How to Start a CSA Days 15 through 21

The more I dig the more I notice an ebb and flow with every kind of marketing. There is one constant however. Relationship marketing. The relationships you form throughout life and throughout the life of you farm are going to prove to you while life is worth living and why farming is a great career. In addition to a host of varied topics I cover a lot of relationship marketing this week. It is really starting to pay off as those shares start to come in and the season is starting to warm up. I cannot wait to see where it goes.

I use Facebook a lot in my marketing. Even with the recent revelations (as you'll see in a later video) where Facebook has been doing some dirty things with how it makes money, I still find it a good way to connect with my customers. This video is geared toward people who have or have thought about using Facebook. There is a certain combination of content that works best for us farmers and I give some examples besides my own.

Following through applies in so many areas of life. From baseball, to golf, to farming, you need follow through. What does that mean? Following through with farm marketing means tracking your results, staying in touch with your audience, and in this case I went back to check on my fliers and see how they were doing and if they were attracting any business.

I have now scheduled workshops at local schools, a nature center, and more. Getting in front of people, not just to sell mind you, is important as a step to making friends and establishing relationships in your community. The more good you put out into the world the more that will come back to you.

I mentioned a little earlier that I use Facebook a lot. Well I recently found this video, Facebook Fraud, and I've been doing some digging. It turns out that Facebook has been doing some pretty sketchy stuff. Even with that there are a lot of benefits from being on Facebook. This only means that you shouldn't invest in a certain type of marketing. You're being honest, open, and establishing relationships so you have nothing to worry about!

My farm website has been critical in my farm marketing so farm. I love when people are prepped with knowledge about myself and my farm so that we can cut the small talk and dig in a little deeper. This helped recently as a newspaper reporter contacted me and kept saying, "Don't worry, I know. I already read your website." It was a great feeling.

I have been in Home Depot, out hanging up fliers, or out with my family and I always wear a farm t-shirt. You never know when or where it will come in handy. Even if you run out of business cards you can have them take a picture of your logo.

We keep crop records, plan grazing rotation, and do budgets. Why not do the same for marketing. I only want to plan this once, so I am going to be busy tracking my progress so that I cna replicate the good stuff in the future, and cut out the bad stuff.

Stay Connected

Like me on Facebook: Every day I re-post the YouTube videos on Facebook with some exclusive content on what else I did on the farm that day.

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel: Every day I post a new video in the evening after Mabel goes to sleep. That’s when I have a little computer time.

Visit the Hub: I will be keeping all of this content organized at the How to Start a CSA hub on FMS.