Don’t forget the email list!
When I began my jump in to Agritourism and Agri-education, FB had just come on the scene. Old school email lists still trumped and you know what? They still trump as a reliable tool today, 13 years later.
Social Media is great and certainly has its place in building a business but the email list – now that has its own power and you OWN the list!
Don’t forget, while being swept up in the trendy and time-consuming posting, you are “borrowing” the social media platform. You don’t have any control over who sees your content or when they see it.
But an email list – it’s yours. The names, the access, the content, the frequency. It’s all yours!
Oft times I see homesteaders with businesses miss amazing opportunities for collecting names for their email list.
I’m gonna name a few in case you haven’t thought of these.
Farmers Markets – always have a clipboard and a pen available for people to sign up for your newsletter, especially if they want to know what you will have available each week. I have a friend who has done markets for years selling bread. If she has any baked goods left over, she sends out a message to her list and lets them know what’s left. They either meet her at the end of the market if they’re close or they pick it up from her farm the next day.
For your loyal customers, it’s great to let them know what you will have available so you can set it aside for them when they get to the market. One of the perks of being a loyal customer!
Homestead Tours - again, I’d pass around a clipboard for a newsletter sign up at the end of the tour. I used the list to inform them of products I had for sale, and classes/events I was holding at the farm. Some of my classes were limited so those on the email list would have first dibs for signing up.
Store on my farm – I marketed in all different places so when someone came to the farm to pick up items, I’d ask if they were on the newsletter list. I let them know those on the email list were notified first of products and when they were available.
And don’t forget the obvious place – your website! Make sure you have a button for Newsletter sign-ups.
Remember – you own your email list and you have control over the frequency you reach out to your people and the content you send.
Best part – it costs you NOTHING to collect names and emails..... Very inexpensive marketing!