Marketing snapshot - Hortlink 2016, spring

This Hort Innovation Turf Fund marketing snapshot has been taken from Hort Innovation’s Hortlink 2016, spring edition.

The final year of the turf industry’s three-year strategic marketing program continues to make turf accessible to consumers with the provision of plenty of practical, relatable and inspiring information. It also continues to demonstrate the benefits of natural grass and build the profile of Turf Australia as the ‘go-to’ for all things turf.

During the first quarter of 2016/17, marketing activity has had a strong focus on people ‘new to turf’, with the provision of content targeted towards new and recent buyers of turf. Content delivery has centred around social media, capitalising on the fact that there are 25,000+ people who are currently fans of the industry’s Lawnspiration Facebook page (www.facebook.com/lawnspiration) representing a broad range of understanding as to the benefits, varieties and maintenance requirements of lawns. Activity was also supported by content on the Turf Australia website.

A series of how-to videos were produced as part of the activity, with the first one released at the start of spring and focused on ‘Backyard Beginners’. Infographics and other social posts have also targeted more experienced turf lovers to ensure there is consistent content for all target demographics.

Seasonal media releases are also part of this year’s marketing campaign, with the first spring release gaining some good media traction.

In October, backyard cricket marketing activity kicked off. This activity involves working with turf advocate and cricket curating legend Les Burdett (Adelaide Oval’s former curator). There is a competition as part of the activity that reinforces the natural social and environmental benefits of turf around the home and incorporates the aspects of fun and maintaining pride in your lawn. The competition will run through until mid-December, with five winners receiving a family pass to a KFC Big Bash game in their home state.

The turf marketing campaign will continue to see the rollout of further video content targeting more educated turf users, as well as seasonal and reactive/proactive media releases. The campaign will also incorporate new research, with a Galaxy poll set to deliver insights into Australia’s shrinking backyards to drive media coverage, leverage for social media and provide growers with some much-needed information on the state of Aussie backyards.