By Matt Harper
If you’ve read this before, pretend it’s the first time: It’s often said the world is run by lawyers. But I think marketers might have equal if not more influence on the world today.
Why discuss marketing in a hunting magazine (as I’m sure my editor is wondering)? As hunters, we’re extremely susceptible to marketing trickery and shenanigans. However, you must look beyond packaging, claims and endorsements to find out if food plot products can back up their hype. (Spoiler alert: Whitetail Institute products have been proven to do that.) But first, let’s dig into the food plot marketing world.Marketing
Strategy Marketers do more than create catchy slogans and tantalizing
advertisements. They dig deep into the collective psyche of people, mining for
primary factors that influence decision making, and then manipulate those
triggers to make you want to buy a product. I know this because I’ve managed
marketing teams for many years. And I’ve found that although marketing has
become more complicated, it’s also easier in some ways. There are so many
platforms today — print, TV, social media and others — that you can bombard
your target audience daily and wear them down. But marketing doesn’t have to be
100 percent fact. It can be 1 percent truth and 99 percent BS, because no one
really regulates it. I used to think you couldn’t make outright false claims,
but I’m not sure anymore. For example, my wife likes various types of tea, coffee
and juices. Recently, I read an eye-catching label on one brand of tea. In the
ingredients section, along with some herbs I’m not so sure weren’t made up, it
said “LOVE” in all caps. It didn’t say that on a random part of the label but
in the actual ingredient section. I guess it passes scrutiny because it’s cute and
makes people feel warm and good about what they’re drinking. The logical left
brain knows love is not a physical ingredient, but the right brain says, “Oh
well, it makes me happy.” The more primal the subject, the deeper marketers can
cut to elicit a response. Sex, food and family are primal components and can be
easily touched to prompt a stronger response. Hunting is also primal. At its root,
it’s a source of survival; a means by which we obtain subsistence.
Additionally, hunting involves another core element: ego. You might say you don’t
hunt for the prestige of bagging a trophy buck. But even bringing home meat for
the family can produce a gratification that boosts ego. After all, the hunters who
always brought home meat for the village were held in the highest regard. But
most of us are also looking for a big, mature buck. Even if you’re not
splashing it across social media or filming it, pride is often present. You
might not tell anyone about a huge buck you shot, but you’ll probably reflect
proudly about how you matched wits and skill against a whitetail’s superior
senses and wariness and won. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I just wanted
to present the rules of the hunting marketing game.
The
Eye Humans
are predators, regardless of what Disney wants you to believe. Some might say
we can eat vegetation, but so can bears. As predators, our vision is trained
for specific triggers, including movement. That’s why flashing lights grab our
attention more than static lights. Our vision is also attracted to contrast, especially
vibrant colors. For example, someone wearing hunter orange will
immediately stand out. Product package designers know that and use bold,
vibrant color schemes to attract attention. When you walk down the deer
nutrition aisle at any major sporting goods store, you’ll feel like you’ve been
transported to the Vegas strip, minus the flashing lights. People also tend to
be more visually focused on pictures instead of words. We’re far more likely to
recall a subject when it’s accompanied with a stunning image. Have you ever
seen a deer food plot seed package that proudly touts a 1-1/2-year-old
forkhorn? Of course not, because who wants to plant something that grows
forkhorns? You’re more likely to see a massive brute that would be the envy of
your hunting buddies. You want to buy it because you want a buck like that.
Elementary, yes, but it still works. If I asked whether a big buck on a bag
equals real results, I’m guessing most would say no. But if I placed a bag with
an image of a forkhorn next to one with a giant buck, I’m guessing the forkhorn
would stay on the shelf. To identify true differences in quality, read the
product contents to know what’s actually behind the pretty picture. Deer
mineral is a great example. Many mineral products have big deer on the bag, but
if you look at the label, you see it’s almost 100 percent salt — the same salt
you can buy at a feed store in a plain bag. Does the product have the crucial
macro and trace minerals and vitamins deer require, and are they in the right
amounts, from the right sources and in the right ratios to make it effective?
Does that mean a deer mineral with the picture of a big buck is not a good
product? No, but the picture doesn’t provide evidence of its performance.
