It is interesting how marketing is currently perceived within the equestrian industry. On one side we have those who’ve embraced its importance and push to get their company recognised; on the other there’s those who still shudder and swiftly hide their wallets at the thought. Either way no-one can deny the need to communicate effectively within this rapidly growing sector.

It is now more difficult to stand out amongst your competitors than ever before, hence why more and more companies in the equine world are placing marketing high on their priority list - though in many cases not high enough. The harsh reality is, you could have the best product of service in the world, but if nobody knows about it, it might as well not exist.

So, what exactly is this marketing malarkey?
Marketing is simply a method of communicating your message to potential customers in a vast array of formats and mediums – some more effective than others, though too many to mention in this column. The word is bounced around and applied to so much in everyday conversation, but ultimately its definition is ‘the business activity of presenting products or services to potential customers in such a way as to make them eager to buy’. Sounds easy right? In some ways it is, it doesn’t have to be a mammoth task or require you to sell your family silver. Marketing isn’t just a huge billboard sign, an all singing and dancing website or standing on a street corner with a clipboard. It can be simply chatting to potential customers about your product/service or placing a sticker in your car window. What is important is that you make the most of every opportunity and choose the most effective methods of reaching your customers. On so many occasions I see fantastic promotional opportunities missed or misused. For example, staff without branded uniforms, websites having no clear contact or direction details, ad campaigns with no defining message, brand identity with no indication of what the company actually does or commercial vehicles without graphics. These are simple, economical and effective marketing tools and yet businesses are still not fully utilising them.

A simple test that we often employ here at Graphic Evidence is to briefly show a non-horsey person the branding and basic promotional literature of company X. After which we ask them to try and answer three simple questions 1. Who are the company? (i.e. full name) 2. What exactly do they do?  3. Did you find their contact details easily?  This often produces compelling results and highlights fundamental flaws within the basis of the marketing and communications.  I would encourage you try something similar and see if your getting the message across loud and clear, the results may just surprise you!

Know your audience
Only when you have a clear comprehension of your target audience can you create and develop your brand, product or service in a manner that will attract. There’s no point opening a tack shop where the nearest horse and rider is sixty miles away for example. Doing your initial research will really pay off in the long run and with so much information readily available on the internet, it needn’t be a laborious task. A useful port of call is the associations and societies, like DEFRA and BETA. They have done some great research in recent years that could really help gain that free valuable information about who your customers are. Visit http://www.defra.gov.uk/rural/horses/topics/research.htm.  Market research is a huge part of the marketing process and should never be underestimated.

The Equestrian Market
According to a research document published by DEFRA and The British Horse Industry Confederation in 2004, the equestrian industry’s gross output is in the region of £3.4bn, the industry employs 50,000 directly and an additional 100,000-200,000 people indirectly, 2.4million people ride, 5 million have an active interest in the horse industry and there are somewhere between 600,000 and just under 1 million horses in the UK. It is interesting to note that the first point raised in this report, as an issue that must be addressed to ensure the industry’s growth is “…developing a marketing and communication programme”. If the equine world is ever intending to compete with the likes of golf, football or tennis in regards to sponsorship and media coverage, than as a whole, we are going have to employ effective marketing strategies that will enable us to attract the major investors – when this happens the rewards will benefit us all.