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293 From Strawberries to Sales: Building Your U-Pick Farm Strategy

My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers

Release Date: 12/25/2024

366 What Farmers Can Learn from Aldi's 366 What Farmers Can Learn from Aldi's "Shop First" Strategy

My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers

I got this podcast episode idea in the middle of Aldi. Seriously. I was walking down the grocery aisle when a sign stopped me in my tracks. It said: "Shop Aldi First." And I remember thinking: "Dang. That's good." Buried inside that simple phrase was a powerful marketing lesson that applies to almost every direct-to-consumer farm business. Aldi isn't trying to convince customers to buy everything from them. They're trying to become the first stop. In this episode, I unpack the marketing strategy behind Aldi's campaign and show how farmers can apply the same thinking to become the first place...

info_outline 365 Build Your Farm’s 365 Build Your Farm’s "Dream 25" List

My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers

What if the fastest way to grow your farm business wasn’t finding more customers… but finding the people who already HAVE your customers’ attention? In this episode, I’m introducing the concept of the “Dream 25 List” -- a simplified version of the famous Dream 100 marketing strategy -- and showing farmers how to identify partnership opportunities hiding all around them. We’re talking about: what's a Dream 25 list? why partnerships can accelerate trust faster than social media how to identify 25 businesses and influencers that already serve your ideal customer examples of...

info_outline 364 CSA Buy Down Offers: Marketing Case Study with Thirsty Fruit Farm show art 364 CSA Buy Down Offers: Marketing Case Study with Thirsty Fruit Farm

My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers

In this episode, I sit down with Krista Barzen-Hansen of Thirsty Fruit Farm (one of my students from Farm Marketing School!) to break down how her farm marketing has evolved and strengthened over the past year. In this farm marketing case study, we unpack: how customers discover her farm, how she nurtures leads, how she's constantly optimizing her "gateway" product what content she creates, how she thinks about onboarding, the systems she’s building, and how she’s learning to approach marketing with confidence and experimentation instead of overwhelm. Krista’s primary sales model...

info_outline 363 Find Your Farm’s Proof Sentence (That Helps Customers Say Yes Faster) show art 363 Find Your Farm’s Proof Sentence (That Helps Customers Say Yes Faster)

My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers

What if one sentence could help your customers trust you faster? In this episode, I’m introducing a powerful marketing tool called a proof sentence — a simple line that helps your customer think, “Yeah… this is probably going to work for me, too.” A proof sentence doesn’t just describe your product. It shows what happens after someone buys it. We’ll talk about why promises are so powerful in marketing, how to identify the transformation your farm product creates, and how to build your own proof sentence using a simple formula. Because your customers aren’t just buying...

info_outline 362 How to Groom Your Farm Website During the Season show art 362 How to Groom Your Farm Website During the Season

My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers

Is your farm website reflecting what’s happening on your farm RIGHT NOW… or is it stuck in last season? A few weeks ago, our farm was featured in the Toledo Blade newspaper during asparagus season, and suddenly we had a wave of new people discovering our business online. There was just one problem… Our website wasn’t ready for them. The homepage wasn’t talking about asparagus. There was no mention of the newspaper feature. And there wasn’t a clear next step for new visitors trying to figure out how to buy from us. That experience sparked a huge realization for me: Farm websites are...

info_outline 361 The Missing Piece in Your Farm Business: The Success Path show art 361 The Missing Piece in Your Farm Business: The Success Path

My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers

May 13, 2026 There’s a missing piece in most farm marketing funnels, and it lives after the sale. If your customers feel overwhelmed, unsure what to do, or like they’re “failing” with your product… they don’t come back. In this episode, I’m breaking down the concept of a Success Path -- the intentional roadmap you build to guide your customer from confusion → confidence → transformation. When you build this well, you don’t just create repeat buyers… you create loyal fans who trust you, stick with you, and tell others. What You’ll Learn: What a Success Path actually...

info_outline 360 What to Do with Your Farm's Greatest Hits show art 360 What to Do with Your Farm's Greatest Hits

My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers

I own every single album by the Indigo Girls. I’m a true fan. I know the deep cuts. The obscure songs. The ones most people have never heard of. But the album I reach for the most?...Their greatest hits. The one with all the favorites. The songs I already know I love. And it got me thinking… What if your farm had a “greatest hits album”? Most farmers are sitting on their most powerful sales tool… and not using it. Your best sellers—the products your customers already love—are doing more work than you think. But if you’re not intentionally leveraging them? You’re leaving...

info_outline 359 Are You Tracking This Number in Your Farm Business? show art 359 Are You Tracking This Number in Your Farm Business?