Promises This is probably
one of my favorite marketing components in deer nutritional management
products. The promises and claims on packaging and advertisements of many
products are at least a stretch and borderline preposterous at worst. Two of my
favorites are, “Grow big bucks,” and, “Bring big bucks for miles.” Can a
high-quality, high-nutrition food plot help bucks grow larger, and can good
food attract deer, including mature bucks? Absolutely, but you must consider
two things. First, it takes many factors to have big bucks on your property,
not simply a food plot. Further, the average size of a mature buck varies from
region to region. You probably won’t grow a Midwest-sized buck in Florida by simply
planting a food plot. A highly nutritious food plot can help you realize the
genetic potential for the area, but other management practices must be in play.
Are you improving habitat, managing your herd density and letting immature
bucks walk? Merely planting a food plot does not mean you should get your
record-book-entry paperwork ready. The same can be said about claims of
attracting big bucks to a food plot. It has to be highly attractive, but you also
can’t continuously blow out an area by making poor human pressure decisions.
Mature bucks are extremely wary, and they won’t come to the most delicious food
during daylight if they’re over pressured. An attractive plot can help attract
deer, but it’s not a guarantee and not the only factor. Ultimately, a statement
is just a statement, and if it’s unregulated, you can pretty much say what you
want.
Endorsements I won’t spend lots
of time on this because I think most people don’t tie purchasing decisions to
celebrity endorsements. Those folks are being paid to endorse a product. Some
have integrity, but others would hook their name to a product provided it was accompanied
by a paycheck. I won’t mention names, but I know a couple of examples in which
endorsers hadn’t scratched an inch of dirt in their lives let alone have the
scientific or practical credentials to give worthwhile advice. I have nothing against
celebrity endorsements, but I put the most stock in folks who have used a
product year after year with continued success, especially if there are
multiple examples of similar testimony.
Reality You can’t believe
all you’re told, which I think we know. But some pretty shrewd marketing folks
know our weaknesses and how to use them. So, what’s the answer? Don’t believe anything?
I wouldn’t go that far, but I would take marketing ploys with a grain of salt
and approach them with research and verification. It doesn’t take much to throw
together a food plot mix from some seed varieties at a local farm store, and
there’s a chance it will grow, and deer might even eat it. But is there any
research behind that mix? Is the product living up to its claims and providing
high-quality nutrition, and has it been tested and proven across the whitetail’s
range and through multiple growing seasons? Extremely few products can back
that up, but one that can is packaged in an unassuming bag that’s far from
audacious. It has been around for years, and the graphics and wording on the
bag have changed little. It has an impressive buck on the front, but that’s
also the logo of the company. The product is called Imperial Whitetail Clover,
and although it has been around for three and- a-half decades, it continues to
set the standard on claim legitimacy. Now you might say, “Hey, wait a minute,
didn’t you tell me you were a marketing guy? So how do I know this isn’t some
of the BS you warned me about?” As mentioned, you have to research whether a
product stands up to its claims. First, the product was created and continues
to be improved by renowned Ph.D. agronomists and plant breeders. The critical
word is created, as it remains the only clover variety bred specifically for
white-tailed deer food plots. It boasts protein levels in the mid 30s, but the
boast is backed up by reams of nutritional analysis. It has been tested through
hundreds of field research plots from Canada to Alabama and Maine to the
Rockies. Millions of acres of Imperial Whitetail Clover have been planted by
hundreds of thousands of customers, with great results. To my knowledge no
other food plot product can boast such a track record. Whitetail Institute’s
slogan says “Research = Results,” and that isn’t just a cute marketing phrase.
Every new product from Whitetail undergoes many years of rigorous testing in field
trials across the country before it comes to market. In fact, most don’t make
it to market — only the ones that can stand up to the strict scrutiny Institute
researchers use.
Conclusion No one likes to
have the wool pulled over their eyes, because there’s something about being
told partial truths or falsehoods that anger us. And putting in a food plot isn’t
a free endeavor. The time it requires is equally important. You need to look
beyond packaging, claims and endorsements to find out if what you’re buying is
worth the time and money spent. You might think, “Of course he’s writing about
a Whitetail Institute product; it’s the company’s magazine.” That doesn’t
discount the facts when you dig into them, nor does it make it untrue. In fact,
there’s more data to back claims about Whitetail Institute products than
anything else on the market. The point is to look beyond face value. Dig deeper
and find out if a product can prove itself.
