How to get customers to your Christmas tree farm, Pumpkin patch, agritourism farm.
Good morning rob here from the flanigan Homestead i wanted to talk to you about Marketing or selling your trees now i’m Not a marketing expert but here’s some Things that have helped me sell my trees Over the years and if you’re trying to Get people out to your farm here’s maybe Some things you could do If the market for christmas trees in Your area of the country is like it is Out here in the pacific northwest you’re Probably not going to have too much Trouble getting people to Buy your trees if you have some good Trees but you got to let people know That you have them But So Here in 2021 you know everybody’s Looking for trees but if you want to Have a sustained farm if you’re a Christmas tree grower you want to have People come back year after year after Year You want to make sure number one for Selling your christmas trees uh we’ll Talk about getting them out this year But number two the single most important Thing for sustained is you want them to Have a good experience when you come out To your farm they need to get a good Tree at a good value That’s number one it’s about the Christmas tree don’t forget that you
Need to sell them a good tree with a Good value the other thing is make the Experience really uh a Memorable one you know if you’re out on A farm make it a farm experience so you Know we have farm animals goats uh pigs Chickens and that sort of thing for the Kids that live in the city and aren’t Around it to come out and enjoy and the Families love that okay we also give Free hot chocolate because it’s a cold Winter day something to keep them warm So it creates a good positive experience We try to keep it a farm experience i Know some people try to turn it kind of Into a carnival And there’s a fine line between making An extra good experience And making it a carnival so I believe and i personally like our our Customers like a farm experience so yes The animals are good The animals that we just have on our Farm anyway we just put them out there Where people compete and whatnot but try Not to go over the top People do like extra things you know Selling wreaths that’s almost an Expectation at some farms so you know Have christmas farm items available as Well but don’t go over the top making it A carnival or a bazaar Okay the single most important thing or The best thing to get local customers
Out to my farm are signs of good signs And accurately placed and i’m going to Come back to that towards the end of the Video because i’m going to do that uh What we do with our signs a little bit More at length But there’s other things uh small things That are not novel to me but number one Is Have a facebook page you That’s simple everybody uses facebook They they uh Shop off of it they Have you know they make connections There so number one you need to have a Facebook page with your prices and Addresses my facebook page is not Extensive but it is important to have it Uh number one especially when we’re Growing we encourage people to like and Follow our page because you know we have A shortage of trees this year so we’ve Told the people over the last few years We’re gonna announce on our facebook Page what days we’re open and what day You know how soon we’re going to close What our prices are going to be so our Customers that come back year after year Are going to be able to just go to the Facebook page and know okay thanksgiving Weekend and the first weekend in December is all they’re going to have And so they know to make it out those Days the other thing is
That’s really important that goes along With facebook is word of mouth Sometimes it’s not just word of mouth But it’s spread through social media So People that come out to your farm They tag you in their post and they say What a great experience they have and so If you actually have a page which i’m Assuming most of you do then people can Actually Tag you or share your post And share what they did and their fun Experience so that’s definitely uh an Important thing so obviously and then Word of mouth that go they go hand in Hand you know get people out there they Have a good experience they tell their Friends they tell their family and Pretty soon you have more customers than You have trees Another thing that we did that’s uh not Novel tests and selling things but we Put out a craigslist ad one year uh Back several years ago when there was Way more christmas trees and we were Just starting out We were working hard to move our Christmas trees and someone said try Craigslist ad and i was like craigslist You know you sell your car and and Personal items it wasn’t like that but You don’t sell christmas trees on Craigslist and so we put out a
Craigslist post and uh i was amazed at The Amount of traffic that got moved That we got from a craigslist post People were Looking for christmas trees Surprised me i guess i’m not a big Craigslist user didn’t know that but it Is a good way to for free put uh put it Out there for people in your county or Region to know that you have a product To sell and so craigslist uh Was fantastic for us we will not be Doing a craigslist post this year Because as i said we have more customers Than trees at this point in time we need To get our inventory of trees back up But uh craigslist really worked Again when we were first starting our Farm and we wanted to make connections You know we wanted people to Know this is this is what we have um and We had trees and get people out there is We did some youth group fundraisers Whether they were sports teams or church Youth groups and we just went and talked To the leaders of the groups and said Hey looks no cost to you just give out These certificates and and they say uh Well i think we did 10 at the time you Might do more or less depending on your Situation now uh the market has changed A little bit uh but we you know anybody That comes out and brings a certificate
And hands this to us we buy the tree we Will send ten dollars back to the team Or the youth group and uh It was successful we didn’t change you Know it wasn’t huge But uh what it did is we supported both Barry and i my business partner we Support church youth groups and sports Teams those are things that are Important to us the youth are and so We were giving back money to groups that We like to support anyway and it got Families out here and again they had a Good experience so then it built on Itself and they told friends and the Next thing you know The few hundred dollars or whatever it Was that we sent back to youth groups Came back to us in lots and lots of Sales in the future years [Music] Okay so the number one thing that has Brought the most customers to our uh Christmas tree farm besides friends and Word of mouth is sign we have uh we’ve Had some really bad signs and we have Gotten better and now we have even a Better sign but If you can put up some signs that catch People’s attention and are are in the Key areas that you can go so Every time someone new comes out to the Christmas tree farm i’m like how did you Find us how did you find us and a vast
Majority of them said i saw the sign out On the highway uh there’s a new highway I don’t even know the number of it or Anyway but from i-5 to battleground That’s three miles away from our farm so We put a sign out there And uh You know we’re a hundred dollars Investment into our sign and i would Estimate we’re at over ten thousand Dollars in sales already since we Started putting a sign out there based On that sign and based on what people Say so i’ll Show you the street out here what it is But uh Here’s where the other sign goes the big Sign that we made goes you can see this Is uh Two lanes each way highway now going out To battleground which used to be just a Rural area just i don’t know how many Years ago not very many five six years Ago maybe longer than that but they put In this highway battleground has really Grown up in size and so There’s this is a saturday afternoon so There’s not a whole lot of traffic Now but uh on weekdays people are just Flying through here so having a good Sign that draws people in has made us Probably tens of thousands of dollars Just in the last few years This is the sign that we’re going to put
Out here this year it’s uh This is going to be an upgrade and we’re On plywood we’re painted up nice and big It’s painted almost exactly the same way On both sides I do feel it’s important that i put how Many miles away it is so people don’t Just start driving down the street and Before the next intersection go where is It so they know three miles it’s a it’s A bit of a distance but it’s not for Forever so we have the three miles on There i i do and plan to paint some more Christmas trees on there to indicate That it’s christmas trees after they Drive a couple miles down that road they Will bump up to this sign And then there’s an intersection right Here and the street going that way to my Farms so they will hit this sign and They’ll know they’ve got one more mile To go straight ahead and the reason this Is turned this is the Road closest to my farm and people will Be driving past the church here so Uh we have the one mile sign here we’ll Get some more artwork on this the points There there’s a big telephone pole that We’re just going to screw this into And then So people coming up this street from the Highway we’ll see it the people that are Through the local area will see this Sign i did paint the backside
Over here The back side is painted you’ll notice There’s nothing right here Because this is going to there’s going To be a telephone pole holding it up Right here We’re going plywood this year we have Bought vinyl signs and we’ve bought the Other plastic signs before and they’re Really kind of a pain to get up they’re Flimsy and you got to strap them and Everything whereas right now Two screws in the telephone pole On each of these and then probably a Stake out here to hold these up and this Will be up all winter and they’re not Going to blow around and whatnot so and They’ll store nice and flat so My signs we have more signs than these But these signs are these are the two Most critical signs so we really Upgraded these signs This year and maybe in the future we’ll Upgrade some more but uh Signs are very important to get people Out to your farm One thing i forgot to mention if you’re Going to have a series of signs you know This one’s way out the high traffic area Than this sign notice that they’re same Color coordinated i happen to be a Yellow and black fan i learned in an art Class not that i’m an artist years ago That there’s no bigger contrasting
Colors than yellow and black to make Things stand out that’s why hopefully Someday i’m gonna get my black truck With my i mean my yellow truck with my Black trim but anyway so if you’re gonna Have a sign out on the high traffic area That leads to another sign another Corner make sure that they’re they’re The same color so you know if you’re red And blue then Red and blue red and blue red and blue As they follow their way out if they Are following this sign they’re going to See yellow and black they’re going to See the next one and then the final Corner that’s even further away smaller Sign it’s going to be yellow and black And they’re going to know how to find us And here’s a couple signs that we’re Replacing They’re not bad signs but This one we’re going bigger And the reason these are all hung on the Wall Is these vinyl signs if you lay them Down flat or fold them up or whatnot They They get all wrinkled and then they hung In the cold they did not Fold out so they were just a mess all Last year this one is one that some will Still be used But you can see we’ve got rebar on this One
To help Create weight to hang it down but then It could freeze swing in the wind so it Wouldn’t tear off These honestly are a pain to put up This is our first generation signs We went to Uh what would be vinyl size I created my signs myself just by Painting some exterior plywood with Yellow backing and then i Projected An image from the computer up on the Wall and traced the letters and then Painted them in Thanks for joining me on the flanigan Homestead where christmas trees are my Business teaching including horticulture Is my job and outdoor projects are my Passion I love it when you make comments like Subscribe share whatever and be blessed Everyone
