Grow Your Bottom Line with Email Marketing
In this episode of The Independent Farmer Podcast, host Janelle Maiocco sits down with Amy Campbell of Old Rich Valley Farm to discuss how consistent email marketing and strategic email collection can transform a farm's direct-to-consumer sales. Amy shares practical advice on overcoming the fear of emailing customers, leveraging weekly newsletters for storytelling, and using automated email reminders to secure recurring subscription revenue and market pre-orders.
For more Farm resources, visit: barn2door.com/resources
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[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Independent Farmer Podcast, the go-to podcast for do it yourself Farmers who are taking control of their own business, skipping the middleman, and selling direct to local consumer and wholesale Buyers. This podcast is hosted by Barn2Door, the number one business tool for Independent Farmers to manage their business, promote their brand, and sell online and in person.
Let's dive into today's Independent Farmer Podcast.
Janelle Maiocco: Welcome to The Independent Farmer Podcast. I'm Janelle Maiocco, CEO of Barn2Door and your host for today's episode. As you may be aware, Barn2Door is all about helping Independent Farmers make more money, ditch the office work, and look like a pro. By getting a system in place to sell direct, market under their own brand, and manage orders, [00:01:00] Farmers can skip the middleman and build a strong local business with recurring sales.
We automate marketing emails and order reminders, help Farmers with pricing and packaging for profit, and shave hours and hours off logistics and delivery day. In today's conversation, we will get into both the importance of email marketing and collection, including why it matters and how to do it successfully.
As a Farmer, if you're selling directly under your own brand, marketing is essential to the success of your business. Today, I'm happy to welcome Amy from Old Rich Valley Farm, who is part of our Farm Advisor Network and has worked with us for a number of years. Welcome, Amy.
Amy Campbell: Thank you.
Janelle Maiocco: So excited to chat.
Amy Campbell: Yes, I'm excited to talk to you today.
Janelle Maiocco: Good. Well, let's, before we dive in because I know you, but our listeners don't necessarily, so tell us a little bit about your Farm, where your Farm's located, what are you Farming, when did you start, and what's the general size of your Farm?
Amy Campbell: Okay. We are located in Virginia, the southwest part.
Um, very rural, so we're about 25 to 30 minutes from just a small town and we have been [00:02:00] selling directly since 2017, I think. So we started with beef and have since added pork and chicken. And I know we joined Barn2Door right around 2020, because when COVID broke out, we were glad to have a website and glad to have a place to send people.
So, um, that was really great, and that's about the time we started our subscriptions. So, we sell probably over half of our sales, are through subscriptions, and so we love the beef, pork, and chicken subscriptions. And, it's just me and my husband, Will, Farming, and we have now five kids. So the oldest is 11, and the youngest is three months now, so always busy.
Janelle Maiocco: Awesome. Love all the kids on the Farm, and I suspect they're pretty helpful most of the time.
Amy Campbell: Oh, yes. Yeah, especially the, the 11 and nine-year-old. I mean, they've been Farming with us since they one and three, and so they are just out there every day.
They're doing all the chores with us, or they're playing while we work. And so they're, they're [00:03:00] huge parts of the Farm. Um, and they're always on our emails too, that they're a huge part of our marketing because they're out there and they're cute, so everybody loves to see them.
Janelle Maiocco: I love it. I always think that the world would be a better place if children all grew up on Farms I mean, it's just they're they also are, you know, they're important. They have chores, and they can contribute, and that is just good for them as well, right? For their esteem and for their contribution. That's really so amazing. I'm glad you're doing okay. So you started then, and then what's the general size of your Farm and what would you say is the general size of your customer base?
Amy Campbell: So we are processing about 100 cows a year, and then maybe less than 100 hogs and about 6,000 chickens, I think. So that's kind of our yearly plan. We take animals to the processor every month because we do the subscriptions. So it's about eight cows and eight pigs each month.
We probably have about 160 families that are doing the [00:04:00] subscriptions.
Janelle Maiocco: Well, and that's half, like to your point, if that's half of your you know, your sales, which is amazing, right? You get that recurring monthly revenue. Then the other half is provides the flexibility for all of the one-off orders, the individual orders, and also Farmer's market, different things like that. So it's a nice natural buffer for all those additional customers. Could you guess how many emails you have?
Amy Campbell: Maybe around 2,000.
Janelle Maiocco: It's funny because we have over time, having worked with so many Farms, we're like, "Hey, can we pull out the data and see, like, if a Farmer has X number of emails, does that mean they can procure X number revenue?"
Basically. It's like the number of emails, we can actually look at the numbers and be like, if a Farmer has a certain number of emails or a Farmer needs to have a certain number of emails if they want a certain amount of revenue. And now that's assuming that there's a regular email cadence going out to all of those customers, right?
