Category: What’s New

Things Are Heating Up, Get Your Customers Ready with VitaFerm HEAT!

Keep Them Grazing As Temperatures Heat Up

Spring is around the corner, and temperatures are only going to get warmer and warmer as the days continue to get longer. Cattle aren’t gaining when they are all gathered up under a tree or standing in a pond; but they don’t really like being out in the heat of the day grazing either. That’s why it’s important to share the advantages of our full line of HEAT® products with your customers.

Share these key benefits with your customers:

  • Reduces heat stress when temperatures reach 70 degrees and hotter
  • Reduces stress when cattle are grazing fescue
  • Keeps cattle grazing more during heat of day
  • Reduces foot rot by keeping them from standing in ponds for prolonged periods
  • Fewer flies landing on and biting cattle

Keep Them Bred As The Weather Heats Up

Grazing bred cows in the summer heat comes with its own set of challenges, and it is hard to be profitable when cows are heat-stressed and aborting calves. Share with your customers the value of getting cows bred with VitaFerm® ️ Concept•Aid® ️and keeping them bred through the heat of summer with VitaFerm® HEAT®.

This line of vitamin and mineral supplements contains the Amaferm® advantage and Capsaicin, both research-proven to lower body temperature, which can improve conception rates by maintaining pregnancy. It also includes garlic, a natural insect repellent.

Did You Know?

At BioZyme, we offer a variety of product testimonials from across the country, and you can share these with your customers online or in person with the click of a button. Go to vitaferm.com and click on the testimonial tab at the top for a full line of testimonials. If you prefer to share a video with your customer or on your website, click on the media tab instead. There is a line-up of video testimonials and scenes from The American Rancher HEAT episodes that will help you promote HEAT and other products.

Lynsey Whitacre Named IPPE 30 Under 30 Outstanding Young Leader

Lynsey Whitacre, Ph.D., and Companion Animal Business Development and Field Support for BioZyme® Inc., was recently recognized as one of the “30 Under 30” Young Leaders for her outstanding leadership contributions in the production of animal or poultry feed by the International Production and Processing Expo (IPPE).

The IPPE “30 Under 30” Young Leaders is a way to recognize professional leadership qualities and to provide exposure to the world’s largest trade show involving the production and processing of meat and poultry products and the manufacturers of feed and pet food products, according to the IPPE website. The program not only exposes these young leaders to the latest technology, but also allows them to attend valuable educational programs to assist in their leadership development. Whitacre attended the IPPE event and received recognition during a special ceremony the last week of January.

“We are extremely proud of Dr. Lynsey Whitacre’s selection to the International Production and Processing Expo 30 Under 30 Young Leaders Program. It has been amazing to watch Lynsey’s growth since joining BioZyme in 2017. She is highly respected and well-liked by her peers as she easily moves back and forth between science (research) and technical support (sales and marketing). Lynsey is an accomplished equine rider in jumping events and has a sincere passion for the companion animals she rides, hugs and pets. She is a devoted worker that uses her scientific training and experience to develop and promote new ideas to enhance animal well-being and performance. She is very deserving of the 30 Under 30 recognition,” said Bob Norton, BioZyme Chief Executive Officer.

Whitacre initially worked with BioZyme to expand its equine sales. Shortly after that, she started helping the company with its marketing efforts to the canine audience. She also assumed research project management in 2018 and new product development in 2019. As a result, she is now involved in all research and all products for all species.

“To be able to get an opportunity like this is really beneficial because you get to make connections to people who are working alongside you toward similar goals of improving animal health, production and sustainability, but using different techniques and technologies. The work that we are doing collectively as an industry is going to be very impactful both domestically and globally,” Whitacre said. “As a group, we can clearly see where the future of the feed industry will lead us, and we have the responsibility of creating precise, innovative solutions to today’s challenges, like antibiotic use for example. It’s a good feeling because together I think we can make a really big difference, not only in the lives and health of animals, but in the lives and health of humans as well.”

Digital Marketing Is An Efficient Way To Reach Customers

Marketing is essential to your growth as a business. Yes, many dealers rely on word-of-mouth as their number one marketing tool, but as more people become connected via their phones, tablets and even smart watches, digital marketing efforts are increasing. The BioZyme® marketing team has several ways it can work with dealers to simplify this cost-efficient method to reach existing and potential customers.

Promoboxx

Promoboxx is a digital tool that connects BioZyme’s national marketing efforts to its local dealers. The BioZyme marketing team creates social media content for its product lines each month and generates posts that dealers can publish on their own Facebook business pages. It saves time and resources of your already limited staff, and if you sign up for “auto share” in settings, the posts are automatically posted to your page.

