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My Digital Farmer Podcast
293 From Strawberries to Sales: Building Your U-Pick Farm Strategy
00:50:28
Ever wish you could sit in on a strategy session with a group of farmers and hear how they brainstorm marketing plans? In this week’s episode, I’m giving you a rare behind-the-scenes look at one of my live Zoom call meetups inside the Farm...
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- [00:00]
Corinna Bench
Imagine you are a farm business just getting started. Do you remember those days? You had an idea for a product to sell, but you had to find an audience and you had to figure out how to sell it. Well, in today's episode, one of My Farm Marketing school members sits in the hot seat during one of our zoom calls and we talk through this very scenario and we help him figure out what are his first steps as he builds out his brand and his offer.
- [00:30]
David
Let's get started. Hey there. This is Corinna Bench, and welcome to the My Digital Farmer Podcast. In today's market, it's not enough to just grow your product. You've got to know how to sell it, too. Welcome to the My Digital Farmer Podcast where we reveal online marketing strategies and tips to help farmers like you get.
- [00:54]
Corinna Bench
Better and more confident at marketing, learn.
- [00:57]
David
How to find more customers, increase your sales, and build a strong brand for your farm. Let's start the show.
- [01:11]
Corinna Bench
Well, welcome to episode 293 of the My Digital Farmer Podcast. I'm your host, Corinna Bench, one of the farmers at Shared Legacy Farms out in Elmore, Ohio. I'm also the founder of mydigitalfarmer.com, which is all about trying to help other farmers like you get more confident in your marketing and sales strategy so that you can grow a profitable business. How's everyone doing today? Welcome back to the show. A big shout out to all of my regular listeners and subscribers. So glad you're here. And if you're new to the podcast and this is your first time ever, I'm so glad you're here today too. Make sure that you subscribe to the show and I encourage you to check out my first 10 episodes, especially if you're a little green when it comes to marketing and sales, because I designed them long ago to be an onboarding ramp for newbies. It's a great place to go. You can also get onto my email list because when you do that, you are going to get an email from me every single week for like three months that basically drips out the best of the best content to onboard you into the marketing space. I'm going to teach you about the follower, the people that you should be following, the principles you need to know, the tools you need to have, the framework of marketing to understand it's really good. And you can get that for free by subscribing at mydigitalfarmer.com forward/subscribe gets really good reviews, so please do that. I'd love to have you in my community. Today's podcast is sponsored by my friends at localline. Imagine all of your farm sales under one roof. Localline is the most comprehensive sales software built for farmers and food hubs, selling direct to restaurants, schools, wholesale buyers, CSA and more. Features include E commerce, automated inventory management, a box builder, subscriptions, point of sale, and more, helping you increase your sales, save time and streamline your processes. Are you looking to switch to sales software that does it? All subscriptions start as low as $49 a month with no setup fees or sales percentages. Plus, if you join LocalLine today, your onboarding manager will migrate your storefront at no cost so you'll be up and running in no time. You can even pause your subscription in the off season now. Bonus As a podcast listener, localline is also offering a free premium feature for one year with your subscription when you use my coupon code. So to grab that, go to mydigitalfarmer.com localline that's one word and then enter the coupon code MDF2025. We love localline. We've been using it for years. I highly recommend them make the switch today and now back to the show. Well, Merry Christmas everyone. Today is December 25, 2024 when this episode drops and I'm actually recording this kind of under the gun. I have a couple of days until Christmas Day. Usually I have everything planned out and I'm running about three to four weeks in advance with my podcast, but for whatever reason I missed this particular week and I didn't catch it until a few days ago. So I decided that I was going to do a very special kind of episode for you today and I'm excited about it. I thought it would be fun for you to listen in on one of my Farm Marketing School monthly coaching calls every month. One of the perks of being in Farm Marketing School is that you get to attend a live group session on Zoom with everyone who's inside of Farm Marketing School and myself, and we get together for about an hour and we talk through whatever our members want to talk about so they can bring a question to the table. It can be a mindset block that we kind of coach each other through. It can be a question that they need troubleshooting help with. It can be a brainstorming session. I love it when we have a good group of people show up and there are lots of ideas populating in the room and so that's what we're going to share today. I'm actually pulling from this past month's Zoom Call, and I'm just dropping it right in here now. I did edit some of the stuff out because we had lots of different conversations, but there was one main topic that really took up the bulk of the call, and that's what I am bringing you here today. So this is one of our members. His name is David, and he shared a very specific problem that he's facing, the whole reason he joined Farm Marketing School in the first place. So he is going to be opening a Strawberry U Pick, and he wanted advice on how to go about building the sales funnel for it. And so we talked about that in this call. We go over all the different kinds of things you have to think about if you're starting from scratch and how important it is to really think through the top of the funnel. Because his primary concern is going to be getting eyeballs on his offer, on the fact that he even has a U Pick. So he needs to cast a wide net, but he also is going to need to come up with a product ladder. So we talk about that as well. There's going to be a need to have other things to sell at the U Pick besides just coming to pick berries if he wants to maximize his profits, especially because the UPIC is only around for a few weeks and then it's done. So how do you continue to generate revenue off those clients all year long? So it was a really great conversation, and I just thought after it was over, man, this is a great, like, case study that I could bring to the whole globe. And so I thought I would drop it into a podcast today.