In order to remind them or lock in subscriptions, um, remind them to order, that sort of thing. But number of emails and including [00:05:00] number of customers with accounts or credit cards on file, in their account really truly translates to true revenue dollars and outcomes per year, which is just crazy. But, you know, it makes sense.
Amy Campbell: Yeah. That, that does make sense. And, you know, some of those, the subscriptions, they're only gonna purchase that subscription once, and so they're typically some will add on products, but most of them are not, repurchasing anything. But it is continuous revenue, each month. So we love the subscriptions.
Janelle Maiocco: Yeah, we definitely have a lot of Farms that send order reminders in advance of subscription deliveries just to push literally add-on orders to increase each of those orders. So there's a lot of great techniques. How would you say today, generally speaking, if you were talking to another Farmer, say at a Farmers market, and you were talking to them how do you today do your marketing and selling?
What would you say to them?
Amy Campbell: Well, to begin with, we have zero marketing background. Um, Will has always been a Farmer, and I was a teacher turned Farmer. and so everything we have learned has been through books and [00:06:00] podcasts and watching other Farms. So we do send, I guess about five years ago probably, we started sending, um, an email every week, and so we call it “This Week on the Farm” and it's just our weekly update.
So that's probably our main, marketing at this point. Um, when we first started, we were definitely using Facebook a lot. But that was, what? 10 years ago. So Facebook has changed a lot in those 10 years. But that was what I feel like we did get a whole lot of customers just because we were posting pictures and telling stories of what was happening on the Farm.
So they enjoyed those stories, and they wanted to be a part of our Farm and a part of our story. So that's what we do with our weekly email. Every Friday, we send out an email, and it, it's called “This Week on the Farm” and we just send an update of what we have been doing, um, what season we're funny things that the kids say or anything.
And of course, pictures, um, pictures of us out on the Farm.
Janelle Maiocco: Good. And [00:07:00] I actually, um, want to dig into that particular weekly email 'cause I'm sure that you give it a ton of thought from a planning perspective, and it'll be neat to break it down for people. But before we do that, do you also do social media outside of...
You said Facebook early, like what do you do today in terms of social media? And then are you going to Farmers markets? Are there places where you're, quote-unquote, "marketing in person"?
Amy Campbell: Yeah. Um, so as far as social media, we do have a Facebook and Instagram. I typically am linking my, weekly email to Facebook.
So that is honestly, I'm not on Facebook as much, every now and then we will just make an actual Facebook post. But then besides that, it's just very minimal on Facebook and pretty much nothing on Instagram. It's just really not clientele is what I have found.
Janelle Maiocco: Yeah. I mean, it surprises a lot of Farms.
Like social media can be incredibly powerful if that's one of the channels you really lean into. But I would think, like email marketing ends up being sort of the non-negotiable, um, because it's just [00:08:00] literally, guaranteed ongoing communication with your customer, right? Whereas social media is you're of course you're promoting your brand, you're building your brand, which is, you know, there's a lot of great things about that and we have, I think, other podcasts on, the values and opportunities of social media.
But we certainly have some Farms who focus almost exclusively on email marketing, and it works. It can work. You know, you just have to kinda you got, you gotta get good at it, right? You need to lean in. Wherever your marketing channels are, you just, you need to lean in, and that's fine. It's good to understand which ones are most natural, which ones you wanna get good at instead of maybe doing everything, you're just gonna really focus.
Amy Campbell: And we do go to one Farmers market, every single week, and so that's on a Saturday. So I am collecting emails there. I talk about our subscriptions. I am pushing for people to pre-order, so I'm handing out, like, a rack card or a card with our information.
On my email sign-up, I have a QR code that takes them directly to our Barn2Door website and our [00:09:00] Farm. and so, uh, I'm encouraging them to sign themselves up for our email or to give, to go ahead and write their email on my list, and I'll add them manually. But yeah, so that's, that's our biggest delivery, is that Farmers market area.
Janelle Maiocco: Yeah. Farmers market can also be very powerful marketing exercise. Um, and I love hearing that you intentionally collect emails there. I know a lot of our folks, um, when they're talking to Farms on the phone all day, if they're ever at Farmers markets not collecting emails, I, I think our people almost jump out of their seat, you know, 'cause they're so excited, like, "Please start collecting emails for yourself," um, you know, "for your business," because it's such a double whammy in terms of opportunity, not just to sell, but if you're marketing, you're collecting emails 'cause that's gonna be your future customer list as well.
