This website serves Farmers and Ranchers in the Kansas AgriTourism Industry.
For family outings, go to http://www.travelks.com

Welcome to Kansas AgriTourism!

This website has been developed specifically for Kansas farmers and ranchers involved in AgriTourism, rural properties where the traveler has an opportunity to experience farm and country life far from the hustle of the city.
The site is a project of the Kansas Agritourism Advisory Council, working in cooperation with:
the Kansas Agriculture Marketing Division and the Travel and Tourism Division of the Department of Commerce
and with financial assistance from Frontier Farm Credit.
We invite you to explore this website to find a variety of articles and resources that will help you succeed in agritourism.
If you have any questions, please contact the Department of Commerce, Travel and Tourism Division, and ask for the Agritourism Liaison.
The Kansas AgriTourism
Advisory Council
 
Join the Kansas AgriTourism
Mailing List
Click Here

Planning Your Marketing Strategies

by Jane Eckert

Generally, I encourage farms and ranches to complete your marketing plan in January, February and March, so if you haven't gotten around to it, well-let's just say that as a rule, you should do it just as soon as you close your doors for the season. It is important to do your thinking at the end of this year's operation, while things are still fresh in your mind.

But, maybe you got a nice rest, visited a few workshops, and read some good marketing books. So let's get to it. Your marketing plan requires more than just a couple of weeks at the last minute. Take the time now to evaluate.

  • How did you spend your marketing money last year?
  • Give some real thought as to whether you had a good plan
  • Could it have been better spent?

Specifically, did you spend enough on marketing, and did you spend it in the right places?

Before we go any further, let me state that regardless of the size of your operation, you need to be doing marketing. Please, do not confuse marketing with advertising. Advertising is only one of the marketing tools, and there are a lot of marketing things you can do to bring positive results without spending those big dollars.

I am frequently asked how much a farm should be spending on marketing. Not too long ago I received a copy of the "On Farm Marketing Report" from Ontario, Canada.

The report was commissioned by the Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association (OFFMA) in 2005. They surveyed their members, and ninety-nine farms responded, representing $116 Million in annual gross receipts. For comparison with your operation, over half of these farms reported gross receipts over $250,000 annually.

Here's how the OFFMA members responded to the question, "what percentage of gross revenue do you spend on advertising and promotion?"

  Range % of Farms
  less than 5% 49%
  5-9.9% 38%
  10-14.9% 8%
  15-20% 4%
  More than 20% 1%

The amount you budget is up to you, but remember your resources are limited so it is very important to spend it wisely. You may note that the survey asked the amount spent on "advertising and promotion."

Please understand that you can significantly increase your revenue with a good marketing strategy that does not necessarily require a lot of advertising dollars. Let me explain how I have categorized the various marketing strategies into what I refer to in my seminars and workshops as the Eckert Marketing Pie.™

Let me explain each piece of the pie and why it is important to integrate all of the strategies into your farm-marketing plan.

Promotions
Promotions are creative ways to excite the public about visiting your business and encouraging them to buy more while they are there. Promotions, such as contests, coupons, loyalty programs, seminars, celebrity appearances, and even charitable donations draw in visitors, and usually require more creativity than budget.

Advertising
This is what people usually think of when they think of marketing, but advertising for small businesses is usually a very small piece of the pie. Advertising requires the purchase of ad space or airtime in a newspaper, radio or TV station, billboard, or yellow pages. In order to be effective, advertising requires repetition, and with a small budget, this simply isn't feasible.

Media Relations
Building a relationship with the media is another great way to maximize your exposure for the least amount of investment, although it does require your time and creativity.

Through inventive news releases, telephone contacts, and similar avenues, you can obtain considerable publicity from newspapers, magazines, and radio and television stations. When you create an interesting new way to talk about things on the farm, the press will love you - after all, they are looking for interesting new stories. You help them, and they'll help you.

Customer Focus
Ultimately, your marketing should all focus on one thing, your customer! Customer focus envelopes every aspect of your business, from how you staff greets your customers, to the readability of your signs, the speed of your checkout counter, the types of products you sell, and the maintenance of your property.

 

 

Customer Communications
Customer communications is a vital tool in maintaining good customer focus, using printed materials, newsletters, and your website to stay connected with your customers. When done right, customer communications is also a two-way exchange. As you gather more information about your customers, you will begin refining your services to meet their needs.

Creating a strong farm-marketing plan is important for your success. Taking the time to plan your marketing is an investment in your business and one you can't leave to chance.

I feel strongly about an integrated strategy and have now written five books covering this information in much greater detail. I would also remind you of the exceptional resource available through the state of Kansas department of Commerce-the state funded our research and preparation of the book "Growing Agritourism in Kansas, a Starter Manual for Farmers and Ranchers." You can still buy this book from the department, and if you don't have a copy, I would urge you to contact them today (see article below).

Special thanks to Cathy Bartolic, the executive director of OFFMA, for allowing me to share this information with you. I applaud OFFMA for getting the funding to do this study.

Click here to read other articles written by Jane Eckert and published on the Kansas AgriTourism Website.

Jane Eckert, a national speaker, author and agritourism expert, is principal of Eckert AgriMarketing (www.eckertagrimarketing.com and www.farmwebdesign.com ), a firm that helps farmers market products directly to consumers and develop their operations into tourist destinations. Jane can be reached by phone 314-862-6288 or at jane@eckertagrimarketing.com