During the Agri-Marketing Conference I spoke with Alicia DeGeest (right) and Sara Steever, Paulsen Marketing about their latest thought paper titled, “Rural Lifestylers are Changing the Way They Research and Buy Products.” This ought to catch some attention out there in the AgWired community since this has been discussed a lot over the last couple years. The goal of this project was to learn how online communities, brand advocates and customer reviews are influencing purchase decisions. The study included in person and emailed surveys.

In an earlier study they found that the adoption rate of new technologies like internet penetration between rural and urban people is nearly the same. In this study they wanted to see if rural lifestylers were making decisions outside the normal research processes. Here are some key findings:

1. The rural lifestyle consumers are adopting social media practices at the same rate as general consumers.
2. Like general consumers, rural lifestyle consumers rely on two different types of influencers to help them form brand perceptions and make purchase decisions: micro influencers and macro influencers.
3. The sales process has been altered to reflect a continuous feedback loop between current customers and prospective customers.

Get the full scoop on what Paulsen learned: Interview with Paulsen Marketing

Thanks to Denny Eilers for taking the photo.

2011 Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album