Amy Campbell: For sure. And I did not collect emails for probably two or three years, um, when we started. And so we were going to the market, setting up, and just hoping people showed up. And that's just not how it works. You have to actually, you know, try to reach out to them, and constantly be telling [00:10:00] them what you have and what you're doing, or they're not just gonna show up. They're busy.
Janelle Maiocco: Or like, or we miss you, come back, right? Like the fact that you have their email now in between market, Farmers markets, you can actually be like engaging them and building that relationship, which is, you're right, very important, very important. Okay, so we have that marketing, and then if I'm a Buyer from you, from your Farm, where can I make a purchase?
Amy Campbell: So we have the weekly Farmers market, and then we have about seven, monthly deliveries. And so I just have the schedule set, for all these deliveries, and most of them are either in a church parking lot or a, just a kind of an empty parking lot somewhere.
And then we have a couple of quarterly deliveries set up as well. So I drive a little farther to those, so I don't wanna go as often. Um, but we've got it set to where they can continue to do the, monthly subscription. They just pick up their meat quarterly, so their payments still come out monthly, which people living on a budget really appreciate. But they're just, they pick [00:11:00] up more meat at one time.
Janelle Maiocco: Got it. So if I'm your Buyer, I am going online to your store, sort of basically self-serve ordering. Like I'm just gonna go see everything that you have. I'm gonna see all the delivery options, the one-time purchase, the subscription options, everything online, and complete that purchase there.
And then I, I also obviously can purchase from you at the Farmer market. And then you also do online Like you said, your like a lot of people pre-purchase?
Amy Campbell: Yeah, I would say, um, you know, Farmers markets can be hard because sometimes you go and you stand there and it's rainy and nobody shows up.
Um, so the more you can push those pre-orders, you know they're coming and you are taking meat that is sold to the Farmers market. And so it just, mentally helps you prepare for a Farmers market. But yes, I always have, like, I don't know, three or four coolers full of pre-sold meat, and so that's just such a blessing.
Janelle Maiocco: I love that. I feel like you're, you're sort of guaranteeing that it's good use of your time regardless of the weather, [00:12:00] which is huge. That's huge. That's you taking control back.
Amy Campbell: And at the Farmers markets, I like to talk about, the subscriptions and the bulk boxes because I don't offer the bulk boxes, at the market with me.
I can't take all that. and so I say, "If you want a bulk box, you have to order online, but I'll bring it to you next week," or, um, or however. But yeah, so things like that. That's... Most people are gonna purchase, those bigger items like that and then, and come and pick it up. But, but every now and then you get somebody that just orders one ground beef and one sausage and, but they've pre-ordered it, and so.
Janelle Maiocco: So they're gonna show up.
Amy Campbell: They're gonna show up. That's right.
Janelle Maiocco: I love that. I love that. That's awesome. I love that. you already have sales basically completed before you even show up at the Farmer market. I know that's a hot topic for a lot of Farms, so I appreciate that. Okay, let's dig into building your email list.
Very cool. You made a great estimate of having a couple thousand emails, which has been a lot of work to get there, and roughly 10 years in. [00:13:00] So if you were going to give advice to yourself 10 years ago when you were just getting started, would you have particular advice around how to begin collecting email and the importance of it?
Amy Campbell: Yeah. I think anytime just carry a notes app or a clipboard, whatever with you all, everywhere you go. Um, because anytime you can, especially every Farmers market, Just really encouraging people that I am not gonna, like swarm your inbox, but I'm gonna send you an update or recipes or, you know, things that they actually want to read.
And so just telling them that that's what you're gonna be sending them, I guess. so, 'cause I think sometimes people are a little bit skeptical of just giving you their email. But most of the time if it's a Farm, like they actually do want your product or they wouldn't be talking to you in the first place.
I think for me, I had that mental block of I didn't wanna bother people. So it took me a little bit to get over that, that no, they, they're not bothered by my emails because they actually do wanna know what's happening on the Farm and [00:14:00] what products are available, what's in season, and, and how they can purchase.
So I just have to remind myself even today, 10 years in, I have to remind myself that, they actually do want this meat and so I need to, show them what's available. but yeah, just collecting at the Farmers' markets. We also sponsor, like a ranch rodeo at our local fair and we have, um, an advertisement in the fair handbook. Things like that that are just more local.
Janelle Maiocco: If you have ads and whatnot, does that mean if I go, is this is a way to collect an email? So if I go to your website, you like have an automated, email form pop up?
Amy Campbell: Yes.
So again, I'm putting those QR codes on everything. So in the fair ad on the back of the ticket that we sponsored, um, it's gonna have a QR code, and it's actually gonna say, something about $5 off a $50 purchase. And so again, if I can get them to order one time, then I've got their, you know, they're locked in.
