The Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) delivers on its Content Marketing objectives through an integrated strategy of social media, multiple websites, and traditional platforms. You might say when it comes to marketing integration, these guys are deeply-rooted and very well-grounded. And they do it consistently – year after year.
The WPVGA was established in 1948 and is the trade association that represents the growers of Wisconsin who produce the third largest crop of potatoes in the United State, and the most east of the Mississippi. The organization is focused on research, technology, nutrition and sustainability, and helps regularly introduce consumers to the best vegetable products in the nation. The association is also viewed by many as one of the finest “Commodity Boards” in the country.
One reason for the success of the WPVGA is the development of the nations only eco-friendly potato. The WPVGA partnered with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the International Crane Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, and the Defenders of Wildlife, and established the Wisconsin Eco-Potato partnership. The result? A sustainable standard for growing potatoes — Healthy Grown®.
And speaking of healthy and sustainable, that’s their approach to content marketing and marketing integration. With the help of TMA+Peritus, the WPVGA is a web savvy, social-media centric, content marketing-rich, public relations active, point-of-sale focused, e-mail effective organization. In short, they’re totally into integration.
Executive Director Duane Maatz says it best, “Our mission is to assist our members to be successful through education, information, environmentally sound research, promotion, government action, and involvement. Well, that’s a lot of work, and in order for us to accomplish our objectives, we need to be marketing on many different levels, to many different audiences and stakeholders. We are a strong voice, and the passion of our growers needs to be heard in many different markets.”
The WPVGA either owns or is associated with nine different websites and blogs including their primary trade site and the consumer site. Other sites are focused on the Healthy Grown® brand, Family Farming, Feeding Your Family and Wisconsin Farming. With the help of TMA+P, the association is developing a sophisticated linking strategy between these sites and several different Facebook pages to increase their distribution of content and enhance overall SEO.
The WPVGA is also an active social media practitioner combing this with integrated contests and email strategies that drive traffic to their consumer website. For instance, four times every year, the association sponsors a recipe contest and awards top prizes to winning contestants. Also, each month, there is a featured recipe email sent to their “Foodies” database, and in all, TMA+P coordinates the distribution of 100,000 emails to the segmented audiences. Linking strategies on the emails take readers to other content on nutrition, YMAL recipes (You Might Also Like) and health and wellness features, turning each email into an e-newsletter.
Further, traditional public relations activities are integrated into the contesting with releases to the trade press about each contest, and then again about the contest winners. Everything is brought full circle as this content is placed on the association’s social media networks, and takes center stage on the consumer website. Winning contest recipes are turned into videos, produced by TMA+P, and also posted to many social platforms.
In the end, the WPVGA is at the forefront of potato research, is instrumental in the growing, shipping and food safety practices of the 25 million pounds of potatoes Wisconsin farmers produce and package each year. And part of that package is the ability to integrate their marketing efforts across multiple platforms resulting in the association being a significant content marketer and thought leader.