Offset Costs On Your (or Your Importer's) Export Marketing Plans

Written by: Guest   |   August 31, 2021

Vietnam, International Trade

By: Teresa Miller, strategic partnerships program manager, Food Export—Midwest and Food Export—Northeast

In a time when maintaining international sales is more challenging, growing your business and diversifying risk is imperative. Taking advantage of federal programs that support this objective can provide a unique addition and complement to your global efforts.

Food Export Association of the Midwest—USA has been collaborating with the American Feed Industry Association for some years in executing international market development initiatives for U.S. exporters using federal funding under the Foreign Agricultural Service’s Market Access Program. As a result, U.S. businesses have made new sales with distributors and importers around the world.

Once distribution is established in a particular market, it is important to promote a product to build sales and Food Export—Midwest runs a program that makes it possible for food and agricultural suppliers to receive reimbursement for 50% of their international marketing expenses.

The Food Export Association—Midwest may be our name, but we assist U.S. exporters with more than just food products! I’d like to highlight the work of our program with suppliers and exporters of U.S. animal feed ingredients and additives.

We reimburse for a variety of creative international promotions. Below are a few examples.

Shows & Events

We have reimbursed exhibition costs for tradeshows and events around the world. Some examples include:

• VIV Asia
• World Dairy Expo
• International Production & Processing Expo
• ILDEX Vietnam

Travel costs (i.e., flight and hotel) to foreign tradeshows for up to two people can also be reimbursed.

We can also reimburse for virtual trade shows and events that promote feed additives and ingredients. Virtual events have become an effective way to promote your products. Items related to registration, promotional videos, priority search placement, featured exhibitor listings and showcase entries are costs that can be covered under the Branded Program.

Promotional Literature & Advertising

Promotional materials for tradeshows and events for feed ingredients are eligible for reimbursement. In addition, all costs from design, production and translation may be included for reimbursement. Below are some examples:

• Sell sheets
• Product catalogs
• Brochures
• Banners
• Billboards
• Television
• Radio ads

Giveaway Items

Giveaway items are important marketing tools, especially at industry events. We can reimburse for t-shirts, pens and a variety of other creative giveaway items.

Website Development

Websites and e-commerce pages can be a good way for feed ingredient companies to showcase their products. We can reimburse for the design costs, translation and maintenance of a website directed toward a foreign audience.  We can also reimburse costs associated with creating an e-commerce store or page.

Sample Shipment

As in any industry, your client needs to see and test out your product before committing to buy it. The Branded Program can reimburse for the freight costs of sending samples to potential clients in foreign markets. There is no cap on the number of samples shipment that you can have reimbursed.

You can learn more about shipping samples in our recent YouTube video.

Export Packaging & Labeling

Many foreign markets require different labels or stickers for imported feed ingredients. You can translate your product information into another language, add your importer information, etc. We can reimburse for the design, translation, printing and stickering of your packages with the new labels. Learn more here.

Success Stories

Check out these companies who have successfully utilized the Branded Program to support their international sales:

• Fornazor International of Hillside, N. J., used the Branded Program in 2020 to grow their exports using advertising promotions. They gained major sales to the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and the Philippines through these activities.
• Great Lakes Bio Systems, Inc. of Sturtevant, Wisc., started utilizing the Branded Program in recent years. The program has helped them gain foreign buyer contacts and new export sales of their animal feed additives and ingredients. Their participation in the program helped them connect with buyers from Vietnam and Taiwan, resulting in actual export sales. This also marked the company’s first export sale to Taiwan.
• Prime Performance Nutrition of Cosby, Mo., has participated in the Branded Program since 2004 to grow exports in many international markets such as the United Kingdom and Kuwait. They have utilized their allocation to create video products segments to showcase their equine products. These advertising techniques have contributed to their export sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In order to participate in our program, you must submit an application. Our program runs annually. Ideally, you want to submit this application before the new year starts, so the whole year is open to reimbursable marketing. However, we accept applications on a rolling basis pending available funding. Just be sure to submit the application before you pay and conduct any marketing you want to be reimbursed.

Want to know if you are an eligible company?  Just answer the three questions below.

• Are you a U.S. company?
• Do you meet the U.S. Small Business Administration’s guidelines of a small business?
• Do you promote brand name products that contain at least 50% U.S. agricultural content by weight (excluding added water and packing)?

If your answer to these three questions is YES, then great news: you are on your way to becoming qualified for our Branded Program! 

If you are interested, we would love to get you started in the process. Learn more at foodexport.org.