The article looks at how essential marketing is for a modern farm to make a profit. Farming has changed so much over the years and now it is so important to sell yourself and your produce and that is how marketing comes into play.
Farming nowadays has changed drastically from the time when our grandparents were in business. The challenges we face are hugely different.
I have spent a lot of time talking about diversifying our farm. I feel very strong that diversification is the key to sustainability through the inevitable ups and downs of our industry.
Along with diversification, we have ventured into small niche market areas. Doing so requires that we have the ability to market our product from our farm and this is not an easy task.
Marketing is something we didn’t even think about eight years ago. Our main worries then were milk price and labour. Now I spend 10-15 hours a week marketing our own farm brands.
In my egg cartons I include a newsletter. This is just a small piece of paper about the size of a business card, but I personally compile the information that is printed on them and cut each one. We sell roughly 3,300 dozens a week. That is many inserts!
Being creative with my information and telling the story of our farm and animals is very important to today’s success, so I also try to keep up with Facebook posts. I am constantly trying to grown my Facebook users so I have a database of interested people I can reach with information.
As bull calf prices fell and milk got long (there was a surplus of milk on the market), over the last four months, we have started raising our own bull calves. We would like to sell them as pasture-raised veal.
To do so I had to create a website with all our information. I have targeted high-end restaurants within one hour of the farm with veal on their menu and I am sending a mail insert with our veal information to generate sales.
Marketing our own products has become a mandatory job for our farm. It isn’t necessarily my favourite thing to do, but has become essential to continue to sell profitable products.
Article taken from Farmers Weekly
At Flame Marketing our core aim is to improve the rural economy through supporting agri-businesses and farms. We believe one of the key issues facing UK agriculture at present is the lack of understanding and the disconnect between the general public and the farming community. Through our Agri-marketing services, we are working to ensure consumers have a better understanding of the processed involved in making their food and maintaining the countryside.
