MFU Webinar: Tools and Goals for Digital Marketing Success, Feb. 24, 2021

Presenter: Anneliese Walker, Walker Farms of Princeton, Minn.
Instagram: @LieseWalker

Digital marketing can often feel incredibly intimidating for farmers, especially if you are just getting started. With branding, platform selection, scheduling tools, customer relationship management… the list may feel endless, but in truth it’s really not.

Just like on your farm or ranch, digital marketing success is all about two things – tool selection and SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-sensitive). We’ll talk in-depth about these in this presentation. Meanwhile, here’s a brief overview so you know what to look forward to.

You wouldn’t use a dinner fork to till your soil, right? Digital marketing tool selection is much the same. Your digital infrastructure should be built on three major pillars:

Social media platforms – Often times your social media presence is the first representation of your business that people see and interact with. Social media is meant to be social; it is a place to have conversations, build relationships and connect with your online community in a more informal and personal way. The goal of your social media presence is to get people acquainted with who you are, what you offer, and what you stand for.
Your website – This is your online “brick and mortar.” This is where people will go to learn more about your business and ethics, your products, and how to buy from you. Your website is your 24/7 customer service representative. The goal of your website is to capture emails and facilitate exchange of money for goods or services.
Your email list – Email marketing is the king of conversion. The beauty of email marketing is that you can reach directly into your community’s inbox and touch them on a personal level while also notifying them of events, offers, and schedules. The golden rule is 80% storytelling and 20% selling. Realistically, the final goal of email marketing is to build personal relationships and drive sales.

Once you’ve created your pillars, it’s time to make goals for them. Your goals should be representative of the purpose of the tool and the actions that you want users to take. Major focus areas can be driving social engagement (i.e., reactions, comments, shares, etc.), capturing a certain number of new emails per month on your website or selling a certain amount of product each month. Keeping goals specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-sensitive are key to helping you define and achieve success. After all, if it cannot be measured, how do you know if your hard work is being rewarded?