Most farms are focused primarily on one thing: growing and raising high-quality food — and for what it’s worth, that should be your top priority.
However, the unfortunate reality is that offering excellent fresh food alone isn’t enough to become financially independent and grow your business. You also need a solid farm store marketing strategy.
When most people think of “marketing,” they think of sales stickers and ads. And while that is part of marketing, it’s so much more than that.
In a nutshell, marketing is:
Creating a solid marketing strategy will help you define your niche in the food e-commerce space, reach more customers, and improve sales.
If you’re not doing anything substantial to market your farm store, the best time to start is now!
Here are six easy strategies you can try today.
It’s projected that in 2025, over 300 million people will be active on social media in the U.S. That number is only growing, and social media continues to be an invaluable tool for small businesses to connect directly with their customers.
This is especially true for farm stores that — perhaps more than other businesses — rely on visuals and storytelling to sell their products. Social media has many benefits for independent farms, including:
If you’re posting to social media as a business, make sure to use a business profile. Also, choose one or two platforms and post regularly. Consistency will help your brand rise in search results and show up in people’s feeds more often.
Once you establish a regular posting schedule and find which types of posts are more popular, consider promoting yourself locally with paid advertising.
Many people seek out a local farm store as an alternative to the faceless, corporate feel of a big chain supermarket.
Take advantage of this by writing a blog that lets your personality (and your products) shine. Unlike social media, blogs let you share more details about your business, giving you opportunities to show off your expertise, educate, and build trust with customers.
On a practical level, starting a farm blog also helps you climb the ranks in local search — which is essential for attracting new customers.
If you’re new to blog writing, start at a biweekly cadence. Come up with a few different topic categories and rotate through them (e.g., recipes, educational, daily farm life, etc.).
Once you get more comfortable, try to increase your pace to once a week or more. Make sure to include links throughout the blog to the products you’re talking about or even promote other local businesses.
With social media algorithms, video ads, and everything else out there, email might seem like an outdated way to market your farm store — but don’t write it off.
Email marketing has one of the highest returns on investment (ROI) of all marketing methods, especially for small businesses.
Send out a weekly newsletter that highlights new products or seasonal deals (you can also link to your social media and blog at the same time). Or send emails every time you have a big sale or exclusive promotion.
If your e-commerce platform supports it, we recommend trying to segment your customers to maximize effectiveness. Segmenting customers means grouping customers by preference (e.g., people who buy in bulk, people who buy primarily beef, etc.), and it allows you to create email offers tailored to customers’ unique preferences.
Related Read: How To Market Meat Products for Your Farm: 7 Ideas
Until now, we’ve mostly been talking about spreading brand awareness (what’s called “top of the funnel” in marketing) — but how do you tip someone over the edge to actually make a sale?
One effective tactic (used by many meat subscription boxes) is to offer discounts to first-time customers, especially if they’re signing up for a subscription. For example, offer new customers 15% off for the first two months, or a one-use code that gives 20% off or free shipping on orders over a certain amount.
Once someone has purchased from you, use email and SMS to offer them exclusive discounts they couldn’t find anywhere else.
Subscriptions themselves are both a great deal for customers and a reliable source of recurring revenue for farm stores selling online. Offer bulk orders at a slight discount to encourage upselling. That way, when customers go to check out on a one-time purchase, they’ll see how much they could save by setting up a recurring order.
Before you get started, be aware that not all e-commerce platforms support subscriptions out of the box.
Even if you’re an established farm store that’s been around for years, people might overlook your experience because you have an outdated website or logo.
It’s not fair, but it’s true. Even if your brand isn’t decades out of date, almost every company benefits from a fresh coat of paint every once in a while.
Here are a few specifics to consider.
Remember, your website and logo are an extension of your business, so infuse them with whatever makes your business unique.
Online stores are helping drive sales of local sustainable food, but that doesn’t mean you should neglect your physical storefront. In fact, by supplementing in-store and local events with online marketing, you can drive turnout and sales!
Host tasting events, cooking classes, and other events at your store to educate customers and give them confidence in using your ingredients. You could also sell meal kits with the ingredients to sell later.
If your farm and farm store are in the same area, consider offering farm tours on the weekends to drive brand awareness and educate customers on the benefits of sustainable farming and eating seasonally.
If you are completely new to farm store marketing, need some helpful tips, or professional help, here are a few services and tools to use.
Services
For more recommendations, check out our list of GrazeCart-certified partners.
Tools
If you’re passionate about raising quality food and connecting directly with customers, work with a partner who shares your passions. GrazeCart was founded by and for farmers, with the specific functions you need to simplify the way you sell food online.
GrazeCart offers customers a one-stop shop to build websites, monitor inventory levels, manage subscriptions, handle shipments, support farm store marketing campaigns, and more.
Try your free 14-day GrazeCart trial to see how we can help bring your farm store business to life.