Matt has begun what I expect will be a very interesting series of posts. He’s exploring how the environment has changed — due to technology — forcing every marketer to think like a direct marketer.
Marketing
Moo Moo Marketing
Just got a customer retention e-mail from Niman Ranch that describes what its cattle eat in the winter. An excerpt:
When our cattle come to us from pasture, we feed them a ration of corn, wheat, barley, molasses, soybean and hay. The ration, which we have developed and refined over the years with the help of our veterinarians, doesn’t change depending on the season. But our cattle’s eating habits do.
Our cattle eat about 40 pounds of ration per day. When the winter comes and it gets colder, the cattle tend to eat more, to help them keep warmer. They almost have a sixth sense, letting them know a storm is coming, and may increase their consumption upto a range of 45 to 47 pounds of ration a day. When the storm arrives, interestingly, they back away from feed and may decrease to 38 pounds.
Their ration is 60 to 70 per cent dry matter. The liquid part of their feed consists of molasses whey and corn silage.
We’ve gotten so far removed from the processes that create the foods we eat that hearing about the eating habits of cattle is exotic and yet, somehow, comforting. I remember my rancher dad coming to visit me when I was living in Manhattan. His comment was something like, "So many people. Who is raising the food to feed them all?"
Of course, Niman Ranch’s e-mail message is especially comforting in this age of agribusiness and mad cow disease, when you’re often not really sure (and you probably don’t want to know) where your food is coming from. I just found it an interesting, amusing — and effective — sort of commentary on modern life. It might even drive me to buy more meat online.
Closing the Blog/Journalism Gap
The gap between blogs and journalism are closing fast. Bacon’s, which provides info on journalists and publications for PR pros, is developing a blog monitoring service to launch next year.
"The news cycle for a story sometimes originates from a blog and can on occasion find its way into the mainstream media," says Ruth McFarland, Senior Vice President and Publisher for Bacon’s.
"With today’s information overload from often irrelevant or dubious sources, our aim is to help our clients by filtering the communications clutter. Bacon’s will therefore focus on blogs run by reputable, credible professionals. Initially, these will be blogs of active journalists, but as our in-house researchers scrutinize and approve additional news-related blogs, we will add to the scope of our coverage," says McFarland.
Next, bring on the blog e-mail "press" lists. Aargh.