- [07:37]
Unknown
So.
- [07:37]
Corinna Bench
So I want you to just be a little fly on the wall and listen in on our conversation. And if you are a business just getting started or you're in the early stages of your business, you might pull away. Some gems from this episode, and I'm curious if you've been in business for a little bit longer, if you find yourself nodding your head as you listen, or maybe you even have a few tips that you would have shared had you been in the room. I want you to think about that. Many of you who are seasoned veterans, you are wise. You are wise beyond words. So I think it's sometimes fun to listen to farmers who are kind of at the beginning of the journey and reflect on how far we've come. So I hope you get some value out of this episode and I will hop in at the end and share some final thoughts. Okay, here we go.
- [08:27]
David
That was our fun little icebreaker, and I guess I wanted to open up the, the. The room now that you can use this space however you want. Maybe some of you came with a question that you wanted to ask the group or another way you could approach. This is something that you've. Something exciting that's happened this month and you just want to talk out or you want to get some ideas. So I'm going to open it up and if I don't have anybody say anything, I will ask another prompt question. But just glad you're here. How can I be of service? How can we be of service?
- [09:08]
Unknown
I'll speak.
- [09:10]
David
Let's do it. Yeah.
- [09:11]
Unknown
Okay. So, yeah, just getting started. I have been as a. I've had a successful farm business in the past. I used to sell at a farmer's market, spent, then stopped and spent a period growing ornamental grasses for wholesale. So now I'm getting back into selling to the public. So. But I'm kind of starting from scratch because all of my customers were at a farmer's market that was like 45 minutes away from here. So I got my caveman website tagline, we grow. You pick. Just got my website up and running like a couple of days ago. It's so bare bones. I guess my question is like, I'm building it and they have to come, but I, I'm a little bit worried that they might not come and purchase and be, you know. So I guess I'm kind of wondering right now the way my website, there's really only one path. It's that you come to the farm and pick the product. So it's like a lot of your, your stuff. I'm. I'm confused. Well, you know, I'm like wondering sort of how to apply it when like my best offer is like you come to the farm and buy everything that's available. But I'm wondering if. I feel like I probably need to create some backup outlets for selling the products. And I'm wondering about how confusing that might be if I have that on my website. You know, as like, here are your options. Come to the farm and buy it. Or we have this other option where, you know, it's available here that requires like a whole lot more work like creating up the store. And so I, I don't know. I mean, I feel like it should be possible to have a successful place where people come pick stuff, feel like that should work. But I'm just, I'm a little worried. There is one advantage with the new strawberry disease. A couple of the like tried and true pickyourown farms aren't doing it this year. So there will be like some opportunities to take advantage of that that didn't exist or that wouldn't have existed like last year. So I don't know. Any thoughts on that?
- [11:38]
David
This is a great topic. Let's just. Oh, like if I were in your shoes. And so the way I like to approach this is let's just brainstorm, let's just talk out, like let's walk around this idea all the different things that could potentially be thought about. The first thing I want to ask you is let's. So let's think about your funnel, right? Like what is the. The process by which a person kind of moves through your business as you imagine it right now? And I'm just going to ask you some questions to help you flesh it out a little more. Okay, so let me. Do you have the main thing like where do all re. All roads lead to? What in your business is it just they come and pick strawberries and then they're done or what happens then? So walk me through like your possible product ladder. Even if those ideas haven't all been developed yet.
- [12:36]
Unknown
Right. So the most basic is to come and just pick the vegetables. The second would be buying the. I'm sorry, pick the. Actually we're gonna have pick your own vegetables. But they, they pick what they want. Then the other. The next level is buying the other things that we have available that maybe we've pre picked that aren't available for them to pick.
- [13:01]
David
So they show up to pick their own and then they go to the cash register or they shop a little area that maybe has some other things they could just add. Add on.
- [13:11]
Unknown
Right, okay.
