2025 Agricultural Machinery Marketing: Are there any immediate and easy to use promotional tools?

By the end of 2024, the number of domestic tractor, rice machine, corn machine, wheat machine, and rice transplanter production enterprises will be 214, 32, 73, 13, and 72, respectively. Of course, this is not the highest, such as 313 seeder production enterprises.

At the same time, as early as 2015, domestic agricultural machinery had already passed its peak and entered a downward trend. On the one hand, demand was sluggish or even shrinking, and on the other hand, there were too many production enterprises, overcapacity, and fierce competition.

The agricultural machinery industry generally faces the problem of overcapacity, which is usually 3-4 times larger. Insufficient demand leads to oversupply, which in turn causes continuous price declines and sales to shrink. In the absence of production and supply issues, the biggest problem is the decline in sales and weak sales. In 2025, agricultural machinery enterprises are most concerned about how to increase sales rather than how much to produce. The products produced are not commodities, but what is sold. Therefore, Marx said that turning products into commodities is a thrilling leap.

2025 has arrived as scheduled, but people are generally not optimistic about next year's market. If we want to live comfortably in 2025, there is no doubt that it will increase sales. So, what are the immediate and easy to find promotional tools for 2025?

Deep distribution

Deep distribution has been hailed as the 'best Chinese marketing practice' in the past 30 years. Deep distribution is achieved through the integration of manufacturers, utilizing the organizational power of manufacturers and the customer and distribution capabilities of distributors to reach terminals and achieve high coverage of terminals. Its essence lies in the manufacturer's deeper involvement in the distribution process, assisting distributors in completing terminal sales tasks, such as holding promotional demonstrations, joint customer visits, etc., thereby reducing dependence on distributor capabilities. This model is particularly suitable for the widely distributed store network in China, especially for small stores in rural areas and lower tier cities. ‌

The historical origin of deep distribution: This concept was born around 2000, when China's agricultural supply channels were undergoing a transformation from "provincial agents" to "county agents", gradually forming a distributor system dominated by "county agents". The deep distribution model covers areas that dealers cannot or are unwilling to cover through the factory's distribution team, in order to achieve higher distribution rates

Although the deep distribution strategy needs to migrate from offline to online while adapting to market changes, its core value - maximizing customer touchpoints and achieving the goal of deepening, refining, and penetrating the market - will remain effective in 2025 and beyond. The strategy of promoting channel sinking and network planting by production enterprises aims to reach users more deeply and widely. This strategy has been effective not only in the past, but also now, and will continue to play a role in the future.

However, in the face of new situations and environmental changes, marketing strategies must also be adjusted accordingly, and the deep distribution model also needs to evolve - that is, dual line deep segmentation. Offline deep distribution, also known as traditional deep distribution; Online deep segmentation, on the other hand, amplifies its influence and reaches a wide range of C-end users through the power of KOC (Key Opinion Consumers).

The sales effect of overstocking in 2025 will be greatly reduced, as many dealers will experience inventory shortages in 2024. However, there is still potential for deep distribution, especially for manufacturers who have not engaged in it before. According to Liu Chunxiong's experience, in the first year of deep distribution, sales can increase by 50%. ‌

Promotion demonstration meeting

In agricultural machinery marketing, promotional demonstrations are always an efficient and commonly used tool.

The promotion and demonstration events in the agricultural machinery industry come in various forms, such as new product test drives, press conferences, tasting events, user forums, and Chinese New Year gatherings. Despite their different names, the core purpose is to promote product sales.

At present, many users in various regions have developed the habit of 'making purchases at promotional events and not making purchases unless there are promotions'. They are well aware of the discounts in promotional activities, so they often enjoy and purchase machines at promotional demonstrations, which has become a normal consumption trend.

In 2025, the author has two suggestions for promoting demonstration events: first, increase the density and intensity of promotion demonstration events; The second is offline promotion+online cloud promotion.

