Marketing and Promoting Your Homestead Products
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Being able to grow quality produce and livestock in your homestead is only half of the work you need to do to make sure your farm business is successful. There are a lot of opportunities that you can explore on your homestead to give you potential income streams. But, without the means to get them out in the public to sell them, it would be quite hard to gain a steady flow of customers. It is therefore important to bulk up on your marketing skills and learn the best marketing practices as well.
Branding
One of the first things that you need to do is to make a brand for yourself. A name for your farm so customers can remember you by. You can make a logo with contact information as well. This way, it will be easier for people to reach you no matter where they are. Creating a brand is essential to successfully market your homestead products. It will represent how people will view your business, your products, and your promise to your customers. It is your identity and your business value. At the heart of every successful business lies a quality product and or good service. Building a brand will help you focus on the kind of product you want to provide to your customers. It will keep you realigned with your goals, values, and working practices. Branding gives you credibility. It will differentiate and set you apart from the other competitors in the same market.
The next thing is to educate yourself with the existing state laws in your area. There are various laws imposed by FDA, USDA and local states when it comes to selling food, grains, meat products, dairy, and eggs. It is better to get everything in line and legalities accounted for before you start anything. Do research ahead of time. Planning involves more than accounting expenses, operational cost and estimating profits and losses. You also need to learn production and packaging regulations, and familiarize yourself with the laws for selling farm produce and agricultural products.
Ways to Promote or Market Your Homestead Products
There are various ways to promote your farm and produce while being on homestead from online options to local farmers market and others more. Here below are some of the common ways and means most homesteaders use to market their products.
Through Word of Mouth
One of the easiest and common ways to promote and expand your reach is through word of mouth. This is usually done by selling to relatives, friends and neighbors. This is a good way to practice and start direct marketing and make direct sales. You can make a list of the people you know around town, people you encounter and transact with such as barbers, mail carriers, bankers and more. Though they may be your closest knit and biggest supporters, they might also be more critical of your offers and might expect some discounts. One way to assure customer satisfaction is to set their expectations. You must make it a practice to explain to your customers what they are getting and not assume that they are familiar with farming operations and practices. Example, a 250 pound pig would not produce an equivalent amount of 250 pound of edible pork meat. It would probably be approximately 150 to 170 pounds of cut meat. Word of mouth advertising works best in smaller communities.
Farmers Markets
Selling through farmers markets is also one way of direct marketing. This involves setting up a table stand and displaying your products. This is usually a weekly or a monthly event depending on your town organizer. One advantage of this one is that you need not worry about finding customers yourself, they will all flock to this one place scouting for new quality goods to buy. It comes with the opportunity of an existing support network or community and to sell with people who have been doing this for a while. Another advantage is that the organizers or market operators handle the promotion and advertising themselves, saving you both time and money.
Provide promotional products, taste samples, share recipes, or discount coupons to add attraction to your existing offers. If there is no farmers market in your area, you could spearhead and start one. This would take more time and effort plus community support as you need exhibitors and advertising. But if you could pull it off, this could mean additional revenue for you. It also pays to do a little research prior to joining such. As this could take a lot of your time and also entails a few expenses. Scout the market prior to joining and check out the other sellers. If you could compete with their prices or if you have more unique products that you can offer. Weigh the pros and cons of joining considering the booth fees, labor and transportation expenses.
Roadside Stands
If your farm is located somewhere along the highway or at a convenient location then you can also set up roadside stands. This can vary from a simple table setup, to a temporary shelter or a pickup bed. Decorate your stand with bright and attractive signs with clear information and instructions. Watching over your stand personally takes time. This time spent is time away from your farm which could be consumed doing more productive things. That is why some homestead stands go with the honesty system route with added security such as security cameras and bolted cash boxes. This system lets the customers help themselves with your goods and pay it according to your instructions. You can have online payment options or leave a secured tamper-proof cash box. Also consider getting business/liability insurance if you decide to do this. As you need to protect yourself from accidents, mishaps and unforeseen circumstances. Especially when you are not always physically present. Insurance also covers your assets at times they get damaged or stolen. You can promote your farm stand by giving out promotional flyers around town, or ads in the local paper. If your property is not at an ideal location, you can inquire at local town businesses such as gas stations, small discount stores, or parking lots of office buildings if you can set up a stand on their space or property.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
Community Supported Agriculture is a mutually beneficial subscription system that connects both farmers and consumers to share the risks and benefits of farming and food production. It is a form of crop sharing where consumers are allowed to subscribe to the farm’s harvest by paying upfront fees in return for a weekly or bi-weekly box worth of farm goods throughout the growing season. The growers or farmers in return will have the initial investment for his operational expenses and will already have a paid market before he is ready for harvest.
The CSA offers more beyond a way to market and sell your produce. It offers a defined relationship with your consumers. It strengthens the sense of community through local markets. One challenge you might find is looking for customers to sign up for it as there are many who are afraid to commit money prior to getting the product. But there are some who are successful with it. And it is becoming popular as one of the preferred ways of marketing as well as obtaining harvest-fresh products.