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David
Right, got it.
- [13:13]
Unknown
And then we're making value added products. So some syrups and some jams and so they could purchase those. And then there will also be sodas available that we're going to make with the syrups. So they could purchase a drink. And then the ideal customer is then coming back more and more. And really I want to focus on like the bulk buyer people who are buying a lot because they want to preserve or freeze or dry. So I also want to incorporate. Then the. Continue the continued funnel is the classes on jam making or sauerkraut or food dehydrator freezing, that kind of thing. So I guess the latter looks sort.
- [14:00]
David
Of like that strawberry season is not very long. So what happens once strawberries are done? Do you have another way to continue to poke this. This customer? I mean, just say some of these are classes, but is there like, is there another fruit or another like Are you gonna, you gonna do other, you pick type things or is it just the strawberries?
- [14:23]
Unknown
Yeah, after strawberries are blackberries.
- [14:26]
David
Okay, so you'll do that next.
- [14:28]
Unknown
They're, they follow pretty closely. Um, there might be like a week or two, it depends how long. And then we have a few blueberries, but in three years we'll have more blueberries. And then the blueberries are then followed by muscadines. Um, so we should have enough to keep the people there most of the summer through September, if not some of early October.
- [14:57]
David
Okay. If, if I were a customer that was coming, you know, looking for a strawberry farm, I would probably want to go to Google. So I want to make sure that you've thought through. Like, have you optimized your Google business page, for instance? Like, are you, are you going to show up if someone types in strawberry? You pick.
- [15:26]
Unknown
That is your next class that I have like to do on your digital farm thing is the Google SEO or whatever. I haven't done that yet. And I need to also do that on my website.
- [15:38]
David
Yeah, okay. I would say that's a, that's a priority because a lot of people, that's how they'll find you is they're just, oh, I want a. You pick. Are there any upicks. If there are any other places that advertise on behalf of other farms for Upix? What is that called? Like, like different websites that list. Yeah, right. Like make sure you're on. On those lists as well on those websites now the way that you're going to make money here, let me just share an idea with you that one of my friends, Michael Kilpatrick does in southern Ohio. He actually has. And he started his farm, I don't know, like three, four years ago. It wasn't that long ago. He actually has people sign up on an email list. Like through email, they have to RSVP and like book a slot to come and you pick, which is just something to think about because he has such a demand now. I think he, even before he had demand, though, that was the way that you did it. You had to like rsvp. You got, you chose your slot. Now he has your email address because of that. And then he can continue to build connection through email and pitch more offers and let them know, here's the next thing. Here's the next thing. He's had wild success with that. So I encourage you to. You probably know who he is because he has a podcast, but encourage you to like go check out his farm. It's called Farm on Central and maybe just scope out like what he's doing with that.
- [17:11]
Unknown
Yeah, I saw that he has a strawberry master class available through university and I'm going to take that. I just haven't done it yet.
- [17:18]
David
Yeah, that might be another idea. Even if you just, you probably already know how to grow strawberries. But like maybe you're just listening in on the.
- [17:24]
Unknown
Yes, the marketing part, how he does.
- [17:26]
David
It, because I know it's very successful. He also has people come back. Another thing that he sells is like photo ops. I think he, you, you have to. So he has like a sunflower field. I feel like this is. Maybe I'm wrong, but people come and book slots to take pictures with their family in the sunflower field. Like so just be thinking outside the box a little bit like that. How can you, how can you capture an email address from someone? And it's really more like the, it's not so much about the strawberry, but it's also about the experience that you're selling. Those of you who are in the room. What, what do you think his, his ideal customer is really after? Like what's the, what's the angle that he's selling here? What's the problem he's solving or the desire that he's meeting?
- [18:21]
Unknown
I think it's kind of twofold. I think it's, you know, getting local produce and knowing the farmer and trusting it. But I really feel like it's more of the experience. We have a friend here that has a Sunflower U pick farm and they've done strawberries, blackberries, vegetables, that kind of thing. And they have switched to that format when Covid came of booking times and really focusing on that. This is your personal experience. The farm isn't going to be overwhelmed with people. You're not going to have to fight for parking. Like all if you really highlight on those aspects of why you want to book and why it's so much better for you to go ahead and book and prepay. Like they easily have 3,000 customers a day during their season. So like people that have been to the farm before and had to fight for the parking and that kind of thing. So like I, I would highly, highly recommend that. And like anything that I do with my farm, I try to do prepay like pre order in advance. That way you know that the money is there and you're not just putting out, but you do. It sounds like you've got some loss prevention in place with your value added products and that kind of stuff.
