The use of the word “smart” is deliberate. It’s meant to represent anything you do to boost your business’ marketing performance which does NOT make running your business more cumbersome or expensive.
In this write-up I discuss six steps you can take, to create an online presence that can attract high profile bulk buyers for your farm products.
In applying the ideas offered, I propose you explore agreeing short to medium or long term contracts with intending buyers as your products are available.
1. Build A Smart Website
It costs very little today, to get a domain name and website hosting account setup. And making your website “smart” will cost you next to nothing, if you’re willing to DIY.
Use A Content Management System (CMS): Either Joomla! or WordPress is recommended based on their relative popularity, and availability of support communities. It’s likely the hosting account you already use is CPANEL powered. That means you have INSTANT access to the aforementioned open source software – just login to your CPANEL account and click on the Fantastico De Luxe link in the panel located towards the page bottom.
WordPress is easier to learn. Joomla! has a fairly steep learning curve. Both are CMS – they allow even a non-technical user easily update her website without the help of a web designer. And the CMS come with plugins that add extra functionality.
Have your website setup to offer standard information about your farm business (About Us, Products, Services, Contact us etc).
2. Setup Smart Social Media Marketing Channels
People on Linked In already have a mindset to do business. Unlike Twitter and Facebook enthusiasts who just congregate in a marriage of multiple unrelated interests.
Having said that people belonging to the latter group can still be your potential customers. This is because some are CEOs, and others may be event planners or hosts that could need bulk supplies of your kinds of farm products.
Build a "professional" profile for yourself on Linkedin.com. Add a page for your company. Then setup accounts on Twitter and Facebook as well.
There’s little to lose since they’re free to use. But DO NOT do so if you are not prepared to keep them updated with new and relevant content. Integrated automation tools like RSS Graffiti can help with updating multiple media simultaneously. Add social media share buttons, including Facebook comment boxes etc to your website.
On social media, your regular publishing of useful information will attract attention from people who fit your target audience profile, but do not know you. Since they belong in the network of those who do know you, they’ll get intermittently exposed to your stuff.
Over time, they’ll come over to see more. And may signup or contact you via your request form. But you will have had no conscious involvement in making it happen. These kinds of people often end up being more profitable to do business with.
3. Use Smart E-mail Newsletter Marketing
Setup a smart e-mail newsletter subscription system. Mailchimp.com offers a good one that has a free starter level account suited to the needs of most SMEs.
You’ll need to capture prospects’ email and phone details. That requires an aggressive content creation strategy that will keep your website constantly brimming with new content considered valuable/useful by those who belong to your target audience.
When people visit your web presence i.e. your website/blog and social media pages, the trail of your content should lead back to your subscriber recruitment system.
Getting them to signup when they arrive can be induced by offering incentives like contest prizes, or say free reports on eating healthy farm products or even a special educational publication on caring for/rearing farm animals.
As your list grows, nurture it. Build your brand. Make a statement by launching and sustaining at least monthly newsletter broadcasts to subscribers. People will pay attention only if they see that you take yourself seriously.
HINT: Tell stories, or describe case studies based on occurrences in your farm business. Tell them how you solved a problem. Describe how you developed a better process.
Relate it to your ability to consequently produce greater output or better product quality. Be generous with pictures that present your farm enterprise in a way that builds credibility for you, in the minds of the readers. Delight them with exceptionally useful content on a regular basis. Do it so well that they come to look forward to it.
Monitor their interests by using an automated system (e.g. Mailchimp) that lets you know how many open the emails you send; which of your links they click on etc. That insight will help you understand what interests them, and guide you in creating additional content..
As you do all these, sprinkle special offers to supply farm products in bulk to hotels, bars, restaurants and even social events. Use images and pictures showing your live or dressed farm products to demonstrate their appeal.
Over time, you’ll notice how your readers begin to make enquiries. It works, I tell you!
4. Join Smart Online Local Directory Listings
A local example is www.nigeriagalleria.com. You can greatly increase the chances of getting your farm business discovered online, by getting on as many similar high profile listings as possible. This is a no-brainer as far as I’m concerned.
Important Note: Even if you have to pay, it’s always smarter to signup for a package that allows you display you website URL and email address.
That way, interested persons can follow up with you by going to your website. And from there, your carefully orchestrated web marketing system would take over.
5. Streamline Content Updates Using Smart RSS Feeds
When you publish new content on your website, syndication tools like RSS Graffiti can immediately display it in your social media channels. That’ll save valuable time and money. You’ll free your mind up to monitor results, and also think up new strategies.
Proceed as follows: Setup RSS feed for your blog via Feed burner, so you can monitor the number of subscribers. Then use your Feed burner URL to setup your RSS Graffiti account. That way, anytime you publish a post on your farm’s blog/website, your social media channels are instantly updated.
6. Adopt 80% Smart Phone Based Content Update
I don’t care how cash strapped you think you are. As a business person in the 21st century, to implement this kind of web marketing plan, a smart phone can help you.
You should be able to manage 80% of your website content updates from your mobile. It’s the key to your web marketing success.
Over 90% of the content updates and even site changes that happen on my websites happen right from my smart phone. And that includes highly useful insertions of quick HTML code enhancements to my blog posts.
You may not need to go that far, but at least know how to add new posts and quickly post links to your social media channels using smartphone apps.
Respond promptly to web based enquiries, and requests that the systems you set up are likely to generate.
In doing my work, I’m able to make things happen wherever I am – including sending out my newsletter broadcast from my mailing list manager account. While visiting with relatives or attending an event, I can finish editing a new article and publish it on Ezinearticles.com.
Just this evening, I sent a non-print PDF version of my Feed Formulation Handbook to a farm business owner in Ogoja, Cross Rivers State. This was after he’d paid the required fee in full upfront.
He never had to meet me to make this happen. A Google search had brought my website to his attention. He’d read the sales page, submitted the request form, and subsequently followed the instructions in the auto-response.
Only after he had done all that did he need to get in touch with me. And I have since fulfilled my end of the bargain – all from my Blackberry smart phone. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve done this.
TIP: Get a smart phone with web connectivity enabled. If possible, use it as a modem on your PC, for those times you may wish to work on a larger terminal.
What If It’s Not Working?
Oh, it will work, I assure you. You just do your bit as spelt out above. If you follow those guidelines, you WILL get the results I’ve specified. It’s not a matter of if, but when.
And that’s where your business passion and conviction comes to play. Do you enjoy doing what you do i.e. running a farm business?
If yes, then nurturing what will become a self-sustaining viral marketing system will not feel like a chore. I can tell you from my experience selling farm business related information online, that it won’t take long before those potential buyers start knocking.
However, not everyone can implement this kind of plan, while running a farm. So, if you find yourself struggling, stop and make changes e.g get an employee to do it? If that does not work outsource it.
Don’t start this if you’re not prepared to do what it takes to keep it going.
Goodluck 