The paper presents theoretical and practical aspects of content marketing decision application for rural tourism development using a case of a farmstead ʻĮlankos sodybaʼ. The first part of the article deals with theoretical insights into content marketing ability to stimulate rural tourism development. Results of literature review reveal that there are connections between elements of the content marketing and rural tourism development, which means that the use of content marketing can be economically valuable for the wider range of the farmsteads. The second part of the paper focuses on the case analysis of the farmstead ‘Įlankos sodybaʼ. In order to explore how the application of content marketing decisions can impact rural tourism development, an experiment of content marketing usage in search advertisement of selected farmstead was carried out. Separate content marketing elements were involved in search advertisement and changes of advertisement effect upon the customers were measured. The given results show that content marketing elements can improve the chosen advertisement effect upon the customers. This leads to presumption that the wider use of content marketing can improve not only the effect of separate marketing tool, but also can contribute to the development of rural tourism. The paper concludes with findings and discussion; limitations and future research possibilities are given as well.

In a landscape of increasing customer/firm interactions in digital space, content marketing, which aims to generate prospects and sales to foster customers’ brand engagement, brand awareness and trust, is on the rise. Notwithstanding, despite significant marketing specialist interest, scientific content marketing research is not widely developed. Therefore, it encourages the need for new studies in the content marketing field. This paper introduces theoretical and practical aspects of content marketing decisions for the creation of desired customer value in the tourism sector. The aim of the presented research is to determine which combinations of content marketing decisions could create the desired value for the customer in the tourism sector. Understanding the content marketing decisions that create the desired value for customers could lead to a proper implementation of content marketing in the tourism sector. The presented results of q-sort study indicate twelve different combinations of content marketing decisions which could be used by tourism organizations in order to create desired value for their customer. Thus, it means that increasement of desired customer value can be made in the light of content marketing usage. The paper ends with insights, conclusions, limitations and future research possibilities.

This article presents theoretical and practical aspects of content marketing decisions for the customer value creation in social networks by using the case of the organic farm ʻIlzenberg manor’. Focus of this paper is to determine which content marketing decisions create the biggest value for the customer in social networks. The first part of the paper deals with theoretical insights into the content marketing decisions and their ability to create the customer value in social networks. Findings of theoretical analysis disclose that there are interfaces between content marketing, separate content marketing decisions and the customer value in the context of social networks. Respectively, it leads to an assumption that the usage of content marketing decisions can be valuable for the customer value creation in social networks. The second part of the paper focuses on the case analysis of the organic farm ‘Ilzenberg manor’. In order to determine which content marketing decisions create value for the customer in social networks, authors examine a correlation between separate content marketing decisions and consumer value indicators by using data from ʻIlzenberg manor’ Facebook page. The obtained results expose that not all content marketing decisions create value for the customer in social networks. Hence, it means that a selection of separate content marketing decisions in social networks can be made through the customer value perspective. The article ends with insights, conclusions, limitations and future research possibilities.

The mainstay of economic activity in Cat Que Commune, Hoai Duc District of Ha Tay Province in Vietnam is got raising, which is the production of piglets between 8 to 30 kg, filling a gap between the sow/piglet and meat pig productions. A cluster of associated enterprises have developed around this got-based enterprise which include the got raisers, piglet suppliers, feed and medicine suppliers, veterinarian services, got collectors, and manure collectors. The relationships with these associated enterprises form the basis of the complex enterprise strategies of the got raisers, which strive to balance a complex set of issues of feed, growth, season, disease control, labour, credit, and marketing in order to ensure the profitability and sustainability of the enterprise. The got are fed a rice-based diet, with occasional protein concentrate to speed up growth for seasons when got prices are high; while inferior feed is given when there is a glut in the market. Disease control is as much related to management as it is to marketing strategy and labour requirements. To sell the whole lot of got yields lower profit and leads to uneven labour requirements, but it provides the opportunity for thorough cleaning of the pig pens and a break in disease; both contribute to better health condition. Selling got on credit fosters relationships with the collectors, but also creates a cash flow problem which in turn is passed on to the feed suppliers who then must sell feed to got raisers on credit. The in-depth analysis of this complex set of interrelated issues provides the basis for elaborating an enterprise plan to improve the system. One research activity that has been completed is a trial on maize substitution for rice and the results showed significant improvement in growth rate (372 vs. 332 g/day of daily weight gain), reduced feed cost (6,013 vs. 7,654 vnd/kg weight gain - USD 1 = 15,400 vnd -), and higher profit (78,611 vs. 51,032 vnd per got). The disease survey also identified the management areas that affect the frequencies of illnesses, including pig pen design and flooring, living space, cleanliness (e.g., bathing frequency and thorough disinfection of pig pens), and drinking water source.

Surveys were made of rural artisan cheese factories located in the region of Olancho, Catacamas, and Juticalpa in Honduras (n=10) and in Esquipulas and Muy-Muy in Nicaragua (n=13). The objective was to analyze the milk market of small rural artisan cheese factories in livestock watersheds of Honduras and Nicaragua to determine if: there is a market for higher milk production how much additional milk can the market absorb in each season of the year there is a market for milk of higher hygienic quality. The main buyer of the milk from small and medium scale farmers in Honduras and Nicaragua is the rural artisan cheese industry, which absorbs almost 80% of the milk produced in both countries. Total milk production during the rainy season is about twice that during the dry season, causing an over-supply and scarcity of milk, respectively. The shortage of fluid milk during the dry season leads to an unsatisfied market. The artisan cheese factories in Honduras and Nicaragua would be willing to buy 76% and 55% more milk during the dry season, but this supply is not available due low milk productivity. This fact suggests that an aggressive program for the promotion of shrub legumes with sugarcane to supplement the herd during the dry season would have more impact that the promotion of grasses or legumes for the rainy season when there is little market for additional milk produced. In addition, rural artisan cheese factories in Honduras and Nicaragua, that consider the milk they collect is of bad quality, would be willing to pay a higher price if the option to collect milk of better hygienic quality exists. In Honduras this price would be about 9% higher during the dry season and 11% higher during the rainy season. In Nicaragua the cheese factories would be willing to pay a milk price which is 17% higher, but only during the rainy season. As a result, large incentives exist in both countries to increase milk production during the dry season and to improve the hygienic quality of milk in the studied areas.