The Link
Consider the biggest failing of a commodity market.
September 3, 2025
The failings of a commodity market are well-known. After all, the essence of marketing, the foundation of branding and the concept of differentiation, at their core, are all about removing oneself from a commodity market. Economists and marketers will point out the failings of a commodity market ad nauseum.
Today’s market is unprecedented largely because beef has removed itself from a commodity marketplace. Quality and value are the driving factors of profitability in the cattle industry today.
One of the greatest weaknesses of a commodity market is that it assumes all buyers and sellers are alike. They all have the same value.
Value-based marketing, on the other hand, is in part about seeking out and delighting key customers. Loyalty is not created through generic offerings, but rather through specialization.
The toughest concept in marketing has always been that it is better to delight a few customers than to merely satisfy many.
Part of the reason commodity markets have low margins is because most customers do not capture enough value from your product. Most business owners don’t like to talk about it, but the reality is that some customers are worth more than others. The toughest concept in marketing has always been that it is better to delight (wow) a few customers than to merely satisfy many.
It is the delighted customers who are loyal, who pay a premium for your product, who are advocates of your product and are the ones who are willing to provide feedback to make your product even better.
As cow-calf producers, we don’t want satisfied customers; we want delighted customers. We don’t want feedback loops to cease the moment the gavel falls. We want information on how our cattle perform from a health, gain and quality standpoint. We want customers who are willing and able to pay a premium, and see value in your lifetime value, and don’t see the relationship as merely a one-time transaction.
If we embrace the uncomfortable recognition that some customers are worth more than other customers, then marketing has a simplistic strategy of reaching the right people, at the right time, with the right product.
Tactics to make it happen
Most producers share this strategy, but it all comes down to the tactics to make that happen.
- It starts with identifying the right customers, those who can create enough margin and who are being rewarded for quality so they can afford to pay a premium for your calves.
- The next step is about identifying what attributes will differentiate your calves and create more value for your customers.
- The final step is to develop a marketing strategy that lets those customers know about your cattle.
Typically, cattlemen do a great job of producing the right product, but they spend very little time or effort making sure the right buyers know about them.
It would make no sense to build the safest car in the world, the car with the greatest fuel efficiency, or the car that can go from 0 to 60 mph in 2.3 seconds, if you weren’t able to tell others about it or to find those buyers who are looking for those attributes.
If we embrace the uncomfortable recognition that some customers are worth more than other customers, then marketing has a simplistic strategy of reaching the right people, at the right time, with the right product.
This is the essence of the AngusLinkSM program. It provides ranchers the tools to put the right cattle in front of the right people at the right time. The “right” cattle is largely about having the right genetics to perform in the feedyard and on the rail, but it also encompasses such things as health, uniformity and market access. It is about providing an objective, reliable way of describing these merits so buyers can have the confidence to pay a premium for your calves.
When the calves have been verified and described in an objective manner, it is about identifying those buyers who are looking for superior Angus genetics, and who have a system/supply chain in place that allows them to capture that value and generate increased margins for those superior genetics. It is about letting those people know about the cattle so they can bid on those cattle. Finally, it is about creating relationships built on trust that allows for information feedback loops that allow for continuous improvement and sustainable profits over time.
Editor’s note: Troy Marshall is director of commercial and industry relations for the American Angus Association. For more information about AngusLink, click here.
Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA, Vol. 17, No. 9-A
Topics: Feeder-Calf Marketing Guide , Marketing
Publication: Angus Beef Bulletin
Issue: November 2025
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