Grain Marketing Guidance for On-the-Go Farmers

ADM partnered with DKY to create a new podcast series called In the Driver’s Seat. Each episode covers insights that can help impact a grower’s bottom line.

ADM | Podcast

Backstory

Farmers work hard year-round to harvest plentiful yields while facing unavoidable challenges – storms, unstable markets and more. They approach these obstacles head-on and pivot when needed to stay profitable. Experience, continuous learning and new opportunities help grow and stabilize operations.

Even during the best of times, only one third of farmers are satisfied with their grain marketing skills, according to research by Farm Credit Services of America.

Recognizing this gap and farmers’ thirst for more grain marketing knowledge, ADM partnered with DKY to create a new podcast series called In the Driver’s Seat. Each episode covers insights that can help impact a grower’s bottom line.

Deliverables

Digital Communications
Content Marketing
Email Marketing
Social Media

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Process

At the inception of the podcast, DKY handled the entire production process from developing topic ideas to hosting and interviewing guests to editing episodes to writing accompanying marketing content for the website.

Now three years later, an internal ADM team comprised of Doug Roose, the vice president of producer marketing, Shelby Schweitzer, a product line marketing manager, and Emily Lacina, a crop insurance product line manager, hosts the monthly podcast. DKY continues to develop website content and provide production support for each episode.

DKY creates a content package that includes a feature blog article, a series of emails, social media posts, local email templates and text messages to extend the reach of the key messages and tips in the podcast episodes. More recently, the team started to leverage the content for outreach to ag writers to share the information with a wider audience, increase awareness of the podcast series and increase its subscriber base.

DKY updated ADMadvantage.com, the company’s Farmer Services website, and centralized In the Driver’s Seat content on the home page, so new content is frequently uploaded to add more value and engagement for new and returning visitors.

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Goals

Developing an “on-air” approach with In the Driver’s Seat started as part of a larger ADM marketing strategy to increase engagement and build trust between ADM and the farmers they serve. With this in mind, specific goals of the podcast strategy are to:

Share topical information to help farmers better market their grain and manage risk
Increase engagement between local ADM representatives and farmers by 10%
Increase traffic to ADMadvantage.com as a valuable resource for farmers

“DKY provided us a creative custom solution that was a complete game-changer for our company.”

Doug R., ADM

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Key Takeaways

Keeping close tabs on the ag industry, daily markets, weather patterns and other seasonal factors has been a successful formula for determining engaging topic ideas and guests for In the Driver’s Seat.

DKY also collaborates well with the hosts and understands their goals for the program. Roose provides strategic leadership, industry knowledge, connections and a steadfast commitment to helping and listening to farmers’ needs. Schweitzer and Lacina bring unique subject matter expertise and charisma to the table. Along with DKY’s production skill set behind the scenes, the result has made In the Driver’s Seat a successful and authentic go-to podcast for farmers.

It’s also driving bottom line value by spurring farmers to take action with ADM. Following an episode about different contract options, a listener sent this message to their local ADM representative: “I would like to talk with you sometime tomorrow about grain market strategies. I just listened to an ADM podcast where an accumulator contract was mentioned. I am interested. Let me know when you are available.”

18,085+

Total listens to In the Driver’s Seat podcast

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Results

Together ADM and DKY have recorded more than 40 episodes and the momentum continues in 2021 with steady listenership. ADM has become a regular part of many farmers’ days through In the Driver’s Seat, opt-in emails and social media. Over the past year, social media has given the podcast an extra boost of awareness and activity with growers.

Podcast: In the Driver’s Seat

During the first year (2018 to 2019), the number of podcast plays grew 291%.

Social Media

From 2020 to 2021, engagement on the ADM Farmer Services Facebook page grew 285% and increased on its Twitter account by 417% — key channels for sharing new podcast episodes and content.

Digital Marketing

Web traffic from marketing emails to the podcast page on ADMadvantage.com has increased 94% year-over-year.