Scandagra: People who attend our events buy more
- catlinpuhkan
- Jan 26
- 4 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Interview with Skomantas Rukuiža, Head of marketing @Scandagra. Skomantas is recognized among the Top10 CMOs in Lithuania (2025)He’s been working in agribusiness for 12 years, including roles at some of the industry’s leading companies.
What will you talk about at the B2B marketing conferences in Riga and Vilnius?
At the conference, I’ll focus on the strategic role that customer-centric events play in building trust and loyalty — and how that translates into sustained revenue growth in agribusiness. In our sector, purchase decisions are not one-off: farmers revisit them year after year, and loyalty becomes a major competitive advantage. What differentiates events that drive growth from those that don’t is how they shape relationships over time, not just one interaction.
I’ll introduce a practical framework for event planning that I’ve developed through years of experience:
1) educational events that deepen customer knowledge,
2) experience-based and hospitality-oriented formats that humanize your brand,
3) initiatives that reinforce your brand positioning and industry presence.
For each type, I’ll explain the purpose, key success factors, and measurable outcomes — so attendees leave with actionable insights they can apply in their own markets.
Many companies try events and later give up because it’s hard to justify the cost. The return isn’t immediate. How do you look at ROI?
When it comes to ROI, the biggest mistake companies make is expecting an immediate return from events. In agribusiness, relationships and trust are built over time, and events should be evaluated through that lens. Instead of focusing on short-term sales uplift, we look at how events influence long-term customer engagement, loyalty, and purchasing behavior across the season.
From our experience, customers who consistently engage with us through events tend to be more active and more committed over time. However, not every event should be sales-driven. Educational formats can support specific product categories, but if an event feels like a direct sales pitch, people simply won’t show up. That’s why variety is essential. Sometimes the goal is education, sometimes experience or entertainment — and sometimes both. Even in lighter formats, there is always a strategic intention: to create relevance, build trust, and naturally introduce new ideas without forcing a sales message.
Describe your ideal customer. Who’s best for you, and how do you define them?
Our ideal customer is a farmer who is educated, curious, and open to understanding how decisions impact the farm as a business. In agribusiness, long-term partnerships work best when discussions are based on knowledge and numbers, not just habits or assumptions.
With farmers like that, conversations go beyond the product itself — we can talk about why certain solutions work, how they fit into the whole system, and what they mean economically. That creates trust and long-term cooperation.
During my presentation, I’ll also share how we approach farmer education and why developing a business-minded mindset is becoming increasingly important in modern agriculture.
What’s your biggest marketing challenge?
Competition. We operate in a very mature and concentrated market, with several strong players at a similar level. That means standing still is not an option.
To stay relevant, we have to approach farmers every year with fresh ideas and real value — not just new messages, but meaningful reasons to stay engaged. Loyalty is important, but growth comes from constantly finding new ways to break through and stay distinctive.
What about PR and content outside events: websites, blogs, podcasts, and so on? How important is that, and how much effort do you put into it?
Events are only one part of our communication. PR and content play a major role in how we share knowledge and stay relevant throughout the season. Many decisions in agriculture happen in real time, so timely and practical content — especially video — helps us stay close to farmers when it matters most.
We see media not just as a communication channel, but as a way to build leadership and shape industry conversation. That’s why we work with selected media partners like Verslo Žinios and invest in platforms that reach both farmers and partners. We have clear communication goals and adapt formats depending on the audience — whether it’s customers, partners, or the wider agribusiness community.
Sales and marketing alignment is often a problem. How do you make it work?
Sales and marketing alignment only works when marketing is clearly tied to business results. For us, marketing is not about visibility alone — its role is to support sales by building a strong market position, trust, and long-term loyalty. When marketing delivers real value, the sales team feels it over time: products become easier to sell because the brand and message are already established.
Events play a key role in this alignment. They create meaningful touchpoints that sales can use to build relationships and trust with the right customers. When both teams work toward the same goal and understand each other’s impact, alignment stops being a challenge and becomes a shared advantage.
How do you capture feedback from farmers and bring insights from the field into marketing?
Farmer feedback comes naturally when sales, product, and marketing work as one team. Insights from the field are part of our regular planning and decision-making, not something we collect occasionally. Close cooperation with sales allows us to understand real challenges, changing conditions, and what farmers actually care about before and during the season.
We use multiple touchpoints to listen and learn — from direct conversations to seminars and interactive formats that encourage open feedback. This helps us translate real situations from the field into relevant communication.
The goal is simple: stay close to farmers’ reality and reflect it honestly in our messaging, whether through educational content, relatable storytelling, or practical examples that resonate with everyday farming decisions.
