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Rural Lifestyle Dealer Shares Insight on Market in Agri-Marketing Report
(Editor's Note: The September 2009 edition of Agri-Marketing magazine featured an article on the Rural Lifestyle Market from Farm Equipment's and Rural Lifestyle Dealer's Michael Ellis.)
"Rural lifestyle" is somewhat of a catch-all phrase used to define an evolving and expanding market with a staggering amount of buying power. From hobby farmers and large property owners to agritourism, tree farms and vineyards, rural lifestylers are a diverse group with very different equipment needs than the traditional Ag customer.
"In 2007, Lessiter Publications and the editors of Farm Equipment launched Rural Lifestyle Dealer as a stand-alone publication to help manufacturers and dealers define and understand the endless possibilities for serving this market.
"After strong feedback from both dealers and manufacturers in 2007 and 2008, Rural Lifestyle Dealer increased from a semi-annual to a quarterly publication and increased circulation by 20% to provide ag marketers a more consistent platform for connecting with the dealers.
"An informed equipment dealer is the best friend the manufacturer and the rural lifestyler can have. Rural lifestylers often know what job they want or need to get done, but rarely have the expertise to know exactly how to accomplish it. It's the attentive, informed dealer that determines not only the type of equipment but also the specific brand that customer ultimately chooses to invest his or her dollars in. In fact, research shows that the rural lifestyle customer accepts the equipments dealer's product recommendation nearly 80% of the time.
"Because the vast size of the rural lifestyle universe (27 million households) makes it nearly impossible to cover the market at the consumer level, it's critical for ag marketers to target the dealers — the one place in the channel where it all comes together. Even more so in the rural lifestyle market, dealers are frontline sales force and are the primary influencer on equipment and service purchase decisions.
"With each passing year, more manufacturers are developing product targeted specifically at the rural lifestyle markets and dealers are getting more creative in attracting and retaining this attractive group.
Rural Lifestyle Dealer and RuralLifestyleDealer.com will continue to evolve with the market to consistently provide successful, actionable strategies for dealers and a place where Ag marketers can be confident that their message is being seen."
