As each calendar year passes, produce marketing professionals face new hurdles that complicate their roles, making the job function both “exciting” and challenging.
The good news is that produce marketers tend to embrace these hurdles with open arms, tackling the headwinds. Just as a surfer seeks out the largest wave to conquer, marketers welcome the biggest challenges—even when solutions are not readily apparent.
Marketers are natural problem solvers, driven by curiosity and a passion to overcome obstacles.
2024 brought no shortage of challenges for produce marketing professionals promoting brands, products, and solutions that support the fresh produce supply chain and drive consumption of fruits and vegetables.
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From the looming threat of a TikTok ban in the U.S., which would disrupt access to 50 million daily users, to the rapid rise of AI in marketing with its unregulated, complex landscape, and to natural disasters like wildfires and hurricanes impacting agricultural communities, it has been a tempestuous year.
But all is not lost. As we wrap up this year in produce marketing, let’s review the headwinds and how marketing professionals across the supply chain adapted, enabling new and innovative marketing strategies.
Produce Marketing Professionals Confront Turbulent Technology
Artificial Intelligence (AI) introduced new efficiencies for marketers and creative professionals in 2024. With Generative AI, a segment of AI that creates fresh content like text, images, videos, and music, marketers could now save hours previously spent on content creation. AI is transforming digital advertising by automating repetitive tasks, freeing up time for strategic planning.
However, concerns about AI-generated content related to copyright and authenticity still challenge marketers, especially as they work to maintain the integrity of produce marketing.
The benefits of AI are gradually taking the lead in discussions as marketers lean on this technology to handle routine tasks. Nonetheless, produce industry professionals must diligently showcase that their AI-generated content is legitimate and beneficial to uphold the technology’s reputation.
Browsing Social Media
Social media marketing continues to be a crucial platform where produce companies reach target audiences. In 2024, marketers faced shifting algorithms, advertising restrictions from Meta’s numerous lawsuits, and potential limitations if TikTok were banned in the U.S., which would affect 50 million daily users.
Social media is no longer the free marketing frontier. It’s a complex network of communication channels reaching more 64 percent of the total global population daily.
Produce marketing professionals who engage in community participation and two-way dialogue on social channels remain best positioned to thrive amid turbulent technological changes.
The Unpredictability of Mother Nature
The most unpredictable marketing disruptor is Mother Nature. It does not matter how well planned your content calendar is or how much you’ve invested in a campaign that will launch city-wide, statewide or across the nation.
Mother Nature has and will continue to derail your whole plan. Smart marketers know this and will always be thinking about Plan B.
Often the beauty and wrath of Mother Nature is the early-morning fodder among farmers. What will today bring? Yes, the elements impact crops first, but it’s a chain reaction and produce marketing professionals need to be prepared.
Global Events and Local Effects
On the broadest platform – the world stage – marketers can adopt awareness as a recurring practice to ensure that their clever message isn’t perceived in a manner unintended.
Produce marketing professionals are resilient because the farmers who rely on their services are resilient. It is the nature of the industry. But the factors that impact marketing strategies continue to mount.
Fortunately, consumers are also becoming more resilient, more informed and more tolerant of disruptions in the supply chain. They are not just our end-users, but our neighbors, friends and family and when we can approach marketing through this lens, we’ll continue to land our strategies with integrity and empathy.