The image of a farmers’ market doesn’t immediately evoke “high-tech.”
Over the years, however, farmers’ markets have slowly adopted digital technologies to reach an increasingly connected consumer.
The move toward digital often began with building simple email lists.
[source: mashable.com] “I would use [a list] to do a weekly pre-market pump up, tell them what would be there,” says Stacy Miller, executive director of the Farmers’ Market Coalition, an organization serving farmers, consumers and communities by providing resources and state and federal representation.
Miller, who previously served as marketing manager of a farmers’ market, adds, “Email lists were kind of the spark for communicating electronically with a customer base.”
Over time, those emails evolved into a market website.
Winter Caplanson of Coventry Regional Farmers’ Market also started sending emails in 2005 and within a year, moved her list onto a third-party email marketing solution, MailChimp.
“Our first MailChimp e-newsletter was sent to 62 people,” Caplanson admits. “Slowly but surely, by publishing an email newsletter with completely original content and gorgeous photos and with a lot of value — recipes, growing tips, how-to instructions — we built an opt-in following.”
Coventry’s list currently has around 2,600 subscribers with a high rate of opening and click-throughs.
Today’s farmers’ markets are embracing digital technology in a number of ways beyond email. Here are just a few that are taking advantage of online tools to connect to their customers.
1. Social Media Presences
Farmers’ markets are using social media channels to get the word out about not only what’s at the market but related issues such as news and information about the local food movement. Caplanson says the Coventry Regional Farmers’ Market’s Facebook presence was a natural progression from their newsletter.
“We had a steady following before using social media, roughly 750 customers per market day. Social media allowed us to spread the word, and for our customers to pass it along, about the really exceptional market we were offering.”
By the end of the 2006 season, the market was attracting more than 1,000 people per market day. In 2007, they held a Wine & Art Gala market event that drew nearly 3,000 people. Several events in 2011 have drawn about 6,000 people each during a 3-hour market day.
“Social media has helped us tell our story, build a tribe and do it for free,” says Caplanson. She handles most of the Facebook Page duties, posting several times a day, with two other organizers contributing now and then. She hasn’t seen a lot of traction on Twitter, and instead has a more international following of people interested in the local foods movement. And Google+?
“I don’t hear anybody talking about it. It’s not worth our time if ‘our people’ aren’t there.”
2. QR Codes and Mobile Marketing
The Sustainable Food Center (SFC) Farmers’ market in Austin joined forces with QR code mobile mapping company Walking Papers to be part of a printed street map of downtown Austin that combines mobile functionality through the use of QR codes. A code sends users to the Farmer’s Market mobile site — also designed by Walking Papers — and the print product is distributed free at popular locales throughout downtown Austin. The SFC Farmers’ brand is featured on the printed map, building brand awareness and driving traffic to their mobile site.
“Using a mobile platform from TappInn, the Walking Papers site leads to a main page that acts like a regular website home page, with information about all of our programs, but that is edited to suit the briefer engagement times and informational interests of the mobile site user,” explains Oliver Franklin, co-founder of Walking Papers.
QR codes that lead to the main SFC mobile home page appear on physical signage at the farmers’ market as well and will soon appear on a local coffee packaging promotion with local roaster and café Progress Coffee. They’re also working on adapting the mobile site to become the default destination when people access the website via mobile devices. The next major project is a network of mobile sites for each of their farmers and vendors.
“These pages would be accessed via QR codes on booth signage at each farmer/vendor’s booth at SFC Farmers’ Market Downtown as well as on those farmers’/vendors’ product packaging,” says Susan Leibrock, community relations director for the SFC. The pages will include contact information, product information and market schedules as well as links to websites, Facebook and Twitter and email capture features as well.
Coventry Farmers’ Market also uses QR codes, generating them through a free code generator. The codes appear on signage at market booths and share information, direct customers to websites and even lead to videos of vendors at work. Scanning QR codes can make waiting in line at popular booths more enjoyable, says Caplanson.
Coventry Farmer’s Market also used QR codes to encourage people to vote for them in a contest to win an open-air, post & beam market barn valued at $80,000. The codes encouraged voting on the spot via smartphones, and market organizers wore t-shirts with scannable QR codes.
They won the barn.
3. Smartphone Apps
Promoting farmers’ markets and other local agricultural businesses is the goal of the MI Farm Market Finder. The app was a joint effort of the Michigan Apple Association, Michigan Farm Marketing and Agri-Tourism Association, Michigan Farmers’ Market Association and the Michigan Cider Makers’ Guild. Using a smartphone’s GPS, the app reveals farm markets, cider mills, farmers’ markets and pick-your-own orchards closest to a user when they search the app. More than 350 listings in the app include hours of operation with a link to a market’s website, a map to the market and a list products. An Android app is also under consideration.
Also, the creators of food information app Foodtree took a cue from the local food movement and launched an app allowing farmers to broadcast their daily harvest, along with details on where to buy their food locally. The app launched in collaboration with the Vancouver Farmers Market Association and this month, the app expanded to include 15 North American cities.
“We see that consumers and food producers share a common desire to understand one another better,” says Foodtree founder Derek Shanahan. “The farmers’ market is one of the few remaining spots for people to meet the person responsible for what they’re eating; a powerful relationship for both parties.”
4. Online Farmers’ Markets
Award-winning produce delivery company Greenling is taking digital to a whole new level. Co-founder Mason Arnold says he researched the food system and distribution and felt there had to be a better way to get food from the farm to the table than the traditional grocery supply chain.
“Farmer’s markets are awesome, but not everyone can access them,” says Arnold. “Our trucks driving around and dropping baskets is up to 90% more fuel efficient than customers going to the [markets] themselves.”
Farmers sell to Greenling because it takes the guesswork out of how much they’ll sell and the hassle out of sitting in bad weather. In one stop to Greenling, they can sell two to three times what they’d sell on a good, sunny day at a market.
Arnold admits that going to the farmer’s market is an experience that can’t be duplicated online, but he doesn’t see having a presence at a market and selling through Greenling as mutually exclusive.
“We provide a new way for the local food movement to grow and combine it with a grocery delivery service and easy-to-use website,” says Arnold. “We hope to spread this model and goodness nationwide.”