The hardest part is ordering the first time 'cause you actually have to put in your card information and, you know, it's, it's a little bit more difficult to order that very first time. But once you do that, [00:15:00] then you're in. And so if I can get their emails and get them to order, then that's perfect.
Janelle Maiocco: I, you know what, I do love that too, 'cause not, not everybody has that great benefit of like your Farm products and the taste and quality is so much better than other options out there. If you can just get an email or any way to get that customer to purchase that first time, and do your best to have that be a good buying experience and a good fulfillment experience, you know, you have to care a lot about that initial experience.
But once they've tried the product and they've enjoyed that self-serve ordering, it's still pretty easy to get the food, whether it's a pickup or door-to-door delivery. And then they've tried it, like you're right. As long as you continue to engage them through email, which is pretty much standard practice now across all brands that are trying to engage and keep customers.
I mean, I don't know if you've ever given samples out even, right? It's just like, "Here," you know, "Come here, try this," just to get them at the very beginning.
Amy Campbell: Yeah. Yeah. We have, I don't know that we've just given samples out as much, but, [00:16:00] um, but we do try to even like sponsor, um, like we'll, uh, donate a little basket or a, a box of meat, um, to certain things. One, that gets your name out, that you're, that you're making that donation. Um, and two, whoever tries it, they get to try it for the first time, you know?
And so definitely if you're doing something like that, put in your little brochure or your card that, to make sure they know where they can reorder. But yeah, those are all great ways to just get your name out. And I think another way, um, we have not tapped into this as much, but, like finding CrossFit gyms or places where there are people that are obviously trying to eat healthy and, uh, particularly eat a lot of meat if you're a meat, person.
Even like doctor's offices, I've heard of people, kind of a holistic type doctor that they are gonna encourage you to, to buy that meat, that person's meat. So, tapping into those are that's just huge. If you could put a flyer up in those areas, um, or go sit down and talk to that doctor or talk to the gym [00:17:00] owner, those are really helpful.
Janelle Maiocco: Turn the doctor, the gym owner into customers first, and then you're gold, right? Yeah. I love that. I mean, it's technically that's marketing dollars, um, that you're, if you're gifting that to potential other local business owners, that might be a good way to even use them as a pickup location or drop site location for their customers, which is really cool.
I'm really glad that you mentioned QR codes. I wanna make sure to say that a few like QR codes are really amazing. It used to be you would have to like include your, URL and somebody would have to go type it in, and now with the QR code, that's pretty magical in terms of taking out even that friction.
They can just use their phone and go straight to your site and add their email there. Like it just removes all that friction. So highly recommend using QR codes, um, like Amy's saying on tickets and s- if you're sponsoring or you have any like physical ad in a paper, those sorts of things. It can be a very effective, the, the least friction way to [00:18:00] get people to your site and, and getting their email.
Amy Campbell: Yeah. And as far as making things like that, I use Canva a lot and I just have the free Canva. I don't even do the paid subscription thing. But yeah, you can make your QR code on Canva and then you can make, your business cards or your rack card type things or we get the Barn2Door toolkit every month. So a lot of those I love and I can use them
Janelle Maiocco: To Amy's point, we have monthly marketing toolkit that, some of our subscribers also subscribe to. It's currently $39 a month, but you get like 50 or 60 social media designs like from our designers.
They make these beautiful designs for MailChimp templates, for newsletters for Farmers, all seasonal, right? Like so July is gonna be like chock full of everything patriotic and, you know, if you get into the fall it's gonna be all the fall colors and talking about harvest boxes and different things like that.
So, it can be a huge help and to Amy's point, a lot of them you can just use, just throw them right on, schedule them into social media, use them in your newsletters, but it can also ge- help you generate ideas. [00:19:00] So it's a good way to do that too because sometimes it's the idea generation that is even the hard part.
The other thing I wanted to say because you said this at the beginning, and I wanna echo this, so much because I think, I feel like it's every single podcast I have where we even brush up against talking about email marketing or sending emails weekly. It's just like everybody's like, "When I started, I was afraid, and now I send them weekly."
They go back to that, and I think it's because, A, it generates sales, B, it generates consistency, and it, and C, it serves as a reminder. What we often talk about is, like people love to catch up on what's going on on your Farm. But like even simple weekly order reminders, which through Barn2Door Farmers can automate to their Buyers.
The neat part about them is, is they're literally just like a two sentence, here's a button to click and shop. It serves as a friendly reminder, but it's not like if it's ignored, nobody cares, right? And so it's like it goes to the top of their inbox, which is a lot like a Twitter feed at this point.
