If you’re trying to reach more customers to increase sales for your farm, there are lots of different platforms you can try! From ranking on Google (my personal favorite) to sending emails, there are so many forms of digital marketing for farmers to get more visibility. If you’re trying to figure out where to focus (because it can definitely be overwhelming to try everything), these are 5 different digital marketing platforms you can try out!
First, you need a website
Before we dive into the digital marketing options, you need to make sure you have a website first. I know a lot of businesses just build an audience on social media without a website, but there are so many reasons why having a website for your farm is essential. So essential that I’ve written an entire blog post on why you need a website! But here are some quick tips why:
- You own your website, you don’t own your social media accounts (and I see social media accounts getting hacked all the time).
- Websites are an easy place to have allll the information about your farm and products to convert customers more easily.
- You can rank on Google for local searches to reach local customers.
- You can more easily grow your email list.
So even if you’re focusing on social media, make sure you also have a website. If you need help building a website, my friend Jean-Marie from Dig Digital is an amazing website designer for farmers!
SEO and Google
Ok now let’s get into the digital marketing options for farmers.
SEO is obviously my favorite since it’s my specialty 😉
There are soooo many benefits of SEO for farms, and my favorite one is that ranking on Google can help you reach more people in your local area who are searching specifically for what you have to offer! If someone is interested in signing up for a vegetable CSA and don’t know of a farm that offers one, they are much more likely to search “vegetable CSA near me” in a search engine than hunting through Instagram accounts or Facebook groups.
And when they go to search engines to search for a service or product, they are much more likely to be in the buying mindset. Whereas on Instagram, people might just follow your account because they like your photos or want to stay connected with you, but they may not be ready to purchase from you. Or they might not even be in your local area where they could become a customer.
If you’re interested in reading more benefits of focusing on SEO, of course I have a whole blog post on the topic! And if you don’t want to have to learn how to do SEO yourself, I do offer SEO services to help your farm rank on Google 🙂
Google Business Profile
SEO and Google Business Profile do go hand-in-hand for reaching local customers, but there are some additional strategies with Google Business Profile that can be beneficial.
Having a Google Business Profiles allows people using search engine to see your information at the top of search results page, as well as automatically adding your business information to Google Maps. It also has your address, hours of operation, contact details, and reviews all in one spot for potential customers.
And it does have some social media components with the ability to add updates and photos to show that your account is active. You don’t need to be active every day like you do on social media, but adding an update and some photos each month (or more during your busy season) can be helpful for ranking higher and showing potential customers what your farm offers! If you want to get into Google Business Profile more, I have a blog post with lots of strategy ideas for farmers.
Email marketing
Email is such a great way to stay connected with customers! You do need something like your website or an option to opt in to your email list on a check out page when they shop in person in order to build your email list, but once they’re on your list, it’s a great way to nurture relationships.
As a customer, I love being on the email list for local farms and my favorite garden center to hear about any sales or what products are in season right now. It’s a great way to get reminders and for farms to stay top of mind for interested customers. I also get weekly emails from the CSA I’ve joined about what products are in the box each week and recipe ideas.
So there are lots of great ways you can use your email list to offer value to your current customers and to keep past customers interested in continuing to buy from you!
Social media
It’s probably pretty clear that I prefer SEO for reaching new customers, but social media definitely has its place with building connections with customers! Similar to an email list, social media is helpful for sharing updates and what’s in season on your farm.
Facebook and Instagram are the two social media platforms I see used the most by farmers. If you sell products online and create content on your site, Pinterest could be a good option to try. I don’t know of any farmers using TikTok, LinkedIn, or Twitter/X to get more customers, but if you’re finding success with those, I would love to hear about it!
If you’re using Facebook and/or Instagram, it’s a great form of digital marketing for farmers to stay connected with customers and share updates and events. And it’s also beneficial for having your customers share about your farm and reach even more customers! Unrelated to farms, but I recently shared a post on Instagram about how someone I follow on Instagram recommended a spa, which led me to check out their website and become their client.
So encourage your followers and customers to share about your farm on social media because it could help you grow your customer base!
Digital advertising
All of the digital marketing platforms I mentioned are free and aren’t going to give you instant results. It takes time to start ranking higher on Google or build your following on Instagram. If you are looking for faster results, you can do ads!
And there are lots of different ads options to choose from. You can do Google Ads, social media ads, or you could even run an ad on a local online publication. Or you could get more creative and do a sponsored blog post or social media post for a local blogger or influencer.
You do have to pay for ads (the cost can vary depending on the platform and competitiveness of your keywords or market), but if you don’t have time to focus on building an audience or if you need to market an event fast, ads can be the way to go for fast results.
I definitely recommend focusing on other ways to get more customers, like features in your newspaper, interviewing on a local podcast or radio show, in person networking events, etc. as well, but I hope these forms of digital marketing for farmers gave you some ideas on how to get more customers! And if you need help with SEO or Google Business Profile, visit my SEO services page and see how I can help your business grow 🙂
