Marketing for Harvest Contractors: Let Us Help You Be an Option for Opportunity

I have been around ag now for 7 years.

I still call myself green.

Four years on red headers, I have got the hang of them, but I am still green.

I have done 4 years on a 7240 and 8250, and that is it.

I have not been around anything else.

So overall, I am green as green.

I have learnt this since building Broadacre Contracting: we all have a lot of experience, but at times only on one thing.

One colour.

On that one thing, we are highly experienced, but across the board we are so green.

The reason I bring this up is obviously for a reason, a purpose and a salesman approach.

Incoming car salesman, close the page down ASAP.

Nah, I am not that at all.

Where I was going was this: we are all good at something, and we are all very green at something else.

For the boys running headers, they are good at setting them up.

Good at diagnosing problems.

Good at spinning filters off and on.

But they are probably not good at communication.

Probably not good at brand presence.

Probably not good at building the brand name outside of what I call the in-paddock reputation.

At the top of the page, I quoted “Let us help you be an option for opportunity.”

I want to take this time right now to explain what I am saying.

There are many ways to grow a business, and there are many tools available to do it as well.

Marketing, to me, is a bit like a tool in the toolbox.

No point having that toolbox if you have not got any tools.

Or as we used to say in the quarry game, there is no point owning a grader unless you own a roller and water truck.

Anyway, it is all the same.

Marketing is a tool that moves various cogs, but one thing it will do is create opportunities.

If you are proactive, trusted, respected and known, you will have ample opportunities come your way.

I will always suggest to anyone to do marketing, and I will say, set yourself up to be an option for opportunity.

This is a great way to grow your business.

In-Paddock Reputation Will Keep You Busy, Until It Does Not

Last harvest I spent a fair amount of time on the road with our videography team.

We went to Brisbane, Toowoomba, St George, Dirranbandi, Coonamble, Walgett, Nyngan, Griffith and home to Corowa.

We spent time with a few different harvest contractors.

Everyone is under the pump.

Beacons on, very busy as some would say.

Being busy is a good thing.

It is also possibly a problem.

It is a problem because if you are busy now and only known by your in-paddock reputation, you will probably miss that grower who needs you.

The ones with 3,000 hectares of wheat turning and a storm cell building.

Let me break this down before we dive into the fun stuff.

In-paddock reputation is my way of saying: “I get work through word of mouth or my current network.”

I completely relate to it.

Your reputation, my reputation, it is everything.

Word of mouth, a neighbour suggesting you to his neighbour, or work coming through your current network, most of the time that will keep you busy.

That is how farm contracting and harvest has operated for the last 30 plus years.

Word of mouth will always get you work.

Only when the work is there though.

Your network will possibly get you work.

When someone needs help.

Yes, that is how it has always worked.

But word of mouth or helping mates out only happens when things are good and it is all go.

These things will dry up.

And when they do, you need somewhere else to go.

You can come to the marketing game reactively, and reactive marketing does work.

It will generate something.

But it will not yield what we, or any good marketing business, can do over time.

Now, to cut in here, Broadacre Contracting has the directory arm.

It is separate to the marketing but the same business.

There will always be work opportunities there because we have built trust and spent years shaking hands with growers.

We are not another directory like the others out there.

We are community-operated and here for the growers and contractors.

Outside of in-paddock reputation and the Broadacre Contracting system, growers will search through Facebook or Google.

If they are using Broadacre Contracting, you are there.

If you are using Broadacre Contracting marketing services, you are on social media.

If you are a harvest contractor using Broadacre Contracting marketing, you are there, you are on Google.

But if you are not there, you are not there.

Why Most Harvest Contractors and Farm Contractors Do Not Market Themselves

Marketing before I started Broadacre Contracting was really a corporate tool.

At least, in my world at the time it was.

Who can afford to go and spend serious money on agricultural marketing services?

The only brands I can think of that do that are the big fish: your Elders, your RB Sellars, your Cotton Australia.

These are businesses with in-house marketing teams, with agencies in Sydney and Adelaide charging them tens of thousands a month for brand campaigns, social media management and creative direction.

And good on them.

They are big businesses, they can utilise it, and the teams they engage with would be the right fit for them.

It works.

But who was and who is doing it for the bloke running 3 headers from Emerald QLD to Euroa VIC?

Who was and who is doing it for the spray contractor based out of Walgett?

Who was and who is going to help the hay and silage crews down in the Warrnambool district get their name out there?

Somebody, somewhere is, but it is almost nobody.

We really hope to change that.

Connecting growers and contractors is what we do on the directory side, but helping contractors build their brand?

That is the Broadacre Contracting marketing arm.

They really do complement each other.

We have a small-fee directory that gives harvest contractors and all types of farm contractors opportunities to earn good revenue.

And we have a marketing side that now provides a service at a reasonable price.

Broadacre Contracting is built and is here for growers and contractors.

The goal is to build both parties’ bottom line, not by making one of the two parties lose money through a race-to-the-bottom scheme or budget tool scheme, but by providing a healthy directory and bringing the tools to the table.

I have been wrong a hundred times.

I have also been right a hundred times.

I will always remember that when I am wrong, it is because I need to learn.

But I feel the marketing industry was not built for our end of town.

