Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
will get a better return on the investment by becoming a partner, plus the
team members will have a lot more fun.
Marketing starts in the local community and with local partnerships.
Culinary tourists want to engage with the local community and this is an
opportunity for local networking.
Build a good relationship with the press
The best advertising is always free, either by word of mouth or by free art-
icles that have been placed in the press. As part of the marketing strategy we
advise building a good relationship with the local press.
Invite the press out to the business and show them around, get to know
the lead writer in the area and build a relationship with that person.
There are various strategies to build a relationship with the press:
•
Find out what interests them. Help identify new leads for the local news-
paper as this will help you build a relationship with them. They are
always interested in:
•
Team matters: where one of the team has obtained a certificate, ex-
celled in a sport or done something different;
•
New product development if the business is the first in the region to
develop a new process then you have a story they may be interested in;
•
Winning awards: award winning is a great story for newspapers and
can get excellent media coverage for the business;
•
Write the food or farm column for the newspaper, provide handy
hints for the consumer and obtain regular exposure for your busi-
ness in the newspaper;
•
Prizes: if the newspaper engages in competitions, offer prizes as long
as the business name is mentioned;
•
Be prepared for the unexpected. Always have a camera or smart-
phone nearby as you never know when there is a photo opportunity
the newspaper could be interested in. The press love pictures of the
unexpected;
•
Write the story for the newspaper. They will probably modify it, but save
them the time and the article is more likely to be published. Newspapers
work on a tight deadline and aim to help them rather than give them
more work;
•
Always provide your name, telephone number and e-mail address when
contacting the press;
•
Write the article double spaced so that it can be edited easily.
Developing Marketing Tools
As we have already discussed a business cannot rely on one system to
get a marketing message across; some consumers prefer one channel of
