A do-able marketing plan for your CSA

Grow it and they will come
Developing a do-able marketing plan for your CSA
Rob Greenland www.thesocialbusiness.co.uk
Photo from Southern Foodways Alliance via Flickr

What we’ll do today
Introduce a way of coming up with your own marketing plan
Understand what marketing is about - one step at a time
Do some practical exercises
Help you to look at how to build long-term relationships with customers

Who do you love? Why? And what do you want out of today?

Who I am. What I do.
Training - market research, marketing, social business planning
Consultancy - social enterprise
One to one support
Photo from Ant Smallwood via flickr.com

www.thesocialbusiness.co.uk Named top UK social enterprise blog

Me and Local Food
Former member of Swillington CSA
Local Food adviser
Ex-allotmenteer
All-round interest in local economies
Photo from Ant Smallwood via flickr.com

I believe this
It’s important to do simple stuff that works
If you think things through, you will come up with good, cost effective ways to market your business
And above all, you need to build your business around your customers

Your Field of Bad Dreams
Grow it - and they might not come

Why is all of this important?
Because a lot of social enterprises aren’t very good at marketing
We often focus on production - and forget about the marketing
We sometimes use lack of marketing budget as a convenient excuse

What is marketing?
Every contact you make with customers, suppliers and staff
The whole business seen from your customer’s point of view
Building relationships with customers

What is a market?
A set of all existing and potential buyers of a product or service
or
The total value of products or services which satisfy the same customer need

How do I decide what market I’m in?
Ask what your customer needs
With the person next to you - discuss what needs you plan to meet /currently meet.
Photo from flydime via flickr.com

Understanding your market
No shortcut - market research
Your market
Your customers
Your competitors
Today we’re focusing on customers

Customer segmentation
Division of a market into different groups of customers who have things in common.
Why is it important to do this?

Because customers are not all the same!
Different customers have different needs
If you understand that, you can tailor what you offer to meet their needs
It can help you to identify who to focus on - and perhaps target new customer groups

Who are their customers?

Who are your customers?
Some ways you may group customers together include:
Age, gender, employment status, family status, ethnic origin, income level etc
How they buy your product/service - eg committed buyers, special occasion buyers…
Can you identify which groups to focus on - and find your niche?

Now do the same for your CSAs
Try to break down who you think your target customers are into “segments” - customers with broadly common characteristics.
You might come up with around five or six groups
Try to give each group a name - be creative!

Your marketing mix
Your chance to tailor what you offer to meet each group’s needs.
Your mix is a unique combination of:
Product
Price
Promotion
Place

What’s their marketing mix?

How about a CSA’s marketing mix?
Think about how to tailor the following features:
Product - what will you offer (and not offer)?
Price - discounts, payment options, guaranteed pricing?
Place - where will you sell?
We’ll look at promotion later

So, to recap…
We’ve looked at what market you’re in
We’ve identified a number of customer groups with common characteristics - customer segmentation
We’ve looked at what you will offer - your marketing mix

Next
Think like a customer - think benefits
Then decide how you’ll get your message across (the bit most of us think of as marketing)

Your step-by-step marketing plan
If:
You understand who your customers are
You know what you’re selling to them
You understand what benefits they can get from you
Then you can come up with a marketing plan - as long as you keep thinking like a customer

Step by step
What benefits will your service bring?
What are your key messages (focus in particular on benefits)?
Then, how will you get your messages across ?

Develop a long-term relationship
Please promise me one thing now:
Think long and hard before taking out an advertorial in your local paper
Instead - think creatively - how will you build up a relationship with your customers?

Some things that might work for you Speak at events Pay per click ads Facebook Website Signage/A Frame Mailshot Networking Business cards Twitter Partnerships Stunt Be friendly Flyers/Posters Talk to people Sponsorship Launch PR - good news Blog E-newsletter Word of mouth

What has worked for you? Photo from acnatta via flickr.com

But remember…
What works in one place doesn’t necessarily work in another.
That’s why I don’t offer a “top ten” of marketing ideas.
Photo from sacks08 via flickr.com

To recap
Be clear about what market you’re in
Understand your customers - inside out
Tailor your service to meet their needs
Think about the benefits your service offers to your customers
Get your messages right (sell the benefits)
Then - and only then - think about spending money on “marketing”.
Be realistic - and do achievable things well

What happens next?
What will you do next?
Where can you go for support?
Are there ways you can collaborate?

www.thesocialbusiness.co.uk

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A do-able marketing plan for your CSA

by Rob Greenland on Jan 25, 2010

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A do-able marketing plan for your CSA — Presentation Transcript