Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] consumer perceptions

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Simon Huntley" <simon.huntley AT gmail.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] consumer perceptions
  • Date: Sat, 19 May 2007 12:43:13 -0400

I've been following this discussion on educating consumers with interest.

As an interested party and as someone who has helped run a market farm for two years (and make marketing decisions for that farm), I would like to extol  the virtues of having a farm website to educate your customers. One member in the discussion said that she doesn't have time to grow food AND to educate customers, but I would like to agree with another person and say that as an owner of small business you don't have the luxury of allowing other people do your marketing -- if you believe in your product, it should be a joyful experience to share your story and why you are passionate with your customers.

So, as for the website -- get a website or make a website, spend some time during the winter adding content that tells the story of your farm and why your products are special, and throughout the season while you are busy farming, your website will be speaking for you. Obviously I am saying this as an interested party, because I developed a service that provides websites to farms -- so I believe in the power of technology to tell your story for "experience-based" farms like yours.

It is just as valid to build your own website or go through another service, but I provide a website on your own domain (www.yourfarm.com) for about $20/month, depending on options. This is a fully-managed option that does not require any technical skill. You just login to a control panel in any browser and you can add news, products, recipes, photos, and more. That's my plug...

But as someone who has worked markets and helped put a vegetable operation in the black -- Tell Your Story all the time, get a website and make it vibrant and interesting, get to know your customers and never let go of them! Give people a reason to go out of their way to buy from your farm because it is very easy to just go to the local supermarket and get everything they need in one place.

--
Simon Huntley
Lead Developer, Small Farm Central
info AT smallfarmcentral.com
http://www.smallfarmcentral



Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page