“The biggest benefit to our dealers is that it is content that is going to marry up with what we say on a national level and because we do such a good job of pull-through national marketing, this is going to look like something their customers are going to have seen before. So, people are more likely to click on it and engage with it because they probably also like our Sure Champ® page, for example, and they are very comfortable with the look and the feel and how that content is presented,” said Ashley Fitzsimmons, BioZyme Inc., Regional Marketing Manager.

In addition to the similar look and feel to the national advertising, other benefits include the fact that busy dealers don’t have to create and plan a social media calendar regularly, and fresh content comes out monthly for each of the six product lines. For dealers that are interested in Dealer Reward Points, Fitzsimmons said 250 points are rewarded per quarter for dealers who engage in Promoboxx for that quarter.

Dealers who use Promoboxx are not limited to only the content on Promoboxx. They can use a combination of the BioZyme-created content from Promoboxx while also posting their own organic content on their Facebook page. And, if the brand has provided downloadable assets as part of a campaign, you can download the assets and publish/post them via your social channels outside of Promoboxx, so the post looks like it is an original from you.

Since BioZyme started making Promoboxx available to its dealers, dealer engagement through Promoboxx as a marketing tool has grown 270%, Fitzsimmons reported. It’s not a one-size fits all approach, and each dealer uses the tool at his or her comfort level.

Email Marketing

“I think email marketing is fantastic, and it is super underutilized,” Fitzsimmons said.

In an age where every marketing dollar spent counts, and reach and engagement matter, email marketing makes perfect sense. It is a free tool, that when used properly, can help you reach a large audience with little effort.

Fitzsimmons encourages dealers to create and build their customer email list. Once a customer database of email addresses is built, it is simple to send reminders about your in-store promotions, new products or product updates, or producer meetings. By using a platform like Mailchimp or Constant Contact you can also see analytics and determine effectiveness of your email blasts.

“Email blasts are a great way to more quickly and easily talk to your customers about the advantages of the BioZyme products or new product alerts. It doesn’t cost anything, but some time to build your customer database. It’s a really great tool when used sparingly, and we’d love to help you with it,” she said.

Website Banner Ads

A final digital tool that Fitzsimmons reminds dealers about is the use of the web banner ad. She said she has worked with several dealers who have a good web presence to create these ads that when clicked on, link to the BioZyme website for more in depth information, without bogging down the dealer’s web page with all that information.

“I’ve had some dealers who have been able to convince customers to add Amaferm® into a custom ration based off the information received off those click-throughs,” she said.

Again, web banner ads are an easy way to communicate and educate customers and potential customers about your products without spending resources and they can help you reach a potentially larger audience who is always connected to the online world.

For more information about any of these services, contact your Area Sales Manager or read more in the Online Dealer Center.

Dealer Spotlight: 4 UP Livestock LLC

Dealer Relies on Word of Mouth to Build Business

Word of mouth marketing is likely one of the original marketing strategies; yet it is one that 4 UP Livestock LLC still relies on for its success today. Although this dealer is somewhat new to the BioZyme® family, Kirstie and Brian Wachholtz are not new to building relationships in the business world. The couple, from southeast Wyoming, raise cattle and Brabant Belgian horses. Their BioZyme relationship story begins with a stud horse that didn’t handle hauling so well last year. That’s where VIP and Master Dealer Keith Micke encouraged them to try the Vitalize® Equine Recovery Paste (now Vitalize Equine Recovery Gel). The rest as they say, is history.

“We went to the Wyoming Equine Extravaganza last year and took some of our Brabant Belgian studs, and one of them was not acclimating very well. Keith brought over a tube of recovery paste, because it was still paste at the time, and said ‘Hey, I guarantee you need to do this. He’ll drink, he’ll settle down, he’ll be good.’ In half-anhour that horse was acting like he was at home,” Kirstie said.

On the way home, Kirstie and Brian swung by Keith’s, loaded up on products for their cattle and more Recovery Paste, and soon after became a sub-dealer for K Triangle Feed since Keith didn’t have anyone in that part of the state. They have capitalized on their own positive experiences with the VitaFerm® and Vitalize products in addition to their relationships from their off-farm jobs to promote and sell the products. Kirstie is a licensed practitioner for pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy for horses and livestock. Brian is a farrier. Both work with clients in several Western states and travel to livestock and horse shows and rodeos, and while they are traveling can share the messages of the BioZyme products.

“With what I do, I was having a hard time finding a good solid electrolyte paste, where I felt that the cells got to metabolize. What I do is dubbed “cellular exercise” and with the therapy that I offer, when those cells get that exercise, you need something to feed that mitochondria, so I started incorporating the Recovery Gel into any diet where they have issues. Or, even if a horse has an injury, I have started incorporating it. I sell it at every show I go to from Nevada to Texas, it has traveled everywhere,” Kirstie said.