And they might miss it, and they might miss it, but then they'll see it once or twice a month, actually and they'll [00:20:00] be like, "Oh, that's right." Or they'll know where to find it pretty quickly if they need to scroll or search. But it's just a very, sort of benign friendly reminder versus the other emails, which actually are building your brand and storytelling, those kinds of things, that they might feel bad if they don't read it, right?
It's a mix. So speaking of which, because I think this has been your powerhouse, which is your weekly, what did you say? Your weekly campaigns are called This Week on the Farm, and it's a weekly email campaign.
Amy Campbell: Yeah, so we actually send it out every Friday morning.
I do not know that that is the best time to send them out. But just for me and Will, that is the only time we can get together and, say, "All right, what happened on the Farm this week?" And, then we are going to the Farmers market the next day. And so it is, chocked full of, Order by 3:00.
Don't forget to order for tomorrow's, Farmers market." And so we usually get that out by, like, 9:00 AM. we've never been great, like, planners or, um, getting stuff done ahead of time. And so honestly, at 8:30 [00:21:00] we are still working on that email most of the time and getting it out. But yeah. So every Friday we send, uh, we look through our phones to find the best pictures from that week.
Those include pictures of the cows, the pigs, the chickens, our kids, us out there Farming, whatever is happening. we just get the best pictures and then, we include... My husband usually writes the, the main bulk of it.
Janelle Maiocco: I just have to say, I love reading what W- Will writes. It's so awesome. He, yeah.
Anyway, I'm just, I just have to say that you guys do a really good job, really talking about, pardon the pun, but good meaty things too. Like, he's like, "I'm reading this book," and here's how, you know, like, he really digs in, which I love.
But it's also, permission given, completely okay to every so often just have a really quick one that's just a couple sentences if you're in a rush. Or like I said, a lot of our Farms they'll just set up automated order reminders so that if for whatever reason you know, things break down, people get sick and you can't get something out, they are still [00:22:00] getting an email, even if it's quick.
And it's good to mix it up, the short versus the long form, because people, they have limited time it's just good to sort of give Farmers permission for it to quick and dirty, but also the heartfelt stuff is really special. It's what's you're building your brand and r- relationships.
Amy Campbell: Yeah. And I think, um, Will is a really good writer, and so this is kind of just an outlet for him as well. But so he is always including what's happening on the Farm as well as, like you said, what book he's reading or, listening to, you know, when he's in the tractor. Or it's about, um, a podcast we've listened to or, just something that is interesting to him.
And so he can just kinda go in. Or we talk about why beef prices are high right now, and so what that's gonna look like for, our pricing. You know, we are just-- we try to be as transparent as we can, and so that's through pictures, that's through our words. So that little section is, just about our transparency, I guess.
And, and we do try to... You know, life [00:23:00] is hard sometimes on the Farm, and I think everyone else kinda has this, like, beautiful view of Farming, and they just think-
Janelle Maiocco: Rom- romanticized view of the, of the homestead life, yes. Which is fair, but it's hard.
Amy Campbell: It is. And so one of our goals is to try to show the hard as well, without complaining.
And that's a fine line to tread. But that is one of our goals. And so we do try to say, like, "We did this, this, and this. This was a mistake," or, "This didn't turn out like we hoped," or, you know, just the transparency. But then also not woe is me, all the time. So-
Janelle Maiocco: Yeah. I love that, though, because you, you're sort of honing in on some of the adjectives that really define your brand, right?
Which is transparency. And you're building trust when you do that. But you're also being really truthful and honest, and you're bringing people with you, and when you are transparent like that, You really are-- I mean, frankly, you're kind of being intimate.
Like, you really are truly bringing, building trust in those relationships with your customers, which I just think is great.
Amy Campbell: Yeah. I think I remember [00:24:00] one email Will sent out that, um, he told everybody how much we spent on hay that year, just on, on the beef feed. And it was a, an astronomical number for most people, you know, because Farms deal in these huge numbers that other businesses or people might not know.
And we got so many responses, but it also made them understand, like, why the beef costs so much as well because, these are the inputs that are, that are going into that cow. so yeah, we, we have that section, and then we always have, I try to include recipes because with any Farm, if you're trying to sell meat or vegetables, I mean, you're selling a raw product, and if they're not eating it, they're not gonna come back for more.
So I think that's one of our main goals as Farmers, as producers, is to educate and teach people how to cook, and the importance of eating at home. And so I think we, we really emphasize, like, the family, the close family bonds and family dinners and, I mean, just we take pictures every now and then of us eating dinner together and put it in the [00:25:00] email.
For people to see how busy we are, yet we still take time to eat family dinner together, because it's important. And so just things like that. That's kind of, um, part of our mission, I guess. Then I am always including lots of links to our Farm store. So MailChimp has a beautiful integration with Barn2Door, where you can just drag and drop products over.
