Are you selling a product - or a vision?
Picture this: A farmer scrolling through social media, bombarded with ad after ad filled with specs, numbers, and jargon. What do they do? Scroll right past it. The truth is, most B2B marketing in agriculture fails to connect and build the brand—because it’s missing the human element.
Many agri-marketers assume that farmers only care about product features and make purely rational decisions. They fall into this trap for several reasons:
Multiple decision-makers are involved, so they assume logic dominates.
High financial stakes lead them to believe rationality rules.
They fear emotional messaging won’t be taken seriously.
Sales teams push for feature-heavy content to justify discussions.
But here’s the kicker—emotion is critical in B2B. A Forrester study found that 84% of B2B buyers base decisions on emotion, not just logic. Research from the LinkedIn B2B Institute found that emotion-based strategies are seven times more effective at driving long-term sales. Google and CEB’s Marketing Leadership Council discovered that B2B buyers, including farmers and agribusinesses, are 50% more likely to purchase when they see personal value—such as making their farm more productive, ensuring long-term sustainability, or gaining confidence in their investment choices.
The Real Issue: Weak Positioning
Too often, B2B brands in agriculture focus solely on features rather than aligning with their buyers' deeper motivations. This leads to two major positioning pitfalls:
Selling features instead of understanding and promoting the entire brand story including:
the differentiating feature,
the benefit of that feature,
the advantage conferred by the benefit, and
the emotion/motivation that is addressed.
Ignoring the three layers of value in B2B marketing:
Farm/business value: How does the product make the farm more efficient, profitable, or sustainable?
Role value: How does it make the farmer’s or agribusiness leader’s job easier?
Personal or motivational value: How does it reduce stress, create pride, provide security for the future or fit with the farmer’s value system?
When marketers ignore these layers, they risk being forgettable. Farmers don’t just buy products—they buy outcomes, security, and trust.
Bringing Positioning to Life
One of the best examples of emotional B2B marketing is John Deere. While they could focus solely on machine specifications, they consistently highlight the deeper impact—family legacies, reliability, and the pride of running a successful farm. Their messaging connects emotionally with farmers who see their work as more than just a business—it’s a way of life.
Similarly, Volvo Trucks successfully used emotional storytelling. In 2014, they introduced Dynamic Steering to improve handling. Rather than listing mechanical details, they delivered a powerful emotional message—trust. Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Epic Split ad demonstrated the system’s precision in a way that resonated with both fleet owners and truck drivers. The emotional connection was so strong that one trucker commented, "A good ad doesn’t tell you ‘we are the best’—it shows you in a way that speaks to you."
B2B brands often assume emotional storytelling requires big budgets. But the key isn’t just flashy production—it’s embedding emotion into the core message. John Deere’s marketing works because it taps into the emotional ties farmers have with their land and future generations.
What’s Next?
What emotions are you tapping into in your current campaigns? Are you just selling a product—or a vision?
Share your thoughts in the comments, and stay tuned for our next post, where we’ll talk about how to find those emotional drivers that can help connect your brand story to your customers own story - and if you want to take 15 minutes to discuss some options on working together - let’s arrange a time - contact Maurice at maurice.allin@centricengine.com.
