leveraging your story
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Leveraging Your Story
Increase Sales andUse Social Media
Robin B. Crowder
rbcrowder@21acres.org
rbcrowder@21acres.org
“The most successful businesses will be the ones that can put information in a narrative context to help engage customers and keep them engaged.” -- PR Newswire
rbcrowder@21acres.org
Leveraging Your Farm Story to:
1. Foster Relationships 2. Gain Trust 3. Build Loyalty 4. Create Community 5. Secure Customers
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Marketplace ChaosStorytelling is more essential than ever:
• Big box stores offering more Organic products• Grocery stores established in most places• Home produce delivery gaining traction• Consumers inundated with messages• Farmers markets are highly competitive
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Tell NOT Sell -- Constructing NarrativesConstructing narratives (telling stories) helps customers connect and differentiate from competitors – ultimately encouraging customers to participate, communicate and share information with others.
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#1 Business Skill in the Next Five Years
LinkedIn: “Fact is, no one cares about your marketing goals. But everyone likes a good story. The businesses that can tell one…will have increasing advantage…what stands out has to be increasingly compelling… Stories make ideas stick.”
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Why Storytelling worksResearch shows customers want to be involved in the brands they love in order to:• feel like explorers discovering something special• feel a connection with the brand• feel valuable to the brand• feel their purchases make a difference to the brand
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Role of Value Propositions in StorytellingTell stories to cascade from a Value Proposition and carry marketing efforts and effectively
Show customers why to buy from you rather than competitors
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Branding: What is a value proposition? Promise of value – statement that:• explains how your product solves problems or improves situations
• delivers specific benefits• tells customers why they should buy from you
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Customer SegmentationDeeply define who your customers are to effectively use your value proposition. What makes these groups unique? What buying habits do they employ? What attributes do they have?What stories will resonate?• Market shoppers• Wholesale buyers• CSA customers• On-farm customers
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Consumer Research• Findings from The Hartman Group's Shopping Topography 2012research showed that fewer than half of primary grocery shoppers (44 percent) normally prepare a shopping list prior to a trip to the supermarket or grocery store.
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Consumer Research• Consumers think less about shopping per se than about what else they're trying to accomplish
• 62 percent of shoppers with children say their children influence their purchases
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Consumer ResearchConsumers are bombarded – Every minute, every day: 48 hours of new video on YouTube; 684,000 pieces on content on FBCut through chaos, deliver value proposition and tell stories• People look for trusted sources to filter and make sense of it all
• Share only relevant information of value with customers
Convey expertise, build trust = valuable brandExamples: recipes, varieties, planting….others?
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Consumer Buying Cycle1. Pre-shop: Plan|Want|Need2. During: Find|Ponder|Buy3. Post-shop: Enjoy|Dislike|Forgot
Customers use many tools for evaluating during the buying processResearch shows stories, anecdotes, metaphors are more memorable than data.”Hartman Group: Shopping Topography 2012 Report, The Hartman Group
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Enter Consumer Buying Cycle: Proprietary farm channels • Website, Blog• Social media• YouTube • Earned media• Paid advertising• Newsletter/listservs• Wholesale relationships rbcrowder@21acres.org
2 Channel Streams: Farm and Market
2 Channel Streams: Farm and MarketEnter Consumer Buying Cycle: Proprietary market channels • Onsite• Website• Social media• Newsletter/listservs• YouTube • Earned media• Paid advertising• Wholesale relationships
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Enabling Storytelling by Others• Provide variable rewards – reward customersfor engaging
• Customers will spend more time with you, participating….sharing
• Give a gift to share with others…everyone likes to be a giver/hero
• Host contests, provide rewards• Reinforce good behavior
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Evolution of Storytelling Thru Social Media
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First: Social, relationship-based networks like FB dominated Now, social web is interest-based and highly visual Visual Networks driving consumers to discover products and brands in a distinct process
Big 3: Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr FB and Twitter focus on immediacy
Big 3 are “evergreen”
Strength of Images: FB, Twitter, Big 3Farmers Market Channels and Proprietary Farm Market Channels
Social Media changes:• FB – Photos larger, image posts more prominent53% more Likes, 104% more comments, 84% more click-thrus
• Twitter – Now shows photos automatically • Instagram – Image based, link, share, build a profile • Pinterest – Image based, 88% growth rate 70 million users• Websites and Blogs – Image supported, increases stickiness
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Storytelling on FB
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Facebook changes
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Facebook changed algorithm in News Feed in early Dec. 2013, brand posts are appearing less often21 acres example – 426 organic reach12,000+ reach for a $60 spend = 20 new “Likes”
Storytelling on Twitter
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Ideal for real time engagementCommunicate quickly Brevity rules -- 140 charactersPerfect for telling an evolving storUse for promotions, last minute news
Limited supply of asparagus, come to Market before noon
Strawberry festival today – we’ll hold your bags while you have fun
Baby lamb born today. Mama Betsy is proud. Send us your suggestions for a name.
