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  • From: Leigh Hauter <lh AT pressroom.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Market-farming] How to market
  • Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 12:07:40 -0500

I don't know that the how to of marketing is real rocket science. But here are some of the basic steps involved.

1. Decide who your market is (target market) - who wants to buy what you have (companies with money pay for market surveys. Why do you think your supermarket or book store gives discounts with those buyers cards which tell them where you live and what you buy. There are market books out there that have sifted census data and know a great deal about people by their address -I bet you the supermarkets, etc. are selling this market data. It's valuable, at least more valuable than those discounts they give you).

2. Think about your target market - who are these people? What do they read? Where do they go? How do they think (companies with money pay to have focus groups of these people to find out all about them -including the places you need to advertise to reach them).

3. Craft your message in a way that will show that your product answers your target markets needs, desires, wants etc. (a full blown ad campaign would probably tie their product in with 2 or 3 or 4 of the ten or so basic human wants and needs - ie sex, security, acceptance - for us the big thing is to show that buying our product from us somehow fulfills our potential customers self image).

4 Go for it. Send out your message through the media that will reach your target market.

5. Sign on the customers.


Now, of course it isn't quite that simple, but close.

When I started out our CSA I didn't have any money for market research (and I still don't) but I thought a lot about it. I asked myself who would buy local, fresh vegetables. My first idea was people working for the DC environmental and progressive organizations.

At the time, I just happened to have (from a previous life) a list of the FAX numbers of most DC organizations. I reasoned that most offices have bulletin boards. If I could FAX a flier that I could convince someone to post I had reached a medium that my target market would see.

I then spent a great deal of time writing a cute, eye catching, flier with phrases and words in it that would get my audiences interest (that's why I can't understand market farmers who want to attack organics -don't they understand, just from a business basis, that a large part of their potential market believes in organic. By trashing organic they are turning away customer).

I faxed out the flier. In the beginning, I didn't have a webpage but I had a brochure. Brochures are too expensive to just give out to anyone. They should go only to people in your target market. I actually taught writing brochures back when I taught college a long time ago, so I had that skill down pretty well. I wrote and produced a brochure (hey jay, do you think people will pay me $250 an hour for giving them advise on brochure writing? I'd still rather farm).

Later, when I had the money, I took my brochure and turned it into a webpage. I think a well thought out webpage brings me a lot of business now (thanks to the SARE web directory) and when people ask about our CSA I refer them to the webpage for information. My web page sells my farm, my vegetables and because its a CSA where people want contact with the farm and farmer, me and my family. It is set up (just like a brochure should be) to get action ( whether it is a political brochure or a produce one) to first catch their attention, then to state the issue, then to give more details, then to tell them what to do and how to do it.

And that's basically it.

Over the years I have tried other ways of reaching my target market but the FAX was my most effective one (I don't need it now, word of mouth, the current interest in CSA's and the webpage does it faster).

Another thing is the media. I used to do media as a political organizer so I have experience writing press releases that are catchy. And, really, what we do is very local newsy. It doesn't threaten anyone, its interesting, and quite frankly, half the population, at least in their fantasies, would like to be small farmers. By sending out my FAX flier and a press release to my media list (I have a list of reporters for all of the radio stations, newspapers, television stations that cover our area). I usually get at least one major news article a year. Last year we hit it big with a Washington Post article that sold out all of the CSA's in the DC area in one day.

Things that haven't worked - advertising in local newspapers, ad fliers, etc. It doesn't specifically target my market for the bucks it costs.

Neighborhood fliers - again, poor return for the effort (I did get an AP article one year by accidentally giving a flier to the home of a reporter).

Putting fliers on the cars in the Fresh Fields parking lot - this seemed to be a good idea. It seemed to be my target market. The only problem Fresh Fields thought I was poaching on their customers and threatened me with their lawyers. Oh well. Anyway, it only got a couple customers. I think because FF's customers are still people buying in to the whole corporate food system - I suspect my target market are people that think outside of that box.

Over the years I have refined who my target market is, and it isn't just politically savey lefties. I have a lot of people in the military as shareholders, the CSA (and I assume market farmer) target market is probably generally people who care about their health (as in, I am what I eat) and who cook.


And this information is free because I don't want to wade through the snow and do my chores in the cold, cold outdoors. Here in northern Virginia there is snow on the ground and it is cold out and need to start seedlings in the greenhouse next week. Our last frost is usually April 15th




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