And so, I get to choose which products based on I wanna really push bulk boxes this month, or I wanna really push subscriptions or just those individual cuts. And so it's just really easy to drag and drop, items in there.
Janelle Maiocco: Awesome. So you have a section where you're gonna say, like, what's-- This is weekly, right?
Amy Campbell: Yes, weekly.
Janelle Maiocco: You're gonna say, like, what's happening on the Farm with some lovely photos. You're gonna have a recipe section. Is-- Do you have a recipe every single week?
Amy Campbell: Not every week.
Janelle Maiocco: Do you have anything else that you rotate in there? And then you have lots of links, like you're obviously you're gonna showcase the items that you're selling so people can click and place an order.
Amy Campbell: Yeah. If we have like an-- Like we just had, sausage patties, [00:26:00] and we don't normally have those, so that was like a new product, that was back in stock. And so, um, I have a whole thing about sausage patties and quick breakfasts and high protein breakfasts, stuff like that. So yes, that's gonna be either recipes or new products.
We just had a big cookout on our Farm, which is, I guess, also marketing. But, that's just a huge community event that we, um, do every year and invite all of our customers and neighbors and, friends, and so that was huge. But anyway, so that was, you know, that was like a, section of the email for a few weeks.
Janelle Maiocco: Yes. Awesome. Leading up to it and then sharing, and just bringing community together. That's really neat. It's a, you know, ongoing storytelling really. That's awesome. How often do you offer like promos or create some kind of FOMO?
Amy Campbell: We try our best to keep our prices as low as possible, um, so it's actually hard for us to offer many discounts because you just don't have that wiggle room. Um, and so we aren't discounting stuff too often. our subscriptions, when it's time for them to renew, 'cause it's a yearly [00:27:00] subscription, we will offer a discount for their first month.
And that has really helped with, bringing in. We have like a 90% renewal rate, with those subscriptions, and we've been doing them for six, I guess six or seven years now.
Janelle Maiocco: That's very high.
Amy Campbell: Yes, it is. And every year we pray, "Lord, are they gonna renew?" And, Please, please help us."
And, and they do. And so, That has been such a blessing, for us. But yeah, that would be one of the main, promos I guess we offer.
Janelle Maiocco: Yeah. And then, which is good, right? You're still-- That you're focused on getting them for that first order, right? Or to commit to a subscription, both of which are really important.
Okay, so outside of your weekly, emails, your weekly campaigns, This Week on the Farm, are there other emails that, that you send? Do you send like welcome emails to new people or do you just fold them into the weeklies?
Amy Campbell: Yeah, we have, um, we send order reminders. And so most of our orders are happening within a week or two.
And then obviously the the Farmers market's every Saturday. And so, we're really pushing order [00:28:00] reminders when it is close to time for those deliveries. And then yes, we have automated emails set up. There's like a welcome email for, new customers as soon as we get their email address. So we have a pop-up on our website, to collect those.
And then if I am, manually adding them, if I get their email from the Farmers market or something, they're gonna get our welcome email. And so that's a series of, I think, two emails. Then we also have one that if they haven't ordered for like, I think it's 90 days, so if they haven't ordered in a while, they get that email.
Janelle Maiocco: Yeah, the life cycle emails. if they haven't ordered like, "Hey, we miss you. Come..." You know, "Don't, don't forget about us," sort of thing. And in that case, I think you might entice them with a promo. but good to good to bring them back. Yeah. It's really neat, and I just wanna pause here because when it comes to emails, like it's first, on the one hand, you need to collect them and always be collecting them, wouldn't you say?
And then on the other hand, it's, you have them, now you need to send them and [00:29:00] convert those into customers and repeat customers. And so that's an... You're using them in your communication. But what I love about it is, is there's emails that you're sending, quote-unquote, "manually," right? That you're doing every single week, but then there's some that you can set up automatically, to go out for order reminders and, you know, if they're welcome, if you're, if you haven't been you know, if they haven't ordered in 90 days.
There's s- so it's really neat to think of both email collection and email sending as there's gonna be some manual parts and there's gonna be some opportunity for automated collection of email and automated email sending. And you've mentioned a few times on your website you have that pop-up form for people to automatically put their email in, or if they purchase on your online store, their email's automatically added to your list.
So it's neat. the POS, Barn2Door, offers POS as well for Farmers to sell in person. We've also built in automatic collection of emails, you know, at a Farmers market. and so it's like neat to have all these different [00:30:00] points of we're collecting emails, QR codes, all the different ways you can collect them automatically, which is just powerful.
Then the same with emails. So it's, a lot of times I feel like marketing can feel a little overwhelming, but once you understand that, you can make it work for you and you can set up a lot of automation, that can be, I think, quite empowering.