- [19:35]
David
So I love that Idea you're actually thinking about like building. How do you build the offer? You could, even as they prepay, you could have kind of different tiers. Like base level is just, you know, book your slot and because I think that even Michael, like you don't have to pick a single strawberry. You have to pay to just have the privilege of walking in the fields, you know, so it's like 10 bucks a fan, whatever, just to wander the strawberry field for 30 minutes is this much. Then you could have a second kind of level of like if you want to pre. Like this is your, your rate per pound, you know, like. Or I'll give you £10 at this rate. I don't, I don't know what people actually pick in a 30 minute period, but you could create price points like here's the cost. It includes the ability to walk the fields and pick as much as you want, plus your first ten pounds or whatever you think is a minimal rate. And then you could go from there. Right. So there's, I guess the goal being there that you want to, somebody might be tempted to take. Well, I want, I know I'm going to try and get £20 worth, so I'm going to go for that higher one. Or maybe £20 isn't that much. But do you see what I'm doing? Like you have the ability to kind of build these packages and over time as you, your first year is going to be kind of a, a test case. Actually within the first probably four to five days you will know a lot. You'll kind of know what is, what is, is it that people are going for the most, which offer are they liking, how much are people buying when they show up, how much is an average person picking? And I really like that idea of highlighting those, some of those other things, like you don't have to worry about crowds or I'm going to have like a fresh row of, of berries that you don't have to pick through because I am curating the process and putting flags up and I know exactly I'm moving people through my patch the way I want. Right, right.
- [21:29]
Unknown
Yeah, that's what I was just going to say. Like, imagine being excited to go pick strawberries with your family and then showing up to the field and they're all picked out and you're disappointed and it was a negative experience for you and it should have been a positive one. By you reserving those time slots and doing like Karina said, where you're selecting which rows people can go on, it ensures that everybody has a positive experience.
- [21:53]
David
You could even do an upsell offer that you don't deliver until. Unless your software allows you to do a one click upsell after they already decide to buy. But you could offer an upsell once they arrive. You could give them a limited time offer. Like hey, for the next, let's say they're picking for an hour and you're like anytime in this hour, anytime in the first 30 minutes. Like I'm gonna give you this extra 10 discount if you get another 10 pounds. Or if you want to add on as you're leaving like a, a case of pre picked berries in addition to what you just did, I'll give them to you for five bucks off. You could do something like that and they might go for it while, you know, while they're actually having a great time in the experience. So just something to think about. It's an emotional, they're on an emotional high and that's usually a good time to try and ask someone to buy again or buy something else. And they'll often say yes when they're in a yes mode and they want to extend the experience. Or you can have a little bundle that you've created for them or you need to make the, the pricing work for you so you're making good money. But just take advantage of that as well.
- [22:59]
Unknown
Would you do the upsell like as they're checking out or you're not thinking about like pinging them on their cell phone while they're picking?
- [23:07]
David
No, no, no, no, not like that. I, you know what made me think of it is when I, I once did a, a zipline experience with my family and they kept trying. Like when I actually bought, they asked me, do you want to add a Superman zip for an extra $10 a person? And I was like, no, I think I'm good. And then they asked again. When I got there, we're getting all the orientation stuff. They kind of brought it up again very like low casual. And then they did it again in the middle of the zip line. Like we were like, like we're going through, we're on. We're all hanging around this giant tree on the platform. And they said, okay, we're coming up to our Superman shoot. Here's your last chance. If you want to take a zipline, the Superman will you could. You can add it on. And it was actually even cheaper that last time they offered it one more time. So that's what made me think of it. I was like, I wonder what that would look like in your Scenario where you have something that you can tag on as, you know, a second offer about 30% of people will take. The upsell is what you will find. And so you want it to be priced at a point that is like around 30% of what they're already buying, like the same cost. That's sort of the rule that I follow. And so you've got to kind of imagine what could that be. So yes, it could be, it could be at the point of sale after they've already done this, then you tell them hey, I've got this other thing you want to just add it on. It could be something you deliver as an email after if your software doesn't let you do a one click upsell, which many of them don't, then you might have to deliver it as an email. After their confirmation email comes out where they can go back and buy again and just have a coupon code for them to get it at that rate. Or you can bring it up when they arrive and you're going through your orientation. That's kind of when I would explain it. And if they want to do it then you just say okay, great, give them a ticket or make them pay right there, I don't know. So that when they go and check out they know that they have this special offer. Just a thought. So the ways that you make money are the way that you can, you can actually double your revenue when you raise the number of the, the number of actor active customers that are coming, the, the frequency at which they buy and the average order value. Those are the three key levers that you have. I guess you could argue price too but those three elements are what you need to keep your eye fixed on. If you can raise each of those markers by 30%, you double your revenue. Like I have a little calculator on my Google sheet that shows that. So that's why I'm trying to challenge you. Like how that whole upsell thing is the way that you get that extra, that's how you raise your average order value by that 30% is finding that thing that will be just about a little bit higher and can go up, make that go up by 30%. Yeah, this is such a great example. Once they bought and they come, they have, you want to make sure you have give them a great experience. What does that actual experience look like? Have you thought through that process so that they feel welcomed, they feel like, yeah, being treated like a star. What are they hoping will happen in that moment and how can you really over deliver?
