Growers Employ Variety Of Techniques To Market Products ANDY ANDREWS Lancaster Fanning Staff HERSHEY (Dauphin Co.) Although vegetable and fruit growers have many ways to sell their products, there is a way to take advantage of simple market ing techniques to ensure their suc cess, according to a marketing expert who spoke to about 30 growers registered last week for the marketing short course at the Pennsylvania Vegetable Conference. • One grower in Carbon Coun ty, who operates a roadside mark et, publishes a newsletter that she distributes free of charge to her customers, telling them about upcoming specials. • An Erie County grower mails a color brochure to customers detailing what special promotions are upcoming at the market. • One grower uses a $3O compu ter software program to design and I»int up a calendar, which is distri buted to customers. This calendar lists upcoming sales and special events. • A grower in the central part of the state uses a direct mailing from a list provided at a vegetable stand to triple her business. • One grower advertises a prun ing seminar in the spring and gets a “real nice” turnout that helps to promote and sell products grown on the farm. • A grower from the northeast ern part of the state puts his farm name on plastic polybags to adver tise the products grown on the farm. • A grower of wholesale pro ducts, every year, tests products for pesticide residues and adver tises that fact on the products grown. Another advertises that the orchard is a Penn State integrated pest management (IPM) testing site and posts whether pesticides are used on the products grown. • One grower said that he often takes products out of display boxes and eats them in front of custom ers, to show that if he thinks it is safe enough for him to eat, it ought to be safe enough to buy for the family. Growers need to do all that they can “to be the last one in,” said Adrienne Zoble, founder and pres ident of Adrienne Zoble Associ ates, Somerville, NJ. Zoblc provided guidance in creating a marketing plan from her quarterly newsletter. Unconven tional Wisdom, to those registered re\ , ways growers can personalize their business for custom ers. The panel, modererated by John Stark, far left, featured Bill Reynolds; Jon John son, policy analyst at the Center for Rural Pennsylvania; and Marty Wise, professor of msrketlng at Harrisburg Area Community College. for the marketing short course at the state vegetable conference. In her guidelines, “Perfectly Easy Planning,” Zoble provided her step-by-step approach to iden tifying a marketing plan and mak ing it work. When promoting products, growers should keep in mind that it is mote important to look at bene fits rather than “features.” Bene fits include those principles about your business and products that satisfy people’s emotional and psychological needs, also called those “warm fiizzies.” “It’s not the quantity of market ing you do, but the combination of quality and continuity,” said Zoble. Features merely promote a cer tain product for a certain price. Benefits look into satisfying peo ple’s needs, as for freshness, qual ity, or other factors such as keep ing products pesticide-free. As in any other business, when marketing farm products, it’s important to keep in mind the com ponents of marketing percep tion, price, product, promotion, people, and positioning. Above all, growers should be “pro-active” about their product, stressing products’ benefits and informing the buyers, whenever possible, about what went into growing and distributing the product. In the ’9os, “customer service” is becoming more important, as “high tech” changes into “high touch.” “People really like service and attention,” said Zoble. They no longer want to be treated imper sonally they expect more cus tomized, more personalized service. When developing a plan, it is important to first diagnose what the situation is for the business in the markeplace, look at a company prognosis, set down goals and objectives, choose a strategy (in general), use tactics (the actual work of accomplishing the strategy), and lode down the road, after implementation, of how the marketing is proceeding. Zoble provided some guidance into how growers can work as marketers of their products to be “the last one in” in other words, to secure a place in the market and build up long-term relationships with customers. The more, information you pro vide the customers, through news- n] Examples of grower advertising were reviewed at the marketing short course. A panel reviewed samples from growers In the audience. The panel was composed