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My Digital Farmer Podcast
320 How to Create a VIP Customer Strategy for Your Farm Part 2
00:45:22
Last week we mapped out what your farm’s VIP program could look like. This week, it’s time to bring it to life. How do you structure it? Communicate it? Track it? And… what if someone loses VIP status? If you've ever wanted a loyal sub-group of...
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Corinna Bench
You know those loyal VIP customers who just get you, the ones who keep coming back and rave about you to their friends. In last week's episode, we talked about how to identify those VIPs in your business. Today in part two, we're diving into what to do with them. How to design a VIP program with the right perks, structure and positioning. So it feels irresistible. 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 better and more confident at marketing. Learn how to find more customers, increase your sales, and build a strong brand for your farm. Start the show well. Welcome to episode 320 of the My Digital Farmer Podcast. I am 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 strategies so that you can grow a profitable business. How's everyone doing today? Welcome back to the show. Big shout out to all of my regular listeners, especially those of you who have been listening to multiple episodes in a row. Big high five. That's awesome. I love it. And if you're new to the show, I'm glad you're here. I hope you get a lot of value out of today's episode. We're talking about VIP customers and specifically VIP customer strategy, so this is going to be a good one. If you are new to the marketing space, you feel a little green. I want to encourage you to go back and check some of my podcast archives. I always tell people to start with the first 10 because I designed them to be like an onboarding into the marketing space and teach you the core principles. But another way that you could learn more about marketing is just scroll through all 300 plus episodes and see what tickles your fancy. Or get onto my email list. You can subscribe by going to mydigitalfarmer.com subscribe when you do, I'm gonna send you an email about every five days for three months or so and I'm gonna walk you through the key things you need to know. Some of those emails are gonna be teaching emails. Some of them are gonna be sending you off to really great episodes of this podcast or Resources Freebies Canva Templates Just things to help shortcut your process to becoming a marketing master. So you can get that by going to mydigitalfarmer.com subscribe Today's podcast is sponsored by my friends at Local Line. If managing orders, customers and inventory feels chaotic this season, it might be time for a better system. Local Line is the all in one sales platform built for farms and food hubs. Whether you're selling direct to consumer or managing wholesale buyers or running a CSA with tools like E commerce, automated inventory management, subscriptions, barcode scanning, box builder and pos, localline helps you simplify operations and grow your sales. In fact, farmers using localline increase their annual sales by 23% and boost their average order size by 9.5%. Switching is easy. No setup fees, no sales commissions, and your onboarding manager will migrate your storefront for free. No joke, so that you can get started without missing a beat. As a podcast listener, you'll also get one premium feature for free for a full year when you use my code MDF2025 at checkout. So head to mydigitalfarmer.com localline use that coupon code and you'll be on your way. Start selling smarter this season with localline. And now back to the show. Today is part two of a two part series that I decided to record all about VIP customer strategy. And if you missed part one of this series, go back and listen to that first. It was Last week, episode 319 and in that episode we talked about why VIP customers matters, how to define who qualifies as a VIP in your business, and then we brainstormed some ideas for how you could actually set up the VIP tier, how you would reward those superfans. So there is a freebie, a worksheet that goes along with these two episodes. It's my VIP Builder worksheet. And this is just meant for you to listen to this show and then have some time to reflect on some of the questions that come up as a result of these two episodes so that you can create some ideas for your first beta version of a VIP customer tier. That's my goal for you. So if you want to get that worksheet to go through that after listening to these two episodes 319 and 320, you can go to mydigitalfarmer.com VIPworksheet all one word and grab that printed out and work through the questions. It's really good. So today we're going to focus mostly on building and communicating your VIP system. But I wanted to quickly review some of the different examples of perks that could be part of a VIP customer experience. I talked through some of these in the first episode, but I didn't go into as much detail as I really wanted to. So I'm going to review this part especially for those of you who didn't listen to last week's and you might be coming into this conversation a little blind. This is going to help lay some context for you. So our VIP customers are people that have. They're like the super fans. They in most cases have been with us for a while and they're ready to graduate to like this upper level tier. But sometimes the VIP customer has only been with us for a short amount of time. They just want to accelerate and they want to turn into a super fan really fast. And so I just love this idea of creating a level in your business that allows people to move towards a higher level of commitment. I once had a mentor tell me that in your product suite, as you're building out your product ladder, you should always have one product for sale that is just so over the top, like out of people's price range and just kind of an out there product for the ultimate 0.001% of your customer base, because there will always be one person who will aspire to that product. And so this is kind of a similar concept where we have created a kind of a structure for our customers to move through so they can see this is the kind of customer that I am trying to become. And when you have these tiers in place and you define what it means to be at a VIP tier, you will notice that more people will begin to behave in that matter. So in that manner. So we want to talk through now real quickly. Like what are some of the perks that could be offered to a VIP to try incentivize them to become this level of client. And we talked through some of this in last week's episode. But I'm going to go through this list here again real quickly. The first one is just exclusive offers and early access to things. So it could be early access to seasonal launches, like I do that with my CSA members. If they are in our csa, they will be able to renew that share way earlier before anyone else. You could offer first dibs on limited products like flower bouquets or canning tomatoes or special bundles you might offer. You could do secret product drops that are just for your VIPs and they're the only ones who even know about them or you could have some kind of a VIP only flash sale once a quarter. A VIP only event that happens once a year. Another category might be special pricing or bonuses that unlock for them. It could be a VIP only discount code, coupon code that they get for the entire year. Or maybe it's just for a certain short period of time. It could be loyalty rewards. It could be a free bonus item that's added to every fifth order, 10th online store order, or when they hit a certain threshold of customer value in terms of how much they've spent with you. It could be a free delivery or a waived pickup fee if they have reached this VIP level. Invitations and experiences are another perk that I've often seen used. And this is one that we actually use for ours. So maybe it's an invite to a VIP farm tour or a dinner or some kind of appreciation event. Again, I'm sure that has a cost, but you build that cost into the VIP program and they feel like it's a perk. It could be first access to event tickets before the general public gets the ability to buy them. So again, that's not any money out of your pocket, but it's positioned as a perk that they will get for sure access because no one else can snag those tickets. Private shopping windows for special bundles or holiday gift boxes or some kind of a bonus product launch. It could be an annual thank you party or an open house. Again, that's just for VIPs. And the reason why that's attractive is because it makes them feel like they're going to get special access to you one on one time with you. And if you're a CSA like mine or farm like mine, and I have hundreds of people all trying to talk to me that special one on one time with just 10 other VIPs around a field to table dinner just for VIPs that that's special, like you get a chance to rub shoulders or with the farmer in a different kind of way. Another thing I've noticed about these farm experiences, that is a Perk for the VIPs. I've actually had a few of them say this to me, is that they like VIP status because of the other people that are sitting at the table. So usually the VIP status is attracting a certain caliber of client who's well connected, who appreciates networking, who knows people, who has resources. And so it's just really interesting to watch these people connecting at the table, talking to each other. It's very much a networking event and so they like being in the VIP tier because they know that it attracts other people like them who are also into networking. And it just seems to open up doors for them. It's like a giant golf meet or something. Yeah. Anyway, okay, the next category of perk might be upgraded product access. So this could be a surprise upgrade where you might give them the chance to swap a regular stake for a premium cut. And you only do this for VIPs. Or it could be, hey, you get priority choice on pickup days. Maybe there's even a VIP line. It could be a seasonal gift box or a small curated sampler that gets mailed once a year to them. Or maybe it's an exclusive VIP only product that no one else can even buy unless you're a vip. So whether that's delivered through a coupon code or it's just a price list that only they get access to, recognition and relationship building is another perk. You could kind of lean into here. This might be a personal thank you note or, or a holiday card that comes from your hand. And you don't write personal thank you notes to everyone, just to your VIPs. Maybe you feature them in your newsletter or in your social media as a customer of the month and they get some recognition that way. Or there's a behind the scenes video that you create just for your VIPs that walks them through something. Or it's a Q and A. Or it's a special crap preview of a product that only they are going to get. It could be like a special T shirt or swag that only they have. And so if they're carrying around this bright neon freezer bag that only the VIPs get, it's just a way for them to show that they're a vip. Today's podcast is sponsored by Farm Marketing School. All right, farmer, let me ask you something. Is marketing your farm something you actually enjoy or does it feel like a constant struggle? If you are like most farmers that I talk to, you are wearing all the hats and marketing always seems to slip through the cracks. Can I get an amen? That's exactly why I created Farm Marketing School. It's an online membership designed to help farmers like you build a simple, repeatable marketing system that actually works inside. You'll get bite sized, step by step projects that make marketing easier. Each month you pick what to work on, like writing better sales emails or improving your website copy, or setting up your online store. And I walk you through exactly how you should be doing it. And you're not doing this alone. Every month we have a live Zoom meetup where you can ask me questions, meet other members of Farm Marketing School, get coaching and hear what's working for other farmers. It's like having a farm marketing mentor in your back pocket. This isn't some long, overwhelming course. The projects are designed to be completed in under 30 days, so you're making steady progress without it taking over your life. So if you're ready to stop winging it and finally build a marketing system that brings in steady sales, come join Farm Marketing School today. Sign up for your first month and see what a difference it makes. Go to mydigitalfarmer.com fms to get started. And now back to the show. Exclusive content or education could be another perk here. I've already referenced a few examples that fall into other categories as well, but maybe it's a private email series for your VIPs that has bonus recipes or kitchen tips or content that they need in order to be able to consume the special stuff that you're giving them. Maybe it's early access to a freezing guide or preserving guide. Maybe it's a VIP only live Q and A session where you're answering questions that they might have. Or it's access to your farm's meal plan, content archive. Or like I have an academy that my entire CSA membership can gain access to. Most people who want to Access that pay $19 a month for all of the awesome resources in there. But my CSA members get it for free and they know that. And so now the value of that membership has increased for them because they're getting that for free beta testing or product input. Have you ever thought about that? I did a whole episode just about beta testing fairly recently if you want to look back in the archives. But this could be positioned as a Perk. So let VIPs vote on future products or give feedback on things that you're testing. You could invite them to try out a new product or a new service before it officially launches. You could survey them to get ideas for how that you could improve the shopping experience. Or maybe you're going to try out a different way of doing a CSA delivery or pickup. And so you're going to ask your VIPs who trust you and love you to give their honest feedback and they're going to feel honored that you ask them. Even if the beta goes poorly, they'll have this really great spirit about it and it'll feel like a perk. Okay, so those are just some quick reminder ideas of some of the different ways you can Start to think about structuring your VIP system. How can you position it as a perk? What are some of the things you can stack into your offer? Now let's move on to how do we position the VIP status to our customer base? And there are a few different models. There's probably some that I haven't thought of, but I could think of like four. And these are some of the ones that I've been thinking through as we're putting ours together. So the first one is that it's an invisible VIP tier. Okay. So it's kind of like the surprise and delight model. This is where you don't announce that you have a VIP status publicly and instead you're just tracking some of the key behaviors that you're using to define your VIPs. For example, oh, they've spent more than $1,000 in one year, or they've had over 10 orders in our online store in a six month period, or they've been enrolled for more than seven years. Right? You, you get to come up with what those are, but you're tracking the key behaviors and when someone hits the threshold, you surprise them with a note and with a reward. So you might say, like, hey, did you know you're one of our top customers? We just wanted to say thank you and you're one of our VIP members, xyz. And then you might issue them some kind of a perk. Right? And so this feels really personal. It feels special. It earns long term loyalty for them and it allows you to be a little bit more spontaneous, especially in the early stages if you're not exactly sure how you want this to look or you're nervous about it looking too exclusive and turning people off. This is a way for you to dabble in the space as you're testing out what this could feel like for you. I think this is really great for a small farm where customer tracking is manageable. Now the second option is the buy invitation only kind of VIP club. And this is where you begin to mention publicly that a VIP tier exists. You kind of mention it in passing initially, and then eventually you start kind of openly publicizing it. But at first, this is kind of where I'm at. I'm dropping the word VIP from time to time as if to let people know that there is such a thing as a VIP status. And I'm not really talking too much yet about how you can get there, but people are becoming aware that there is such a thing as VIP status. And when they become a vip, I Make it feel exclusive and earned. So you can use phrasing like, hey, every season we hand select some of our top customers to join our VIP circle. This year, you're on the list. You've been with us a while. Here's why you've received this status, right? So keep an eye out. We might surprise you with some special VIP perks. And then I have the freedom over the course of the year to decide. Oh, I think I want to make this a VIP perk. I'm going to send this out as a bonus to my members, or I'm going to share this coupon code with them. And it, again, feels spontaneous. I'm not locked into this plan that I have to make way up front, but all I've done is just let my people know, hey, there's this thing called vip. Did you know you're in the club? And then as I come up with ideas throughout the year and I feel. Feel like this is something I could do for my VIPs, I just announce it to them privately. Okay. So I think what this does is it kind of creates an aspiration and motivates people to stay active and to keep doing the behaviors that identified them as a vip, especially if I tell them why they got on the list. I remember the first time I started playing around with this is I just picked some people based on, you know, how. How much money they spent in my business. And I labeled them with the word VIP on the CSA checklist. So it was like their last name. And then the word VIP showed up next to their name. And the first people that noticed this were actually my site hosts who were passing out the shares. And I had a few of them privately ask me, hey, how do you become a vip? Almost like they were like, how do I become a vip? I want that next to my name. And so I kind of shared with them. But then I noticed that some of them started telling the customers in the cars, hey, did you know you're a vip? And that's how some of them were getting that feedback loop. And then I. Because they were on this checklist and I was using a mail merge system to communicate with them. Sometimes these customers would see the phrase VIP next to their name as they were getting these mail merges. And they were like, I didn't realize I was a vip. That's how some of them found out. It was kind of accidental. And this is what kind of clued me in onto the fact that they liked finding out that they were a vip. And now they were Eager to keep this status. Right. They don't want to lose it. So I just think it's an interesting thing to think about that once people find out they're in the club, especially if they didn't really work super hard to get there or they weren't actively intentionally seeking it, and then they find out they're in, actually motivates them to stay active, to spend more, and to keep doing the things that that get gave them that status in the first place. All right, so the third option is that you could have an open enrollment for a paid membership model where you actually charge people a rate to become a vip. So they opt in or they buy in to join the VIP tier. So think like, hey, join our VIP farm club or join our meet elite club at $99 a year for exclusive access. You'll get early sales, you'll get bonus items, access to products that other people won't even get, a coupon code for special discount pricing in your own price list. Right? So like you get to decide how you want that to be worded, but this is something that you actually sell. So you can monetize a VIP tier. You can make it your top level tier. I'm just thinking like as a csa, I already have different levels of CSE CSA membership. You could have a VIP level and certain features unlock if people are willing to spend that extra amount to upgrade to that. You just have to be really clear again about what those physical perks might be. Okay, now this needs really clear communication about the benefits of being a vip. And then you actually need to follow up on those benefits and make sure that you fulfill on them. Or people are going to not want to do it again or they're going to feel cheated. And you can't have similar benefits and perks going out to other people who aren't paying for them. Right? So this is where it gets a little tricky. I also think you need to have an actual signup process where they intentionally are saying, yes, I want to be a vip. Okay, and the fourth option, this is not one that I have explored yet, but I have looked at it, I'm aware of it. It's the gamified path to VIP status. And this is where you're using email, using social media, using signage to coach your audience to become a vip. And you're showing them the stones in the creek, the pathway to getting there. You're tracking certain behaviors, you're teasing them. Hey, you're almost there. It's almost like we're all playing a Video game. And we're trying to get, you know, unlock that space, special status that gets us into the upper level tiers to play the coolest game ever. So we need to show them how to qualify if we're going to go this route. So, hey, spend 400 this season and you'll unlock VIP status or order three more times, and you'll be a. A farm insider. Like, what does that look like? And you need to be tracking how far they are along the journey, how much closer or how close are they, how much farther do they need to go? And have a communication system that teases that out for them. So this means adding a tracker somehow into your customer dashboard. And that's kind of the reason why I haven't gone this route, because that's a whole nother level of tech for me, and I'm just not interested in figuring that out yet. But I know that there are software systems that can make this really easy for you if you just identify what the milestones are, and it'll even track, like, when they hit them, and then a way to kind of kick back that information out to the customer. So this is a really great process to think through. If you want to boost your average order value or you want to boost your order frequency, getting people to come back more often to buy. Right. Then this might be the way to do it is to actually have some kind of a gamified strategy. All right, so those are the four different ways that I could think of to position your VIP program. You kind of decide which one feels more like you, and I think you can change. I think you can start with one and then maybe hybridize a couple of different versions and find your own perfect system. But I just wanted to throw these ideas out there for you to start thinking about. Oh, man, what could this even look like? You get to decide business by your design. Right. Okay, the next thing I want to talk about is how to track VIP behavior. Because once you've defined what a VIP is, you ideally want to have a way to monitor and track that behavior to make sure that they're continuing to do it. And frankly, to recognize them. How do we know that they're behaving in a VIP kind of a way? So here are some of the different options. I mean, first, very basic. You could just be tracking their purchases manually through a spreadsheet and keep track of it that way. But you could also be using tags in your email service provider. It's one of the reasons that I love Kit.com so much, because I just think it's a very robust system and it integrates with all of the big players in the e commerce space. If you're looking for a new email service provider, that one is definitely one to check out. Kit.com I'm an affiliate for them so you can go to mydigitalfarmer.com kit and I get a small commission. Thank you for that if you decide to do that. Another one that I like is activecampaign. Those would be two that I would recommend that you go check out if you're ready to kind of graduate from mailchimp, which can be a little bit clunky. So having the ability to create tags in your email service provider when certain behaviors happen or when certain thresholds are met. Now they're labeled as a VIP or maybe, you know, two steps away from a VIP and you can see how close they are and you can be encouraging them to take certain actions to move closer to VIP status through email Nurture sequences or automations. It's just a nice thing to have. Speaking of automations, you can set up automations between Zapier and your email service provider or Zapier and Local Line or whatever your e commerce platform is. Make sure whatever e commerce solution you have integrates with Zapier. That is so, so important. Especially if you want to scale your business in the long term, you're going to wish that it did. And it's one of the things I love about Local Line that it does integrate with Zapier. If you don't know anything about automations. I recently did an amazing episode with Glenn Young who's a farmer that was in my accelerator program. He is a whiz with automations. He's way beyond what I'm doing. He's actually teaching me how to do it and I'm just so, so excited for what he's sharing in the farming space. So I will put a link to that episode in the show notes but he has a, a really great freebie that he gave away which is like the, the top five zaps that every farm should start with when you're first getting started with Zapier that are going to get you into the automation space. And you got it, you guys, you have to get that download. It is so, so good. And it's, it's literally a step by step screenshot of how to do it. Anyway, I'm going to put that in the show notes. Go do that. And I know he's putting together a group like a monthly get together Zoom get together of farmers who just want to start playing around in the sandbox of automations. So as he begins to do that, I will make sure you know about that because I want to support his work. I think it is the next thing that farmers need to really get serious about, especially with AI in the space. Now we all need to be getting on to the automation spanwagon. So setting up automations, that is a key part of how to track your VIP behavior. Coupon codes is another thing. You can set up a coupon code that only your VIPs would get access to. And then when that coupon code fires, you know that it's working. You know that your VIPs are taking the action that you've asked them to take. You could also print out a customer list and just physically mark the people who are VIPs or physically mark returning buyers. Or you could do this all in a very like physical sort of way. Right? Doesn't have to be digital. That is the way that I got started with this process. And then also I wrote down T shirts or swag, something that identifies your VIP that only VIPs can wear. And when they're wearing it, you see the, the red colored shirt that is the color of the VIP shirt and maybe that unlocks 20% off for them. Or they have to wear it on a certain day if they want to get a special offer or perk that you're making available only for that day. And this is a way for them to show off that they're a VIP and to make other people aware of the fact that you have a VIP status. All of those things are just ideas, okay? So you can't reward what you're not watching. So just even having a basic system is going to help you show up for your top tier level customers. One of the things you're going to want to think about as you explore a VIP strategy is can someone lose VIP status? Is VIP status permanent? This is a strategic decision, really. Some businesses adopt once a vip, always a vip and others build in scarcity. That VIP status is earned annually or seasonally or biannually. You have to renew it. You have to continue to show the behaviors that earned you that reward in the first place. This is a marketing opportunity. So you can create urgency or that fear of missing out by saying something like, you know, shop our online store five times this summer and you'll keep your VIP status. Or you could offer a free dinner for your VIPs. You could invite them and position the dinner as, hey, because you have continued to maintain XYZ behavior, you will be invited to our VIP dinner. Happening on such a spot, such a day. This happens every year for our customers who do XYZ right. And you're just constantly positioning these certain perks with that language so that they know this is the reason why you're being invited. Or if they don't get invited one year, they'll put two and two together and realize, oh, I must not have hit the threshold. So letting people slip out of VIP status can become a subtle motivator to re engage. So sometimes this is hard for us to do, to even consider as we're like, well, I don't want to hurt a person's feelings, but if you hold the line, you know, if you create a boundary, this reminds me of parenting a little bit too. Sometimes you have to let your kids slide out and mess up, and you hold the line and you say, well, here's the consequence for that. No, you're not going to get this reward because you didn't do the thing that I expect you to do as part of this agreement. And, you know, when we just hold that accountable and we do it in a very kind way, like, people will fall back into line. So I think this is a. A delicate dance. We don't want to be too hardlined about it, but it's okay to have an agreement about what it means to be IVIP and to hold people to it. Studies actually show that people fear loss more than they are motivated by gain. I've read this over and over again when I read books about the psychology of sales. So losing VIP status can feel very personal. Even just losing CSA status, I've noticed people do see it as a loss. There's all these perks in the offer stack, and when I, you know, kick them out of the Facebook group, like, that's like a. Huh, okay, well, this is my community identity. And I didn't realize how much I missed that and how much a part of that that was for me. And I think I wanna have that back. And then they're often coming back the next year. Now, I don't wanna end this section without saying, be careful. Don't make this feel like punishment. We wanna frame it as a benefit that renews with participation. All right, how are you going to let people know that your VIP level exists? If you choose to remember, we have the option to keep it private, but if you are going to make it public, how do you communicate it? This is something you need to think about. And in that VIP worksheet that I gave you, I have a whole section where you're going to brainstorm what could be possible and ultimately decide what you're going to do. If you want more VIP customers, you need to coach people toward it. Don't assume that customers are going to find out about it. Don't assume customers will figure it out. Most people are waiting to be shown how to get involved in your brand. And so if you make the path visible and exciting and obvious, a lot of them will take it. So drop phrases like one of our VIP clients did XYZ or today we're doing a thing for our VIPs in your email copy or in your thank you messages, making people aware that there even is such a thing as VIP status. There are a lot of subtle ways you can do this. You also want to make the criteria clear for how you become a VIP and repeat it often. Post it on your website, mention it in your emails. Drop casual reminders in, I don't know, in person conversations or in social media posts. Announce VIP perks in your email newsletter. Remind people how to qualify. You could add a VIP rewards page to your website. You want to show the reward, not just the requirement. So if people start seeing that there are these bonus products being offered in the store that no one else can get unless they're a VIP and it's being positioned as a reward, or if they're seeing special prizes being given to VIP customers because you had a special VIP challenge, like all of these are things that make them go with longing. Like, hey, that sounds really fun. Like I want to be in that caliber of group and they will aspire to that behavior, you know, at your pickup sites. Another thought is to have a physical type of location or element that draws attention to the VIP perk. So I was thinking of the fast pass at the local roller coaster park, right. That there's a line for people who have that VIP status who have the fast pass. Or is there a special line at your farmer's market for the VIP customers? They get to cut in line or they get to go to the shorter line. It's sort of like the easy pass on the, on the tollway. We don't have to wait in that long line and pay cash. We get to cruise right through the bar and keep moving. And that saves me time. Right. That's a perk that I am really grateful for, especially when I'm driving to Chicago on long trips. So just make sure you're making the criteria clear. Maybe you're Creating social media posts or Instagram highlights and you're showing what is it that VIPs get? Okay, so the third thing is you want to be highlighting vib behaviors in your content. So when your VIPs are doing things, celebrate them publicly. Shout out to Amanda. She just became one of our farm insiders. She unlocked the blah, blah, blah, right? Like when you see a VIP person do something that's really awesome and you want to coach more