- [26:18]
Unknown
Yeah, I think. Yeah. I'm not. I'm not sure. I mean, the farm is, I don't know, making sure everything's well maintained, well cared for, easy paths marked. Super. Everything's marked, clearly.
- [26:31]
David
Yeah.
- [26:35]
Unknown
I think, you know, not having it be too crowded, certainly not having them arrive and there not be any berries. That'd be a horrible experience.
- [26:43]
David
Yeah. How long does it take for an average session picking session? Have you thought about that?
- [26:52]
Unknown
I am not actually sure.
- [26:54]
David
Okay. Does anyone else in the room know? I haven't gone in so long. I'm just. I feel like it's depending on how old your children are.
- [27:03]
Unknown
Yeah. You know, I. And I didn't. I didn't really want my ideal customer to be a mom with kids.
- [27:12]
David
Oh, really?
- [27:15]
Unknown
I know. So. Because I'm not building in any of the, like, things that kids play on. It's not that they're. I mean, there'll be chickens and so I didn't want it to be super, like, overrun.
- [27:35]
David
I think that's okay. The place that I go to doesn't have, like, you know, a swing set or like a whole agritourism sort of fixation on kids. It's just I definitely wanted my kids out there in the sunshine, like, popping a few in their mouth that didn't get weighed. And I hope you're okay with that. Like, that's going to happen. And maybe you even create a perk around that. Like, hey, for an extra five bucks, you get a bucket that you can just fill with berries that you can just snack on the whole time. I don't know, like, give. Give them permission. Like, hey, if you're feeling guilty that your kid's eating a lot of the berries you're picking, I'm just gonna, like, give you a let, you know, I know that happens. So here's a bucket, or here's an extra quart.
- [28:16]
Corinna Bench
Hey, this is Corinna interrupting the podcast real quick. You have been listening to an excerpt from our monthly Zoom call that happens inside of Farm Marketing School. Now, Farm Marketing School is my online membership program where I help farm farmers build their marketing systems for their business. I tend to attract two different types of farmers. Either beginning farmers who are just at the early stages of growing their business and trying to put all the pieces together, and intermediate farmers who have been in business for a while, but never took the time to actually build a system around their marketing. And so they've been struggling to pull in the revenue. Now, the goal of our marketing school is, number one, to teach you the marketing Framework because I have found that a lot of business owners do not even know what it is. And once you know the framework, then it'll be very clear what you have to do to get new people to find out about you, to buy your first offer and then to turn into superfans. And I show you exactly how that's done. The second element of our marketing school though is to help you actually get the job done of building out the different pieces so that you have a marketing machine. So you will learn not only what the framework is, but you'll take an actual self assessment where you can then see what are the pieces that are missing in my marketing and sales funnel and then you'll be able to know which of the classes inside of farm Marketing School do I need to take? Because those are going to help me build the different assets that are missing. When you join Farm Marketing School, you get access to 15 different marketing projects that live inside there. Now you can binge them all in one month if you can. That's kind of hard to do, but you can try or you can pick and choose the ones that are of greatest need to you. And inside of each of those 30 day project builds, there's a video class, there's a planner to help you get started and keep you on track. And there's a resource folder with tons of templates to help you get started started. Now there's also a monthly zoom meetup where you can hang out with other farm marketing members like you and ask questions of me and of each other. And we also periodically have live classes or special bonus sessions like we just had a book study last month. This coming January I'm doing a live class on the marketing metrics and you're going to build out your marketing dashboard, you your metrics dashboard for next year. And so I'm always looking for ways that I can uplift you and challenge you and help you keep your eye on the most important things you need to build out your marketing funnel. So if you want to join the community and spend some time developing this leg of your business, please join me inside for a couple of months in the off season here you can go to mydigitalfarmer.com ed fms. I would love to see you there. And now back to the show.