Let's first take a look at increasing the density and intensity of promotional demonstrations. Some of the promotional tools that agricultural machinery manufacturers used to use repeatedly and were popular among the public feel that their effectiveness is not as good as before. This is an objective fact, not an illusion, because there is still a "law of diminishing marginal benefits" in this world, which is similar to the "law of entropy increase". That is, the original promotional tools are still effective, but their effectiveness will be compromised after prolonged use.

So how to restore the initial effect, or even more effectively? The answer is to increase work density and intensity. In this regard, we still need to learn from Zhengzhou Green Industry Yuan Company. Zhengzhou Green Industry Yuan Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd., as a well-known enterprise in China's pesticide formulation industry, its flagship product "Yunbaokai" had sales exceeding 3 billion yuan in 2020. This achievement not only shocked other companies in the same industry, such as Syngenta, BASF, Bayer and other multinational corporations, but also prompted them to regularly arrange personnel to study and exchange at Green Industry Yuan every year.

The specialty of Green Industry Yuan is the "Farmers' Association". The Green Industry Yuan Farmers' Association itself is not uncommon, but it is worth learning about the frequency and intensity of Green Industry Yuan's meetings. Green Industry Yuan's sales personnel need to hold 100 promotion meetings a year to pass, and 200 meetings to achieve excellence. A company needs to hold more than 10000 promotion meetings a year, and at the end of the year, distributors call on users. The 2023 Shanghai Marketing Conference will have 26000 participants, forming a strong energy field on site.

So, it's not that the old tools are no longer useful, but rather that the density and strength of the tools used are insufficient.

Speaking of which, the second is offline promotion+online cloud promotion. The promotion activities of traditional agricultural machinery enterprises can barely be done, but the results are not satisfactory, but there is still one kind of promotion that must be done now, which is online cloud push, mainly through new media such as Kwai, Tiktok, WeChat official account, etc. The ideal approach is "one excellent store offline, one county online", forming a full coverage online and offline, creating a sensational effect and rolling effect.

Price reduction promotion

In recent years, we have collectively "stigmatized" and "demonized" the means of price reduction promotion. However, despite our verbal disdain for low price competition, we are still physically and faithfully engaged, and most companies are still eager to provoke price wars. Some people believe that price wars are exclusive to large enterprises, while small enterprises only engage in price harassment. However, agricultural machinery companies do not need to pay attention to external opinions because users' choices are always loyal.

Philip, the founder of marketing Kotler said, "There is no brand loyalty that cannot be offset by a two cent price reduction." Specifically, by 2025, in the context of a still sluggish market, agricultural machinery enterprises, whether they are production enterprises or distributors, if they want to achieve a significant increase in sales, price reduction promotion is the most effective promotional tool, and there is no one.

But when it comes to specific methods of price reduction and promotion, we still need to pay attention to it. Once the price drops, it's difficult to bring it up again, so there are some techniques.

Start high and then low. That is to say, first raise the price and then lower it, forming a "momentum difference" in consumer psychology, so that users feel that they have taken advantage. In marketing, there is a saying that "cognition is greater than facts", which means that users should feel that they have taken advantage, rather than really taking advantage.

For example, combining the launch of new products with the promotion of old products. This provides both a legitimate reason for promotion and a marketing strategy to artificially increase product prices. The pricing of new products is higher than the normal range, and then the promotion of old products is used to create a price "gap" in the minds of users, making the prices of old products more attractive.

Trade in old for new

The effectiveness of trade in as a sales strategy is mainly demonstrated in the post market cycle.

In recent years, top brands such as Weichai Lovol, Yituo Dongfanghong, and Wode Agricultural Machinery have joined forces with distributors to normalize the tool of trade in sales. According to market information, 95% of tractors and 85% of combine harvesters are sold through trade in. The secret of trade in is to first dispose of users' old machines, artificially create demand, and thus achieve the sales of new machines.

The effectiveness of this tool is second only to price reduction promotions, and the use of this tool also requires certain skills. It is necessary to accurately grasp two key points, otherwise, the trade in strategy may become a trigger for enterprises to fall into difficulties.

