small business marketing strategies - top 5 reasons ezines are an effective choice for farm owners

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SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING STRATEGIES Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

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Page 1: Small Business Marketing Strategies - Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING STRATEGIES Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

Page 2: Small Business Marketing Strategies - Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

#1: AN EZINE IS PROACTIVE, NOT REACTIVE

! Most customers are not going to be ready to buy from you on that first contact.

! Most likely it is not personal.

! They just might not need your services right now.

!  They may also need to take time to gather the resources necessary to work with you, so now is not good, but the future may be.

Page 3: Small Business Marketing Strategies - Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

STAYING TOP OF MIND

!  This is exactly why it is up to you to keep your products and services fresh in the mind of your prospective customers, so that when they are ready to buy, you are the one they go to.

!  Being proactive keeps you in control of the conversation. You are not waiting for someone to Like you on Facebook, keep and find your business card, or look up your website online.

!  An ezine is a proactive, but non-invasive marketing strategy to stay in touch. By staying in regular contact you make it easy for people to find you and do business with you. And, people want that.

Page 4: Small Business Marketing Strategies - Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

BE EASY TO FIND

! Have you ever been frustrated when there is a service you need and you know there is someone out there you’ve met but you cannot their name or contact information?

! Sure, but you don’t want this to happen to your prospects. You want them to have your information handy when they are ready, and an ezine is the most effective answer to this.

Page 5: Small Business Marketing Strategies - Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

EXAMPLE !  Let’s say you meet a young mother at a farmer’s market and you recognize her as a

regular customer. You’re not exactly on a first name basis, but you are friendly when she comes to buy from you. She has asked if she can buy in bulk for canning purposes and you have said yes. All she has to do is call you to place an order. You give her a business card with your number.

!  A couple weeks later, she has family members coming in to town as guests for the weekend and needs to do some bulk purchasing for meal planning. She looks through her purse and the diaper bag for your business card but cannot find it and she doesn’t remember the name of your farm. She knows your face and you are the third stand on the left when she comes to the market to shop.

!  When she arrives that week you don’t have enough produce for her cooking needs and she ends up buying the rest from another farmer and picks up the other items she cannot find at the farmer’s market at the grocery store.

!  She could not find you easily when she wanted and needed to buy from you. So she did what any other person would do, buy from the next person who had what she needed whether that was another farmer or the grocery store.

Page 6: Small Business Marketing Strategies - Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

DO THE WORK FOR THE CUSTOMER

! There is a gap here. There are too many variables that are out of your control. Facebook or your website could not be the answer if the prospect doesn’t remember your name, the name of your farm or your website.

!  Instead of giving her a business card, you could have asked for her email address to put on your mailing list. When she needed more food from you, she would have already received your newsletter with recipes, tips for storing produce, how to order in bulk, your regular selling locations, and contact information.

Page 7: Small Business Marketing Strategies - Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

! Your ezine provides all she needs to know to buy from you. She goes to her email inbox, finds your contact information, and calls you to place an order. Being convenient and accessible, the prospect bought from you.

! An ezine proactively keeps your business fresh in the mind of the prospect, keeps your contact information handy, and takes the hassle out of finding the product or service they need when they need it most. Simple. Effective. Profitable.

Page 8: Small Business Marketing Strategies - Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

#2: AN EZINE IS ECONOMICAL AND EASY TO PUBLISH.

!  The ezine is recession-proof, always available, and economical to use no matter what your financial position.

!  Business owners like you and me have access to this proven system for generating sales and creating business where there previously was none. No expensive marketing campaigns, no buying ads in the local paper. Remember the ezine is proactive; it is not dependent on people finding you. It’s about you keeping up the connection with them.

!  An ezine is inexpensive and easy to publish. Many people are already doing this. I’m sure your own email inbox is proof of this. Leverage is the key. More on this important marketing tip for small business later.

Page 9: Small Business Marketing Strategies - Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

#3: AN EZINE ATTRACTS LEADS READY TO BUY

! How can an email newsletter do such a thing? Well, it is much more likely to represent the real you better than a friend or even yourself in a face-to-face encounter.

! Not all of us are great with sales. And a referral from a friend is awesome but it won’t always lead to a sale. You might be waiting forever for someone else to call you.

! When creating marketing strategies for your small business, proactive does not equal waiting for a call.

Page 10: Small Business Marketing Strategies - Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

NEWS OF YOUR HARVEST

!  What about your harvest? Strawberries come in before peaches and apples. You can’t call all your customers to let them know when it’s prime time for picking or when you’re all picked out.

!  If you had an ezine that you sent regularly letting your customers know what’s ready for picking, what’s coming in next, and what’s done, you create an accurate expectation for what they will be able to purchase when getting to your farm. You could also share your observations about this harvest, the best time to pick for canning, recipes for canning and preserving to help your customers enjoy the fruits of your labor well after the harvest is done.

Page 11: Small Business Marketing Strategies - Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

GETTING TO KNOW YOU !  Infused with your gift of storytelling and a touch of humor,

your ezine provides a more accurate representation of who you are and the quality of food you provide families.

!  In person you may be terrible at conducting a sales meeting. While email is virtual, it gives your voice a chance to be heard. Your readers can get to know you, your style, your ideas, and who you are from the stories you share, the designs, and images you use to convey your message. It is a portfolio of your work, your expertise, and what you can offer your prospects.

!  How does this translate to hot leads ready to buy? If you have been communicating regularly with your audience, they’ve had a chance to get to know you and either feel a connection or don’t. If they do, they are more likely to be your loyal customers and considering buying even more fromyou.

Page 12: Small Business Marketing Strategies - Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

#4: YOU CAN POSITION YOURSELF AS AN EXPERT IN YOUR FIELD.

!  When you write and publish your ezine regularly including useful tips and strategies for improving people’s work or personal lives, then you gain credibility. As that credibility builds you start to become an expert. Your subscribers will look to you for more information. You may be asked to speak at an event hosted by someone on your list. You may attract the attention of local newspapers that lead to a magazine and potentially a national news outlet.

!  Eventually you create enough material to even write some special reports that you can consolidate into a book. Now, you’re a published author, which brings expert credibility.

!  This doesn’t happen overnight. It happens as you grow your subscriber list, which brings us to the next reason.

Page 13: Small Business Marketing Strategies - Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

#5: AN EZINE WILL EXPAND YOUR LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS EXPONENTIALLY.

! Using an ezine to share your expertise gives you the opportunity to market your message beyond the one person-at-a-time method that networking involves.

! You can publish your message from one to several hundreds, or thousands at a time.

! When someone gives you his or her email address to subscribe to your ezine you are building your customer list. With this list you continue to build value and market all the ways a consumer can spend with you.

Page 14: Small Business Marketing Strategies - Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

PROVIDE VALUE AT EACH STEP

Page 15: Small Business Marketing Strategies - Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

!  Your subscribers get your free ezine. You then market your $7 preserving report, later your book. As you market the products moving down the list you continue to build customer loyalty from those who continue to purchase from you.

!  Marketing this way will target your audience that is willing and able to pay well for good food.

!  Encourage your subscribers to share this email with friends, family, and colleagues that may also appreciate your expert tips and strategies. Additional folks will subscribe, continuing to grow your list.

Page 16: Small Business Marketing Strategies - Top 5 Reasons Ezines Are An Effective Choice For Farm Owners

FREE STRATEGY

! For more information on this topic and to get a free strategy to get your customers to pay you more for the same product, check this out:

http://gettingfarmsonline.com/free-profitable-gift-for-farms/