Amy Campbell: Yeah. If you're, every time you run a card or swipe a card at the store, at the Farmers market and you are getting their email, I mean, that's huge because you've already made that sale, but now you can send them an email and try to get them to pre-order.
So yes, and, and all the automated it is, we are not tech savvy by any means, and so it takes a bit to set those up to begin with, but then they're just set up, you know? They're, they're in place, they're working for you behind the scenes. And then like once a quarter just go re- back and revisit, because I have seen, I've, I've gone back and I'm like, "Ooh, I haven't done this in a while," and that is not really up to date or current, you know?
So [00:31:00] you do need to kind of mark your, mark your calendar, and once a quarter just go back and revisit. just looking at your website, one, making sure everything's up to date and then any automated things that you have set up, make sure they're still current, in the right season.
Janelle Maiocco: I love that. That's, that is really great wisdom. So if you have automated things set up, at least once a quarter or every other month, you set a little something, a little meeting reminder to yourself on your calendar and say, "Go check."
Because to your point, we actually even have Farmers who have, like, store banners on the top of their online store, and then nothing breaks your heart more than when you show up in April and it's talking about Valentine's Day, right? So you're like... To-- That's a great example of, hey, just check every other month.
And you know what? It can just be five things. I'm gonna check my banner. I'm gonna check the text in my automated order reminders, or my welcome emails, that sort of thing, and just make sure things are working as they should.
Amy Campbell: That just happened to me, actually. Um, I guess about three weeks ago, I looked and my banner said, [00:32:00] Don't forget to fill your freezer up this winter."
And I'm like, "Ah, we're not really in winter anymore." We're like-
Janelle Maiocco: A-a-add that to your checklist for your, for your automations. I mean, honestly, it happens. It happens to everybody. That's why it is such great advice to be like, "Hey, just check this every other month." And the neat part about that is, in the meantime, it's automated, so it's working for you with no effort at all, which is just amazing. as we're sort of wrapping up here at the end of this, Again, loved talking about all the email collection, especially QR codes, all the automated ways you can collect emails, and then you know, the, the regular email marketing, weekly email marketing for the win really.
Are there other pieces of advice, that you might give when Farmers are thinking about email collection and leveraging that for success?
Amy Campbell: Yeah, I think, the main thing would be to start f- as soon as possible. And so if you are not collecting emails, start today. And just think of any way, you know, at church or at, the ball field, where- wherever you [00:33:00] are and there's other people, just bring up a conversation and be like, "Oh yeah, we send out a email every week.
I can add you if you're interested." You know, if, if, if they truly are interested in what you sell, then they're gonna be excited to be on your email list. So I think just talking about, our weekly emails is, one way that we've collected email addresses as well. and then just being consistent, whether it's weekly or bi-weekly, once a month, whatever you're doing.
I don't know. There's, there's some things that I'm really into reading their emails and then all of a sudden I haven't gotten one in three months, and so I kind of, kind of forget about that brand And so if, the more you are in their inbox, even in the off-season, just telling them, And I know we talked about it, but it doesn't even have to be Farm related. Like, it can just be what is happening in your family or in your, in your business, in your Farm. What books are you reading. You know, it can be anything. people just really, the more you can connect and draw them in, bring them into your story, then the more that they feel a part of your story. [00:34:00] That would be my advice is just to, to use that transparency, in person and, in any way that any place you see that there are, you know, schools. I thought about, if your kids go to school and there are other kids there, parents, d- different ways that you can talk to.
Anytime you can talk to people, just try to bring up your Farm.
Janelle Maiocco: Yeah. I mean, we talk about local businesses, but schools are another great opportunity for marketing. That is absolutely true. I love, too, that you mentioned being consistent. We talk a lot about how that helps create consistent Buyers when you're consistent in what you offer, and that's not just an email cadence thing.
That's why Buyers love subscriptions is because it's consistent. If you are a Farm offering local pickup or delivery, have a consistent schedule. The Buyers want to have a habit of buying from you, and the way for it to be a habit is if it's routine. And so if they're gonna get a, you [00:35:00] know, a meat box once a month, great, that's a habit.
You know, if they're gonna buy eggs weekly, great, that's a habit. Like eggs, milk, we drink every week, we eat every week, right? You know, cheese, proteins, obviously we're consuming those every week too, but it might make more sense to deliver those every other week or once a month. But whatever that is, whatever that cadence is to sort of literally, quote-unquote, "match their appetite," in terms of making sure you're the provider for their eggs or milk or meat or produce, et cetera, that cadence is very powerful, in terms of both order reminders, emails, delivery schedules, because once they're in, they're in.