- [31:21]
Unknown
Can I share something else with you? So I, I just created the website. Obviously no traffic has been generated. I have zero social whatever pages. So I have to I guess do that. I guess I'm kind of trying to think about some of these, some of the avenues for, you know, generating traffic. Ultimately I want to generate traffic to get to my website or at some point. What I want from them at this point in time is their email address so that I can keep them up to date, especially with these offers as they come out. If I'm doing the reserve time slot. But like the berries are in reserve your spot today. I've got to be able to communicate with them when things are, are ready to be picked. So.
- [32:21]
David
Yeah, you're pointing out you have a, you have your offer in mind, like you know what you want to pitch. But your main concern since you're starting is how do I get eyeballs on my brand in the first place?
- [32:32]
Unknown
Yeah, and I mean, you're stuff has been like an amazing resource. Like I've thought about, like, it's kind of weird to do a slow drip to a, to a pick your own season that starts, but like, you know, sending people the tips on how do you freeze berries. Or here's what you can do with those 10 pounds of frozen berries in your fridge. Like, here's the top five recipes for strawberries. I gotta come up with some ideas to engage these people between when I get their email and when picking starts. So it's not just like one email. Welcome to Higgs Farm. Nice to meet you.
- [33:10]
David
Yeah.
- [33:10]
Unknown
And the second email is berries are ready.
- [33:13]
David
Right. Well, I think right now you could be documenting what, what the process is for getting strawberries to your plate. Like, so think in. If the whole idea of like a nurture sequence is freaking you out right now and it feels daunting, I would start with just creating a practice of an, of a weekly email. Like if you're gonna, or maybe bi weekly since it's an offseason. So if you're going to write a list of five people. If you only have five people on your list, maybe you only have two. What is it? You know, hey, about around this time, I'm looking into c. I'm looking at sea catalogs and you've got a photo of your sea catalogs that you put in the email. And you just kind of quickly describe like how you have to pick out the right variety and what makes, what, what makes you decide to choose this one over that one. And because we're going to be. You pick, I'm really going for this angle or the taste really matters to me. Or you can just sort of explain the process of the seed catalog. Right. And that could just be your weekly email. And then a little like, hey, we're going to be opening and da da, da. You'll have to rcp. You can have that in the ps. We're excited. We'll let you know when it gets closer. The next two weeks later, you write another email. What are you doing now around this topic?
- [34:24]
Corinna Bench
Oh, I'm going to show you a.
- [34:25]
David
Picture of the pack shed I'm building. We're getting really excited because the launch is coming here. It is so far. You can see I got a lot more work to do. You know better, whatever. And you just document, document your process two weeks later, come up with something else to document. Maybe it's a video you took that you posted on social and then you ended up putting it on YouTube and you give them the link to the video so they can go watch it. And there's a screenshot of a part of that video in your email and you just quickly say, you should go watch it. I'm doing da da da da. Okay, so you're just keeping them on, on, on the line. That way eventually you get closer and you can start saying, hey, it's time. Look, it's close, they're starting to come out of the ground, or hey, we're, we're planting them right now, or whatever. As you get closer, you'll then be more about reserve your time, reserve your time. Or you should also consider in your emails, like, do you know someone else who would love to do this? Like tell your mom friends or tell a friend of yours that you like to bake with, Whatever. Right. So encourage your customers to be sharing that email. Then I was going to say you could take those emails that you've written. They'll be in your email service provider. You will eventually be able to go back and create your autoresponder email sequence from that. So, so for now, as you're getting started, people who join, if you don't have that autoresponder built yet, I guess you could create a few that are like about how to store your stuff and here's some recipes, but I wouldn't get too worried about having that in place because you're kind of building it live. Right? Some of these things that you're writing in the moment can be repurposed eventually later as you, as you stitch them together and stuff them into the autoresponder. Does that make sense? So you can still write an email about the process of how you select your ideal seed from the seed catalog. So you just have to change the verb tense so it doesn't sound like it's being written live. And eventually that will go into this long series of emails that someone subscribes to whenever they happen to subscribe to your list in the middle of the season. But it's okay for someone to come in for now midstream, as you're documenting the story. I don't think it'll be too jarring if they miss the first one where you talk about the C catalogs. Like, that's okay, you know, they can just fall into place wherever you are. Just know that eventually you can go back and pull those and turn them into an evergreen piece of content. I think that would be really smart. You should also look at two other things I was going to bring up as far as assets that I think should be important to you. Getting some testimonials from your clients. I know they don't exist, but maybe you can figure out, like, this is a common, A common thing that you see out there in the space, that you actually will give somebody a chance to have your product for free in exchange for a testimonial. Like, that's the arrangement you make on the front end. Like, I'm gonna let you pick $20 worth of strawberries, $25 worth of strawberries. But you have to give me a testimonial about your experience. And you do that for like, I don't know, 10 people. And now you've. You've got them on your Google, right? But you also then take them from Google, stick them on your website, and you maybe have to agree, I need a picture of your family as you're picking. That's part of the gig too, so that I can use it in my marketing. So just think about how you can leverage. You may not even have to pay for them. So I don't know if, even if I would offer that right away, but just find a way to get testimonials from people as soon as possible, even if it means you haven't. They haven't picked a strawberry yet. Have they ever picked anything from you? Then have them write a testimonial for you so you can stick that on your website. People are going to look for the social proof. And the sooner you can get photos of actual customers having fun, you know, doing it, that's when people will be able to imagine themselves in those shoes. And they'll. It'll just make it an even more alluring offer. You can be using those pictures on social over and over and over again. So as soon as the season starts and you have people coming, make sure you're taking photos you might even want to have a person on your team or even hire somebody, maybe pay somebody 150 bucks to come out for two hours that whole day and their whole job is just, I need you to take photos of people taking pictures. And I'm just going to. This is an investment and I'm going to use this all year long. Next winter too, when I'm talking about my product. You'll have that.
