Innovation Is Good for Growth. Caring Is Better.

This isn’t your father’s ag market. To stand out in your field used to mean being the best. Offering the best products, providing the best service and being attentive to customer needs was the clearest path to being the leaders of any market. Be the best and people will know. It used to be enough! But in today’s noisy world, where every brand has a platform and every platform has an audience and every audience has a plethora of competition for their eyes and ears, being the best in a predetermined category simply isn’t enough. Especially in the increasingly small world of crop health

No, to stand out in today’s cluttered field, you need to deliver innovations that truly change that field – or at least plow new ground in it. Becoming a market leader today means disrupting entire industries, resonating with an audience. It means transforming what it means to do business. As 2016 has proven, it may mean transforming “business” into “caring.” A number of brands used 2016 to show that there’s something to this “green,” earthloving trend that progressives and an increasingly large group of young consumers are passionate about. That if you show that your brand cares about people, animals and the environment, your audience will respond. Let’s take a look at what forward-thinking companies did to stand out in their fields and change the world.

Help the world, not just yourself

Consumers (and millennials in particular) are more socially conscious today than ever before. They want to buy products from companies that they can believe in; they want to have trust that you’re doing the right thing for the big picture. Showing them that you’re contributing to making today’s world a better place and that you have an eye on a better future for our little blue rock can go a long way toward building brand loyalty with the evermore important young audience.

Going clean

Is your product “clean?” Panera Bread, for instance, spent the year declaring that by the end of 2016, they’d remove all artificial preservatives, flavors and sweeteners from their artificial food sources in all domestic locations. The company also doubled down by declaring its dedication to making a positive impact in the global food system, committing to “clean” ingredients, and offering a transparent menu. The company is vocal about animal welfare as well. Is all this lip service? Does it matter? Panera has an image of a “green” company that serves healthy food, and its sales and popularity continue to climb, as its third-quarter increase of 6 percent in share prices proved.

Helping people helps sales

Being concerned about the health of costumers and the environment is one way to tap the hearts and minds of today’s ever-growing “crunchy” set, but actively and openly caring about the welfare of our fellow human beings is a way to tap that emotional vein that pumps pure, oxygenated brand loyalty.

There aren’t many companies that make giving their primary mission (after all, you have to sell products and/or services to stay afloat), but TOMS is a company that exists to help the unfortunate. In 2006, TOMS was founded with the express purpose of giving shoes to those who needed shoes. For every pair bought, TOMS donated a pair. It was a lofty goal, but in six years, the company grew from existing in a California apartment to generating $300 million in revenue. But providing tens of millions of pairs of shoes wasn’t enough. The company wanted to do more. So Blake Mycoskie, TOMS founder, revitalized the company by offering coffee. And for each bag of coffee sold, TOMS would provide a gallon of clean water where clean water wasn’t easy to come by. But even that wasn’t enough. So in 2016, Mycoskie sold half of his company and hired a CEO to work the day-to-day so that he himself could focus on the “big picture.” So he could do more. And now TOMS offers provides shoes, water and eyeglasses to those in need. Corporate responsibility isn’t a bullet on a PowerPoint slide. It’s a silver bullet to save the world.

Mycoskie wants his company to be an inspiration, and through that inspiration, he’s built an incredible brand loyalty. TOMS customers feel good when they buy TOMS products. That’s marketing that you cannot buy.

Marketing for the Earth

Patagonia, the California-based outdoor clothing company, donated all of their 2016 Black Friday sales to “grassroots nonprofits working on the frontlines to protect our air, water and soil for future generations.” The company called it a “fundraiser for the earth” – and it turned out to be a genius marketing decision. With the push, the company expected to crack $2 million that day. Instead, they hit $10 million. How often does a company quintuple its sales expectations? Patagonia created marketing that was a movement, and that movement moved people. And a whole lot of product.

Stand out in your field

These examples aren’t crop-health related, but they also transcend industry. Large ag brands often come under fire – often unfairly so – for not being gentle to the earth and its people. In truth, we all care about the planet. If you can show your audience that some segment of your business isn’t self-serving, that you care about things other than the bottom line, your audience (and others) will respond.

Stand out in your field by showing that you care about the field.