Category: Growth

If you want to grow your business, you have to move forward and upward, sometimes doing things outside of your comfort zone. Abraham Lincoln once said, “I may be a slow walker, but I never walk back.” It’s ok to grow slowly, but it’s not ok to go backwards in your growth!

At BioZyme, we want to see our dealers succeed and grow. That’s why we’ve provided the tools and programs to help you grow. Let’s review.

Engage in Promoboxx

Remember that we said a majority of farmers, 94%, have a smart phone or cell phone. A big share of them also have access to social media. For those who are not active on social media, they probably have a spouse or kid who is on social media, whose accounts they “creep” or scroll through periodically. Because we know not everyone has time to create social media posts, BioZyme has created social media posts that align with its national marketing messages and put those into Promoboxx, and easy-to-use platform to help you create awareness of your company with BioZyme information on your social channels.

Promoboxx is free to BioZyme dealers to use, and provides you access to various pre-created posts to share on your social media accounts. As a dealer, you can use the entire post or various assets of it like the copy or just the photo. Content is updated regularly to keep it fresh for you. To learn more or get started with Promoboxx, visit www. biozymedealermktg.com.

Quarterly Dealer Mailers

Direct mail is a great way to get a message in front of customers. Each quarter, BioZyme creates a message with a focus on one product that is timely for that particular production cycle/time of year. If the dealer sends its customer mailing list to BioZyme, via an excel spreadsheet, it will prepare the mailer to send to those customers, free of charge. And, if you have your customer mailing list split by species or product lines, that is even better. That way when it comes time to send a Vitalize mailer, those with sheep or goats won’t get the mail.

Watch your email and the Dealer Facebook Group for sign up information for this program.

Product Educational Opportunities

In addition to having a product focus for the customer mailer during each quarter, the BioZyme Team also provides a live training for dealers each quarter around that same topic. These trainings take place on the Dealer Facebook Group. These sessions are also recorded, to allow more dealers to watch on their own time.

In addition to dealer trainings, any time a new product is released, a training is conducted and a new product video is put into the Online Dealer center (ODC).

Of course, the Master Dealer, is always a great way to learn about the products and selling techniques. Look for some enhancements to his program in the coming year!

Get Your Store Ready

Nothing is more discouraging than going to a store, looking for a product, and not being able to find it because there is no signage, or it is buried behind some other irrelevant product. If it is weaning time, get your Vita Charge® products on an end cap with signage that promotes stress recovery.

Upselling and cross selling are great techniques. Keep gel products on the sales counter and when a customer buys Vitalize® Equine Digest More Plus, be sure to suggest they might also like the Vitalize Equine Gel.

Signage and product placement will help you sell products in your store more often than you think. You can’t sell what the customers can’t see.

We’ve provided you four simple steps to help you market your business. Follow these steps and watch your business grow!

When your customers come to you looking for a product, they are typically also looking for a solution. Solutions are answers to their challenges, so if you want to make the sale, you must be prepared with the answers, or the information they need about a product. The number one way to make a sale is by building trust. The best way to build trust is to provide reliable, accurate information about the products you are offering.

One recent online survey of consumers showed that the number one expectation of the stores they visit was knowledge of the products sold in the store. If you and your staff are knowledgeable about the products, that is meeting the customers’ expectations and the first step needed to build trust. At BioZyme, we know how important that trust is to making the sale; that is why we have created multiple ways to ensure the product information is available to you when and how you want it so you can share it with your customers.

Online Dealer Center

All product information is available at your fingertips at the Online Dealer Center (ODC). Find key selling points, ingredients, feeding rates and ordering information for any of the BioZyme products your customer might be looking for. Even if they are not sure the exact name of a product, you can search by species, program or product line, and a variety of products will appear from your search.

Literature

The Marketing Team creates a wide variety of brochures and educational materials across all brands. From one-page sell sheets to tri-fold brochures to extensive product guides that give specific details about every product, these colorful, easy-to-use pieces are available to you to have at your dealership. They can be sourced two ways. First, you can print them yourself from the ODC by selecting the Marketing menu and dragging down to “Marketing & Sales Aids.” Or, if you would like to request hard copies of these brochures, drag down to “Marketing Requests” under the Marketing menu and follow the steps outlined to make a request.

