AgWired

I wish I could have attended all the breakout sessions at NAMA but it’s really difficult to get away when the Connection Point is in full swing and you’re an exhibitor. However, I did make it to some of them.

One of our presenters was Paul Adams, President, Paul Adams & Associates. His session was titled, “Put the “High Touch” Back in Your “High-Tech” World.” At first I thought he was going to talk about technology but that’s not the focus. He says, “I’m really low tech.” He says we need to get back to more face to face communication in a world of high technology. Hmm. Do we really still do that? He laughed at that question and said, “I don’t know.” His presentation was geared to sales people and looked like it was really well attended.

You can listen to my interview with Paul below.

2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference
is sponsored by: . They know.

Agricultural media and marketing is a team sport. Here is the Successful Farming team in the Agri-Marketing Conference Connection Point. Believe me when I say it’s not easy getting them all together and I know we were still missing a few. I’ll let you guess who. These folks are constantly on the go.

One of the team members I spoke with during the conference was Scott Mortimer, Publisher, Successful Farming. He is included in the photo. Successful Farming partnered with us again this year to provide coverage of the event.

I asked Scott what their support of NAMA means to them. He says it is very important to the future of the industry and they contribute more than just dollars but staff support as well. He says it this way, “We not only support NAMA with our pocketbook but our people.”

In light of the changes in communications technology Scott says the company continues to work on customer insight to understand what the needs of their readers and agribusiness partners are and then developing solutions around that. They do this via market research which really helps drive their business. This includes multiple Successful Farming Market Research Panels. They have new research available now which you can obtain by contacting them.

You can listen to my interview with Scott below.

2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference
is sponsored by: . They know.

With all the focus on new media and new ways of marketing, the winner of this year’s NAMA Marketer of the Year is one who uses the oldest method of marketing known to man, and the one that still works the best – word of mouth.

Stephanie Liska, co-founder of Beck Ag, grew up on a farm in Iowa and is married to an agronomist, so she knows agriculture. “Word of mouth is not knew to agriculture or to business,” she says. “Purdue University has validated that the most influential person that a grower or a veterinarian or someone in our industry looks to to make a decision on what they are going to use or recommend is their peers.”

Stephanie has been involved in NAMA since she was a student at Iowa State University and was chairman of the NAMA conference last year. She also credits her faith and her husband for supporting her with the business.

Listen to an interview with Stephanie in the player below.

2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference
is sponsored by: . They know.