Farmfluencers building brands for their farms – Good Fruit Grower

—story and images by Matt MilkovichThe Ohio State College direct-marketing specialist Christie Welch discusses the ins and outs of making a model for your small business through the Ohio Agritourism Convention held in Walnut Creek in July. (Matt Milkovich/Good Fruit Grower)Constructing a enterprise model to your agritourism farm or U-pick orchard has by no means been simpler. Right now’s digital panorama accommodates quite a few instruments to create names, symbols or different identifiers, and it provides the means to succeed in extra potential clients than ever earlier than. The Ohio State College audio system mentioned branding’s advantages for agritourism farms, in addition to its potential pitfalls, on the Ohio Agritourism Convention in Walnut Creek in July. Three of the audio system additionally run agritourism farms of their very own, and so they every shared their experiences with brand-building by way of buyer loyalty applications, worker coaching, social media and extra. Your farm’s model must construct an emotional reference to clients, and social media will be an effective way to do this, mentioned OSU direct-marketing specialist Christie Welch. “Share when your tractor breaks down and you may’t do what you could do,” mentioned Welch, who additionally runs a U-pick berry farm south of Columbus. “Folks wish to see the actual you.” Welch mentioned roughly a 3rd of your social media posts needs to be about farm occasions, one other third about what’s on the market (however not offered in a “salesy” means that is perhaps a turn-off), and the ultimate third about industrywide occasions (crop-killing freezes or droughts, for instance). OSU extension educator Rob Leeds, who additionally runs Leeds Farm, an agritourism enterprise north of Columbus, mentioned each interplay with clients ought to mirror your farm’s model — even when it’s unhealthy information, corresponding to explaining to a disenchanted mum or dad that their little one isn’t tall sufficient to experience the zipline. In such circumstances, staff are educated to politely however firmly clarify that it’s a security challenge, and the Leeds Farm model prioritizes security above all else, he mentioned.Staff are an extension of your model, so empower them to resolve issues rapidly and independently, he mentioned. “Going up the chain of command takes time,” Leeds mentioned. “Resolve the issue within the first 5 minutes, and the client is pleased and can come again.”Growing buyer retention by even 5 p.c can significantly improve income. New clients are exhausting to draw, however long-term clients have a vested curiosity in your success, Leeds mentioned. Hornyak Farms, an agritourism operation and U-pick peach orchard east of Cleveland, rewards returning clients with single free-entry coupons, mentioned OSU agritourism program coordinator Kate Hornyak, who additionally co-manages her household farm. Cindy ZainoOne of the viewers members, Cindy Zaino, who manages Branstool Orchards northeast of Columbus, shared her personal instance of a profitable branding and buyer loyalty program: The VIPPs — Very Vital Peach Pickers. For a payment of $100, Branstool’s VIPPs get the early scoop on ripe U-pick crops, gross sales and different occasions. In addition they get a bag and tea towel with the orchard’s identify on it, a six-pack of donuts and a ten p.c low cost on as much as 10 packs of fruit. Lots of their long-term clients had been more than pleased to turn out to be VIPPs, Zaino mentioned. “Assume you’ll be able to’t cost folks simply to return and purchase produce?” Welch requested the viewers. “Oh sure, you’ll be able to.”Zaino additionally gave an instance of branding’s potential authorized issues. She was within the midst of planning a brand new pickle-themed occasion final 12 months, which she initially known as the Huge Dill Pickle Social gathering, when she acquired an e mail from an lawyer for a big occasion firm who mentioned that identify may simply confuse potential attendees of his consumer’s pickle-themed occasions. Zaino was skeptical that anyone would confuse a tiny occasion in Utica, Ohio, with bigger occasions in massive cities. Her farm additionally hosts an annual fall occasion known as Applepalooza, named after the Lollapalooza live performance pageant, and nobody had ever raised a copyright grievance. She supplied to alter the identify of the pickle occasion to Darn Huge Dill Pickle Social gathering, however that was nonetheless too shut for the lawyer. The phrase “social gathering” was apparently the issue, so Zaino lastly settled on Darn Huge Dill Pickle Fest. The expertise was irritating, however the pickle-themed occasion is successful with clients, she mentioned. Hannah Scott One of many pitfalls of branding is doubtlessly working afoul of trademark or copyright legal guidelines, mentioned lawyer and OSU program director Hannah Scott. If a enterprise is considering utilizing a specific phrase or tagline for an occasion, it could be useful to rent an lawyer to do a trademark search to seek out out if the identify will encroach on one other enterprise’ present trademark, Scott mentioned. Making a emblem or different artwork to mirror a model additionally has mental property implications. Basically, employers personal the copyright when a piece is created by staff within the scope of their employment, however issues get just a little “sticky” when the work is created by an impartial contractor. If, for instance, you rent a third-party graphic designer to create a emblem, it’s advisable to create an settlement that particulars who owns the copyright for the completed product, Scott mentioned. Social media can current comparable dilemmas. Say a buyer takes a cute picture of their youngsters sporting your merchandise at your fall pageant, posts it on their social accounts and tags your small business. Usually talking, a buyer controls the flexibility to make use of their identify or picture for industrial functions. If you wish to use the images in future promoting, you would possibly want a launch that enables use of the photographs for industrial functions, she mentioned. •



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