and most recently, Follow That Customer!

Bob Merrigan is President of Merrigan & Company, a copywriting and strategic messaging firm that helps a range of organizations in their direct mail and online communications efforts.  Over the past 35-plus years, Bob has worked with a number of agri-businesses, as well as b-to-b and nonprofit organizations.

To register visit:

https://secure.confertel.net/tsregister.asp?course=567302

Beck’s Hybrids, the largest independent family-owned retail seed company in the United States, hosted the NAMA Mid-America Chapter on Tuesday, November 13, 2012, at its headquarters in Atlanta, Indiana.   Scott Beck, vice president and third-generation family leader, shared how Beck’s is dedicated to remaining farmer focused across its five-state market area. He also described how the company works with multiple suppliers, such as Monsanto, Syngenta and DuPont Pioneer, to source the best products for Beck’s customers.

Ryan Parkin, marketing and communications manager, oversees the company’s in-house marketing team, which consists of 11 full-time people. He showcased their “Suspect of Success” campaign, which includes innovative direct mail pieces, print ads, billboards and other tactics that successfully integrated the use of QR codes. Parts of this impressive campaign are entered in this year’s Best of NAMA competition.

During a facilities tour led by Bruce Kettler, director of public relations, the group saw the company’s robotic bagging system in action and learned about its production and research sites located across Illinois and Indiana.

The Mid-America Chapter would like to thank everyone at Beck’s for their generosity, time and willingness to answer questions.