Product Videos

Some people learn better through video or hearing a presentation. For that purpose, a quick promotional video has been created for each product to share the highlights of the uses and benefits. These product videos can be found on the product pages on any of the brand websites or by viewing a product in the Product Center found in the ODC. These are great to be able to play in-store for your customers and each video is 30-seconds to less than two minutes in length.

Master Dealer Program

The Master Dealer Training Program is an online comprehensive training program that provides all employees at a dealership with the information that they need to talk about the products with potential customers.

At BioZyme we want to be proactive in providing you the answers you need so you can build trust and provide your customers solutions. What other ways would you find it helpful to receive information to educate customers and potential end-users about our products? Let us know! You can always reach out to the Outreach Support Center or your ASM to let them know what other methods you would like to see used for providing education and information to you about products.

The Marketing Team serves many functions at BioZyme; however, its primary objective is to connect prospective end-users with dealers in their area. They do this by driving traffic to the Dealer Locator on the website so customers can find the products they need to solve their challenges close to home and begin building relationships.

How do customers and potential customers find the Dealer Locator? The Marketing Team creates awareness and demand for all of BioZyme’s product lines through various tactics. Everything the Marketing Team creates from a national, regional or local level has connecting the dealer to the end-user in mind. Initiatives include social media posts across all brands, digital advertising with leading industry partners, print, radio, television commercial, events, partnerships with respected industry partners and more. Every media piece includes a call to action such as clicking a link, scanning a QR code or visiting the website to encourage the viewer to learn more about the specific product and find a dealer near them.

The Marketing Team doesn’t do its job blindly. Just like the Sales Team sets a sales goal each month, Marketing also has a goal for reaching potential and current customers and driving them to the Dealer Locator. This goal of 5% is met or exceeded for every brand, as Lisa talked about in this month’s letter. For example, Vitalize Equine had more than 6,800 clicks on the dealer locator, which was nearly a 12% conversion rate. However, a more aggressive brand like VitaFerm had 26,000 clicks or a 27% conversion rate!

Hitting that goal is very important to ensuring what the marketing the team is doing is effective and ultimately driving traffic into your store, and the data is evaluated regularly so adjustments can quickly be made, if necessary. Since the Team knows that the customers are going to the Dealer Locator and reaching out to Dealers, it wants you, the dealer, to have the most current information listed on the website.

There is a Dealer Locator on every brand website as well as the main biozymeinc.com site. Once on the locator, end-users can enter their zip code to find you, their local dealer, including your basic contact information such as name, address, phone number, fax number, email and website. The more information we have from you, the more we can provide. In addition, the locator also lists the product lines you carry. Finally, if you or someone within your dealership has completed the Master Dealer program, that is also designated, with a note that the “Master Dealer is certified as having extensive product knowledge and many products available,” giving you an added competitive edge.

Marketing to the end-user pays. The Marketing Team works tirelessly to make sure customers know they can reach out to the dealer network wherever the customer is located and find someone knowledgeable about the BioZyme brands. Let us drive the customers to you.

Progress. We define progress “to grow or develop, advance,” and at BioZyme®, we work daily to progress in the products that we offer to the animals that we serve. That’s why you’ll likely notice a change in the feed-through pesticide that we are including in our cattle products. Instead of the traditional Altosid IGR that has been in the BioZyme brands, you will now notice ClariFly® is now included in several of our product names.

ClariFly is now found in the following products: VitaFerm® HEAT® with ClariFly®, VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® 5/S with ClariFly®, VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® 5/S HEAT® with ClariFly® and VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® 5/S CTC 3G with ClariFly®, Products with ClariFly are labeled for limited for sale in specific states.

ClariFly is a four-fly larvicide that prevents house flies, stable flies, face flies and horn flies from developing in and emerging from the manure of treated cattle. ClariFly interrupts the lifecycle of the fly through the active ingredient Diflubenzuron that inhibits the synthesis of chitin, according to Casey White, Director of Product Development at Central Life Sciences.