She adds that the prebiotics in the products work to assist the animals that she and her husband are helping since a healthy gut means reduced inflammation in the body. However, without a loyal and growing customer base, they wouldn’t have people to sell their goods and services to.

“Relationships are huge because in the cattle industry and the horse industry that’s still a large, large part of building clientele; it’s about actual relationships. You can’t sell a product if you don’t have a relationship because relationships of any sort create trust. Based on that trust, people will try a product or try a service they might not have tried in the first place,” she said.

Kirstie said one of her biggest customer success stories come from the Vitalize Alimend®. She had a client who was spending a lot of money to treat ulcers for her barrel horse. She started using the Vitalize Alimend, and she hasn’t had a problem since. She wasn’t winning anything and is now typically in the top three with the help of a horse with a healthy gut, thanks to Alimend.

She credits that success and others with the relationships she and Brian have built with their tried and true marketing method.

“It comes down to word of mouth. All of my husband’s and my clientele has been based off of word of mouth. We’ve never got a customer off Facebook. We’ve never got a client by our name coming up in a Google search. It’s been one person asking ‘Who’s your farrier? I need one.’ Or ‘Do you know someone who does holistic healing?’,” she said.

Get Your Bull Battery Primed and Ready to Go with VitaFerm

Often times producers concentrate their focus on the cow herd’s reproductive success, they tend to forget about the other 50% of the genetic contribution – the bull. The Amaferm® advantage found in VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® and Vita Charge® offers substantial benefits to the overall growth, health and reproductive performance to your customers’ bulls. Read more about the key benefits you can share with your customers:

  • Increased fertility
  • Increased feed conversion
  • Higher percentage of bulls passing breeding soundness exam
  • Improved sperm motility and morphology
  • Overall healthier bulls with less stress

Keeping a cow herd reproductively sound is vital to your customers’ success and bottom line. It’s important to help them succeed by reminding them to keep their bull battery in good shape, in addition to their cows. A bull’s reproductive soundness is crucial since he can typically cover 25 cows, and if those cows don’t get bred, that is a huge financial loss. Read some testimonials that customers and dealers have shared about using our products on their bulls.

Sharing the Benefits of VitaFerm and Vita Charge for Bulls Using Testimonials

Keeping a cow herd reproductively sound is vital to your customers’ success and bottom line. It’s important to help them succeed by reminding them to keep their bull battery in good shape, in addition to their cows. A bull’s reproductive soundness is crucial since he can typically cover 25 cows, and if those cows don’t get bred, that is a huge financial loss. Read some testimonials that customers and dealers have shared about using our products on their bulls.

Click Here for More Testimonials

Exciting Changes to Help Make 2020 Our Best Year Yet!

As 2020 begins, we are excited to announce a few realignments within our Domestic Sales and Outreach and Business Development Teams. The repositioning and reassigning of some responsibilities will help both teams more efficiently achieve their strategic goals for 2020.

Alan Lee is the Director of Domestic Business Development. He will lead the Business Development Team in their efforts to capture large accounts as well as focus on significant Amaferm® and additive opportunities. Small Pack opportunities also fall under Business Development. Alan continues to maintain some Key Account and National Account relationships.

Kevin Hayes is now the Director of Sales and Outreach. Kevin will help guide and align the ASM and Outreach teams; including Marketing and the Outreach Support Call Center, to further the supplement business.

The Sales Team has two National Sales Directors. Mike Wadle continues to lead nine ASMs; and Jake Warntjes leads the other nine ASMs, without an ASM territory for himself.

Ailee Langdon has transitioned to the Outreach Support Center Outside Sales Coordinator. In her position, she will be traveling more extensively to work with dealers in the field. Therefore, if you need to place an order or have a question about your order, please call your Outreach Support Dealer Coordinator:

Traci Turner:
Office (816) 281-5182 ext. 3216 • Email tturner@biozymeinc.com

Heather Brant:
Office (816) 344-5769 ext. 2119 • Email hbrant@biozymeinc.com

Finally, Kristi Stevens will be responsible for the daily oversight of the Marketing Team and will be working closely with Kevin Hayes to ensure that we are moving in the best direction to position BioZyme as a leader in the industry. She has worked tirelessly on these efforts during the past and has a talented team in place to continue to move us forward.

That’s a lot of changes for the beginning of the year, but we like to think of positive change as progress. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact your Area Sales Manager.

Congratulations to our 2020 VIP Dealers!!

