Your Marketing Budget for 2009

In these tough economic times, you may be tempted to stop all plans for marketing your business in 2009. It's sometimes difficult to see marketing as an investment v. an expense. The difference between the two comes down to some homework and careful planning, so even the smallest marketing budget will generate more sales.

Here are some tips to keep your marketing relevant, and to make the most of your budget dollars:

Look at Cost v. Benefit: Weigh the cost v. your expected sales benefit. Depending on your business, your marketing budget should be 4-8% of your projected sales. That means if you are spending $100 on a marketing strategy, it should generate between $1,250 and $2,500 in sales. Ignoring percentages, would you spend $1.00 to make $100? When possible, tracking your sales from each investment will help you to decide if it was worth the money and whether you should do it again next year. The estimate of your benefit should include a timeline. For example, did selling items at a festival cover your costs for that day but not result in any future sales? You may decide it wasn’t worth your time and effort to participate in the same event again.

Ask your customers how they found you – the feedback will help you fine tune your marketing budget each year.

Seasonality of your business: Consider the best time to make your expenditures count! Every business experiences some type of seasonality. The best time to market your product is before your seasonal business ramps up again. If you are a seasonal CSA farmer, for example, fall and winter are the times to solicit customers for the next growing season. You may wish to advertise and volunteer at seminars during the off-season. You will still market your product during the growing season, but it should be less labor intensive marketing, using signage, business cards and brochures to create name recognition.

Establish Name Recognition: Create an appealing eye catching brand for your product. Establish a name for your business and register that name. Use it on everything you do to promote your business. Invest in a logo design that depicts your business. Design a business card, brochure, sales flyer or postcard and use your business name and logo consistently on each promotional item. Your marketing image should portray your business and your values. Cost v. benefit is worth the investment in this area. Over time, your marketing image will become recognizable to customers and they will identify your look with your great product. Name recognition is invaluable and although it takes time to establish, it is one of your best marketing investments.

Work closely with web and graphic designers: Share the work when possible to keep costs down. You have the most knowledge about your business, so capitalize on that. Talking with your designer helps them hone in on your business image and focus on layout and design. Writing your brochure text and web content yourself will help you stay within your budget. When you invest in a web site, ask your designer if you can learn how to update the site yourself. Paying someone to update your web site for you can be costly. Usually you are only updating content text, not the design. Find a designer that will use a program that allows user updating. A good web designer will also provide you with an instruction or training manual to use as your guide after the web site is up and running.

Volunteer and network: Donations of time and product will generate positive publicity in your community, and alert potential customers to your products and services. Attend conferences in the off season, volunteer to speak at your local library or church, donate a gift certificate for future product to non-profit groups. You’ll often receive advertising in a program or weekly bulletin in exchange for your donation. To maximize the benefit of your donation, make sure you select a group within your target market.

Take advantage of free web resources: Add your business to free web site listings, write a free blog, and update your web site regularly. Many web sites such as www.localharvest.org, www.greenpeople.org, or Sustainable Table’s www.eatwellguide.org offer to list restaurants, farms, stores and any other businesses that offer local, fresh food in the United States or Canada at no charge. Some sites do accept small dollar donations to help them maintain their site and they usually position your advertisement more prominently if you donate. These sites have great readership and allow you to target your ad to your geographic location.

Look into writing a blog - many blog services are free. You can write about your business and reach your customers on a regular basis.

There are many other ways to market your business and it’s important to find those strategies and tools that work for you. Periodically evaluating your marketing strategies will help you to convert your marketing expense into an investment that will benefit you for years to come.

Erwin Orchards Holiday Light Show

If you live in southeast Michigan and are looking for a family-fun holiday outing this season, Erwin Orchards in South Lyon Michigan is the place to go. Open 6 pm to 9pm weather permitting, this spectacular light show runs nightly from November 28 through December 28 on Thursday through Sunday nights. They will also be open December 29, 30 and January 1.

Bob and I had the pleasure of meeting Bill Erwin at the Great Lakes Expo last week. Erwin Orchards Inc. is a third generation family farm celebrating their 88th year and still "growing". James N. Erwin planted his first tree in 1920. His son Edward and grandson Bill have carried on the business. Bill and wife Linda, along with partner Bill Emery, are now managing the 200 acres of fruit. During the growing season, Erwin Orchards offers pick your own apples, sweet cherries, raspberries and pumpkins.