of, seated, from left, Adrienne Zoble, Zoble Associates; Donna Miller, owner and desig ner for D Square Design, Lemoyne; Robin Hetherlngton, B&R Farms; and Rudy Grob, sales manager, Funks Farm Market, Millersvllle. The panel was moderated by John Stark, director of the Bureau of Market Development, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, standing. letters, direct mailings, or custom izing the packaging of the product, “the better off you are,” said Zoble. Examples of grower advertising were reviewed at the marketing short course. A panel reviewed samples from the Lehigh Valley Growers and from other growers in the audience. The panel was composed of Adrienne Zoble, Zoble Associates; Donna Miller, owner and designer for D Square Design, Lemoyne; Robin Hetherington, B&R Farms; and Rudy Grab, sales manager. Funks Farm Market, Millersville. The panel was moderated by John Stark, director of the Bureau of Market Development, Pennsylva nia Department of Agriculture. What the panel concluded: keep advertising simple (use less clut ter), make ft consistent (make use of only one logo), and emphasize benefits over features. Many growers, according to Zoble, who advertise are taken up by the compunction to “put words, words, words in material to fill all the white space” in the ad. Trying to do too much in one space is dis tracting and confusing. Also, many retailers are “mar ried” to pages 2-3 of a newspaper and should learn to make use of other sections of the publication where they can more effectively target products. ‘ ‘People are often overwhelmed and can’t digest everything in the ads,” said Zoble. Also, use of pictures is vital to make advertising more attractive and effective. An effective marketing tool is the use of a business logo, which varies in cost of design, which can range from $2OO to $4,000, depending on designer. Designers N.Y./N.J Milk $12.83 ALBANY, N.Y.—Dairy farm ers who supplied regulated milk dealers (handlers) under the New York-New Jersey marketing or ders during December 1994 will be paid by handlers on the basis of a uniform price of $12.83 per hundredweight (27.6 cents per quart); the price for the corres ponding month last year was $13.48 per hundredweight. Market Administrator Ronald C. Pearce also stated that the price was $13.03 in November 1994. The uniform price is a marketwide weighted average of the value of farm milk used for fluid and manufactured dairy products. A total of 11,267 dairy fanners supplied handlers regulated under the New York-New Jersey mar keting orders with 960,033,002 pounds of milk during December 1994. This was an increase of 2.7 percent (about 25 million pounds) from last year. The gross value to dairy farmers for milk deliveries was $124,382,471.03. This in cluded differentials required to be paid to dairy farmers but not pre miums, deductions authorized by the farmer, or assessments. Regulated handlers used 423,013,594 pounds of milk for Class 1, 44.1 percent of the total. This milk is used for fluid milk products such as homogenized, It does a body good. * are listed in the phone book’s yel low pages. Another panel reviewed ways growers can personalize their busi ness for customers. The panel, modererated by Stark, featured Bill Reynolds; Jon Johnson, policy analyst at the Cento 1 for Rural Pen nsylvania; and Many Wise, pro fessor of marketing at Harrisburg Area Community College. flavored, low test, and skim milks. For December 1994, handlers paid $14.71 per hundredweight (31.6 cents per quart) for Class 1 milk compared with $14.88 a year ago. Handlers used 152,641,138 pounds of milk for Class II pro* ducts, 13.9 percent of the total. Class II products include fluid cream, eggnog, ricotta and cottage cheeses, ice cream, and yogurt Handlers paid $12.24 per hund redweight for this milk. Milk used to manufacture Class 111 products including butter, cheese (other than ricotta and cot tage cheeses), and whole milk powder totaled 334,306,324 pounds (36.9 percent of the total). Handlers paid $11.44 per hund redweight for this milk. Milk used to manufacture non fat dry milk (Class UI-A) totaled 30,071,926 pounds (3.1 percent of the total). Handlers paid $10.23 per hundredweight for this milk. The uniform price is based on milk containing 3.3 percent but terfat. For December 1994, there was a price differential of 3.8 cents for each one-tenth of one percent that the milk tested above or below the 3.5 percent standard. All prices quoted are for bulk tank milk received from farms in the 201-210 mile zone from New York City.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers