Living Bozeman Article!

This company has great marketing and is a prime example of a local company knowing their target customers. I wrote this article a couple years ago for www.livingbozeman.com
Here is the link: http://livingbozeman.com/natural-healing-in-bozeman/

Natural Healing In Bozeman

As I walked through the door, I felt a comforting ease and immediate relaxation as the fragrance of herbs tingled my nose. Organic teas lined the shelves along with incenses, bath remedies, and hundreds of other healing concoctions. Hill Botanical is the greatest place in Bozeman if you are looking for natural solutions. Kris Hill started Hill Botanical in 2006 after she graduated from South Western School of Botanical Medicine in Arizona. Kris said she always wanted to do this line of work. “The people of Bozeman needed a place that they could buy organic, natural products. I saw a nitch and filled it,” Kris stated. In June of 2010 it was time to expand, so she moved from the corner of Olive and Bozeman to her current location on East Mendenhall. Here she has more exposure, a parking lot, and even a handicap ramp. Carrying over 14 different tea blends, topical body care, bath blends, essential oils, and guidance, Hill Botanical has something for everyone. Is your throat sore from all the smokey air? A mixture of mint, Osha root, and other natural herbs blended into a tea will help relieve your throat. For students, try Frank’s Everyday Tea. A mixture of Siberian Gynsing, marshmallow root, rosehips, and many others will grant you focus, organization, and clarity in your crazy schedule. Kris also has 250 bulk herbs. Her products are from all over the world, but whenever possible she sources local growers. When Kris purchases products out of the United States, she does her research and makes sure that it is fair trade. Many of her herbs are wild crafted, meaning that people go out into the forest to where the herbs grow and harvest them naturally.

Bundled up in a basket was a light green plant wrapped in colored cotton thread that smelled ever so good. A member of the plant group Artemisia, Triendata (Sage) is used to “smudge” the air. Smudging is an ancient tradition that creates a cleansing smoke bath by burning the plants. Sage cut and bundled in a bunch about five inches long was originally gathered by the Kumeyaay Indians to bless and protect.

In addition to offering a wide range of natural healing products, Kris also sees clients. She takes the time to find out what they are struggling with, and supports their needs with herbal healing. For women or men having trouble with their prostate or uterus, Kris may recommend the Women’s Tea. Pain in The- is a natural salve for sprains, bruises, and contusions that she invented, along with her muscle and headache lineament. At Hill Botanical, you will find hundreds of beautifully crafted essential oils. Kris takes the time to make sure all the oils are organic, pure, ethically harvested, and most importantly fair trade.

So for all of your needs, choose to go natural. Head on down to Hill Botanical at 438 East Mendenhall Street in Bozeman or visit them on the web at www.hillbotanical.com.

Sell It!

There were quite a few people who enjoyed the last article that I posted from Cornell University's Small Farm Quarterly journal. I wrote this one a while back, but the information is very relevant to this weeks content. Here is the direct link to my article: http://smallfarms.cornell.edu/2013/10/07/sell-it/       

A few of the journal's readers emailed me right after this was published asking how they could improve the sales of their farm's small business. It was a wonderful way to share some of the techniques I've gathered over the years of being in local marketing. Enjoy!

Sell It!

By: Miriah Reynolds

Farmers Markets compromise almost every Saturday of the year for our family at The Reynolds Barn. Friday night before the market consists of usual milking chores and farm duties, plus goat milk soap and cheese making, and checking off the list for the morning. Once the trucks are loaded and the sun rises Saturday morning, we divide and conquer. On a typical market morning we attend two to three markets, and occasionally another in the afternoon. How do we do it? Here are a few tips to make your farmers markets successful.

The Reynolds Barn Goat Milk Soap. Photo by Melody Reynolds

Conversations with Customers
Selling a product takes more than just sitting on a cooler behind the table and waiting for customers to take interest. Stand up and greet everyone. I have learned to always ask an opened ended question that requires a response from the customer. An example would be: “Good Morning! Would you like to sample some fresh goat cheese?” The customer will either come up to the table and try some, simply say no, or give an excuse of how they don’t like goat cheese. As the farmer’s daughter, I don’t take no for an answer. Most of my regular customers thank me every week for convincing them a year ago to sample the cheese. So when customers respond with no, I always ask them why. (The reason I most often hear is because they do not care for stinky goat cheese.) Here is where describing your product and the process used to make it will win over your customers. Give full explanations and a guarantee that they will like it. And nine times out of ten they will!

