Jan 17, 2012

Illinois farm marketer shares ideas that work

At the 2011 Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market EXPO, Ken Hall of Edwards Apple Orchard in Poplar Grove, Ill., shared what he called “50 Farm Marketing Ideas that Work.”

Hall’s farm and market have survived and grown despite tough economic times – and being basically destroyed by a tornado a few years back.

“The tornado took the buildings, but it left the orchards and the fields, so we were able to bounce back quickly,” Hall said. “It did take out the weeping willow tree we had at our entrance, which I wasn’t that unhappy about, but our customers identified it to us, so we replanted.”

The best way to make your farm market memorable for customers, Hall said, is by creating the proper atmosphere inside and outside your market.

Landscaping

Hall suggests picking combinations of flowers and trees that set a tone for your business. If you’re open in the spring, have spring flowers. If you’re primarily a fall market, have flowers and trees with rich fall colors. Hall planted a maple variety called Sunset Maple that has bright, orange-colored fall foliage.

Hall also planted trees and shrubs in old apple bins that he places around the parking areas. Not only do they help with the aesthetics of the market, they are moveable and allow more flexibility in how he sets up parking.

At Hall’s market, he strives to keep the configuration, and especially the parking lot, flexible, to accommodate needed changes as they arise. Hall said things like extra cash registers and tents to set up extra checkout lines on heavy traffic days are key to making customers feel good about the time they spend, and the money they spend, at your market. He also suggests Port-A-Potties and benches. Having the ability to adapt to needed changes is vital to being successful, he said.

Inside the market

Just as with the outside of the market, the inside needs the right feel, or atmospherics, Hall said.

“You want to pay vitally close attention to the smell, sound, lighting and overall feel your market conveys once you get the customers in the door,” Hall said. “You want to create an overall mood to keep them in the store and enjoying an overall relaxed shopping experience.”

Having proper signage is a must, Hall said, and that goes for outside the market as well as in. One of the best things he has done is switching to blackboard signs and using Chalk Ink, an erasable marker that looks like chalk. It allows signage to be changed as needed and conveys authoritative information to the customer.

He uses his signage to keep customers up to date on produce availability and to tell the story of the market and produce. One of those important stories, Hall said, is the cider blend.

“We noticed a good bump in sales of our apple cider when we put out signs telling our customers what apples were in the blend that day.”

One of Hall’s favorite ideas was to obtain old farm images, have them blown up to poster size and use them to make murals on the walls of his market. Old pictures not only tell a story, Hall said, but they intrigue visitors enough to ask what that story is, giving you an opportunity to converse with them and make them part of your market.

“It gives them a sense of connection that brings them back.”

Have the right tools

Hall has noticed that a fair amount of people accidentally lock their keys in their car at his market. He said having a Slim-Jim-type tool on hand to help them out has been one of his best ideas. Being there to help them out makes them remember your market.

Making sure employees have all the tools they need is vitally important – and not just physical tools. Hall has an employee newsletter that lets all the employees know what produce is in season, what events are going on around the farm and market and any other information they might be asked.

“Making sure that everyone knows what is going on is key when you’re swamped with customers during peak season,” Hall said.

D’oh!

Hall said there have been things that haven’t worked for him, which is to be expected at every market. His most regrettable idea came from someplace he didn’t expect.

“We tried to be environmentally conscious and put in recycling bins, but it was a major failure,” he said. “We spent more time cleaning out the trash that people put in there that it ended up being non-cost effective.”

By Derrek Sigler, Assistant Editor