246 The Three Elements You MUST Have on a Farm Website Homepage (Interview with Dig Digital)
My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers
Release Date: 12/15/2023
My Digital Farmer | Marketing Strategies for Farmers
Have you ever walked into a place so often that the staff knew your name—and your order? There’s something magical about being recognized and treated like a regular. It creates loyalty. That’s the idea behind a VIP strategy—and your farm needs one. In today’s episode, I kick off a 2-part series that helps you create a plan to identify, reward, and retain your farm’s most valuable customers. Part 1 is all about figuring out who those people are, and what kind of behavior you want to encourage more of. You’ll learn: Why your business needs a VIP strategy What behaviors to track...
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Have you every wished for a fun excuse to surprise your customers, build some goodwill, and boost mid-season sales? Well, what if I told you that July 14th is National Give Something Away Day—and it might just be the perfect opportunity to try something new, spark some joy, and get people buzzing about your farm? In this episode, I show you how to use this quirky, under-the-radar holiday to your advantage—with a list of 8 creative giveaway ideas you can steal, tweak, or flat-out copy. Whether you want to build customer loyalty, generate excitement on social, or increase traffic to...
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What would happen if you merged a grocery store and a farmers market—and gave small farms a seven-day-a-week sales channel that actually pays them what they’re worth? In today’s episode, I interview Alex Blume, Marketing Manager for , a mission-driven retail concept based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that’s redefining how local food gets sold. Their innovative “farm stop” model helps small and mid-sized farms grow by giving them access to retail space 7 days a week—without the staffing or wholesale markups. Alex shares how the consignment model works, how they support over 250...
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Local Line is 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 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: MDF2025. Head to my special affiliate link to get started: Marketing doesn’t have to feel...
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Back in high school, I was that kid—the one who planned elaborate treasure hunt parties for my friends. I loved the thrill of creating a roadmap and leading them from clue to clue, always pointing to the next step. And honestly? That’s what a great thank you page does, too. A wise mentor once told me, "You're always taking your people somewhere..." In this episode, we’re talking about the most underutilized page in farm marketing—your thank you page. Whether it appears after someone signs up for your email list or buys your product, your thank you page isn’t just a...
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Have you ever had a big idea for your farm business—but you didn’t act on it because it felt too overwhelming or risky? That was me. Until my coach said five simple words that completely shifted my thinking: “Just put a container around it.” In this episode, I share how we beta tested our new Chef’s Line of prepared foods—and how using the concept of a beta test gave us the freedom to move forward without fear or perfectionism. If you’ve been sitting on an idea because it feels “too big,” this episode will show you how to test it, refine it, and build momentum with less...
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What if you could reclaim hours of your time each week—just by documenting and automating the simple tasks you’re already doing? In this episode, I sit down with Glen Young of Cold Springs Organics, a Farm Marketing School member and automation-building wizard, to talk about how he’s using Zapier + AI to automate processes in his farm business—from order management to email marketing, lead tagging, customer onboarding, and even abandoned cart follow-ups. Glen shares how he went from juggling everything manually to building smart, scalable workflows that save him time and create a...
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What happens when a total city girl decides to go all-in on the homesteading life… and ends up building a full-blown farm business from scratch? Here's the link to her homesteading membership: Podcast Sponsors: Local Line is 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 is offering a free premium feature for free for one year on top of your paid...
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May 7, 2025 Ever wonder what it really takes to sell premium farm products with confidence—and actually make money doing it? This week, I sit down with Stacie Edwards, a Farm Marketing School member who once felt nervous about charging “too much” for her meats. Today? She knows her numbers, prices for profit, and runs her business with the mindset of a CEO. But that transformation didn’t happen overnight. Stacie’s journey is full of hard-won lessons: from hiring her first coach, to outsourcing hog production, to finally letting go of the fear that held her back from charging what her...
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When Ruth Ann Majauskas first launched her flower farm in 2020, she tried a little bit of everything—farmers markets, retail, subscriptions. But the magic happened when she shifted her focus entirely to wholesale… selling flowers directly to florists. What started as trial and error quickly evolved into a streamlined system with loyal buyers, consistent orders, and a workflow she could count on. Now, Ruth Ann runs a thriving wholesale flower farm business—and she’s helping other flower farmers learn how to do the same. In today’s episode, she shares how she built her...
info_outlineFarm website updates.
Ugh. If you're like most farmers, you cringe at the thought of working on your website. It feels overwhelming, time consuming and ultra confusing. What do you say? How do you set it up technically? How do you even get started?!
In today's episode, I interview an actual website designer who works specifically with farmers to design or rebuild farm websites. She has seen it all. We talk through the 3 most important elements that need to be on your farm's website home page, and what's at stake if you get them wrong!!
You'll hear great conversation around the importance of visuals, CTA buttons, navigation, testimonials, knowing your customer, and creating clarity for the potential buyer. We also talk through the process for finding and hiring a website designer, so that you get someone who will deliver a great end product and set you up to maintain it easily after they're done. If you're thinking about building or refreshing your farm website, this is a MUST-LISTEN to guide your plan of action.
Today's Podcast Guest: Jean-Marie Merkle
Meet Jean-Marie Merkle: an extroverted maximalist with a passion for branding, project management, and regenerative agriculture. After working at design and advertising agencies in New York and Philadelphia for over a decade, burnout hit, and she moved to Tennessee to throw herself into farming. A car crash, the pandemic, and some cosmic alignment led to her forming her own agency, Dig Digital. Now she lives in Lancaster County, PA collaborating with farmers and food businesses to improve their digital presence through design and marketing.
Learn more about Jean-Marie's services on her website: www.dig-digital.com
Follow her on Instagram @dig__digital
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.
Top 10 Website Mistakes Farmers Make -- Want to know why your website isn't working? I've audited a lot of farm websites over the years, and I see the SAME issues over and over. I put together the most common website mistakes in this multi-page guide Want to know what they are? Download my PDF and use it as a checklist to audit your own farm website and make some quick adjustments that could be stopping your website from converting.
Sign up for 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 marketing elements in your farm business like: building a promotion calendar, auditing your sales funnel, updating your home page of your website, building your first email nurture sequence, and practicing different types of offers. To see what courses are currently inside of FMS, or to try out Farm Marketing School for a month at mydigitalfarmer.com/fms Cancel your membership anytime.
We reference the Chrome Extension Go Full Page. This tool will allow you to take full screenshots of individual URL pages, so you can reference them as templates later.
Find my Facebook group for farmers!
Follow me on Instagram for a daily IG story tip on marketing! @mydigitalfarmer