My Digital Farmer Podcast

Vacation in July for a farmer? Is it possible? What if it were?... In today's episode, I share my story of how Kurt and I successfully planned and executed a 5-day vacation to Oshkosh, Wisconsin in the middle of July. How did our farm survive without us? What did we have to do to make it happen? And was it worth it? In this episode, I share some observations and take-aways from this experiment tha...

Writing the weekly CSA Newsletter.... do you love it? Or hate it? This used to feel like a CHORE! In my early years, I would start from scratch every week, and it felt like I was back in Yearbook class -- not only trying to write engaging "newspaper-style" articles, but worrying about layout and images so it all fit!! It would take me around 6-7 hours every weekend. Ugh. After 14 years, I've learn...

Subscribe to my free 5-Day Instagram Reels Challenge here. You'll get a daily video tutorial on Reels and a quick homework assignment to practice the skill you learned. Each day builds on the next, as you experiment and play in the sandbox. By the end of the challenge, you'll know your way around the Reels platform and know how to take it deeper if you want! Do you need to be doing Instagram Reels...

Check out my workshop "How to Optimize your Google Business Profile" here. Are you using the power of search engines to help you find new customers? Here's the truth: people are going to Google to find your farm. What is Google showing them? Are you showing up in the #1 position? And if not, what can you do to get there? In this episode, I invite local SEO expert Jesse Dolan from LocalSeoTactics.c...

What is it that your product actually delivers to your customer? I'm not talking about the thing itself. I'm talking about the long-term life transformation? How does their life get better because of your vegetable box or grass-fed beef?... What is the product's promise? If you want to sell more of your products, you MUST know how to answer this question. In this episode, I talk about how to find...

Do you track any sales or marketing metrics for your farm?... Because here's a fact: You can't manage what you aren't measuring. And for the first 9 years of my business, I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't track ANY of these numbers. I was just "doing farm sales" and asking people to buy every week, hoping the numbers would work out. I wonder sometimes if this is one of the reasons we were tre...

Get my new weekly marketing roadmap when you subscribe to my email newsletter. I LOVE interviewing other farmers who are GREAT at marketing. Sometimes, the best way to grow our own  marketing strategy is to see what other farms are doing. Today's guest is Melissa Ballard of Bluegrass Beef in Kentucky. She has managed to build a growing, profitable farm business by attracting the right kind of clie...

What happens to a person after they subscribe to your email list for the first time? Do they fall into the "black hole"? I've long encouraged you to build something called a "nurture email sequence" in your marketing funnel. This pre-written, automated email sequence drips out amazing, helpful content to your new subscribers to warm them up to your brand. And once it's written, it remains as a per...

Need some help with Instagram reels? Search no more. Today's podcast guest and farmer is an Instagram guru. Laura Patterson has mastered the art of engagement and lead generation through the use of Instagram reels, creating compelling content every day that attracts her ideal customer. In this podcast, Laura shares how she marketed and grew her micro-greens business, and how she now uses those sam...

Have you taken the time this season to identify your core marketing message(s)? Is your message consistent and clear? What are you trying to get your customers to know or do? And do you have a PLAN to get there? In this episode, I share how to find this message, and best practices to make sure your controlling idea is communicated.

Grab my Tips & Secrets for CSA Success Canva Template to Onboard Your CSA Members. How are you onboarding your CSA members into your CSA's first weeks? (Are you?) In this episode, I walk through the 4 categories of content/information you should consider putting into your onboarding strategy. You'll walk away with a plan for mapping out your strategy, what it should include, and how long it should...

In today's episode, I interview a farmer from Louisiana, Kate Estrade, who is a curator of locally-produced farm goods -- from her own pasture-based farm, as well as from over 25 other local farms and producers. She sells through an onsite "grocery" store as well as several neighborhood hubs. Customers have been "trained" to pre-order online each week and then come pickup their order at their loca...

Need content ideas for your CSA members? Enroll in my CSA Membership Academy and get your first month for $1 when you use my coupon code TRIAL at www.mydigitalfarmer.com/academy Do you spend more time than you'd like in your farm delivery truck? Do you dream of giving this up and having more time for revenue-generating activities on the farm? What if you could outsource delivery to someone else? I...