Associated Feed & Supply Co
Basore Cattle Company
Bowman Grain
Central Farm Supply of Kentucky
Coal Valley Feeds
CV Ledbetter & Sons Inc
Darlington Feed, LLC
Earlybird Feed & Fertilizer
Falling Timber Farm LLC
Farm & Ranch Feed Inc
Ful-O-Pep Feeds/Allied Feeds
Gatlin Feed
Gro-Tex Supply
High Hill Supplements
K Triangle Feed
LaMoure Feed & Seed
Maryville Vet Clinic, LLC
Proven Sire Services
Randy & Pam Quam
Sandage Feed
Shawnee Milling/Shawnee Feed Center
Stillwater Milling Agri Center
Stockmen’s Feed Bunk Inc
Tri State Livestock & Hay
Twin Rivers Vet Supply
VFC Distributors, Inc
William T. Carnes
These dealers achieved VIP status by reaching the sales minimum of $250,000 of supplements and $2,500 of specific Vitalize® and Vita Charge® products in 2019.
Track your 2020 VIP status here: https://dealers.backofficeapps.com/vip-program

Need Help With Promoboxx?

Check out our how-to guide with answers to several of the Promoboxx questions most frequently asked by dealers like you. This also includes screenshots and links to make it easy to follow.

 

 

How do I edit my business information?

Moving your store? Changing management? Got a new Facebook page? Find out how to manage your business settings below.

Where can I find my Business Settings?

To access and change all of your business information in Promoboxx, Login to Promoboxx and then click Business Info on the left menu bar.

In this section of the platform, you can…

  • Update your business information: name, website, phone number and logo
  • Add/edit locations
  • Add, delete and turn automation (auto-share) on or off for your Facebook and Twitter accounts
  • Add or request to remove users from the account

How Do I Connect my Facebook Account?

Promoboxx makes managing your social channels easy. To use Promoboxx to its full capacity, we suggest connecting your business’ Facebook and Twitter accounts. To do this, Login to Promoboxx and then navigate to the Business Info tab on your Promoboxx Dashboard.

Adding a Facebook Page:

  1. Navigate to the Business Info tab on the left-hand side of your Promoboxx Dashboard, click Social Accounts and then Add a New Page

  1. Click Authorize Facebook

**Please note, you may see your personal profile when clicking this button. The system is not connecting the personal profile to post content, it is connecting the personal profile to ensure that you are the admin of the page that you want to connect. Our system cannot post to personal profiles, only business pages. If you are not the admin of the business page, please contact your admin to authorize your profile as an admin or have them follow these steps.

  1. Enable all permissions in the middle column, select the correct Facebook page on the right and click add this page
  1. Check off the box under Connected to ensure you can use the content available from the brands on your account. Auto-share is an optional feature that enables brands to post content onto your business page on your behalf. If you do not want this feature enabled, leave it unchecked.
  2. Once you have checked off the brand(s) under Connected, click Save.

How do I turn Auto-Share on/off?

Follow the steps below to turn Auto-Share ON:

  1. Login to Promoboxx
  2. Navigate to the Business Info tab on the left-hand side of your Dashboard
  3. Click on the Social Accounts tab
  4. Click Manage Settings on the connected Facebook Business Page

  1. You can select the corresponding brands that are connected to the social accounts and if you want Auto-Share enabled for that page. Once you select the correct boxes and see check marks, press save.

Can I create my own posts while also using Promoboxx?

Yes, you can create your own posts in Facebook as normal while also using Promoboxx.  They can be used in tandem.  You would log-in to Promoboxx to review brand provided content and schedule your shares as you see fit.  You would then build and post any other shares via your Facebook instance directly.

Can I use Promoboxx content but post/publish to Facebook myself?

Yes, if the brand has provided downloadeable assets as part of a campaign, you can download the assets and publish/post them via your social channels outside of Promoboxx.

Additional Resources

Promoboxx Academy for Retailers

On Promoboxx Academy for Retailers, you can find articles, videos tutorials, how-to’s, FAQs, and more on everything Promoboxx. These resources are organized by Mobile App, and Retailer Dashboard, and they deep dive into all of Promoboxx’s features and any questions you might have.

TalkPromoboxx.com

Talkpromoboxx.com is a site where you can quickly and easily schedule a 15 minute call with a Promoboxx expert. Just pick a date and time, and they will give you a call!

Promoboxx Support
If you prefer to speak immediately with the support team, you can call them at 800-380-7502 Ext. 1, Monday through Friday 9 am to 5 pm EST. You can also email them at support@promoboxx.com.

Exciting Changes Coming To The Dealer Retreat Format

With the new year, we are also planning new ways that we can provide the best and most effective professional development opportunities to our dealers. We are currently exploring how we can update our Dealer Retreat format to include more of our dealers in a similar educational and networking opportunity.

In the meantime, be sure to stay connected with us via the VISION Newsletter, email and our Facebook group to receive all of the latest updates on products, events and company news.