My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers

What if the growth you’ve been chasing… isn’t actually about getting more customers? In this episode, I’m introducing a simple (but incredibly powerful) metric called Customer Value. And once you understand it, it will completely change how you think about your farm’s revenue, your marketing, and your growth strategy. Most farmers are focused on the wrong lever. They’re trying to bring in more people… when the real opportunity might already be sitting inside their current customer base. Inside this episode, I’m going to show you: What Customer Value actually is (and how to...

info_outline 358 Timing is Everything: The Best Time to Sell Your Farm Products show art 358 Timing is Everything: The Best Time to Sell Your Farm Products

My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers

I walked into the grocery store this week… and it felt like Easter punched me in the face. Everywhere I turned, there were Easter baskets, chocolate bunnies, pastel packaging, even M&M’s rebranded as “eggs.” It wasn’t just a reminder that Easter was coming—it was a full-on invitation to buy like it was Easter. And here’s the weird part… I found myself wanting things I didn’t even plan to buy. If your farm products aren’t selling, it might not be your pricing… your offer… or even your marketing. It might be your timing. In this episode, I’m breaking down the 5...

info_outline 357 How I Built a Spring Plant Sale Launch That Sold Out in 48 Hours show art 357 How I Built a Spring Plant Sale Launch That Sold Out in 48 Hours

My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers

We just sold out our entire Spring Plant Sale in 48 hours… and I had to shut the store down five days early. I don't think it was luck. This year, I approached the plant sale differently. I built it like a launch. And in the process, I uncovered a few new strategies (and a few surprising insights) that I haven’t shared before. If you’ve ever run a promotion and thought, “Why didn’t this sell as well as I hoped?”... this episode is your behind-the-scenes look at what actually moves the needle. I’m walking you through the anatomy of this year’s Spring Plant Sale launch -- what I...

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More Episodes

Ever wish you could sit in on a strategy session with a group of farmers and hear how they brainstorm marketing plans? In this week’s episode, I’m giving you a rare behind-the-scenes look at one of my live Zoom call meetups inside the Farm Marketing School membership. These monthly meetups are where the magic happens—where farmers come together to problem-solve, strategize, and dream big about their businesses.

This time, we’re putting a farmer in the hot seat to help him figure out how to successfully launch his first-ever Strawberry U-Pick farm. If you’ve ever wondered what goes into creating a marketing plan for a U-Pick operation—or even if you just want to sharpen your own farm marketing skills—this episode is packed with insights you can’t afford to miss.

You’ll get a peek into the questions we ask to help shape this farmer’s vision, including:

  • How to build buzz and get eyes on your brand before opening day.

  • Creative ways to grow an email list fast—and why it matters.

  • Ideas for crafting U-Pick packages and offers that attract more customers and increase spending.

  • The importance of Google SEO and what topics to focus on in weekly emails.

  • How to leverage value-added products and a product ladder to turn a single visit into repeat sales.

Whether you’re a seasoned farmer looking to refine your marketing game, or you’re brand new to selling direct-to-consumer, this episode will spark new ideas for how to approach your own promotions, no matter what you grow or sell.

And if you’re curious about what it’s like to be part of a community like Farm Marketing School—where farmers share real-world advice and cheer each other on—this episode is your invitation to experience it for yourself.

Don’t miss this candid conversation that could change how you think about your farm marketing strategy.

Podcast Sponsor:

This podcast was sponsored by Local Line, my preferred e-commerce platform for farmers. Are you looking for a new solution for your farm? I can't recommend it enough. Easy to use inventory management, great customer service, continuous improvement, and a culture dedicated to equipping farmers with marketing expertise, Local Line should definitely be one of the e-commerce solutions you consider as you switch.  Local Line is offering a free premium feature for free for one year on top of your paid subscription. Claim your discount by signing up for a Local Line account today and using the coupon code: MDF2024. Head to my special affiliate link to get started: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/localline

Some of the resources mentioned in this episode:

Join my free email list! I have a great "Crash Course in farm marketing" that will guide you through the marketing jungle over the course of several months. Each week, you'll get a new email with suggestions and tips to make your marketing better. Subscribe at https://www.mydigitalfarmer.com/subscribe

Farm Marketing School - my monthly online marketing school membership just for farmers. Farm Marketing School is an on-demand library of marketing workshops and project plans that will help you build some of the most important parts of your marketing system: building a promotion calendar, setting up your Google Business Profile, auditing your sales funnel, updating your home page of your website, building your first email nurture sequence, acquiring and deploying testimonials, writing great weekly email promotions, nurture emails, onboarding emails, and practicing different types of offers. You get to chose what you want to study and build each month. These projects are designed to be completed in under 30 days, so that you slowly build your marketing system piece by piece. Use the step by step project planner and resource folder to help you jumpstart your work. Take advantage of my new marketing crash course inside or take the onboarding assessment tool to help you identify where your funnel is broken and what project to do first. To see what courses are currently inside of FMS, or to try out Farm Marketing School for a month at mydigitalfarmer.com/fms  Start and cancel your membership anytime.