Somebody buys your product. Then what happens?... Many business owners think that the work of sales and marketing is now over. The customer bought the product, and now we're done. Wrong. In today's episode, I talk about the VERY important phase of the sales process called "product fulfillment." I share lots of examples of what this can look like, and why spending just a few hours optimizing your workflow in this area can lead to WAY more profits. Sometimes it can take a while for your product to...
Sep 14, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 177
Before your potential new client decides to buy your stuff, they're looking for ONE thing... Proof. You need to show that you're the real deal -- your product delivers results! Customers often don't even realize they're looking for this, but they are. That's why it's important for you to build these "credibility moments" into your buying process somewhere. In today's episode, we talk about 10 different ways brands can show authority and give their potential clients the social proof they need to ...
Sep 07, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 176
As an entrepreneur and small business owner, I am constantly chasing "the next big thing." I set ambitious goals. I build execution plans to get there. And I base my sense of success and value on whether or not I hit them. The problem is, I almost NEVER hit them exactly the way I planned. Or I compare myself to other businesses, Instagram accounts, and parents -- some made-up ideal that I think I "should be" -- and I come up short. I end up feeling like I'm "not good enough." Not successful enou...
Aug 31, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 175
Tired of trying to share long, ugly URL links with leads and customers in your marketing channels? There's another way. They're called "redirects," and when I first discovered them, I was ecstatic. I use them ALL the time. This is like bitly link shorteners, but where you get to decide what the actual link itself will say. The formula is always: yourwebsiteurl.com/shortcutword Using redirects gives you the ability to share things like: popular product pages your favorite lead magnets YouTube vid...
Aug 24, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 174
Every now and then, I run into a fantastic sales funnel example in the real world in another industry. When it happens, I take notes, so I can share it with you. This week, I'm breaking down the sales funnel of my son's orthodontist. You see, in a matter of 7 days, Kurt and I decided to write a big fat check for $6000 to this Downey Orthodontics in Bowling Green. How did he pull that off so fast? That's no small feat! Looking back, I can see SO MANY small steps that were engineered by their sale...
Aug 17, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 173
Vacation in July for a farmer? Is it possible? What if it were?... In today's episode, I share my story of how Kurt and I successfully planned and executed a 5-day vacation to Oshkosh, Wisconsin in the middle of July. How did our farm survive without us? What did we have to do to make it happen? And was it worth it? In this episode, I share some observations and take-aways from this experiment that will be helpful if you want to make this dream a reality. It is possible. It all starts in your mi...
Aug 10, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 172
Writing the weekly CSA Newsletter.... do you love it? Or hate it? This used to feel like a CHORE! In my early years, I would start from scratch every week, and it felt like I was back in Yearbook class -- not only trying to write engaging "newspaper-style" articles, but worrying about layout and images so it all fit!! It would take me around 6-7 hours every weekend. Ugh. After 14 years, I've learned a few things about how to make this important resource a whole lot faster (and better!) In this e...
Aug 03, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 171
Subscribe to my free 5-Day Instagram Reels Challenge here. You'll get a daily video tutorial on Reels and a quick homework assignment to practice the skill you learned. Each day builds on the next, as you experiment and play in the sandbox. By the end of the challenge, you'll know your way around the Reels platform and know how to take it deeper if you want! Do you need to be doing Instagram Reels? And if you ARE ready to take the dive, where do you get started? Well, in today's episode, I walk ...
Jul 27, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 170
Check out my workshop "How to Optimize your Google Business Profile" here. Are you using the power of search engines to help you find new customers? Here's the truth: people are going to Google to find your farm. What is Google showing them? Are you showing up in the #1 position? And if not, what can you do to get there? In this episode, I invite local SEO expert Jesse Dolan from LocalSeoTactics.com onto the show, to share his short checklist for how to create a basic SEO strategy for your busin...
Jul 20, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 169
What is it that your product actually delivers to your customer? I'm not talking about the thing itself. I'm talking about the long-term life transformation? How does their life get better because of your vegetable box or grass-fed beef?... What is the product's promise? If you want to sell more of your products, you MUST know how to answer this question. In this episode, I talk about how to find this information, why it's so powerful, and how to talk about it in more your marketing....
