Dairy Cattle Marketing Lessons from Lady Gaga

Monday, March 12th, 2012

Now I know the title may sound cheesy, but there are actually some important lessons that many breeders can learn from Lady Gaga when marketing their dairy cattle. She speaks to her audience with understanding and connects with them in a very personal way. Instead of just saying here is my song now buy it, Lady Gaga is relentless on building her brand and making sure she has a message that resonates with her audience.

The following are some lessons many marketing lessons dairy breeders can learn from Lady Gaga:

Don’t be afraid to have an opinion
Lady Gaga regularly speaks out on any issue she feels passionate about. In doing so, she not only keeps herself in the public eye but she is attracting the right kind of people for her type of music. Remember a couple of years back when she wore a dress made out of meat? Yeah, she probably ticked off more than a few animal rights groups, but her flaunting about in that dress made the news for several days. The point is, Lady Gaga is not afraid to take a stance on an issue and make sure that everyone knows it. In the dairy cattle marketing world, that means make sure you have a position that your buyers can understand. If that means you are going to be the greatest source for genomic cattle than be so. Talk it up! Alternatively, if that means you are going to be the source for great show cattle, than make sure your market knows. Stand up and stand out! You cannot be the jack-of-all-trades who does everything ok but nothing special. You need to make sure that your prospective buyers know why you are special and what you stand for.
Leverage the power of social media
Lady Gaga has over 20 million Twitter followers and over 48 million Facebook fans. That does not come by accident. She works very hard to engage her community. She personally tweets directly to her fans and is always engaging them in conversation. She understands that the power of her brand is to engage her community. A lesson many dairy breeders need to remember. Dairy farming has always been about community. It’s probably the greatest thing that keeps most breeders so passionate about their work. The biggest change is how social media, especially Facebook has taken the community online. The numbers of breeders that are on Facebook is outstanding. While they maybe got on Facebook for family or personal reasons, it’s hard for them not to let their passion for breeding great cattle show. You need to leverage the power of social media to join the community and engage them. In doing so you will probably find the greatest source for information as well as reward for the work that you do.
Be Different
Lady Gaga has built her brand by being different. Not because she wants to be something she wasn’t. Actually, it’s the exact opposite. Lady Gaga is was not afraid to be herself and promote not just how she is cool and hip, but rather how she is different. Many dairy breeders are too afraid to stand out as different and they just become one of the many. With so many breeders wanting to market their genetics these days, you need to make sure that you have something unique to offer the marketplace. Embryo transfer and especially IVF has caused a flood of top genetics into the market place. Knowing how you are different and letting other breeders know how you’re different can make a big difference in your profitability. What’s your difference?
Produce killer product
Gaga writes amazing music. She doesn’t produce a huge amount of music, but everything she does is done very well and is worth talking about. The same is true for your breeding program. There is no substitute for breeding great cattle. With genomics and the increased access to information (such as Holstein.ca, cdn.ca, locator lists, etc.) great cattle can always be found. You can have the greatest marketing in the world, but if you don’t have great genetics to offer, it will not have the same effect.

Gaga and the PR and marketing experts behind her did not reinvent the wheel. They just took what works best and used it to their advantage. The same is true when it comes to marketing your breeding program. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, what you need to do is use the tools that are out there to make sure your marketplace knows who you are, how you’re different and why they should buy from you. Determine what you stand for and the larger impact it has on the market outside of the individual animals you have for sale. What Lady Gaga teaches us is that it’s important to stand out in the crowd!

Want to take your marketing to the next level, download our free guide “The Dairy Breeders Guide to Facebook“.