The average farmer today spends 14 hours a day working in their business — but often struggles to find even one hour to work on marketing that business.
Meanwhile, multinational food corporations pour millions into slick advertising campaigns that dominate shelf space and consumer attention. But how can you possibly compete with that for your farm store — without neglecting the rest of the work you need to do?
This blog breaks down six farm advertising strategies that attract and retain loyal customers without requiring massive budgets or marketing departments.
There’s plenty of demand in the market for locally grown and organic food options. Many Americans don’t trust big corporations and would rather form an authentic connection with real people growing real food — they just need to know you exist…
… and that brings us to farm advertising!
Related Read: Organic Farm Shop Management: 3 Steps to Success
Let’s start by laying some groundwork. Farmers face challenges that other retailers don’t have to deal with, and that impacts your advertising and marketing needs. If your tomato crop ripens faster than anticipated because of a heat wave, you need to be able to pivot to move that stock before it spoils.
Traditional marketing and advertising approaches, with fixed campaigns and standardized pricing, just aren’t built to handle the ups and downs of agriculture.
Here’s the good news: With trends continuing to shift toward customers wanting to support real food products with a real story, your advertising battle is already halfway won. To increase farm sales, you just have to better package your existing advantages.
Let’s dive into the steps you can take to attract and retain customers with efficient farm advertising.
Before launching any advertising campaign, you need to clearly define what sets your farm store apart. Your unique value proposition (UVP) is why customers should choose your farm products over alternatives, and it serves as the base for all your advertising efforts.
Related Read: The 6 Food E-Commerce Trends To Look Out for This Year
So, how can you establish your UVP? Here are some common starting points for farm stores looking to position against conventional food sellers:
The key to effective farm advertising isn't trying to compete with supermarkets on price or convenience. That’s a race to the bottom that small operations and family farms will lose every time. Instead, you need to lean into the advantages that make your farm store unique.
You need more than roadside stands and farmers market booths to run a successful farm store today. There isn’t anything wrong with these traditional channels — but to get the most sales and profits, you need to implement tools and technology to sell in more ways and meet your customers where they are.
Let’s take a look at some of the tools and practices farmers should consider when setting up their farm store for success.
The first tool you might consider is an e-commerce platform built specifically for farms and online food sales. You might think any e-commerce platform will do, but a standard platform won’t come with the specialized features you need to succeed.
Some of the features to look for when selecting your tool include:
Platforms like GrazeCart are specifically designed to handle these challenges, offering built-in solutions for weight-based pricing, delivery zones, and perishable product management — without requiring multiple plugins or custom development.
Most farm stores serve customers within a limited geographic radius. Local search engine optimization (SEO) helps you appear in search results when nearby customers look for relevant products.
Related Read: The Farm SEO Checklist: 5 Tips To Get Started
To improve your local visibility, you want to use these steps and tools:
These strategies help your farm appear in "near me" searches and local map results when potential customers actively look for your products.
Today's food consumers care about production methods as much as the final product. Content marketing lets you tell your farm's story and educate customers about your growing practices.
You’ll need to invest in a website builder and customer management system (CMS) that allows you to offer content like:
Implementing these essential marketing tools creates multiple pathways for customers to discover, purchase, and connect with your farm products.
We can’t talk about marketing and advertising without acknowledging the impact and importance of social media. But how effective is social media for farm businesses?
Here’s a quick breakdown of the audiences and use cases for some popular current platforms:
Which should you post on? The biggest mistake would be to say “everywhere!” If you try to tackle every social platform at once, you’ll spread yourself too thin. Instead, choose one to two platforms that best align with your customer demographics.
Related Read: Direct-to-Consumer Farming: Selling Your Farm Products in 8 Steps
Some content options you might choose to share:
Finally, remember that social media works best when it’s… well… social. For the best results, you need to be ready to engage with comments, DMs, and customer posts, rather than just posting your own content and logging out.
While digital marketing dominates the majority of modern advertising conversations, traditional channels can still be highly effective for farm businesses — especially when targeting local audiences.
Let’s take a look at some of the traditional advertising approaches you might explore:
Local radio remains a powerful tool for reaching rural and commuting audiences. Consider 30-second spots during morning and evening drive times when listeners are thinking about meals and shopping. Focus on seasonal announcements like "strawberries are ready" or special events, rather than general awareness campaigns. Many stations offer affordable packages for small businesses and may feature your farm in on-air interviews about local food.
Print media continues to perform well in many agricultural communities. Local newspapers, community magazines, and regional food publications often have loyal readerships interested in supporting local businesses. Consider seasonal quarter-page ads with bold visuals or advertorials that tell your farm's story while educating readers about your sustainable growing practices and product availability.
Related Read: How To Start a Regenerative Farm: 4 Critical Steps
Direct mail delivers targeted messaging straight to potential customers' homes. Postcards announcing season openings, special events, or community-supported agriculture (CSA) registrations can generate immediate response, especially when sent to carefully selected zip codes near your farm. Include a clear call to action and tracking mechanism, such as a coupon code or special offer, so you can see how many customers your direct mail campaign actually brings in.
Roadside signage provides continuous visibility for farms in accessible locations. Beyond your permanent farm sign, consider seasonal banners announcing "Sweet Corn Now Available" or "Pick-Your-Own Apples This Weekend." For farms without main road access, investigate billboard opportunities on nearby highways or sponsor community bulletin boards at local businesses.
Community partnerships create mutual benefits for your farm and another community business. Sponsor local sports teams, county fairs, or community events in exchange for announcements and banner placements.
Next, let’s talk about some less traditional options you have for advertising as a farm store. One of the advantages of your business model is that it naturally appeals to values like community and local support. Leverage this in your advertising and promotional efforts by focusing on community building.
Host on-farm events like seasonal harvest festivals or hands-on workshops that teach guests how to make cheese or prepare the perfect salad. These experiences are great for winning over customers into loyal fans of your farm — and, as a bonus, you can film content at these events and share it on your other marketing channels.
Related Read: How To Market Meat Products for Your Farm: 7 Ideas
Subscription programs like CSAs help take occasional buyers and turn them into committed partners. These programs provide reliable income streams and help you plan production more effectively.
Finally, you might consider partnering with local chefs and restaurants to boost your reach and credibility. Collaborate with chefs who showcase your products on their menus or complementary farms that offer products that are different from yours.
Any business owner knows that acquiring new customers is way more expensive than keeping the customers you’ve already won over. So, let’s close out this post about farm advertising by covering a few top strategies you can use to retain your existing customers:
The key to all customer retention is removing the friction points — knowledge gaps, convenience issues, or missed opportunities — that prevent occasional customers from developing regular buying habits.
Effective farm advertising is easier said than done — but by following the tips in this post, you should be able to promote your farm business without breaking the bank on expensive ads and billboards.
Remember: You can’t do everything at once. Instead, choose the right approaches for your specific operation and execute them well. Focus your limited time and resources on the channels that deliver the best returns for your farm.
The right tools make all the difference in farm marketing success. An all-in-one point of sale (POS) and e-commerce platform designed specifically for online food sellers eliminates a lot of the hurdles that prevent farmers from effectively reaching customers online. Rather than cobbling together multiple systems that weren't built for agricultural businesses, invest in solutions that understand the unique challenges of selling perishable, seasonal, and variable-weight products online.
Ready to modernize your farm's marketing approach? Start a free trial of GrazeCart today.