Jul 13, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 168
Do you track any sales or marketing metrics for your farm?... Because here's a fact: You can't manage what you aren't measuring. And for the first 9 years of my business, I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't track ANY of these numbers. I was just "doing farm sales" and asking people to buy every week, hoping the numbers would work out. I wonder sometimes if this is one of the reasons we were treading water all those years. In today's episode, I talk about the importance of knowing your sales a...
Jul 06, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 167
Get my new weekly marketing roadmap when you subscribe to my email newsletter. I LOVE interviewing other farmers who are GREAT at marketing. Sometimes, the best way to grow our own marketing strategy is to see what other farms are doing. Today's guest is Melissa Ballard of Bluegrass Beef in Kentucky. She has managed to build a growing, profitable farm business by attracting the right kind of client, telling her farm story, building a compelling offer, and turning them into repeat buyers. She als...
Jun 29, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 166
What happens to a person after they subscribe to your email list for the first time? Do they fall into the "black hole"? I've long encouraged you to build something called a "nurture email sequence" in your marketing funnel. This pre-written, automated email sequence drips out amazing, helpful content to your new subscribers to warm them up to your brand. And once it's written, it remains as a permanent tool in your business. But writing these can feel overwhelming. In this episode, I share a ha...
Jun 22, 2022•29 min•Season 1Ep. 165
Need some help with Instagram reels? Search no more. Today's podcast guest and farmer is an Instagram guru. Laura Patterson has mastered the art of engagement and lead generation through the use of Instagram reels, creating compelling content every day that attracts her ideal customer. In this podcast, Laura shares how she marketed and grew her micro-greens business, and how she now uses those same strategies to grow her online business, teaching farmers.
Jun 15, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 164
Have you taken the time this season to identify your core marketing message(s)? Is your message consistent and clear? What are you trying to get your customers to know or do? And do you have a PLAN to get there? In this episode, I share how to find this message, and best practices to make sure your controlling idea is communicated.
Jun 08, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 163
Grab my Tips & Secrets for CSA Success Canva Template to Onboard Your CSA Members. How are you onboarding your CSA members into your CSA's first weeks? (Are you?) In this episode, I walk through the 4 categories of content/information you should consider putting into your onboarding strategy. You'll walk away with a plan for mapping out your strategy, what it should include, and how long it should take. I even share my CSA's handbook template....
Jun 01, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 162
In today's episode, I interview a farmer from Louisiana, Kate Estrade, who is a curator of locally-produced farm goods -- from her own pasture-based farm, as well as from over 25 other local farms and producers. She sells through an onsite "grocery" store as well as several neighborhood hubs. Customers have been "trained" to pre-order online each week and then come pickup their order at their location of choice. In this episode, we talk about how this business model evolved over time, how Kate h...
May 25, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 161
Need content ideas for your CSA members? Enroll in my CSA Membership Academy and get your first month for $1 when you use my coupon code TRIAL at www.mydigitalfarmer.com/academy Do you spend more time than you'd like in your farm delivery truck? Do you dream of giving this up and having more time for revenue-generating activities on the farm? What if you could outsource delivery to someone else? In this episode, I interview Andrew Miller from Farmstead Logistics -- a third party logistics provid...
May 18, 2022•59 min•Season 1Ep. 160
Download my Guide: 19 Social Media Post Templates to Unlock Your Content Marketing Strategy. Do you ever have a brain freeze when it comes to social media? What the heck should I be posting about? Or when it's time to "write your weekly email," do you ever find yourself staring at a blank screen with no clue what to say? You're in good company. As content marketers, our job is to create a steady stream of quality content that will help attract our ideal customers into our brand, and then ultimat...
May 11, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 159
Subscribe to my farm's CSA Resource Library for $1 using the coupon code TRIAL at www.mydigitalfarmer.com/academy Have you ever thought about creating a passive form of revenue through a digital workshop? Today's podcast guest, Heather Carter of Nature Hills Farm, did just that! Her cheese-making online class is purchased by people all over the country. In this episode, she shares how she built the course, what obstacles she had to overcome, and how she plans to grow this revenue stream for her ...
May 04, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 158
QR Codes. They are everywhere. But are you using them in your farm marketing? In this episode, I share LOTS of ideas for where your QR codes could link on the internet to help develop your leads into buyers, and turn your buyers into lifelong fans. Subscribe to my CSA Academy to get access to lots of resources to help your veggie lovers! Get your first month for $1 using coupon code TRIAL at www.mydigitalfarmer.com/academy
Apr 27, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 157
Imagine CSA customers coming to your farm every week to harvest their own share from your vegetable beds. Yes. That's the concept behind a U-Pick CSA model. In this episode, I interview Kristen Muehlhauser of Raindance Organic Farm, who has built a profitable farm business off this CSA operation. She shares the pro's and con's of getting this kind of program off the ground. Sign up for my seminar "The Beginner's Guide to CSA Add-On Shares" at www.mydigitalfarmer.com/addonshares...
Apr 20, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 156
Ugh. Does your email open rate stink? Are your emails getting lost in the spam folder? In today's episode, I share one strategy you can use to try and get your new subscribers to add your email address to their contact list -- this is something called "white listing," and it has an effect of making sure you never show up in the spam folder again. How does it work? After hearing this episode, you'll be able to take about 10 minutes to adjust a few words of text in your welcome emails, and it just...
Apr 13, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 155
Last season, our CSA trialed a partnership with a CSF (Community Supported Fishery) called Citizen Salmon Alaska. In this episode, I have fisherman Aaron Sechler back on the show to talk through how it went. We audit our experience and take-aways, and share some tips for how to do this well. PS: If you're thinking of adding on "add-on shares" to your CSA, but need some help getting started, check out my paid seminar "The Beginner's Guide to CSA Add-On Shares" at www.mydigitalfarmer.com/addonshar...
Apr 06, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 154
Have you ever pre-sold spring transplants as a type of product line? Our farm is predominantly a CSA farm, and so we didn't offer this as a product until just a few years ago. At first glance, it didn't seem to "fit" our customer profile. Boy, was I wrong! Three years ago, we started offering transplants as a product line, and our CSA clients bought like crazy! It's created a whole new revenue stream for us, AND it's given us a new way to attract potential CSA clients. It's also a form of "guara...
Mar 30, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 153
In this episode, I interview CSA farmer Tessa DeMaster from Willowhaven Farm. I've been watching Tessa for the last 3 years, as she's slowly built her marketing strategy layer by layer. Today, she shares her story of how she's learned to simplify her marketing -- everything from the flagship product to her messaging. We even talk through what she's found to be the 2 most valuable pieces of her marketing strategy each week. I also want you to check out her website. It's a great template to work f...
Mar 23, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 152
Grab my list of product badges in the show notes at www.mydigitalfarmer.com/151 What's a product "badge"? You know those little symbols or labels you can put on your product listing like "Best Seller" or "Award-Winner"?... Turns out simply adding a product badge to your listing can help you sell more of that product! So why not learn what they are and experiment! In this episode, I share some examples of product badge labels, best practices, and some categories to help inspire you how to use the...
Mar 16, 2022•22 min•Season 1Ep. 151
Have you ever thought of giving your customers a "consumption goal" for your product? What if you customer is feeling confused about where to begin? or how to use your product? In this episode, I walk you through my CSA farm's new customer "Punch List." I'm helping my customers see the target to hit this season! And I think it's going to be awesome! Listen to the episode and be inspired how a punch list might work for your business. Check out my CSA Member Academy -- a library of resources to he...
Mar 09, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 150
In this week's episode, I interview livestock farmer Jamie Pritchard from WIT Farms in Ohio. Jamie shares how she has cultivated a loyal fan base for her pastured-raised meats over the last 5 years. I ask her to break down her marketing funnel for me, and you'll see a simple, yet elegant, process that intentionally pulls clients into her brand.
Mar 02, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 149
Get my CSA Tips and Strategies Canva Template to help onboard your rookies to CSA mastery faster. Get it at www.mydigitalfarmer.com/csasuccess What keeps my CSA members coming back year after year? I'm telling you now... it isn't just the vegetables. In this episode, I interview one of my CSA's strongest members, Esther Hertzfeld. Esther and her husband have been with our CSA for 9 years. She shares her journey from rookie member to CSA Facebook group influencer to CSA site host to ultimate bran...
Feb 23, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 148