One is price design. Usually, in order to make users willingly retire old machines ahead of schedule, it is necessary to purchase them at a price higher than the user's psychological expectations. However, when second-hand phones are returned to the circulation market at a high price, users who purchase second-hand phones do not accept the inflated price. Therefore, when using trade in sales, the system design is a "double high strategy": first, a new machine is ordered at a high price, such as a 150000 yuan rice machine, with a trade in price of 170000 yuan; The second is to set an artificially high purchase price for old machines, such as a rice machine that has been in use for one year at 65000 yuan. If 80000 yuan is collected, the dealer can increase the gross profit margin by 50 million yuan, which is beneficial for dealing with the second phone at a loss in the later stage.

Financial Instruments

According to the Financial Summit Forum of China Agricultural Machinery Circulation Association, it is expected that by 2024, the penetration rate of domestic agricultural machinery finance will reach 44%, and financial instruments will play an increasingly important role in agricultural machinery sales. For example, agricultural machinery loans, as one of the fastest-growing areas in agricultural loans, demonstrate the continuous improvement of China's agricultural mechanization level. Financial instruments have become a standard configuration for sales terminals, and even a key factor in brand competition when prices are transparent.

As a promotional tool, financial instruments have distinct attributes. Effective use of financial instruments can significantly improve sales performance and enhance product market competitiveness. In recent years, the subsidy policy for buying agricultural machinery from manufacturers, which has been promoted for farmers throughout the four seasons, has won the favor of users and has now become a standard marketing policy for large brands every year.

Multinational brands such as John Deere&Co., Ltd., Caixin New Holland, and Kubota have their own factory finance companies with top domestic brands such as Yituo Dongfanghong, Weichai Lovol, Changfa Agricultural Equipment, and Zoomlion Heavy Industry, which can provide financial tools to distributors and users. Second tier brands cooperate with third-party institutions such as Four Seasons Agriculture, Jiangsu Jinzhu, and Harbin Finance to provide users with low interest and fast financial tools.

Currently, small brands are at a disadvantage in terminal sales due to limited scale and product competitiveness, often facing neglect from financial institutions. In addition, small brands also require dealers to purchase in full, which undoubtedly adds many artificial and objective obstacles for small brands to enter the market.

Small brands must find a solution to the configuration of financial instruments. For example, several small businesses can work together with financial institutions to negotiate and strive to obtain support for agricultural loans provided by local rural commercial banks and postal banks. In short, without financial instruments, agricultural machinery brands will lack a powerful weapon in terminal sales. In a highly competitive and brand conscious market, this lack will be extremely fatal.

Postscript: When looking ahead to the agricultural machinery marketing landscape in 2025, it is not difficult to find that in order to stand out in the fierce market competition, we must grasp the pulse of innovation and deeply cultivate every market. Through a deeper distribution strategy, our products and services will penetrate into every corner of agriculture like capillaries, ensuring that every farmer can easily access the most suitable agricultural machinery and equipment for them. At the same time, increase the density and intensity of promotional demonstrations, and through intuitive and vivid on-site displays, make the excellent performance of agricultural machinery clear at a glance, truly achieving the effect of "upright pole development" and stimulating farmers' purchasing desire.

The clever price reduction and promotion strategy, on the premise of ensuring quality, uses a more flexible pricing mechanism to benefit farmers and make agricultural machinery an affordable "capable assistant" for farmers. In addition, the implementation of the normalization of trade in has not only promoted the upgrading of agricultural machinery and equipment, but also further enhanced customer stickiness, forming a virtuous cycle of market ecology.

More importantly, we will vigorously promote financial tools, provide diversified financing solutions for farmers, lower the threshold for purchasing machinery, and ensure that advanced agricultural machinery technology is no longer out of reach due to financial issues. The combination of these punches will establish a comprehensive and multi-level agricultural machinery marketing system, ensuring that we can easily seize the opportunity in the agricultural machinery market by 2025. The future marketing of agricultural machinery will be a perfect integration of depth, density, intelligence, convenience, and financial power, jointly writing a new chapter in agricultural modernization.

Author: Agricultural Machinery Spray

Source: Agricultural Machinery News Network