How to effectively market your farm produce

In this article, Jana looks at how to effectively market your farm produce.

The demand for agricultural produce is unquestionable. In fact, research published by Statista found that total farming income has increased by more than 170% over the past 20 years.

Yet despite this demand, effectively marketing your products to consumers can be challenging.

With that in mind, I have created this quick guide to help you start with your best foot forward. Keep reading to find out how to effectively market your farm produce.

1. Establish your branding

Your branding should project the way that you want your customers to see your farm.

This means demonstrating your values or eliciting the feelings that resonate with your customers.

You need to infuse these considerations into the most basic elements of your branding, including your farm’s trading name, logo, and branding colour scheme.

Some effective branding and marketing options could be flyers and leaflets that can be distributed locally, as well as business cards that could be placed in local shops and supermarkets to draw in potential customers in your area.

2. Write messaging

This is the way you communicate your brand’s core offering to your customers.

You need to use the considerations that informed your branding and package the results into clear language.

The major advantage of doing this is that you then have a foundation from which to build all of your other marketing efforts.

3. Develop a website

Today’s consumers use technology to do their shopping.

This means that farms need to use the latest technology to market their products, in much the same way they need to use the latest technology to create them.

Websites are very cost-effective and act as a central hub for the rest of your peripheral marketing campaigns.

You can use a website in the same way that you’d use a brochure – simply to get your name out there.

Alternatively, you can use it as an online store, with your customers actually browsing and buying your farming produce from your website.

4. Build a social media following

Similarly, you should develop your presence on social media.

According to research published by Statista, 85.6% of the UK’s population uses social media actively, so it’s really too big an opportunity to leave on the table.

Begin by analysing competitor pages, to gauge which channels your target audience uses and which types of posts they respond best to.

Then, begin posting content and engaging with your followers consistently to build a following over time.

You can then periodically market your produce to this audience.

5. Attend events

Whether at festivals, farmer’s markets, or anything in between, attending live events is a great way to introduce your business to audiences that you wouldn’t be able to otherwise.

Instead of trying to push your products on prospective customers, simply set up an eye-catching banner to capture their attention and let them come to you.

You could also consider handing out business cards at these events.

Remember, generating sales live in person is not the only objective here. The greater exposure you can give to your business, the better through this strategy, the better.

Following the event, every person that follows your social media channels or visits your website is a potential customer waiting to be converted.

Marketing your farming products to consumers requires patience and hard work.

Yet by following the steps above, you can set your farm up for success.