Era: I was a farmer at the foot of Yaoling Mountain

Around noon, a lucky winner drew a grand prize at the main venue: a home air conditioner.

The air conditioner was a product of an electronics group, and although it wasn't the latest model, it still aroused envy among the crowd. Driven by intense jealousy, some people, disbelieving in bad luck, joined the rice-buying lottery.

Not long after, another customer won an electric fan in the draw.

Customers' enthusiasm was ignited. After all, rice is a necessity, so it doesn't matter where you buy it. Yaoling Rice has a series of products with tiered prices to meet the needs of different consumers.

The price is slightly higher than other rice on the market, but if you win something in the lottery, you'll definitely get a good deal.

As for the regular customers of Yaoling Rice, they don't care about the price because this rice is of better quality, tastes better, and has a better flavor. They would still buy it even without this lucky draw event.

For customers buying Yaoling Rice for the first time, they originally went there hoping to get a good deal, but after taking the rice home and tasting it, they were immediately amazed.

They said there would be small prizes, but there weren't any. Even so, the rice was worth the price.

Word-of-mouth takes a long time to build, but through marketing campaigns, more consumers became aware of Yaoling Rice, and its reputation exploded, leading to a surge in sales.

The cost of the lottery is far less than it appears, and it also boosts sales of other products for the company.

"Secretary, our rice is selling like hotcakes, and even the sales of our chili sauce have increased by 40% compared to usual. If we had known it would be this effective, we would have started a promotional campaign earlier."

In just half a month, sales of Yaoling rice in the provincial capital doubled. Thanks to its superior quality, it quickly captured the market, not only regaining lost market share but also seizing market share from other brands.

After seeing the statistics, Zhang Chu immediately came to find Fang Wei, his smile beaming.

However, he also had a question in his mind: why didn't he do this sooner?

"You still have the nerve to ask me? Shouldn't you be the one to consider these things? Besides, none of our companies are known for sales. Without market experience, starting marketing too early will be very costly."

Fang Wei patiently explained to Zhang Chu that when a product doesn't have a certain market foundation, the initial advertising costs are staggering, and the results aren't necessarily good.

Despite the frequent emergence of "top bidders" in recent years, who spent hundreds of millions or even billions on advertising, the actual results were not as good as expected.

On the contrary, several companies were dragged down by huge advertising expenses and went bankrupt.

It's not that advertising and marketing activities are unimportant, but rather that we must act within our means and never throw away large sums of money without thinking.

For low-value-added products like rice, cost control is especially important.

Thanks to the superior conditions of Yaoling Agriculture, Yaoling rice has not undergone large-scale advertising since it was launched, yet its sales remain considerable.

Previously, production was limited and most raw materials were purchased from outside sources, so the absolute sales volume was not very large.

In the past two years, through contracting land, the company has established rice planting bases in Yangshan, Chenzhou, and Hengzhou, breaking the constraints on raw materials. Now is the perfect time to launch large-scale marketing activities.

It took Zhang Chu a while to understand the reasoning behind it, and then he took his leave, as there were still many things waiting for him.

Fang Wei planned to find a capable deputy for the other party. Zhang Chu was actually a very good person. He had a certain talent to build the company to its current scale from scratch.

Unfortunately, the other party's foundation is somewhat lacking. If the company wants to develop further, it needs to vigorously introduce talent instead of following Zhang Chu's intuition.

The marketing campaign for Yaoling rice in the provincial capital, which lasted for about half a month, was successfully completed.

Similar events may be held from time to time in the future, but the next focus will obviously be shifted to other major cities.

morning.

Fang Wei, Zhang Chu, and others held a meeting to discuss and plan the specific details of launching marketing campaigns in several top-tier cities.

However, he will not participate in the subsequent marketing activities; the food company will handle everything. He has set an example, and they can simply copy this template. If they can't even handle this, then the food company's management should be replaced.

With some free time, Fang Wei spent a few days in the provincial capital with her family, enjoying various delicacies, before returning to her village.

Zhang Chu and his team's marketing campaigns in several megacities were very successful, and sales of Yaoling rice surged again. There are currently enough raw materials, and with the additional output from the Hengzhou base during the autumn harvest, the increased production should be able to make up for the shortfall.

Unbeknownst to many, the company has already made Yaoling Rice a strong and large brand. Even if it hasn't become a household name, it's probably not far off.

After returning, Fang Wei stayed in the office for three days to deal with the backlog of official business before deciding to take a few days off.

Although he didn't need to do anything specific in the provincial capital this time, there were still quite a few problems to solve, and he felt somewhat exhausted.

At this time of year, the swan mushrooms in the mountains were just beginning to grow, so Pan Lianhua suggested taking the two children into the mountains to pick mushrooms. Fang Wei readily agreed, but he still made some preparations beforehand to avoid any dangers in the mountains.

At this time of year, Pan Lianhua especially misses her old spear.

However, gun control laws have now been enacted, and nobody wants to cause trouble, so it's difficult to find a hunting rifle now.

This morning.

After Fang Wei and the others finished packing, they went into the mountains.

The mountain air was fresh and the scenery was beautiful, but the mountain paths were too difficult to walk on. There were bushes everywhere that were half a person's height or even taller than a person, and there were no ready-made paths at all. This required Fang Wei to lead the way with a machete, Pan Lianhua to bring up the rear, and Binbin and Xiaojie to walk in the middle.

They didn't travel very fast, and had to stop and rest when they got tired. It wasn't until almost noon that they reached the pine forest where swan fungus grew.

"Third Brother, take a break. Let's eat first, and then we'll pick mushrooms."

Xiaojie and Binbin both felt very tired. It was too hot today, especially around noon, when the temperature was at least 30 degrees Celsius.

Pan Lianhua suggested that we cook first, since we brought rice and other ingredients with us from the trip into the mountains today, and we could make bamboo rice later.

"Okay, you guys take a break first, I'll go see if I can bring back some wild game."

The mountain spring water can be used to make tea later.

Fang Wei told Pan Lianhua and the others to rest first, while he himself went into the dense forest.

Pan Lianhua lit a fire to boil water and make tea. After drinking a few sips, she started making bamboo rice. She added cured meat and green beans to the rice, and soon a rich aroma wafted out.

Quite some time later, Fang Wei returned carrying two cleaned wild rabbits.

As before, these two rabbits were used for barbecue. He brought all sorts of seasonings, so they were sure to taste delicious after being grilled.

"Third Brother, I've finally found you! What delicious food have you made? It smells so good!"

Just as the rabbit meat was about to be roasted, Wang Songlin's voice suddenly came from afar.

The group looked up and saw Wang Songlin and another prince walking towards them from the woods.

"Songlin, you've come at the right time. Come and have something to eat."

The bamboo rice was ready, and Pan Lianhua was serving it to everyone. She greeted Wang Songlin politely.

"Eat, eat. We ate some dry rations in the woods and came out to check on you since you hadn't arrived yet."

Wang Songlin smiled and waved his hand, indicating that he had already eaten.

Fang Wei called him last night and arranged to come to this forest this morning to pick swan mushrooms. They arrived on time, rested for quite a while, and even had lunch, but they didn't see any of Fang Wei's family. Feeling uneasy, he brought some people over to check.

The two sides took different routes into the mountains, so it was impossible for them to meet on the way.

Fang Wei didn't care about anything else, and pulled Wang Songlin and that young man to sit down, letting them try the barbecue she made.

After a few bites, Wang Songlin and the other boy refused to eat anymore, mainly because they were still full and couldn't eat any more.

"Songlin, you guys go ahead, we'll be there in a bit."

Swan mushrooms have rather demanding growing conditions, and can only be harvested for a very short period each year. Since we can't eat that many ourselves, it's best to harvest them and sell them to avoid waste.

Wang Songlin and his group went into the woods to pick mushrooms first, while Fang Wei's family chatted and laughed, not in a hurry to join them.

A few of them picked enough swan mushrooms in one large basket; they couldn't possibly eat any more.

After finishing lunch, Fang Wei and the others cleaned up and extinguished the fire completely before entering the pine forest.

As evening fell, Fang Wei and his family, along with the large group led by Wang Songlin, returned to the village. Over a hundred people had come from the Yao village that day, and there wasn't enough room at home, so Fang Wei arranged for them to eat at the large canteen.

Fang Wei had a drink with everyone, and later arranged for a large truck to take them back.

Tomorrow morning, middlemen will come to buy these mushrooms. Swan mushrooms are rare, so they are very expensive and in high demand, so there is no need to worry about them not selling.

Half of the money from buying mushrooms will go to Wang Songlin and others, and the other half will be donated to the village primary school.

Binbin and Xiaojie both love eating swan mushrooms, and they can enjoy them every summer when they come back home. These are completely natural and can't be cultivated artificially, so it'll probably be hard to find them when they work in other places in the future.

So for the next two days, we'll be cooking with swan mushrooms every time we have a meal at home.

morning.

Fang Wei arrived at the office and had barely sat down when she received a call from Zhang Chu.

He took his sales team to Guangzhou, and the marketing campaign was very successful. He called Fang Wei specifically to report on the situation there.

After the other party finished reporting, Fang Wei offered a few words of encouragement and then hung up.

The food company is gradually growing stronger, and has recruited many college graduates, thus completing the basic construction of its talent team.

Therefore, Fang Wei generally no longer manages specific matters such as marketing; his excessive involvement is actually beneficial for talent development. (End of Chapter)