Consider trying some of the promotional ideas below with your own food and farming business. Check back often for updates. Don't hesitate to email us with your questions and/or suggestions.
Start by distributing “lottery tickets” that customers can only “scratch off” in August to reveal their one prize from a range of prize options. The range of prizes should include mostly ordinary discounts with a few big wins sprinkled in. For example, you could offer 100 lottery tickets with the following 4 prize options and corresponding winnings:
You can adjust the total number of lottery tickets, types of winnings, and corresponding winning tickets to your liking.
Customers must be on-site when they reveal their winnings in order to qualify. A stapled and sealed envelope works well for this to prove there was no tampering prior to the opening in PA Produce Month.
Customers like to feel special. What’s more special than our very own names? It’s likely you’ve seen these types of promotions and possibly even tried them yourself - offer something special to individuals with a particular name. Be sure to showcase the “Name of the Day/Week” into your roadside signage and digital messaging, too. You could also alter the promotion to feature another unique feature like a profession - if you’re a nurse, take 25% your total purchase TODAY ONLY. Have fun with it!
Consumers spend up to $5,400 a year on impulse purchases alone. Point of Purchase materials are your chance to capture a percentage of those sales! You see, point of purchase displays work well because it’s suggestive selling - when a customer is already making a purchase, they’re more likely to buy additional products as well. Typically, that additional purchase is lower priced and/or complementary to what they already planned to buy. That’s why showcasing low price point items near your store’s checkout or point of sale is an effective way of up-selling.
A Nielsen (NLSN: NYSE) study found the local label on packaging is tied to $239 million in consumer packaged goods sales. Better yet, produce topped the list of most important local products, with 58 percent of consumers seeking local fruits and vegetables most often. Don’t shy away from using the term “local” in your marketing, especially in visual displays. If you depend on a lot of digital transactions (an online store, a CSA), you should consider using the term local and terms of the areas you service (town names, county names) as much as possible on your website. A blog is always a great way to keep your site regularly updated with these beneficial terms and improve your search engine ranking.
It’s never too late or too early to find NEW customers. But how? We often spend a lot of time marketing to customers who are already loyal to our brand and would shop there regardless of what we say or give to them. These customers should continue to be conversed with and treated special but it’s important to put some eggs in another basket - you know, that basket of people who aren’t aware you exist but would be excited to give you business. In 2020 the PVMRP conducted a webinar to teach growers how to reach new customers, obtain contact information, and turn them into loyal customers. You can access the webinar and its corresponding tutorials and tools here.