Bill told us all about his holiday light show and invited us to come for a visit. This past Saturday, we bundled up, grabbed a few blankets and went for a fun-filled tractor-pulled wagon ride through Erwin’s Orchards. All aglow with holiday lights, there are several themes presented throughout the 20 minute ride. Christmas trees, jumping reindeer, a nativity scene, dinosaurs, and a tribute to the USA are just a few of the scenes you will see. Bill Erwin told us it takes about a month to get all the lights ready for this annual event. Bill and his wife Linda are gracious hosts to all, Santa and Mrs. Claus visit with the children, and one of Santa’s reindeer waits patiently outside.

This event is suitable for all ages. The wagon has two steps up and is lined with benches. Bob and I sat on one blanket and put the other over us for additional warmth. After the ride, you can purchase hot and cold apple cider, apple pies and donuts. I had a hot apple cider and absolutely the best cinnamon sugar donut I have ever tasted. The light show fee is $5.00 for children 12 and over, $3.00 for children aged 3 to 11, and age 2 and under ride for free. Group tours are also available at a discount.

Erwin Orchards is located at 61475 Silver Lake Road, South Lyon, Michigan. Here’s a link to their web site: http://www.erwinorchards.com/.

Local Food Marketing: Top Signage Placement

Investing in signage for your business is the first step, but making sure it’s adequately presented is perhaps even more important. Poorly hung, sagging or dimly lit signage presents a poor image and doesn’t help boost sales. Protect your investment with well thought out placement and lighting. We’d like to offer some tips that will help you get the most benefit from your banners and signs.

Placement of your banners inside your retail store:

When hanging your banner or sign, select a place with high visibility for maximum customer impact. Our technique is to enter the store and pretend to be a customer. At the same time, consider the intent of your placement.

1) Is your intent to draw customers into your store? If so, we recommend that you hang your banners in full view of the store entrance, at a height that draws your customers’ eye up and into your store. That way, while looking at the colorful eye catching banners, your customers will also absorb the layout of your store and the full scope of your products.

2) Is your intent to draw attention to your produce section? If so, we recommend that you hang your banners at angles above your produce displays. This will draw customers into your produce department, and create multi-dimensional visual impact over your produce displays.

3) Is your intent to provide a decorative shopping atmosphere? If so, we recommend that you also hang your banners in various locations around your store, not only in your produce or fresh foods departments. Banners should be hung above aisles, at a height that is visible throughout the store at a consistent eye level. The banner placement should not interfere with customer shopping space.

4) Additional recommendations:

a. Hang your banners so they are visible to customers upon entry to your store, not when exiting your store.

b. If you store space requires you to hang your banners against a wall, we recommend you choose neutral wall space that is large enough to accommodate your banner.

c. Although tempting, don’t use your banner as a bulletin board. Clipping on produce signage and in-store sale information will only detract from your display.

d. Make sure the banner has adequate lighting so it is visible and readable.

Placement of your banner outside:

When hanging your banner or sign, select a place with high visibility for maximum customer impact. Our technique is approach your store or farm stand and pretend to be a customer.

1) To draw customers to your farm stand we recommend that you hang your banners in full view of the entrance (driveway or street); at a height that draws your customers’ eye up and towards your display. Make sure you hang your banner high enough so that it is visible from a distance. Take several steps back (or even cross the road) to ensure that your banner is clearly visible.

2) We don’t recommend hanging your banner in front of your farm stand display, as it will not be visible when you are waiting on customers! We also recognize that sometimes this cannot be avoided, because sometimes there's no place to hang a sign or banner except on your table.

3) We do recommend walking out in front of your display periodically throughout the day (if you have someone who can continue to take care of sales while you do so). Is your signage clearly visible during both low and high traffic periods?

4) Make sure your banner is adequately secured in the event of inclement weather and/or high winds.

Next week we’ll be exhibiting at the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo in Grand Rapids Michigan. Please stop by to visit us at Booth #1305. We’ll have lots of our Eat Local Food banners on display!