“Chitin is a major component of the exoskeleton of an insect, and as an insect grows and will molt, it will have to reform their exoskeleton. One component is that they deposit chitin to be able to form that exoskeleton. Without a properly formed exoskeleton, that insect immature or not fully mature, will die,” he explained.

The primary benefit of the ClariFly compared to the Altosid is the fourfly versus the one-fly claim for the two products. Altosid was labeled to protect only against horn flies and their larvae. White said it is not economically feasible to increase the dosage of Altosid to obtain a claim to control the other pest fly species. ClariFly includes added claims against face flies, stable files and house flies.

White explained that different fly species become pests in different management scenarios. Horn flies and face flies are typically bigger nuisances in the pasture because they seek out fresh, undisturbed manure piles to lay and hatch eggs in. Conversely, house and stable flies are peskier in confinement areas like pens, corrals or barns, where manure build up exists and wet organic matter like feed or hay is available to lay eggs in and hatch.

Feeding a supplement with ClariFly is very similar to feeding Altosid, from a timing approach, as you want to prevent the larvae from developing. White suggests the 30/30 approach to feeding the supplements with Clarifly. Start feeding the supplement in the spring 30 days before your last hard freeze before the temperatures warm up to the mid-60s. Continue to feed ClariFly all summer long and 30 days past the first freeze in the fall. Feeding to that end point in the fall will actually help with fly control in the spring of the following year.

Adding ClariFly to the VitaFerm HEAT and VitaFerm Concept•Aid 5/S HEAT makes two of our products even better for producers, eliminating even more stressors. Provide your customers the best vitamin and mineral supplements available this summer. Provide them with the HEAT package and ClariFly to take away their summer stress!

A new challenge is always full of emotions: fun, excitement and exhilaration! Sometimes new things can be a little intimidating. But there is safety in numbers. That’s why we are confident as a company and specifically as a sales and marketing team that Backyard Boost is going to be a smashing success with those who raise backyard poultry. Figures in 2019 show that more than 13 million households have taken to raising these feathery friends. That was before COVID-19 had everyone staying home last year and spiked interest in raising in raising backyard poultry.

In an effort to share our products with you and the end-users, we will have three platforms where we can share information: a website, Facebook and Instagram. Initially, we will rely heavily on you, our dealers, to help us generate customer testimonials and feedback from the end-users to add to these sites.

www.backyardboost.co

This website will be the portal for all educational and product information as it becomes available. As with all of our product lines, we want to become a place where our users and dealers can come for premium products and for education. We plan to include education about feeding and nutrition, flock health and stress, coops and housing, egg production and more. In addition, we look forward to posting customer testimonials here once backyard poultry enthusiasts start using the products.

BioZyme uses social media like Facebook and Instagram to keep our dealers and end-users updated regularly with the latest and greatest product information, education and testimonials. These platforms will be where we really need you to speak up and share your end-user results or encourage your customers to do so.

We also use social media to engage with our customers for promotions, contests, to find out what they like, what they would like to see more of in the future. Social media is a great way for us to interact with customers of all levels in all corners (and backyards) of the country.

Every challenge is exciting! And this one is no different. We are excited to launch Backyard Boost this month, and we’re excited to launch three new communication platforms where we can engage with customers. We hope you’ll come along with us on this journey!

Trends come and trends go. But one action that will always be trendy is to have a marketing plan in place as you roll into a new year. The BioZyme® Marketing Team recently attended the virtual Brand Manage Camp to freshen up their skills and learn how to better increase market share while helping dealers market their product lines.

In the final presentation of the three-day seminar, Michael Brenner, CEO of the Marketing Insider Group and best-selling author, reminded everyone that marketing has two key purposes: to create leads and to generate a return on investment (ROI). He said the best ways to accomplish marketing are through story telling and reaching for emotion.

The team at BioZyme is always here to help its dealers with their marketing. The Marketing Team offers a variety of services from print and radio advertising, social media, email marketing, custom in-store displays, custom signage and other custom designed pieces.

“I encourage each dealer to take a look at what we offer, have a conversation with their ASM and decide what works best for them. Each business differs based on brands, target audience, geographic location and time of year, so make sure you’re not just marketing to say you’re marketing, but that you’re doing what’s most beneficial to your goals and customers that you serve or desire to serve. Meet your customers where they are,” said Ashley Fitzsimmons, BioZyme Regional Marketing Manager.

