Curtin marketing collaboration
A collaboration agreement between DPIRD’s Food Industry Innovation project and Curtin University’s School of Marketing kicked off in November with the delivery of two marketing short courses for WA food and beverage businesses on 27 and 28 November.
Brand Design and Strategy, delivered by Dr Min Teah, senior lecturer at Curtin University was oversubscribed with more than thirty businesses attending to discuss key factors to success. The workshop gave participants a better understanding of branding and brand strategy and worked through relevant case studies and best practice examples.
Dr Teah shared her knowledge, taking the businesses through the process of how to strengthen their brand and create a strategy for long-term growth and success. Participants were encouraged to work through their own brand value, beliefs, purpose and personality as part of creating a brand strategy.
Following strong interest and support from the Kimberley region, DPIRD’s Agribusiness Food and Trade team partnered with Curtin, Kimberley Development Commission, East Kimberley Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley to deliver the Brand Design and Strategy workshop to Kununurra food and beverage producers in early December.
Melanie Gray from Ceres Farm attended the Kununurra event and said that Min motivated her to look at her business and find ways to improve.
“Understanding and knowing your brand design and marketing strategy is vital to the running of a good business” she said.
“It is also important to understand your customers”.
Ms Gray thanked Dr Teah for sharing her in-depth knowledge of marketing, and for the reminder to tell our story to our customer authentically.
Dr Mingming Cheng, senior lecturer at Curtin University presented Digital Strategies for the Asian Market, showing participants common mistakes to avoid and key strategies to consider to increase your product’s chances of success.
Dr Cheng presented a comprehensive picture of the digital landscape and consumer in Asia showing how the use of and demand for e-commerce is growing at a rapid rate. He also discussed the importance of cultural values and how unintentional misunderstandings could easily offend or send the wrong message and negatively affect business outcomes.
Dr Cheng worked through examples of how to strategize your social media campaign including setting goals, identifying your audience and researching competitors before creating any content.
Nardia Stacy, Executive Manager of Pomewest said the workshop content was extremely relevant and useful for their grower base looking to export to Asia.
“The insights presented opened my eyes to the differences in social platforms and the importance of cultural considerations when approaching marketing in this region” Ms Stacy said.
“The one size fits all approach to digital may not be appropriate when you are targeting this market” she said.
Further workshops along with a program of student internships and consumer insight research will be delivered in early 2020. Please email foodindustryinnovation@dpird.wa.gov.au with your expression of interest in these programs.