- [39:02]
Unknown
Okay.
- [39:03]
David
Yeah.
- [39:03]
Unknown
I had thought about. I haven't done it yet, but I had, I had thought about reaching out to my previous CSA and farmers market customers for a testimonial. Even though it wouldn't be applicable to pick your own, they can still talk about the quality and the taste. I thought it might, yes. But I wasn't sure, you know, do it. So that would be worth it.
- [39:25]
David
Yes. All you need is like three to five for the website. I would say three really unique website. And then eventually when you have some that are more current and applicable to your unique offer, you'll switch them out. But you should have some testimonials on there that would be really powerful. And I would also encourage you to look into influencers. Is there anybody on social media in your local area that's kind of an influencer in the space in terms of eating food, bloggers, whatever, and just offer them a free come, you know, you pick day at your farm and in return for posting about it on their channel or writing an article about it, like give people some freebies because they'll want, they'll think it's so cool and they'll naturally feel compelled to give back and, and post about it because they have your audience.
- [40:18]
Unknown
Right.
- [40:19]
David
So who, who is your audience? If you have an ideal customer in mind, who is that person and then who it. Who does that person probably follow on social? Reach out to those people? Are they in Facebook groups? Do they have a, you know, if they're a bunch of old, old women ladies who can. Then they may not be on social. He may be out of luck there. But figure out who they listen to. Amy has her hand up. Do you have an idea, Amy?
- [40:46]
Unknown
Yeah. So one, are you going to be adding your old CSA customers into your email nurture sequence? Like you already have that valuable resource built up. You should go ahead and market them with your current offers. And then two, like Corinna said, if they're old ladies, they're not going to be on social media, that kind of thing. Does your area have, like, we have a cannery here. Does your area have a cannery? Or are there canning clubs, that kind of thing. Maybe you could post a flyer and have information about your farm and your. You pick schedule available just to get out in front of people because you are so new. And then once you do get your social media up and running, a lot of like towns have social media groups. Like here in Brooksville we have friends of Brooksville and you can just post like hey we're a new farm opening up in your area just to drive people to your farm. But I would definitely market the people that you already have contacts for for sure.
- [41:55]
David
So Dave, we've made this all about you today. I hope that was fun. But I think your main. Some of the things, let's just review some of the things that you would have to really be focused on as a new business is attracting traffic. So getting eyeballs on your brand. So really thinking about where does my traffic live. And you're going to have to do a little bit of legwork. I would not rely on social media. You may even need to explore paid social media ads like I'm going to do five bucks a day, ten bucks a day for 30 days. I don't know, I don't know what your budget, what you feel comfortable with. But you might want to test that and just see if that helps with the goal being to grow your list. So the post that you're trying to promote would be some kind of a list building tool, a giveaway. Right. Like some kind of a lead magnet of some sort. But you're trying to get as many people as possible to find out you exist. Leveraging your current customer list to help you find our cult, you know, re engaging them slowly here over time and then maybe even asking them to help you find new customers. Like creating content that's going to be word of mouth worthy and then looking at what your offers might be. So maybe you can even start pre selling some of those slots as early as March or April. Like you could sell the product and then you reach out to them later to fill in the slots. Does that make sense? Like so you don't wait to do it all at once. That's another thought. And then imagining what are some of those value added products that you could be looking at developing to have ready to sell there once they come for the strawberries. Because if you're only selling strawberries, you're missing the boat. Like there's way, way more. Let's, let's end with that. We've got, I'll, we'll do five more minutes and I really Want group participation here. So like if you were walking into a strawberry u pick store, I'm just picturing it right now like Poulter's berries over here in my neck of the woods. What do you see being sold in that store that are value added items next to those cases of berries that have already been pre picked for you? So anyone?