Brenner offered three trends he predicts will continue to be popular for businesses to use in their marketing approach as we enter 2021. Explore how those trends will synergize with what the Marketing Team offers.

1. Build your Business Case
   Be sure when you create marketing materials you are creating content that your customers want and need. Use key words to help get engagement, reach the customers you are looking to get to come into your business and retain those customers. One way that BioZyme can help you with the content that will resonate with your customers is by engaging on Promoboxx or sharing national marketing content from the BioZyme brands on social media that are most applicable to your business.
   
2. Increase Traffic and Conversions with more Regularity
   The adage out of sight, out of mind is key in marketing. If you are not making regular impressions with your customers, they might just forget that you exist. In an effort to engage with dealers as part of our “care that comes full circle,” Fitzsimmons created an easy opt-in quarterly mailer program in 2019. This is a simple and effective action for dealers to help prospect for new and retain current customers by staying in from of them on a regular basis.

“Each quarter our marketing team will create a timely mailer that we can customize with your dealership information. We will send this out to your customer/prospect lists. All you have to do is opt in! Each quarter dealers get an email blast two weeks before the next mailer goes out asking them to opt in. Dealers may also opt in one time for the whole year beginning in the first quarter,” Fitzsimmons explained.

The quarterly mailers are available to all dealers. The only thing BioZyme needs from you is your complete mailing list, which you can update as many times as you need throughout the year. This is a fantastic way to get a concise message to your customers and potential customers on a regular basis. All you need to do is opt in; send your mailing list to Fitzsimmons, and the mailers will be printed and sent for you.

3. You Must Answer Customer Questions
   Customers rely on their nutrition suppliers to answer a multitude of questions. You are their resource. Regardless if it is a question they pose on your social media or a question they ask over the phone or in person, be sure to provide them a timely and accurate answer. No one likes waiting for an answer, and if they wait too long, they might take their business elsewhere. Not sure of the answer? Let them know that you are doing a little research and will be glad to get them an answer as soon as you can.

Marketing is never going to go out of style. As long as you have a product or service to sell, you will need a way to present those goods and services to your customers and prospective customers. Stay in the know with their needs, stay in front of them, and provide solutions to their answers.

Customers have a choice. From everything to the brand of pickup they drive to the soda they drink, to the color of tractor they prefer to the mineral they feed their livestock, those choices are part of thread that weaves each human together. Some choices are passed down through the generations; Grandpa had a green combine, so I will have a green one too. Some are influenced by peers, and some are merely personal preferences.

However, in world that is full of choices with more products being developed each day, creating loyal customers is more important now than ever. Building brand loyalty doesn’t just start with a high-quality product, but that product must be backed by a reputable company and customer service that is second to none.

According to Jay Baer, marketing expert, author and presenter, 54% of consumers have purchased from a new company since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. And, a surprising 89% of those consumers will stay with their new provider.

“Market share shifts in time of uncertainty,” he explained. “Brands are built in bad times, not just in good times.”

Don’t let your market share shift. Keep your customers loyal to you, your brand and your business. To keep their loyalty and boost your business, Baer suggests three simple steps.

1. Reconfigure your products and services.

First, you need to realize that we are living in a fast-paced world. Change happens fast and if we don’t adapt, we are going to be left behind. Perhaps your store needs to extend its hours, offer different services or introduce new products to assist your customers with whatever they are dealing with. Projects that used to take 36 months are now being accomplished in 36 days.

Think about some of the products that BioZyme has introduced this summer to its customers: the VitaFerm® Conserve™ line was introduced during a time when producers needed an economical way to get Amaferm into their animals’ diets. Sure Champ® Joint Juice was introduced because our sister company, Cogent Solutions Group already had the MHB3® technology, and we felt it was important to share it with the show livestock world.

If you aren’t creating better products or amping up your services, someone else will. And making those products available online is crucial. Baer said that as of Oct. 5, 2020, America will surpass all of 2019 e-commerce revenue, and that is without any holiday shopping spurts.

