A look inside TurfBreed’s extensive marketing tool kit is giving growers and resellers an excellent insight as to how their marketing levy is being invested. But, most importantly, growers can appreciate the scope of their marketing assets available to them as key resources for their own turf businesses.
SO WHAT DOES TURFBREED’S MARKETING LEVY DO?
TurfBreed’s Managing Director Steve Burt said that was a “…good and fair question”.
“In short an immense amount and TurfBreed is constantly striving to do a better job to communicate this to you,” he added.
“TurfBreed invests in variety-specific and resourceful marketing campaigns to ultimately help growers and resellers maximise their returns.
“We also look at creating tools that help your business, such as DIY videos, phone sales support, Grower Portal, the Marketing Guide, the myhomeTURF website and quoting tool as well as access to a grower-branded online shop.”
TurfBreed firmly believes the role of marketing is to drive demand for you (the growers) turf, Steve said.
“But, to drive demand, our turf must firstly be considered at the front-of-mind of consumers, specifiers and commercial bodies – here is where the marketing campaign plays a pivotal role.”
Steve added that “ … for your turf to be considered, the varieties must be remembered through good branding, and to be remembered, they must also be impressive and come to mind easily when the ‘turf buying’ moment arises”.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TURFBREED AND myhomeTURF?
The myhomeTURF brand is the retail customer face of TurfBreed, facilitating specifically targeted marketing to the retail consumer. Put simply – we all know the retail consumer is a different market segment to commercial sales with very different service requirements, size of sales, and pricing point. myhomeTURF (MHT), with its retail consumer focus, provides growers with the marketing tools and assets to use in the retail space.
“I guess the message is we are promoting your varieties and MHT is just the mechanism which links this promotion back to you the grower,” Steve said.
“TurfBreed is the branding to our grower network and commercial consumers. Through TurfBreed we aim to support ‘you’ in building a safe, profitable, and sustainable business.
“But also, we use the TurfBreed brand to tailor our messaging to specifiers, government and commercial consumers who have a different information requirement to a retail consumer.”
WHAT DOES myhomeTURF OFFER TURFBREED’S GROWERS?
MHT has a comprehensive website consisting of TurfBreed’s Australian-wide supplier network (both growers and resellers) and is a one-stop-shop resource for everything the turf market may need to know about turf.
The MHT website is also home to an online shop which complements the quality turf, that growers/resellers sell, with lawn care products.
myhomeTURF
- MHT Get 3 Quotes
- More than 30,000 quote requests sent to growers
- MHT Website
- A vehicle that promotes growers’ businesses and varieties
- More than 280 lawn articles
- Growers can link into this resource via their Facebook or website
- Grower-Branded Ecommerce Store
- A great tool for growers to build add-on sales pre and post turf sales
INSIDE myhomeTURF’s LARGE MARKETING TOOL KIT
“I want to stress again that the MHT marketing tool kit is designed to drive grower/reseller sales and does not run-in competition to a supplier’s own website or business,” Steve explained.
Below is a visual glance of what is inside the MHT’s marketing tool kit …
Steve explained that one of the most important ‘marketing assets’ on the MHT website was the ‘Get 3 Quotes’ tool.
“Potential buyers who come to the website looking for turf can Get 3 Quotes from their local grower,” he said.
“The tool allows customers to enter their postcode and select the variety they are interested in. The customer can select; one specific TurfBreed grower, up to three TurfBreed growers or Get 3 Quotes where the customer’s lead is sent to five turf suppliers and the first three to respond are offered to the customer.
“Since it’s launch, the MHT Get 3 Quote Tool has generated more than 30,000+ quote requests which were all sent to TurfBreed growers.”
WHAT MARKETING ASSETS CAN GROWERS USE TO ‘IMPROVE’ THEIR SALES?
Variety Assets
- LOGOS for all sorts of uses
- Hero Images (Website/Facebook/Instagram/other)
- Variety & DIY YouTube Videos (Website/ Facebook/other)
- Variety Brochures (free brochures (A4 and DL) through contacting your State Business Development Manager)
- A4 PDF Variety Brochures (Website/Facebook/other)
- Variety Technical Data Sheets
- Fact Sheets – from the Essential Lawn Guide (such as Weed, Pests & Diseases and Getting Started with your new Lawn)
- Certificate of Authenticity for TurfBreed varieties
Social Media
- MHT Facebook
- 14 million impressions
- Served to 2 million people in a specific targeted audience
- MHT Instagram
- MHT Electronic Newsletter
- TurfBreed LinkedIn
Today, Social Media is one of the most significant mediums in which to deliver a marketing campaign.
Facebook is one of the largest social media platforms in the World – so it makes sense for MHT’s marketing campaign to be part of the platform. MHT’s Facebook posts are designed to build awareness of our varieties and with a call to action to the MHT website. MHT’s social media platforms also include Instagram and You Tube.
The TurfBreed brand is marketed on LinkedIn where most of the followers are specifiers from the landscaping or commercial sectors.
LinkedIn is like a digital CV, one that can be regularly updated at a moment’s notice. It’s also split into sections that allow TurfBreed to list specific achievements and industry news that may resonate with followers, such as the rollout of research and development work, launch of IronCutter Hybrid Bermudagrass or the commercial use of Nara Native Zoysia.
WHY INVEST IN DIGITAL MARKETING?
Digital marketing, also called online marketing, refers to the marketing work done on the internet such as, social media, emails, search engines and websites. These different digital marketing mediums assist in building brand awareness in our varieties and connecting our grower network to prospective ‘turf’ customers.
“Digital marketing, most importantly, allows us to identify and target a highly-specific turf audience, and send that audience personalised, high-converting marketing messages, such as time to fertilise your lawn, or seasonal care updates, or do you want to look at buying your new Nara Native Zoysia lawn now,” Steve explained.
“We use digital marketing to invest and educate turf customers on our varieties.
“The aim is to nurture a turf customer along a purchase journey by serving them with variety information, brochures and videos, as well as Seasonal Lawn Care Tips and reminders that support the online shop.
“Alternatively, we use Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to rank higher on Google’s website, the 150+ articles that are on MHT’s website. Because ‘Google search’ is one of the main ways consumers discover turf content, ranking higher in search engines can lead to an increase in traffic to the MHT website. Once at the website, the consumer is more likely to consider purchasing turf or an online lawn care product.”
Digital Marketing
- MHT Website
- 2 million ussers with 4 million page views
- Google Ads
- Organic Search Ranking
- Display Ads / Remarketing
- Customer Newsletters
- Direct Marketing
COMMUNICATING THE MARKETING TOOLS TO YOU
“With the wide breath of marketing tools under both the MHT and TurfBreed brand it is vital we continue to remind our grower network of what they have available to them,” Steve stressed.
“First and foremost, our Business Development Managers are a key resource to support your business and assist in promoting your turf varieties. They are your go-to people when you want to know something or need something to assist the marketing or production of your varieties.”
The communication and marketing team are constantly rolling out marketing information across to growers and resellers through:
The TurfBreed Hub
- Private Facebook Group for TurfBreed community.
- Communications and information sharing everything TurfBreed and MHT related.
Electronic Direct Mail newsletters
- Direct Email communications to you about all things related to marketing and production.
- TurfBreed and partner news and information.
GROWTH
- TurfBreed’s flagship magazine that consists of in-depth articles on issues and information turf related.
