Hey, content friend 👋🏼

Apologies… it’s been a minute.

But my 3-ish month absence had a legitimate reason. If you’ve been following along (read more below↓), you know there have been some exciting developments in the Magnetic Ag / Imagine Content world recently.

But I’m reeeally excited to pick back up where we left off: sending you intriguing insights and ideas about content creation and how they can apply to agriculture audiences.

On this week’s docket:

The Magnetic Ag Exit
Future of Agriculture Podcast: How to Get the Word Out In Ag
Upstream Ag Insights Highlight: Content Isn’t King, It’s Religion

Today’s estimated read time: 4.2 minutes

*Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe to ‘Imagine Content A Little Differently.’*

Three Interesting Finds

1. The Magnetic Ag Exit

If you’re reading this newsletter, you may have stumbled into me via the Magnetic Ag newsletter I started in late 2020. It sort of became my ‘calling card’ in the ag marketing world.

Ultimately, 2022 brought me a new set of opportunities, and that meant it was time to find Magnetic Ag a long-term home…

Read the whole post here.

Over the past few months, we’ve slowly transitioned both the editorial and operational side of the newsletter. Plus, I’ve gotten a peek into some of AFA’s plans for both the newsletter and the community around it.

Magnetic 2.0 has a lot in store, and I’m excited I’ll continue to be a small part of it moving forward!

2. Future of Agriculture Podcast

When Tim Hammerich invites you to chat with him and Sarah Mock – *the* ag/farm writing connoisseur you’ve been following for years – about all things agriculture content, you clear your schedule and make it happen. No questions asked.

If content marketing, storytelling, or audience building is on your radar in agriculture, you can hear me geek out with my friends on this recent episode. Tune in on your podcast player of choice:

3. Content Isn’t King. It’s Religion

I’ve been lucky that my journey with Magnetic Ag had me cross paths with Shane Thomas of Upstream Ag Insights over two years ago.

Our mutual curiosity of the agriculture content/media landscape had led us both to create these ‘outsider’ style newsletters that gained traction quickly. This similar path led us to jump on multiple Zoom calls where we’d brainstorm growth tactics and monetization opportunities, and discuss how to create even better content our differing audiences would enjoy.

In this past Sunday’s Upstream, Shane veered slightly from his standard ag-specific insights and newsworthy highlights to debrief his very valuable thoughts on content creation.

I’ll let you read the whole knowledge bomb HERE, but check out this nugget:

Herein lies the interesting opportunity for companies and individuals with content.

If you have a disproportionate level of attention thanks to individuals placing supreme importance on your point of view, you have a disproportionately large opportunity to influence thinking and produce an availability cascade.

Availability cascades drive action. For example, the purpose of a start-up is to trigger an availability cascade around the company and its product — to put the product front and center in the regular consciousness in hopes that an availability heuristic is triggered and a cascade runs. This is essentially the effort of marketing, or in our case, content creation behind marketing. The more familiar we are with something, the more open we are to it which acts as a form of normalization of the concept in peoples minds.

Shane’s take goes hand-in-hand with the ‘Marketing Rule of 7’: your message needs to be heard 7 times for prospects to really start remembering it and considering it. You need to consistently show up with interesting, engaging, educational content that keeps you or your brand top of mind.

Hats off to Shane for another excellent, insightful write-up!

BTW, Shane: Still waiting on the Upstream-sponsored Bourbon Trail Adventure… [see Shane’s other newsletter here: The Business of Bourbon]

One Last Thing: An Imagine Content Update

Imagine Content officially turns *2* years old next month. Wild.

We’ve had a blast building this content studio, working with over a dozen AgTech and agribusiness brands to grow their content engines.

Through this work, we’ve realized one gap in our offering that could elevate our content services to the next level: design.

So we’re excited to announce that we now offer a monthly retainer purely for an outsourced creative design team (or in conjunction with our content services). Here’s what you get:

Unlimited monthly designs from a 5-person graphic design team.
Project deliverables include social media visuals, infographics, deck designs, illustrations, email design, and more!
Simple design request/order board status – with turnarounds for simple requests as quick as 48 hours – plus unlimited revisions

And here’s the kicker: Our team has extensive agriculture-specific design experience. Need help with how to display corn rootworm? Wondering how to creatively communicate a precision livestock app? That’s our bread and butter.

All this for less than the cost of one full-time graphic designer.

Shoot me a quick note here if you’re interested, and I can share more!

If you think a friend or colleague could benefit from subscribing, send them here to sign up!

Chat with you in two weeks!

Curious how the Imagine Content & Consulting team could help you build your audience and generate insightful, engaging content and designs for your brand? Get in touch today.