2. Retrain your team.

Once you have stocked new products or created new services, it is time to retrain your team on the way to present your goods and services. No longer can we do things the way we’ve always done them. BioZyme has strived to make sure we have provided updated training information for our dealers with each product launch. Be sure to visit the Online Dealer Center for all of the latest literature and updated Master Dealer trainings.

3. Reeducate.

As with any change, it is time to reeducate your customers and potential customers. Make sure they know what you are offering and what makes it unique to your company, especially if there happens to be a competing product or service in the area. What makes you unique? What sets you apart? Why should these customers stay loyal to you?

One of the great ways to educate the consumer and share your message is with a FAQ list. Think of any question that might be asked and present the answer before it is asked. End users will appreciate your foresight.

“How you handle your business over the next six months will have a massive impact on the success of your business for the next six years,” Baer concludes.

Build your customer loyalty today. Be innovative, provide outstanding customer service and happy customers will be your biggest promoters. Build customer loyalty today and watch your business grow.

Think back to the classic sitcom, The Jetsons. Back in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, when the stars of this animated show, George and Jane Jetson, talked through video to their boss and best gal pal, respectively. At that point in time, nobody could fathom that someday we would use a similar technology to talk to fellow employees, family and even customers.

Enter 2020. Even though technology like Facetime, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and other visual technologies have been in existence, lockdowns and quarantines have forced us to use these technologies more than ever. Perhaps George Jetson and his boy Elroy were forward thinkers for their times.

Today, BioZyme® Inc. offers video technology in numerous ways as a resource to its employees, dealers and end-users. Videos are an efficient means of marketing and promoting to a variety of audiences. They are also an effective way to train people in various audiences at numerous venues. Let’s explore.

Training

The dealer network is the lifeblood of our organization. We also know that not all our dealers sell exclusively BioZyme products. That is why it is vital to us to provide the best sales training and product information we can. We achieve this through the Master Dealer Training Program, an online, video-based training program. This pre-recorded series of training videos is an effective way to train multiple dealers at their convenience.

Log in through the Online Dealer Center to have your employees complete the Master Dealer Training. Unique login credentials can be created for each employee so he or she can complete the training and receive credit. Knowledge is power, and knowledge gained through the use of video is even more powerful.

Education

Videos are a great way to educate producers and end-users. According to an article on Forbes.com, 65% of Americans are visual learners, meaning that the graphics and information that accompany the text and voice recordings on videos help people retain the information better than just reading or hearing it alone.

We have used Facebook Live and Zoom meetings with our dealers this spring to introduce products, explain their purpose and share their benefits. The advantages of these face-to-face video meetings is that the audience can have their questions answered while the program is in live mode, and it gives both the presenter and the target audience the sense of interaction even though multiple states and time zones could potentially be represented.

For the Sure Champ® brand, there are a variety of educational videos online under the “Resource” tab. These videos make great teaching aids for new or beginning pig and cattle exhibitors and cover an array of topics. Remember, sales are often built on relationships and offering valuable resources like these videos are just one of the resources you’ll be remembered for.

Marketing

You can’t sell what you don’t market. What better way to market a product than with videos that show results? Words and pictures are nice in printed pieces, but with more businesses turning to an online presence, the use of video simply offers more punch to the message you are trying to convey. Video tells a story, it offers personality, and when created correctly will help build trust with your audience. On several of the product pages of the website, under the “Media” tab, you can find various videos that will help market the products. Some of these are customer testimonials. Some of clips of the American Rancher files that share great testimonials within them, and some are product videos that can also be found under the “Product” tab.

Most all of the BioZyme products have a brief overview of their benefits and uses on the the BioZyme website under “Product” tab on their respective pages. These 60- to 90-second spots highlight each product in a clear, concise manner that is easy to follow. They are easy to download to use on your own website or social media platform. In addition, the product videos are also located under the “Media” tab, and make a great marketing tool. All of these videos can be shared and used to your own website or platform.

Promoboxx also has plenty of videos for dealers to use in their online marketing efforts. The product videos as well as a video testimonial are available for dealers to post on their social media and are located in the assets folder.

