If you caught yourself thinking "Hey I don't recall getting my Journal in awhile." you're not crazy. The Winter 2019 issue was the last of our printed The Dexter Cattle Journal.
Why?...
PDCA members are offered a quick survey when they renew their membership.
Overwhelmingly members have told us that the #1 job of PDCA is to "market Dexter cattle on a national scale to increase the demand for Dexter cattle."
But... feedback regarding The Journal has always been overwhelmingly positive with the majority of members wanting to keep it as benefit of membership, which means....we have a dilemma.
That pretty magazine, that sets on your coffee table, (or worse) surely promotes and markets the PDCA but because it is sent to members only it does nothing to promote Dexters or expand the market for them. It's like singing to the choir! And the cost to produce, print and mail that pretty magazine four times a year doesn't leave much jingle in the pocket for our most important job - promoting Dexters.
So what's an association gonna do? Try something new - actually two new things.
First, retire the printed Journal and replace it with this Dexters Today eJournal which will allow PDCA to provide Dexter breeders more timely and current articles, information and ideas, but more importantly... the content is easily "share-able" by email or social media. As we include more and more Dexter specific content the magic of the internet will allow us to market the breed on a scale that we have never before experienced. And not just our live cattle, but our Dexter beef as well.
PDCA has big plans to promote and expand the market for Dexter cattle using internet and social media marketing as well as an aggressive article writing campaign to accompany selective print advertising, but there needs to be one main hub where breeders and potential buyers can easily and reliably connect, so...
Move over Craigslist, and forget that "For Sale" post that got buried on Facebook. Dexter Marketplace.com will launch in October and is a much needed classifieds site specifically for Dexters. It's a place where a buyer can check out the breed, browse listings and research the breeders as thoroughly as the cows they are interested in. Contact between buyers and breeders is safe and secure and sellers can manage their own listings at their convenience.
One more important feature of The Dexter Marketplace is it is available to all Dexter breeders and will benefit all Dexter breeders as the revenue generated from the site will go specifically to marketing Dexters. So... the more breeders use it, the more funds are available to spend on marketing Dexters, which means more sales for breeders. So win-win.