Amy Campbell: Yeah. And having a consistent product, as well as that, you know, making sure, if they get steaks one month, that the next month or next year they're gonna be that same quality steak, and that you constantly have them. I think that's one thing that is difficult when, uh, especially when you're starting out, and I know this happens 'cause it happened to us a lot [00:36:00] starting out, that you don't have the freezer space and stuff like that.
But when they can get ground beef from you for months, and then all of a sudden you're out for six months, and they, they're gonna go find somebody else to get it from. As you grow, telling them, "Hey, we're not gonna have it for a few months, but we hope to be more consistent after that," or, you know, just being honest.
But as you grow, just trying to have that consistent product and to always have product to be able to sell.
Janelle Maiocco: I-- It's funny because in a few prior podcasts with Farms, we've been talking about that, like the first couple of years of Farming versus when you're now starting to really grow and scale and extend your season to be year-round.
And to keep the customer year-round, that might mean investing in more freezer space. And then calculating, okay, I've got to hold this many chickens back, or I have to hold this many back to keep, quote-unquote, literally feeding those families all year round. It's a very interesting mental exercise, but it's also pretty amazing if you're already at that point, having those [00:37:00] conversations about your business and your customers, right?
That's great that you have that demand, and now it's time to try to plan around that and see if you can't slowly but surely step into that. But of course, be gracious with yourself, right? 'Cause it's a process.
Amy Campbell: And talking about consistent deliveries, but yes, we have like a delivery every third Thursday at 5:00 to this parking lot.
So setting that schedule and, and like you said, that's been our schedule for the last five or six years. And so that does really help. People can put that date into their, uh, Google reminders, their calendar, and so they can remind themselves that it's time to order or pick up. Um, so having those consistent schedules and making it at a time that is convenient for the customer.
I think as Farmers, a lot of times we try to make, a delivery time. We try to squeeze it in when we have time, which is not normal hours for other people. And so, when people are getting off work, you know, trying to make them around 5:00, 5:30, something like that. And so to where they can just pick up their meat on their [00:38:00] way home from work or after school.
We wanna make it easy for the customers, not easy for the Farmer.
Janelle Maiocco: Or win-win if you can.
Amy Campbell: Yes. Or win-win, yes. That's even-
Janelle Maiocco: Yeah. That's great. No, um, I love all of the above, and you're absolutely right. And I also have to compliment you because the timing that you're saying, I don't know if Friday mornings are good, but actually statistically they are.
And so is the fact that you are sending them right before you're at the market - like you have order cutoffs, it sounds like at 3:00 PM on Fridays for market pickup on Saturdays. It's really neat. and I know that Barn2Door, that's how we built it, was like you can put order cutoffs 'cause frankly- Farmers need the control of like, "This is the time I need orders to stop coming in," or, "I can't appropriately pack or drive or whatever needs to happen."
We have some Farms that have to put a cutoff on a Friday for the whole weekend because they're doing a big loop or something like that, right? So it's really cool. But sending in that same morning of when the cutoff is, is just gold [00:39:00] in terms of last-minute orders and people being reminded last minute.
Um, and it's a great way to drive, add-on orders, additional orders. So you're, you actually are spot on in when you're sending it. But it's good. It's good to think about when to send them too. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time today. It's just been awesome. It's neat to sort of unpack what you're doing, very practically speaking, as a Farm, and obviously building success.
Half of your orders being subscriptions is just beautiful, and I can't - I tell you as a Buyer, I love every, like Thursdays at 5. That would be in my brain forever because often I'm like, "Oh, when does it..." You know, like I buy from Farmers and sometimes it's like, "I don't know when they're coming next," versus, "Oh, I know it's like one Saturday a month," and it was ju- you know, it's like, "It's coming any week now," or whatever.
So having that framework is really helpful and lovely as a Buyer, no question about it. I want to extend my thanks to Amy for joining us on this week's podcast episode. You can check out more and follow Old Rich Valley Farm on their [00:40:00] Instagram @oldrichvalleyFarm. I also recommend going to their website, is it oldrichvalleyFarm.com?
Amy Campbell: Uh-huh. Yep.
Janelle Maiocco: Okay, fabulous. Sign up for their newsletter because they're amazing. I leave them in my inbox till I get to, get around to reading them 'cause they're, they're always so fun to read. Here at Barn2Door, we're humbled to support thousands of Independent Farmers across the country.
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[00:41:00] Thank you for joining us on the Independent Farmer Podcast. At Barn2Door, we are passionate about empowering Independent Farmers to build a thriving business. To all the Farmers out there, thank you for all you do to grow amazing food, care for the soil, and serve your local communities. You are the backbone of our country.
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