Eat Local Food LLC

Collaborate with Local Chefs for Boost in Sales

photo by Chris Witkowski

Here's a  collaborative marketing idea for those "In Season" strawberry, blueberry, tomato and sweet corn days:

Work with your local chefs, restaurants, ice cream parlors and hospital cafes to encourage them to offer special recipes using locally grown (and sourced) favorites during the season. 

For every "in season favorite" recipe that is ordered, ask the business to give the customer a coupon for the farmers market.  The coupon could be for a free water bottle, package of seeds, discount offer (if vendors agree) or free ice cream cone.  The discount offer is ideal, as the cost of offering the item is only incurred if the individual spends additional dollars at the market, and no up front spending by the farmers market is required.

In turn, the farmers market can hand out a seasonal recipe card with a coupon for the business establishment.  If several businesses participate, consider weekly rotations so every participant benefits.

• What are your goals for your school's local food program?
• Who will head-up and serve on your local food committee next year?
• How often will the local food committee meet?  When?  Where?
• What are your school food fund-raising plans for your school next year?
• What are your plans for marketing local food in your school next year?  
• How can you engage students, teachers, parents, administrators and community leaders to get involved, participate and co-market your program?
• How will you reach the community at large?  
• What are your plans to engage the community in a collaborative marketing effort?
• How will you measure your local school food program's results?  How often with the measurement take place?  Who will receive a report on the results?

The following represents our revision of a humorous but somewhat adult marketing-themed joke we received via e-mail.  We thought it was a cute marketing lesson so we’ve cleaned it up and added a farmers market theme…we hope you enjoy it, and we extend our apologies to the original unknown author. 

You're selling vegetables at a farmers market and you see a prospective customer within range of your booth. You call to him and say, "Our tomatoes are the best around.”

That's Direct Marketing.

You are selling vegetables at a farmers market and a friend stops by.  You both see a prospective customer within range of your booth.  Your friend goes up to him, and pointing at you, says, "Her farm’s tomatoes are the best around.”

That's Advertising.

You see a prospective customer near your booth at a farmers market. You make eye contact with him and encourage him to give you his e-mail address. The next day you e-mail him and say, “Our farm’s tomatoes are in and we’ll have a special tomato salsa sampling at the farmers market this week.  Our tomatoes and salsa are the best around!”

That's E-Mail Marketing.

You see a prospective customer at a farmers market, you grab a business card, and you walk up to him and hand him a salsa sample.  You say, "Please enjoy a taste of our wonderful fresh salsa," then continuing, “This farmers market offers many fresh samples of the wonderful local produce available here", and finally, adding, "By the way, my farm’s tomatoes are the best around." 

That's Public Relations.

You're at a farmers market and see a prospective customer. He walks up to you and says, “I hear your tomatoes are the best around!"

That's Brand Recognition.

You're at a farmers market and see a prospective customer.  He’s interested in buying fresh tomatoes from you, but you talk him into buying tomatoes from your friend’s farm instead.

That's a Sales Rep.  

Your friend’s farm can't satisfy the quantity of tomatoes the customer needs, so she calls you.

That's Tech Support.

You're on your way to the farmers market when you realize that there could be prospective customers in all these houses you're passing. So you climb onto the roof of one situated towards the centre and shout at the top of your lungs, "My farm’s tomatoes are the best around!"

That's Junk Mail.

We hope you enjoyed our marketing lesson today!

My recent post on making a credible first impression focused on your web presence.  Your company website is what potential customers first see when they look for you.  The impression you give should be professional, positive and confident.  Your blog, e-newsletter and social media posts should all be extensions of your website, having the same level of professionalism in both look and content.  You never know the route a customer takes to your website - they may first see a post from you on Facebook or Google+ which spikes their curiosity and their search for your company.

Yesterday, I had an e-mail conversation with a new vendor and it drew my attention to the first impression that an e-mail can make.  During my e-conversation with the vendor:

• He responded in single sentence e-mails, without a greeting or a closing.  
• He wrote in caps, which of course gave me the impression that he was shouting at me.  
• He used abbreviations, which made him appear hurried and even disinterested.

Ultimately, I got what I needed, which was new "made in the USA" labels for the inside of our Eat Local Food tote bags.

I not only felt happy that my order was complete, I was relieved my conversation was over.  Then I realized that my unsettling conversation was because my vendor and I were using two different forms of communication.  I was on my laptop using e-mail, and he was on his I-phone texting.  Aha!  I immediately knew that if I had been on my phone receiving a text, I would not have thought the conversation to be clipped.  

In a professional e-mail business conversation, your e-mail should have

1. A greeting, or salutation
2. A  closing , or valediction
3. Proper use of upper and lowercase letters.
4. Your signature, including contact information and a link your web address, your blog and/or your social media pages.  If it's a business e-mail, don't include quotes about your hobbies or religious preferences - save that for personal e-mail use.

In my opinion, if you are sending a message to a phone number, you can be brief, immediate and ignore the polite rules of e-mail etiquette.  If you are writing to an e-mail address, the traditional e-mail rules should be followed.  Your contact with the outside world impacts how your brand is viewed.  Your customers should feel important and respected.