10 Mistakes Ag Businesses Make Selling Direct to Consumer

Selling your farm products directly to the consumer has a lot of benefits. Like higher profits, more control, and year-round revenue. 

Sounds great right? Well, it is, but if it was easy everyone would be doing it and that’s not the case. When it comes to marketing your farm products whether it’s meat, dairy product, produce, honey, or even specialty bi-products like tallow - there are several mistakes you’ll want to avoid in order to be able to sell your products successfully. 

Here are some common mistakes I see Ag businesses making when selling their products directly to the consumer: 

1. Using the wrong social media platforms to market their products. 

Most of the time we choose the platforms we enjoy using the most, or the ones we’re the most comfortable with. While this may seem like a logical choice we actually need to choose the platforms our ideal customers are using, rather than the ones we are. 

If you’re not sure how to find out which platforms your ideal customers are using, take this free quiz I put together: CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE QUIZ

2. Not Choosing a Searchable Brand Name

While there’s nothing wrong with using your farm or ranch name or even your last name, you could be missing out on potential customers by having a brand name that isn’t searchable. 

For example, if you’re ranch name is Bar X Ranch then calling your direct to consumer meat business Bar X Ranch might not be the best choice as potential customers won’t know to search for Bar X Ranch. Rather they’ll be searching for things like “beef”, “beef delivery”, “natural beef”, etc. So if you want to use your ranch name try including searchable words in the name. For example, you could call it “Bar X Beef” or “Bar X Ranch Meats” that way your more likely to come up in search. 

Also, remember that you don’t have to use your ranch name or last name. You can come up with a totally new brand name for your direct to consumer model. 

3. Not Calculating Costs 

Selling direct to consumers involves more costs than traditional sales methods. So one mistake farms make is forgetting to charge for delivery when driving or shipping to deliver their products to local customers. 

It doesn’t have to be a huge fee, and you can even call it “free to the customer” but make sure you’re adding the cost of delivery into your product pricing. 

4. Poor Packaging 

It does cost a little more but high-quality packaging goes a long way, especially when shipping products. Consumers have become accustomed to big brands and their packaging. We don’t have to spend as much as the big brand do on packaging, but we do need to make sure that our packaging leaves a good impression. 

Here are a couple of things you can do to spruce up the packaging: 

• Brand sticker on the outside of the package. 

• Have a thank you letter inside the package with a discount code for their next purchase. 

• Include a brief info card telling them about your products and your farm/ranch. 

• Have nice product packaging with a clear logo and product name. 

5. Getting Posts Denied on Facebook Marketplace

When posting farm products (specifically meat products) on the Facebook Market place it can be challenging to get your post approved. Here are a couple of things that can cause your post to get denied: 

•  Using words like (cow, pig, etc.) live animal sales are prohibited on Facebook so these words will flag your post. 

• Including photos of animals in your post. Again try to keep it to meat/product photos only. Facebook AI will pick up on animal images and your post could be denied. 

6. Not Using Attractive Product Photos (specifically for food)!

Let’s be honest, taking attractive food photos can be challenging! But it’s easy to make your food products appear less than appealing with poor quality photos. 

When taking photos of food products make sure you have a solid background (I personally like to use a cutting board). Use a ring light or lamp to provide extra light, and use a newer iPhone or camera to get a high-resolution shot. 

Also adding in props can completely change a photo. For meat photos, things like rosemary twigs, salt, silverware, even small bowls with spices can change the look of a photo and make it appear very professional. 

7. No Website or Low-Quality Website

People need a place to learn more about and purchase products from you. Having a website is critical to successfully selling products online. 

Make sure your website is clean, easy to read, and they can easily navigate to the point of sale. 

8. Creating Content for the Wrong Audience

One mistake I see all the time is people posting for the wrong audience. Now it’s easy to get caught up in your niche and when other members of the Ag community are engaging on your content and supporting you online sometimes the content we create starts to speak more to them than to our customers. 

Now if other members of the Ag community are purchasing from you then that’s awesome speak to them for sure! 

But if you’re selling beef and posting on social media speaking to other ranchers, they’re probably not going to be the ones to buy beef from you. 

Make sure you’re content speaks to the right people. 

9. Not getting products packaged into well-known names. 

This mistake is very relevant to those selling meat products. One mistake I see people make (and I’ve made myself) is not asking the butcher to cut and label your meat cuts into popular cut names. 

For example, everyone knows New York Steaks and Rib Eyes. There are several different names and cut varieties your meat can be put into, make sure the cuts and labels are things people are familiar with and will want to purchase. 

10. Not saving customer emails!

Don’t make the mistake of not saving customer emails and growing your list! If you have a website and take orders online make sure to integrate your site with your email provider to automatically save emails. If you do local delivery or farmer’s markets still make sure to save those emails!! 

It’s the best way to get in touch with customers in the future and increase your repeat business!

So there you have it, the 10 mistakes to avoid when selling your farm products directly to consumers! 

If you have more questions or need support growing your Ag business click here to apply to work with me and my team.