As long as customers continue to carry a smart phone or tablet and have a screen available in the palm of their hand, video will continue to be an effective education, marketing and training tool. George and Jane Jetson were ahead of their time. And we can use the technology they previewed all those decades ago to make our businesses more effective.

Everyone likes to have a choice. Even in the world of digital marketing and social media, you as a business operator have choices, but one thing is clear as we enter the final quarter of 2020, video should be included in your marketing plan. Videos put a face in front of your audience, building trust and credibility, and videos encourage social share, which increases your company’s exposure.

BioZyme primarily uses two forms of videos on its social channels to reach its audience, depending on the goal, a prerecorded video or a Facebook Live. Both formats are fairly simple to produce and post to your social platforms. BioZyme marketing experts, Jessie Judge, Marketing Brand Coordinator, and Ashley Fitzsimmons, Regional Marketing Coordinator, share insight on how dealers can use video to help grow their businesses.

What are the advantages of a Facebook Live session?

Fitzsimmons: Facebook Live is great for those bits of information that are exciting, catchy and you really want to get people’s attention quickly! Live’s are great for the initial announcement of something new coming to your business, a promotion that’s happening in a certain timeframe or a quick in-person interview with someone on an event that just happened (i.e. winners at livestock shows, quick hit with a customer that just sold well on Superior or someone gearing up for their bull sale and has seen amazing results on your products). The benefit of live videos is the ability to capture true emotion, reaction and excitement of what you’re telling your customers.

Judge: You can’t deny that if you see a “LIVE VIDEO” advertisement, you are naturally more intrigued to want to check it out and watch it. Facebook Live videos provide you with the ability to see all the names of your followers jumping on to watch and see the sheer number of participants logging on to your view your video in live time. Another benefit of live video is the ability to directly address questions from the consumer and engage with the audience as comments and questions come in on the live feed. From an analytics standpoint, the Facebook algorithm also re-generates the live videos more often on followers’ timelines.

What advice do you have for a Facebook Live?

Judge: Plan an outline a day or so in advance. Don’t wait until 15 minutes before you go live to jot down points you want to mention. Identify your goal and key talking points that need to be discussed, organize them in a way that makes sense to deliver and practice a few times, so when the nerves set in you will be prepared to stay on target. Also, think of some potential questions you might get so you have the information cued up in your mind and can answer incoming questions quickly and clearly. Take a deep breath and loosen up as you get started! Once the Live begins, announce you will wait for a few more to jump in and encourage those watching to interact – such as “Let us know you’re watching by sending us a message in the comments or waving!” or encourage them to ask questions during the Live video. Engaging with simple conversations reduces the level of awkwardness at the start while you are waiting for more to join.

When would you use a prerecorded video?

Fitzsimmons: Prerecorded videos provide that extra level of professionalism that comes with the ability to do a couple takes, edit out any pieces that aren’t completely on message. These videos are great for more in-depth product information and training, customer testimonials and any content that you’d like to use more than once. These let viewers in on more than just the immediate and exciting and learn more about the whole picture, the story or the detailed selling points of your business, your product or your own personal story.

What kind of equipment is needed to make my videos?

Fitzsimmons: A cell phone or laptop computer is all you need for a Facebook Live. Again, these aren’t supposed to look like “in the studio” professional shot videos. The true selling factor and nature of these videos is the authenticity of the feel! Honestly, for prerecorded videos a cell phone or computer can work just as well, the investment would just be the editing software and time learning.

Judge: For pre-recorded videos, there is a bit more flexibility in regard to what you would like to use depending on how you intend to utilize the video. If it is a video being posted to social media, then a cell phone or laptop is great – maybe get a small microphone to plug into your phone or computer port to amplify sound quality, but this is not necessary. If you are looking to post a pre-recorded video to a website or other digital outlets, a camera and microphone may help create a higher quality video that matches the quality of a website; however, it is not necessary to have a professional camera and mic for a video posted digitally. It is really up to you and the goals you have or what look you are going for.

Both Fitzsimmons and Judge agree that a Facebook Live shouldn’t last more than three minutes. A pre-recorded video should run 3 to 5 minutes.

Most everyone has a smart phone, tablet or laptop. So, start creating those videos. Make a plan. Find your spokesperson, and watch your social engagement grow!