The first step in any successful marketing campaign isn't deciding the avenue you'll use but rather identifying your target audience. By understanding your target market you can fine tune your message as well as the direction you use to reach them. Think about your current and potential customer base and answer the following questions:
Gender? Age? Education Level? Income Bracket?
Buying for themselves or gifts?
Where are they coming from?
What other businesses and brands do they support?
Consider your most loyal customers:
What characteristics do they share?
How did they find your business?
What about your product and business resonates with them the most?
Is it Alpaca? Natural Fibers? Made in USA?
Supporting Small Farms & Local Business?
Unique Products? Story behind the products?
Once you've answered these questions, a profile of your best customer emerges, and you can begin brainstorming a campaign with a fine tuned message and channel that will reach your newly defined target market. Keep in mind that different types of products have different target markets so as you diversify your product offerings it's important to use items and messages that resonate with that specific marketing channel. Marketing yarn to a hunter isn't going to net additional sales but this same campaign aimed at local knitter's groups will be much more successful. Another important thing to keep in mind is that you yourself might not be your target market. Getting outside of your own box, and thinking objectively is an important tool when designing target market specific campaigns.
Once you have a general idea of your customer profile and why they support your business, you can craft your Unique Selling Position (USP) to set yourself apart from the competition. Your marketing campaigns should showcase your USP clearly with logos, tag lines, and product information designed to click with your target market. An example would be Wal-Mart's USP of offering the cheapest price point to their customers. Over the last decade their falling price campaign has cemented in people's minds that when a product's cost is the #1 deciding factor in it's purchase, Wal-mart will be their best bet. For small agricultural enterprises, competing on price will always be a losing battle, but you bring alternative value to the table that can be used to help carve out your niche market and be successful catering to your most loyal customer's needs.
Each marketing campaign should have an established budget, time frame, and certain variables you measure to determine what sales channels are your most successful.
Are overall Sales Up? Higher Profit Margins? Higher Customer Satisfaction?
Increase in traffic to farm or website? Increase in social media engagement?
Retaining Customers? New vs. Returning Customer ratio?
No two farms or businesses are the same so it's important everyone explore their local markets and find the sales channels that work best for them. Our most recent NEAFP Poll asked farms across the country what their most successful marketing channels were.
Here are the results:
Top Other Responses: Logos/Signage on Farm Cars Shirts etc., Consignment at Local Stores, Direct marketing to 4H, Knitter's Groups, Institutions, Educational Events, and Agri-tourism.
Participating as a vendor in Events (Open Farm Days, Farmer's Markets, and Pop Up Markets etc.) is one of the most successful sales channels because by choosing your events wisely, you can bring your business and products directly to an audience that resonates with them. If a quarter of the foot traffic walking through a market fits your target audience and have come motivated to buy products they desire your overall sales will be higher. On the other end of the spectrum, one of the least successful methods is online marketing. Although an online advertisement can be seen by tens of thousands of eye balls during it's duration, these eye balls come in many shapes and sizes and with different motivations. Thinking about your own behavior while browsing the web and seeing advertisements is a good indicator of how they can prove rather unsuccessful. 99% of the time, you've trained yourself to skim over ads or outright ignore them.
As the results show, there are many different avenues farms are taking to reach their respective markets. Consumer focused marketing is the single most important factor in determining a small farm or business's success. If you build it, but nobody knows about it, how will they come? Marketing is not just about selling. It requires an understanding of what people want, and how you can deliver that value to them while making a profit. By defining your target market, choosing the appropriate channels, and crafting a specific message showcasing your value proposition to this audience, you will see better results in your marketing efforts. By setting goals and defining measurable variables, you can keep track of your most and least successful campaigns and adjust your approaches to find what fits best for your business, products, and target audience.
Thank you very much for participating in our most recent NEAFP Poll. When you have a free moment answer our latest poll question:
