promoting your farmers market

[stonysoilseeds]

can anybody share some of thier ideas that have increased awareness and traffic at your market ... i participate in a fairly small market about 10 vendors selling produce 3 bakers and a couple craftspeople.. it is set under a pavillion and everything is provided to us including tables to set up on.. plenty of parking friendly atmosphere free coffee // it tends to be on the slow side i have been considering participating in a larger city market where they have a brown bag concert series weekly.... but i feel too dedicated to the current market... we have been looking to increase traffic i suggested some food events such as a hot dog barbecue as food always draws maybe some local music talents .. we do get some freee advertising our market is every saturday from 9am to 12pm

[Sherry_AK]

Our small market is a bit off the beaten path, so we have about 6 (professional) signs that we set up in high-traffic areas the morning of market. Our local paper also runs an ad (I'm not sure who pays for the ad ... local Farm Bureau, some state agency, ?) listing all the markets in the area.

[biscgolf]

our market advertises on radio and in print but i feel the most effective thing is very prominent signage on the road when the market is taking place. (it is on a very busy road) it's a fairly large market- just over 40 vendors.

we also do a number of community interaction events each year and a couple of chef demos each year.

facebook is also a good place to push your market.

if there are any large subdivisions near your market it's also very useful to push it through the homeowner's associations.

[Doug9345]

Some things I'd do is try to get a sign up on the McGraw end of Rt 41 and also both at the end of 41 on Rt 206 and on the corner in Whitney Point. I'd also make sure there was a good sign to the farmers market in town since I think you are off the main drag. I don't think it will increase you traffic a lot but it might help.

You are also competing with ones in Homer, Cortland, Whitney Point, and Norwich on Saturday if the Internet is correct. That means that you just aren't drawing from that big a population and some of those people will have their own gardens. I wonder how a Sunday From let's say 10am to 2pm might work or a Friday from 4pm to 8pm would work.

[feldon30]

If you have a faux farmer's market in your area, then differentiating yourself can help a lot.

There are "farmer's markets" in Houston where all the produce is from California or Florida.

If you have a distance policy like 100 miles max, then push that in any marketing materials.

Paying a kid to put flyers in people's windows in a mall parking lot is a relatively cheap solution. Make a good flyer and put some kind of discount on it or a free item they get for visiting. Spell out what the parking is like (free? easy to get to?).

[Doug9345]

Taking off from what Feldon said. You could put a coupon for something in paper boxes or on mail boxes. The postal system frowns on people putting things in mail boxes. I'd make sure I got an email address from everyone that I could that comes there. A friendly email reminding them that you are there would never hurt and it costs nothing but time.

[Keger]

Yo Feldie.....

Anybody shows up around here with stuff from Fl or CA, they will get run, I'll do it myself.

My rear end is to the point of dragging now.

[stonysoilseeds]

hi doug you certainly know my area we have signs in the 41 mcraw spot but good suggestion for whitney point although they tend to head to binghamton

[dpurdy]

Stony,
I would contact the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Norwich. They've received grants this year to help local markets to expand their businesses. Here's an e-mail for Rebecca Hargrave at the extension. jrh45@cornell.edu I'm quite sure that she can help with some ideas or put you in touch with someone who can. Chenango County is now offering low income families opportunities to use ebt cards at our market as well as Paypal. They help with advertising and other issues. I'd send her an e-mail and do a little inquiring, it can't hurt.
DP

[Wi-sunflower]

As far as the alt days to have a market, the Sunday idea is good, Friday is terrible. Any farmer that does a decent Saturday market will be too busy picking, cleaning and packing up on Friday to go to a market too. Unless they have some helper that can do it. But then will the market draw enough to pay for that helper and give you something for your produce too ??

Week day markets are tough. Unless you have some offices nearby that have decent breaks and lunch times, weekdays can be very slow. Even with workers nearby you often only have an hour or so of good sales.

If your market is new, it can take 3 - 5 years or more for it to build up a decent business.

There are 2 ways to run a Sunday market too -- seasonal or daily. In the beginning you might want to let it be "daily" . Especially if you have more space than vendors. You might draw more vendors willing to try it out for a week or 2 or here and there when they have extras. You will also draw vendors on a Sunday after a wet Saturday. But that can also cause hurt feelings from the "regulars". So often a market will go to "seasonal" vendors only once they have a decent following.

Actually my best market is both. There is about a 10 year wait to get a "seasonal" stand now. But then you have the same location all the time. Seasonals get to set up early. But at a certain time if the seasonal isn't in his spot, any daily can set up there. They also use a "seniority" system for dailies so the oldest member gets first choice of available spots.

But that market is 35 -40 years old now and has limited space (120-140 spaces) and tons of regular customers.Even tho, since there are now more Saturday markets in the area, we haven't sold as well there the last 5 years as we did before that. Too many markets in general.

Just some of my thoughts. They may or may not apply to any of you.

Carol

[MrsJustice]

I like your greenhouse picture. I wish I could have one that size.