Avant Marketing Group

10/08/2025

Farmers are Mixed Regarding Outlook for Agriculture Economy

Avant Marketing Group recently polled members of its farmer online panel regarding their outlook for the 2026 agriculture economy.

While 59 percent of participants are either Very Pessimistic or Somewhat Pessimistic concerning the 2026 Ag Economy, another 27 percent are either Very Optimistic or Somewhat Optimistic in their outlook.

“Many production farmers are seeing 2026 as another challenging year with one-fourth (25.66%) stating that they are “Very Pessimistic” with another one-third (33.55%) “Somewhat Pessimistic” concerning the 2026 economy”, states Benjamin Vogel, Avant Marketing Group. “This outlook is most prevalent among row crop-only farmers with mixed operations, including livestock production, being more optimistic.”

The Avant Marketing Group’s Online Panel includes more than 1,100 producers from across the United States. Over half farm 2,500-plus acres and include a mix of row crop, beef, pork, poultry, and specialty crop operations.

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05/31/2025

03/04/2024

AVANT MARKETING GROUP NAMES NEW DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

(St. Louis, Missouri). St. Louis-based Avant Marketing Group has named Benjamin Vogel as Director of Operations. In this role, Vogel will be responsible for the business management and processes for this leading custom market research and planning firm.

“I am very pleased to add Benjamin to our management team,” stated Mark Vogel, Owner. “He brings years of management experience to continue our success in the agriculture, finance, branding, marketing planning, and market research categories.”

Vogel was previously Project Team Lead for Protect-all, Inc. where he gained his expertise in business process and system operations. He brings to Avant Marketing demonstrated success in strategic planning, project management, operational efficiency improvements, and team leadership. He has extensive experience in business process improvement including value stream process auditing, statistical process control, sales process improvement, risk analysis/cost avoidance, and business continuity strategies.

Vogel’s certifications include Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, HACCP NEHA Management, Lean Marketing Certificate, SQF Audit, CompTIAA+ 220-1002, and Cisco NatAcad CCNA 640-802.

Avant Marketing Group is celebrating its 20th anniversary in providing professional market research and planning services to agriculture and enterprise branding clients across North America. The firm’s website: www.avantmarketing.com.

04/26/2023

Successful focus groups are based on planning and focus on three key areas that contribute to the quality of the research. We discuss the key components in our latest blog:

The Mismatched Moderator Years ago, I was invited to observe a focus group with North Carolina soybean growers. The sponsor, a leading marketer, decided

04/18/2023

Most companies understand the importance of measuring customer satisfaction. Good marketers also understand the importance of measuring their Net Promoter Score (NPS):

How Loyal Are You? Strong customer loyalty should be a primary goal for any marketer. Due to high customer acquisition costs, maintaining customers has a

04/14/2023

Are your quantitative research projects statistically significant? Significance can be one of the most mis-understood concepts in market research. Please visit our recent posting to find out more. https://www.avantmarketing.com/are-you-statistically-significant/

04/05/2023

Does market research empower or hinder creativity? The latest Avant Marketing blog discusses how to conduct research that is welcomed by your creative team:

Creativity vs. Market Research Marketers and their agencies value market research insight in developing successful marketing and communication

03/28/2023

How did the pandemic affect agriculture market research? See our latest blog:

Cheaper By The Dozen - Online Qualitative Research At a time when inflation and higher prices dominate headlines, it’s rare to find anything that can be

09/09/2019

Avant Marketing Launches New Website

As part of its upcoming 15th anniversary, Avant Marketing Group has launched its new website: www.avantmarketing.com.

The site highlights the firm’s specialization in Agriculture Research, Enterprise Branding, B-to-B Channel and Market Programming, and Consumer Research.

“When we opened our business in 2004, we viewed ourselves as market planning generalists,” states Mark Vogel, Principal. “Now fifteen years later, we have honed our expertise into four specialized areas to meet the market research and planning needs of our clients.”

Avant Marketing’s areas of specialization include:
Agriculture Research – At the core of its business, Avant Marketing offers both quantitative and qualitative market research and planning for agricultural marketers, associations, and checkoff programs in both the United States and Canada. From California to Maine, Avant Marketing has experience in nearly every commodity and livestock group in the agriculture industry.

Enterprise Branding – Avant Marketing is recognized as one of the nation’s leading firms in municipal and county branding. Successful branding assignments have included Salinas, California; Bayfield, Colorado; Florence, South Carolina; University City, Missouri; and Cabarrus County, North Carolina. The firm’s proven Living the Brand approach to enterprise branding has also been utilized by major corporations and associations.

B-to-B Channel and Market Programming – Based on sound market research, Avant Marketing provides both insight and strategies in sales force and distribution channel management. Projects include new product development, market segmentation, price elasticity, and promotional planning. Though this specialization includes agriculture clients, there is a heavy emphasis on manufacturing and premium product markets.

Consumer Research – Based on our combined experience and expertise across several category-leading consumer brands, Avant Marketing provides extensive market research to assist clients in understanding their markets – particularly in forecasting future trends and behavioral patterns. While important in nearly every category, this insight is becoming even more important for food and agriculture marketers who need to understand the changing demands of consumers, both domestically and internationally.

Avant Marketing Group is a market research and planning firm in St. Louis, Missouri serving both domestic and international clients. The firm offers both qualitative and quantitative research to assist clients in gaining market insight for development of successful market and sales plans.

Gaining Insight into People. It’s what we do. Every day at Avant Marketing Group.

05/15/2019

Avant Marketing Group takes on branding for Ferguson, Missouri.

Local leaders hired a marketing firm to come up with something to replace ‘Community of Choice’ strung over an old train depot.

08/21/2018

Changing the Future of Small Rural Communities -- Rural populations continue to decline. Since 2010, 1,350 “non-metro” counties have lost population. Though there are exceptions, this trend has dramatically affected rural communities. Mark Vogel, Senior Partner, discusses the importance of Market Planning for rural towns that defines both the physical and human assets to recruit new business and residents.

Rural populations continue to decline. Since 2010, 1,350 “non-metro” counties have lost population. Though there are exceptions, this trend has dramatically affected rural communities. Mark Vogel, Senior Partner, discusses the importance of Market Plan...

08/14/2018

Seven out of ten new business ventures fail. Mark Vogel, Senior Partner of the Avant Marketing Group, discusses the need for proper market identification through research prior to any business launch.

Seven out of ten new business ventures fail.  Mark Vogel, Senior Partner of the Avant Marketing Group, discusses the need for proper market identification through research prior to any business launch. More Information at: http://avantmarketing.blogs...