Download my Guide: 19 Social Media Post Templates to Unlock Your Content Marketing Strategy. Do you ever have a brain freeze when it comes to social media? What the heck should I be posting about? Or when it's time to "write your weekly email," do you ever find yourself staring at a blank screen with no clue what to say? You're in good company. As content marketers, our job is to create a steady s...

Subscribe to my farm's CSA Resource Library for $1 using the coupon code TRIAL at www.mydigitalfarmer.com/academy   Have you ever thought about creating a passive form of revenue through a digital workshop? Today's podcast guest, Heather Carter of Nature Hills Farm, did just that! Her cheese-making online class is purchased by people all over the country. In this episode, she shares how she built...

QR Codes. They are everywhere. But are you using them in your farm marketing? In this episode, I share LOTS of ideas for where your QR codes could link on the internet to help develop your leads into buyers, and turn your buyers into lifelong fans. Subscribe to my CSA Academy to get access to lots of resources to help your veggie lovers! Get your first month for $1 using coupon code TRIAL at www.m...

Imagine CSA customers coming to your farm every week to harvest their own share from your vegetable beds.  Yes. That's the concept behind a U-Pick CSA model. In this episode, I interview Kristen Muehlhauser of Raindance Organic Farm, who has built a profitable farm business off this CSA operation. She shares the pro's and con's of getting this kind of program off the ground.  Sign up for my semina...

Ugh. Does your email open rate stink? Are your emails getting lost in the spam folder?  In today's episode, I share one strategy you can use to try and get your new subscribers to add your email address to their contact list -- this is something called "white listing," and it has an effect of making sure you never show up in the spam folder again. How does it work? After hearing this episode, you'...

Last season, our CSA trialed a partnership with a CSF (Community Supported Fishery) called Citizen Salmon Alaska. In this episode, I have fisherman Aaron Sechler back on the show to talk through how it went. We audit our experience and take-aways, and share some tips for how to do this well. PS: If you're thinking of adding on "add-on shares" to your CSA, but need some help getting started, check...

Have you ever pre-sold spring transplants as a type of product line? Our farm is predominantly a CSA farm, and so we didn't offer this as a product until just a few years ago. At first glance, it didn't seem to "fit" our customer profile. Boy, was I wrong! Three years ago, we started offering transplants as a product line, and our CSA clients bought like crazy! It's created a whole new revenue str...

In this episode, I interview CSA farmer Tessa DeMaster from Willowhaven Farm. I've been watching Tessa for the last 3 years, as she's slowly built her marketing strategy layer by layer. Today, she shares her story of how she's learned to simplify her marketing -- everything from the flagship product to her messaging. We even talk through what she's found to be the 2 most valuable pieces of her mar...

Grab my list of product badges in the show notes at www.mydigitalfarmer.com/151 What's a product "badge"? You know those little symbols or labels you can put on your product listing like "Best Seller" or "Award-Winner"?...  Turns out simply adding a product badge to your listing can help you sell more of that product! So why  not learn what they are and experiment! In this episode, I share some ex...

Have you ever thought of giving your customers a "consumption goal" for your product? What if you customer is feeling confused about where to begin? or how to use your product? In this episode, I walk you through my CSA farm's new customer "Punch List." I'm helping my customers see the target to hit this season! And I think it's going to be awesome!  Listen to the episode and be inspired how a pun...

In this week's episode, I interview livestock farmer Jamie Pritchard from WIT Farms in Ohio. Jamie shares how she has cultivated a loyal fan base for her pastured-raised meats over the last 5 years. I ask her to break down her marketing funnel for me, and you'll see a simple, yet elegant, process that intentionally pulls clients into her brand.

Get my CSA Tips and Strategies Canva Template to help onboard your rookies to CSA mastery faster. Get it at www.mydigitalfarmer.com/csasuccess What keeps my CSA members coming back year after year? I'm telling you now... it isn't just the vegetables.  In this episode, I interview one of my CSA's strongest members, Esther Hertzfeld. Esther and her husband have been with our CSA for 9 years. She sha...