Big 3: Storytelling on Pinterest
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Pins can drive traffic 40 days+Pinterest is “evergreen”
Pinterest-Perfect Picture
http://www.wired.com/business/2013/06/this-is-the-perfect-pinterest-picture/ rbcrowder@21acres.org
Photo from Paula Deen, “Aunt Peggy’s Cucumber, Tomato, and Onion Salad.” Repinned 307,000 times, liked 8,000 times, and commented upon 300 times. “In other words, that image killed it,” says Curalate CEO Apu Gupta.
No human faces: Images without faces get repinned more often.Pinterest is a network of things Little background: Pinterest includes loads of photos shot against a plain white background. When an artificial background rises above 40 percent of image area, repins are typically halved or quartered. Multiple colors: Images with multiple dominant colors garner more than 3x the replies as images with one. Lots of red: Predominantly red or orange images get twice the repins of predominately blue. Moderate light and color: Performance falls off at the extremes. Images with 50 percent color saturation got repinned 4x as often as images with 100 percent saturation, and 10 times as often as totally desaturated (B&W) images. A similar dynamic for brightness; very light and very dark images are, repinned 1/20 as often as images with medium lightness.Portrait style: Images did best in a vertical orientation.
Big 3: Storytelling on Instagram
rbcrowder@21acres.org
Easy mobile app – link to FB – hashtags are kingCreate demand helping customers imagine new ideasStimulate user-generated content: Invite followers to post Create before and after comparisons – Loaded truck = empty truck Seasons on the farmIntroduce employees and characters on the farm
Easy blog platform – hashtags are king
Micro-blogging, image heavy, excellent video integration
Perfect for reaching young, hip, savvy (about half under 25)
Visually tell the story of the farm with brief vignettes supported with photos and video
Big 3: Storytelling on Tumblr
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Getting Started -- Beginning StorytellingStories are evolving, fluid, grow in depth and meaning and reinforce value proposition• Classic Stories, Lessons, Quotes• Educational Stories• Trending New stories• Customer Stories• Personal Stories• Cooking and Recipes
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Share Personal History – Relevance• Family? Single? Couple?• Foreign service/Peace Corps?• Professional background?• Colleges and universities?• Travel/Live abroad?• Retired?• Military background?How does history reinforce Value Proposition?
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How did you learn to farm?
• Apprenticeship?• Family? • Mentorship?• School?• Internship?
How does it reinforce Value Proposition?
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Interesting characters on your farm
• People – elderly, children• Volunteers• Neighbors• Interns
How do they reinforce Value Proposition?rbcrowder@21acres.org
• Land -- stewardship practices (buffers, barriers, treatments….)
• Trusts, development rights• Certifications • Business Structure• Equipment History? Breakdown, run great? (story of the truck)
How does this reinforce Value Proposition?
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History of the Farm
Story of the Truck
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Features of your farm• Barn, Sheds, Outbuildings• Wildlife• Trees• Fences• Apiary• Root cellars• Asphalt Paving• Hills, creeks, vistasHow do these convey Value Proposition?
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Animals on the Farm• Bees• Bunnies• Birds• Livestock• Spiders
How do they reinforce Value Proposition?rbcrowder@21acres.org
Farming Practices• Certified Salmon Safe• Certified Organic• Chemical-free• Conventional• IPM• GMO-free• Biodynamic• PermacultureHow do they reinforce Value Proposition?
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Value-added products• Ingredients come from the farm? If not, where else?• How did the recipe come about? • What are the ingredients? • Where are they crafted?• Who designed the labels?• Where are they stored?• When are they available? How do they reinforce Value Proposition?rbcrowder@21acres.org
Convey success stories• Where else do you sell?• How can customers find you? • Who else buys your products?• Connect with other producers – stories of overlap, cooperation
How does this reinforce your Value Proposition?
rbcrowder@21acres.org
Strategic Staffing for StorytellingHire people who can tell the story and convey the value proposition – If they haven’t worked on the farm make sure they do Hire for the busiest time of the day –pay appropriately
rbcrowder@21acres.org
Sales Techniques for Storytelling• Question-based selling, uncover needs and wants
Shopping for a recipe? Tonight’s dinner?• Ask open-ended questions Tell me what you’re looking for• Establish the right relationshipsWork for a series of small “yeses”Sample and give product awayGive customers a reason to come backrbcrowder@21acres.org
Sales Techniques for Storytelling• Find new ways to build on relationships• Treat customers better than family• Special offers that relate (announce and celebrate)
• Don’t compete on price (stories differentiate pricing)
• Use your Value Proposition (show distinctions)
• Sample!rbcrowder@21acres.org
Zucchini Tell StoriesChallenge:
A Facebook postA TweetA farm storyA recipeA call to actionProduct signBlog post
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Zucchini Tell Stories
rbcrowder@21acres.org
rbcrowder@21acres.org
Zucchini Tell Stories
Easy Resources for Storytelling• Socialmediaexaminer.com• Copyblogger.com• Mashable.com• Fast Company• 60secondmarketer.com
rbcrowder@21acres.org
Leveraging Your Story
Increase Sales and Use Social Media
Robin B. Crowder
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