Am I wrong to say this?

Or should I say, I do not feel it was communicated enough that it can fit us?

If you have the answer to my little output there, please let me know, especially if I am wrong.

Some time ago, on a different adventure, I was looking at marketing.

At the time, the businesses and agencies that existed were either city outfits, nothing wrong with this, but they did not fit the case we were looking for.

The rest were charging prices with lock-ins.

So the question is, is it actually costing contractors not to market their business and themselves?

Or is it that marketing was never accessible to them in the first place?

I reckon I do not know the answer, because your choice and view determine it.

I could sit here and say it is costing you because opportunities are passing by every single day.

And yes, that is true, but they are only opportunities if you wanted them.

So the question depends on you.

I am not going to sit here and rattle off a hundred positives, frame one negative, then say you must do marketing.

What I am trying to do here is explain the frustrations I have had myself with marketing.

I am trying to showcase the opportunities you can have.

I am trying to show you that you can be an option.

But I am also saying if you do not want it, do not do it, because it is not for everyone.

No lock-ins on the smaller packages.

Step in and out as the seasons change.

Priced for ag, and built by the Broadacre Contracting team and a bloke who has spent 4 years in the cab on red headers.

If you want to see exactly how our packages work, what is included and what it costs, have a read of our Farm Marketing Services breakdown.

What Does Marketing for a Harvest Contractor Actually Look Like?

I get it.

You are flat out from October to February.

You are doing 16-hour days, managing staff, chasing parts and keeping growers happy.

The last thing on your mind is posting on Instagram or filming a video.

But here is what I have learned from running Broadacre Contracting and yarning with harvest crews from Goondiwindi to Griffith, from Moree to Mildura, from Emerald across to Esperance.

We will need you to dance on TikTok, do live streams and play live games for TikTok rewards.

Laugh out loud.

Nah, but we will require you to wear budgy smugglers and do a live weather report, then post it to the Planting the Crop 2026 page.

Pun intended and inside joke, and yes, it happened.

Hahaha.

Seriously, it is not what you think.

We are not talking about dancing on TikTok or paying for cold visuals on billboards on the entry or exit to Dalby QLD.

Here is what we think actually works for harvest contractors and farm contractors in Australia.

1. Professional Videography: Show Your Gear, Your Team and Your Capability

This is the big one and the one nearly everyone has fun with.

You know those days where the team all has purpose, everyone is buzzing, we are all working together, and the energy is just through the roof?

That is what we see 80% of the time when we are out doing film days in season.

For the harvest contractors, we are all working together lining the gear up.

Augers swinging out at the same time.

Bins going under augers at the same time.

Headers on a fresh blow.

It just pumps the whole way through the crew.

When that energy is alive, that is the time to really nail down on bringing the team into the camera lens.

The reason why is that, as humans, we used to talk in a circle, drink in a circle, smoke in a circle.

We still do, but nowhere near as much as we used to.

Nowadays, we spend time in those circles from our phone screens.

We have plenty of good examples from our Talking Gear Tuesday episodes in harvest.

The list is there.

We are past 20 episodes, and we are just getting better and better.

2. Social Media That Actually Gets You Work

We manage social media for harvest contractors and all types of farm contractors.

Honestly, I cannot tell you one perfect strategy, because it really comes down to your energy, your team and what you are trying to get out of it.

Marketing mobs generally do bang on about strategy, and it is for a reason.

We have learnt that some time ago.

So I will say here, social media does get you work, but there is no one way.

We feel our contractor’s energy dictates a lot of it.

Posting your gear in action, showing your pre-season prep in the workshop, setting your expectations and showing your standards are things we can really nail down straight off the bat.

We know it all from actually changing concaves and feederhouse chains to how to do marketing.

This is also stuff that gets you in front of growers, but the rest of it really nails back down to what I was stating above.

3. SEO and Website Content: Be Found When Growers Google

When a grower Googles “harvest contractor Riverina” or “header contractor NSW”, who comes up?

If it is not you, it is us, and when it is us, it links back to you.

We write SEO blog content that ranks your name and your region.

We weave your town names, gear model numbers and service areas all through content that Google loves.

Look at what we have done with our own Talking Gear Tuesday content.

Search “harvest contractor Culcairn” and Pitson Contracting comes up.

Search “harvest contractor Finley” and LDV Agri Contracting comes up.

That is not luck.

We do the same for your business.

4. The Broadacre Contracting Directory: Your Always-On Listing

Every harvest contractor we work with gets a verified listing on the Broadacre Contracting directory.

That listing ranks.

It shows your gear, your service area and your capability.

When a grower posts a tender looking for a harvest crew, you get an instant alert.

That is where the directory and marketing arm complement each other.

The marketing builds your reputation.

The directory gives growers a practical way to find you, view your gear and get in touch.

5. Talking Gear Tuesday: The Ultimate Harvest Contractor Showcase

Talking Gear Tuesday is our flagship content series.

We come out, film a full episode featuring your gear, your story and your operation.

It goes on YouTube, gets written up as a full SEO blog, gets shared across our socials, and positions you as a premium operator.

We have filmed contractors from across the broadacre belt.

Each episode builds real reputation and can generate real enquiries for the contractors featured.