Trade Shows, Fairs, and Community Events
These events can help promote your farm products and are actually one of the best ways to tap the local markets. Do not be limited to traditional agricultural and farm shows. You can consider music festivals, church and organizational conferences, or other kinds of events. This will open the doors for new customers and people who may have heard about your brand. Offering some kind of show like on site cooking, demonstrating a craft, or petting some live animals could help attract bystanders to your display area. Have promotional flyers or business cards ready to be given out to anyone who checks you out. Handing out free samples would be great too.
U-Pick (You-Pick) or Pick-Your-Own
Pick your own is usually preferred by people who want to select fresh and quality produce themselves. This is a type of direct marketing farm operation that is like a farm to table strategy where the customers harvest the produce themselves. It is an alternative selling method that has both advantages and disadvantages. For one, it lowers operating costs as the customers go directly to your farm and do the harvesting themselves. Having them onsite can also give you the opportunity to sell them your other farm products too.
On the other hand, you need to consider and check the requirements for U-picks such as insurance, as well as bathroom and parking facilities. You might also want to consider potential problems of letting a large group of people into your farm as well. You might need to add fences and additional security measures. Once again, check first into your local state laws and do research and maybe consult with other U-Pick farmers before plunging into anything.
Grocery & Health Food Stores
Selling to groceries and other stores are usually done in bulk or wholesale. These can be good for you if you already have volume and consistent supply to make up for the reduced income. Some stores might want to be on a consignment basis. Though this may have higher profit than wholesale, this also has the risk of incurring some loss since your goods might not get that much attention and appropriate care since the retailer does not have much vested interest. But there are some who find success in these by establishing good business relationships with the consigned stores.
Restaurants
Establishing good relationships with restaurants can also give you good profit. You can target specialty restaurants and learn their particular needs on a regular basis.
Choose those located in a crowded or tourist area. More and more chefs value fresh locally sourced quality ingredients grown with care. If you have unique crops to offer that can’t be found easily anywhere then you can even sell it at a premium price.
Cooperatives
Cooperatives are another way of marketing and promoting your homestead products without directly doing it yourself. Cooperatives are usually organized by your state or region or local government. They would have rules, regulations and requirements that you need to abide by and might have fees and penalties. A coop is a group of producers joined together to produce and provide the volume required by big consumers or major buyers. The size can vary from a few small ranchers to a big group of growers. Joining cooperatives would be beneficial to those farmers who are not comfortable with directly talking to people as the coop themselves would have marketing and sales agents who will do the work.
Local Media
You can also advertise on local media such as newspapers or radio stations. You can also try making a farm event and invite local media to experience real time harvest, soap making demonstrations or what a homesteading lifestyle looks like. Have them take photos or write an article about it. You can also make x-deals with them. Though advertising on local radio stations and newspapers seemed like an old and traditional marketing strategy, it can still reach a wide demographic at a minimal cost. And these organizations are usually on the lookout for local news and help promote local businesses within their community.
Online / Social Media
Selling online or on social media maybe is one of the easiest ways to market your homestead products on a bigger scale. But is mostly unused as traditional homesteaders usually operate with as little technology as possible. Today’s modern homesteaders though are adapting and grabbing this opportunity to their advantage to promote their products. The internet has opened the doors for even the smallest homesteaders to sell their products to a wider range market. You can simply list up your items in auction sites like eBay, or specific sites dedicated to fresh agricultural produce like Localharvest.org and Newfarm.org. You may be listed with the big players in the industry but this could be a great way for you to start and be known in your local area and they offer free advertising. You can also learn and get ideas from other homesteaders.
You can also make your own website, or a blog where you can write new content you want to share from time to time to invite attention. You can also try promoting on Facebook which is a very big platform with a wide range of demographics where you can target the right market. You can also utilize Pinterest which is also a huge platform to drive new people to your own personal site. Or Instagram, which is a highly visual platform where you can show off your products. Remember to use hashtags when you use this platform, this is how people will find you.
When using online or social media, always remember to use and take good photos. These are what captures the attention of consumers causing them to stop and take interest in your products. If you don’t have the graphic skills, you need not worry. A lot of free online applications like Canva contain usable templates that you can use for any type of post or project. These templates are customizable to fit your tone, theme or need.
Good Customer Service is One of the Best Marketing Strategies
These are a few of the means and ways where you can market, promote, or sell your homestead products. But maintaining a good name in your industry entails establishing relationship marketing with your buyers. Good customer service is one of the best marketing strategies to guarantee a happy and satisfied customer. Building an emotional connection and relationship with your customers is important. Whether it be answering voicemail, email, and inquiries promptly or writing a thank you note. Small efforts can make a big difference. Explore the several venues you have for your marketing options and be flexible enough to be willing to adjust and learn something new until you find the right fit for you. Being diverse not only in production, but in marketing and adapting to challenging situations as well is a part of becoming self-sufficient.
*This is the forty eighth in an ongoing series that teaches homesteading in Texas. This is not a sponsored post although it may contain affiliate links to recommended products and/or services
Don’t forget to check out our all in one guide for homesteading, farming and ranching in Texas.
Go back to the previous article: Supplemental Income Streams While Homesteading
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Don’t forget to check out our all in one guide for homesteading, farming and ranching in Texas.