- [44:26]
Unknown
Definitely jams for sure, Jellies, jams, even like kits to make your own. Another thing I see is like dehydrated or dried for those like quick snacks. And I'm also a mom of toddlers, so I'm immediately probably going to grab a pack of those and open them up to give to the kids so they won't destroy anything. They'll have something to do. So those are my, my first initial thoughts. Another thing, and I'm just. Since we're like in Christmas time too. Another, another thing I'm thinking of too is it's not necessarily like an actual berry product, although it could be like strawberry candles or blueberry pancake candles that could essentially have like, you know, dried berries in them. That's what I'm thinking too.
- [45:26]
David
Love it. Okay, somebody else say something while you're doing that. I am literally inside of Chat GPT right now and I am doing a prompt and I'm going to ask Chat GPT to give me ideas of things a strawberry farm could sell sell that are value added at their strawberry booth. So while I'm typing that in, somebody else give another suggestion. All right, give me a second. He's populating. So jams and preserves, strawberry rhubarb. Think of unique combinations too. Syrups, dessert toppings. So strawberry sauce, chocolate covered strawberries, freeze dried baked goods, strawberry pies, hand pies, muffins, scones, shortcakes, cookies, cupcakes, frozen treats, popsicles, sorbet ice cream candies, strawberry fudge, strawberry caramels, hard candies. Again, some of those things you don't even have to make yourself. They could just be strawberry themed recipe cards and books. Pre made baking mixes like pancakes, scone shortcake mixes and cute packaging. Strawberry themed gifts. Tote bags, aprons, tea towels, mugs. Oh my gosh. With strawberries on them. I thought of strawberry shortcake cheese, pear strawberries with artisan cheeses, yogurt whipped cream, honey maple syrup. Interesting strawberry hulling tools, cooler bags to transport berries home. Oh my God. So ChatGPT has a lot of ideas. Strawberry lemonade, strawberry iced tea, strawberries, strawberry sparkling strawberry water, strawberry plants, body care products, candles, lip balms, kid activity mats, strawberry coloring books, puzzles, crafts, photography packages where you hire a photographer for a you pick experience with mini sessions. Well that's a thought. And you take a cut. You have a photographer who makes money in the process. Picnic boxes, pre packed picnic options with cheese crackers and strawberries. Season passes or club memberships. Discounts on multiple you pick visits. Or you could even have like like a party. Like a strawberry you pick party that people could book a whole. You could encourage that as a product line. So they have a birthday party and up to 30 people they all come and they pick berries. Might be a neat birthday party idea. Okay, that all just came from ChatGPT, so just plugging the AI tool because sometimes it just unlocks you a little bit. All right, that was fun. Thanks guys for hanging out. I won't see you again until after Christmas, so Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. Get some rest. Do some time for reflection. Make sure you debrief your year, stop and smell the roses and trust that you will be provided the next step. Sometimes you don't see step three or four. Sometimes all you're given is step one. And until you take step one, you don't see the next step. So just be faithful. Okay? Have a great week. We'll talk again soon.
- [48:46]
Corinna Bench
Well, I hope you enjoyed that sneak peek of my latest Farm Marketing School monthly Zoom Coaching call. And a special thanks to David for sitting in the hot seat for as long as you did. You did great and I'm excited to see where you take that conversation if it gives you some ideas and some traction. And don't forget, if you want to step inside of Farm Marketing School for a couple months and enjoy the support of that community and get some ideas to supercharge your marketing, you can do so by going to mydigitalfarmer.com FMS today's show notes can be found at mydigitalfarmer.com 293 and if you like today's episode, please share it with another farmer friend. You can either just share the link or you can email them and tell them about the My Digital Farmer podcast and that they need to listen. I'm just trying to get more and more people to know that I even exist. So thanks so much for doing that. And don't forget, if you want to get onto my email list, I have a ton of free stuff to send your way. You can do so by going to mydigitalfarmer.com subscribe. You can also check me out on Instagram ydigitalfarmer. Thanks for joining me today, everyone, have a merry Christmas, a blessed new Year, and I will be taking next week off from the podcast. But I'll be back in the saddle the week after that. I'll catch you then. Remember, I believe in you.
- [50:14]
David
Bye.