of that behavior in your clientele than point it out or turn that thing into a VIP behavior that gets rewarded so that more people will start doing that thing. Mention when perks are only for VIPs to create aspiration. And you could use language like, hey, you're getting close, or. Or you're just one order away or $50 away from unlocking VIP status and free shipping. And now a person's gonna put 50 more dollars into their cart because they want that so badly. Okay, so just give them a reason to keep moving toward it. It's kind of my last comment here. Right. But we do need to be communicating that. I want to share a few examples of how you could make this real impractical in a farm business. So let's just say that you're a farm that sells meat birds. The VIP criteria example is you have to spend $250 or place three orders during a three month period. And you might say something like, hey, customers who place three orders this season are automatically unlocking VIP status and they'll get 10% off their next order. Plus early access to holiday turkey reservations. Okay. And so you might promote it by adding a VIP progress bar in your order confirmation emails. Or you might mention that VIPs get dibs on limited run smoked chickens or bone broth. Okay, so you're just dropping the phrase VIP in your marketing from time to time. Now what if you're a vegetable CSA farm or you do an online veggie store? Your VIP criteria example could be join the CSA and place a minimum of five online store orders during the season. And so this is how you might say it. CSA members who spend $200 this summer in our online store will get an invite to our VIP fall field dinner and early renewal access. I just made that up. Okay, you change the numbers, but that might be how you word it. And you would mention this in your CSA weekly emails or in the welcome email. Or maybe you put a flyer in one of the veggie boxes in the early veggie boxes so they have the whole rest of the season to Try and get there. Right? You want to communicate that as soon as possible. Or maybe in an email you'd say something like, hey, do you want in on our VIP dinner in October? You're only two orders away and that can be customized based on the tags that you have in your email provider. Okay, so those are just some ideas. The last thing I just want to bring up here today is how do you name your VIP tier? You don't have to. You can just call it your VIP club internally, right? But sometimes it's fun to give it a cool name. And I have seen this done by lots of different businesses. One of my accelerator members, Jamie, she has this really cool phrase for her meet customers. She calls them the meat Elite. So you can all steal that. Thank you to Jamie. But if you give your VIP tier a fun name like Farm Insiders or Pasture Perks or Founders Table or Meet Elite, it just has a little bit of a special buzz to it. It's almost like you've branded it. So ask yourself, what behavior do I want to reward? What behavior do I want to encourage? And play around with some fun names. Even go to ChatGPT and ask it to brainstorm some names for you. Maybe you're looking for some alliteration or something that rhymes. You'd be surprised what AI can do to help you find a name. And remember, you're not tied to it forever. Just test it out, beta test it. You can always change it. All right, that wraps up this two part episode or series on VIP strategy. And you know your homework is to download that VIP strategy worksheet. You can go to mydigitalfarmer.com VIPworksheet and print it out and start working through those questions. Listen to this episode and episode 319. Just stew on it, think on it, talk about it with your business partner. What could this look like? Beta test it. Make it something easy, an easy lift. Your first year. You don't have to make it complicated. Just start dabbling in the space and see if you can create a aspirational goal, an aspirational identity for your customers to start moving towards. Okay, now if you want, I would love to know what you've decided to call your VIP to your name. You can DM me on Instagram ydigitalfarmer. And if you want help building more marketing systems like this, then my friend, you need to be inside farm marketing school. So head over to mydigitalfarmer.com FMS we just finished up an amazing 30 day project build on how to create a social media planning template which, like, rocked my socks off. It was so fun and it's really, really good. I throw in new projects into farm marketing school every few months. It is just really fun. And I love there's like 40 farmers in there right now. It's just really awesome. So I'd love to have you join the community. So check that out. Now, if you like today's episode, please share it with another farmer. I'm trying to get as many people as possible aware that the podcast even exists. So if you can help me with that, that would be amazing. Today's show notes can be found@mydigitalfarmer.com 320. I dropped a lot of links today, so I'll make sure that they're all in there. And remember, if you want to get onto my email list, I have some free stuff to send your way to make your marketing even stronger. This things you can do right now. Every single week, a little homework in your inbox. So go to mydigitalfarmer.com subscribe. You will be surprised how these little tweaks and these little ideas that I drop can make you money fast. I promise. I promise. Okay, so just test it. If you don't like it, you can unsub. All right, that's all I got today. Thank you for joining me. Have an amazing week. Remember, I believe in you and I'll talk to you next time. Bye. Bye.