OCTOBER 2018 SEEDWORLD.COM / 23 INSIDERS ADVICE FROM INDUSTRY EXPERTS How Can a Fungus Survive Seed-Applied Fungicides? IF WE USE a fungus as a beneficial bio- logical seed treatment, how can it coexist and thrive when used in combination with other seed-applied fungicides? Trichoderma is a soil-borne fungus and occurs naturally all over the world. A main focus for all companies produc- ing biological products is the challenge of delivering living organisms into a produc- tion environment. When evaluating a bio- logical product, be sure to ask: What steps have been taken to ensure product viabil- ity and efficacy — Specialized use instruc- tions? Encapsulation? Over-formulation? When it comes to Trichoderma, ABM’s approach is threefold, but all stem from natural properties of the fungus. First, our Trichoderma-containing products are applied to the seed as dormant spores. We formulate our products using these naturally-occurring spores to deliver longer shelf-life products that are com- patible with a wide range of seed-applied chemicals. Second, Trichoderma is a fungus that is resistant to most agricultural fungicides. The result is that even though we apply Trichoderma to seeds in combination with chemical fungicides, these chemicals do not affect our strains. Finally, the strains of Trichoderma ABM uses in its products grow aggressively once they are put into the soil. They estab- lish their niche in the rhizosphere surround- ing the seed and inside the plant’s roots. ABM’s seed-applied Trichoderma organisms are not intended to be free- living in the soil. Rather, they colonize along the root hairs and inside a plant’s internal compartments. This leaves little opportunity for the Trichoderma to be damaged by seed-applied fungicides. That’s the beauty of Trichoderma: it’s broadly resistant to chemistry-based fungicides and quickly colonizes a plant’s root system. These properties allow ABM to provide functional biological products. DAN CUSTIS, ABM CEO AND CO-FOUNDER @dbcustis • dan@abm1st.com • abm1st.com CONTENT MARKETING’S goal is to create and distribute valuable and rel- evant content. The notion of reciprocity is a deeply ingrained human behavior. Providing content that the audience finds entertaining, insightful or informative means they may feel “indebted” to sup- port the brand in some way. Content marketing is inherently recip- rocal. You put in the work to create and distribute impactful content. The audience shows appreciation through engagement. Engagement leads to action and opens the door to the start of the sales cycle. Audience engagement comes in many forms. There are those who will help market your efforts. There are those who will contribute and participate. And there are those who will show support in other ways, such as contacting you. Engagement is not a guarantee. Here are some tips to help foster reciprocity through engagement: 1. Create content with your audience in mind. It is only natural to develop a biased opinion or get too close to our own brand. Develop a persona for your audience. Listen to them. Ask questions. Take the audience’s perspective to better understand what information, style and type of content will appeal. 2. Humanize your brand. Find a per- sonality within your company that’s relat- able and who is a natural communicator. Feature this person in videos or develop an ongoing column. 3. Tap into basic psychological needs. Try to develop content that plays into basic psychological needs like competence, relatedness or usefulness. Connecting to the audience’s psychological needs is more likely to trigger a strong response and lead to engagement. 4. Monitor and quickly respond to audi- ence/customer engagement. Engagement is a two-way street. Say you posted something on social media and someone comments. Respond to that comment. Engagement from brands breeds further engagement from the audience/customer. 5. Focus on quality. Less content is better than bad content. There should be quality benchmarks. Producing and distributing low quality content just to fill space is a waste of time and does a dis- service to your brand. Think of the power of reciprocity. What will you get back by distributing low quality content that is not tailored to your audience? The Power of Reciprocity KELLY SAUNDERSON, ISSUES INK DIRECTOR OF CLIENT SERVICES @Issuesink • ksaunderson@issuesink.com • issuesink.com/create-by-issues-ink