This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Suzanne Fanning, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin.

The podcast explores how DFW markets products in Wisconsin, nationwide and further as exports become an increasingly important piece of the state’s dairy sector.

Fanning discusses how the organization reaches new markets for cheese in particular, noting “you’d be hard-pressed to find somebody in Wisconsin who doesn’t already know how fabulous our cheese is.” She notes very little is spent in-state on promoting cheese, adding most efforts are focused elsewhere.

“We follow what’s called the 90-90 rule,” she said, explaining “in Wisconsin, 90% of the milk that’s produced goes into making cheese and 90% of that cheese is sold outside of the state of Wisconsin.”

The group’s outreach has focused on “food fanatics” for whom food is a large part of their identity, as these consumers often influence the buying decisions of those around them. Many of these target customers live in major metro areas like New York City, Los Angeles and elsewhere on the coasts, Fanning said.

“They’re the ones who are kind of setting those trends, and those are the people that we’re trying to reach with this message,” she said.

Fanning touts the quality of Wisconsin’s cheese and the culture that surrounds it, noting the state wins more awards for cheese than any other state or country. It’s the only place outside of Switzerland where people can become master cheesemakers, she said, adding cheese made in Wisconsin is found in 99% of U.S. grocery stores.

“As good as your digital advertising is, it can’t replace really getting people to taste that cheese,” she said. “So a lot of the time we’re focusing on ways that we can have some experiential marketing and get people to taste cheeses at events across the country.”

Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:

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