Spring has sprung, summer is on its way, and fruit is hanging heavy on the vine. It’s a beautiful season for farmers markets where consumers can pluck up the sweetest and freshest fruits and vegetables this prime growing season has to offer. If you’re a vendor or an organizer of a farmers market, though, you know firsthand how difficult it can be to, well, market your market! This is where printed flyers, brochures, newsletters, and business cards can make the difference between a profitable venture, and a big huge waste of your hard-grown produce and your precious time.
By nature, farmers markets are often inconsistent. They’re not like grocery stores that consumers can depend on to be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. Often they pop up but once a week, at random times, and the way people find them is either by word of mouth, by chance, or as a result of researching online calendars, dedicated websites, or Facebook pages. If they were more widely advertised through flyers and other print media, there is no doubt the majority of farmers markets could double or even triple their weekly patronage, and of course their profits. The demand for healthy, natural food has never been stronger, and people don’t need much encouragement to attend and support “locavore” (a.k.a. “eat local”) events and initiatives. Flyers for farmers markets can be all the push they need to show up and spend some money on your healthy goods.
There is a large segment of the population that values local, natural produce, but that isn’t yet so immersed in the eating style to sit down and Google the best places to scoop up the good stuff. This is why handing out flyers in places people congregate is a great way to steer people in your direction. A well-designed flyer for your farmer’s market can function to increase your traffic in a few ways. For one, it gives your potential customers a calendar of when they can expect your market to pop up. This will allow them to make time in their weekend to accommodate a visit to your farm fresh tent or table. It also gives you a chance to answer any questions about parking, whether you or other vendors accept credit cards, and even whether food stamps are accepted. The more information people have, the more likely they are to attend and to purchase some corn, potatoes, mangos, strawberries, and some of your home baked fruit pies and tarts.
Another great point on the side of flyer printing is that it gives a built-in reminder to your customers to attend the market on a weekly basis. When you or your helper hands out the flyers, remember to encourage patrons to put the card on their refrigerators. That way, when they go in for fixings to make a salad and they notice that they’re out of fresh greens, they’ll have a readily available solution to their produce problem. If you’d like to be more certain that your patrons will actually stick your info on their fridge, you can also print customized refrigerator magnets with all the pertinent information.
Custom flyer and magnet printing are both extremely affordable options when it comes to advertising. But as we all know, local farmers aren’t usually exactly tossing around a ton of “extra” cash. So if you’d like to save money on your flyer printing, an excellent way to do so, and to build community at the same time, is to ask other local vendors to chip in on your project. They can have their logo and contact info on the same flyer and you can print in higher volume for a lower price per printed piece.
It’s not a bad idea to give an incentive on your flyer to encourage new customers to come by. For example, you might offer a free piece of fruit when they show you their flyer, or better yet when they give you their business card, which will allow you to put them on your weekly e-mail list. Sending out a weekly email will allow you to keep customers posted on what new produce you’re going to be rolling out each week, and even lets you share recipes so that people have more motivation to come buy your colorful veggies and whip up something healthy and yummy at home. Keep in constant contact through a combination of printed flyers, brochures, business cards, and online marketing, and you’ll make it much easier for busy people who love fresh produce to support the great work that you do.
About Jenny DixonJennifer has been apart of the EliteFlyers.com team for over 15 years. She brings a deep understanding of web marketing, thoughtful strategies, that she's able to design, manage, print, deliver multi-media campaigns to meet all client's goals. Her personal portfolio includes high-end design and printing of business cards, flyers, post cards for elite businesses and individuals from all over the world.
