For a quick lesson on marketing terms and techniques, review the information below, or download the print-friendly Marketing 101 PDF.
Just like designing a crop plan, successful marketing campaigns begin way before harvest or, in this case, before August, the official PA Produce Month. Now’s the time to prepare! Much like ordering seeds and repairing equipment, we should start to gather content, update our consumer touch points, restock flyers and brochures, order POP materials, familiarize ourselves with a promotional timeline, and have a firm grasp on our goals.
Consistency is key and has dual meaning. Content should be shared frequently, following a consistent schedule as much as possible, and the style of content shared should remain consistent. In other words, keep in touch with your customers as often as possible and make sure your style and messaging is not all over the place. From company flyers to Facebook posts, use similar colors, fonts, words, phrases, and personality in all your content.
Content includes printed and digital images or messaging that comes in contact with the consumer. Your website, blogs, social media posts, business cards, flyers, farmers market banners, and newspaper ads all qualify as content.
Here’s your chance to endear yourself to your consumers. It's important to keep a consistent focus, but use it as if you're holding a conversation with a friend or regular customer. Let your authentic personality shine and remember that a conversation should be two-way. Share "day-in-the-life" updates on your platform regularly and be educational, but also interact with and ask questions to like-minded businesses and people.
On Facebook, share industry news, links to your latest blog, quick videos, and plenty of photos. On Instagram, keep the content brief and the imagery captivating. Present a call to action as often as possible.
Blogging is all about sharing
your voice, personality, and knowledge. Don't be afraid to offer insider tips to colleagues and potential customers. Being generous with what you know will help you develop trust by positioning yourself as an industry expert. Keep it relatively short, from the heart, and motivate readers to take action.
Focus on a tempting subject title; the rest is useless if it doesn't get opened. Make sure the content is visually compelling and encourages a click to your website or another valuable platform.
If a crop kept failing, would you just let it be? Make sure you measure effectiveness and adjust accordingly.
PA Produce Month is all about growing your business by increasing consumer awareness of local vegetables through exciting and educational content, specials, and events. PAVeggies.org features custom content, with new material published each year, for you to share with your audience. However, don't forget to put yourself in the spotlight as much as possible - whether it's a personal mailer to your customers or a quick video in the farm field. People connect with people and authentic messaging should always be part of your strategy.
In addition to utilizing the resources and custom content created by PA Veggies, use this opportunity to host your own events. Here are just a few ideas:
Remember to explore all of the Toolkit and watch the Instructional Video to get a grasp on the breadth of resources available to you for free.
EMAIL [email protected] today to join the PA Produce Month email list. This way you'll receive a messages through August which features resources and helpful instructions.
LIKE PA Veggies on Facebook and FOLLOW @paveggies on Instagram.
FAMILIARIZE yourself with PAVeggies.org (especially the Toolkit) and all the free resources created just for you.