Go the Extra Mile
The next step in making farmers markets successful is to stand out from other vendors. At the markets I attend the most popular tent color is white, so I got a red tent. Make signs simple and legible with text big enough to get the customer’s attention easily. Find ways to give your customers a visual connection to where your products came from. A chalkboard adorned with cutout goats displays my product pricings. Every outdoor summer market I bring along a couple baby goats. This draws in the children, which in turn reels in their parents. While the kids are occupied with the goats, parents purchase more products. If you can, demonstrate some of your daily work. Occasionally I will hold goat milking demonstrations to enlighten customers as to what life is like on the farm. This always brings in a large crowd of new customers.

Miriah and Melody Reynolds at a farmer’s market. Photo by Don Reynolds

Remember, almost all the customers coming to the farmers market want to support their local farmers and buy wholesome products. Be there for your customers and be prepared to sell out!

The Perfect Package

So this past Spring I wrote an article for Cornell University's Small Farm Quarterly. The focus of the journal is to help farmers with their businesses and offer advice. I've been writing for publications for years, but this topic of "Perfecting the Package" was a tough one to write. It was published not to long ago, so I thought I would share it. Please enjoy!! Here is the link to Cornell's website if your interested in more ideas!  http://smallfarms.cornell.edu/2015/04/06/perfecting-the-package/

PERFECTING THE PACKAGE: THE IMPORTANCE OF LABELING FARM PRODUCTS

by Miriah Reynolds

Often it’s the label that sells a product the first time; it’s the product that sells it the second. Font, color,
and specific words might be enough to strike the customer’s attention. Whether its cheese, soap, eggs, milk, or just handing out a business card, labeling plays an important role in small farm success. With my experience marketing our farm’s goat milk products and years of working in retail, I would like to share some techniques to creating the perfect packaging.

The cinnamon goat milk soap is one of the bestselling soaps. It is very soothing to irritated skin and moisturizing.

On our dairy goat farm in Rhode Island, our family makes delicious goat milk cheeses, beautiful soaps, and other beauty products. Each product is made with high quality ingredients and lots of love. We put so much effort into each piece that customers line up at farmers markets to purchase the goodness. For years we struggled with packaging. Often wondering if the labels were giving our product the justice it deserved. Primarily, up until that point, we sold our products by sampling.

Our cheese labels consisted of handwritten sharpie on the plastic lids. When my brothers and I were little, there was always spelling errors that needed to be relabeled, costing money and time. As the years went by and the business grew, hand writing hundreds of containers of cheese became tedious and looked sloppy. It was time for an upgrade, so we could venture into the retail corporate world we later realized we did not want to be in.

The hardest part in labeling a product is deciding who the customer base is going to be. Do the products target a specific group of people? Do most of the customers have preferences in the products and food that they purchase? Knowing the target market is very important. Add appropriate labels such as organic, GMO free, natural, local, homemade, or locally grown are important features. (Be sure to label in accordance with state laws) Most importantly make sure the farm name is clear and easily identifiable.

The honey cranberry goat cheese has a sweet taste and smooth texture. It tastes great on bagels or sliced apples. The label has our first Saanen goat named Angel.

Sometimes people do not remember a name, but look for a certain logo. For us, it is our bright white Saanen goat that sits front and center on our cheese label. The farm logo should be consistent in color throughout all the labels, that way customers can recognize it easily. Try and make labels appear professional but not commercial. Nothing fancy but not boring. “A photo says a thousand words” is true here. The bright white goat in the center of our label shows the animals are clean, her alertness shows good health and her caring eyes prove she is loved. On a local level, which that is our goal to keep food local, our customers know her name from the articles written and farmer market meet and greet our goat days.

To keep costs down it’s wise to use standard sizes for jars, labels, boxes, or other packaging. That way labels can be printed on a home printer if necessary. Packaging should offer advertising as well as protection from handling. Retail stores and shipping products is simpler if the packaging allows stacking. When labeling out goat milk soap we have gone through dozens of changes. We have our goat milk products in retail stores as well as selling them at the farmers markets. Keep in mind that the packaging should enhance the product and ‘show off’ its farm fresh benefits. Limit the amount of attachments such as ribbon or anything hanging from the product as it will be torn off during transportation.

Creating the perfect packaging and labels for local farm products is actually exciting when you accomplish it. Incorporate the love and dedication that your products have into the packaging and the results will be amazing. Wrap it up and sell it!

Marketing- Sometimes you have to get dirty!

Bitterwind Ranch truck getting muddy! Photo copyright by Miriah Reynolds

Alright.... not the kind of dirty your thinking of! I'm talking about breaking out the pens and drawing out a plan! Most of this past week revolved around coming up with a marketing plan and trying to implement it. Since starting this class, I have had to take a step back and re-think my business ideas. The 4 Ps made me realize just how much more I need to plan for making my business profitable. Promotion is the main point that I need to re-evaluate. Here are some goals and ideas to start marketing and promoting my products:

• Give away some samples. Many people don't want to pay for a product they are unsure of, maybe by giving away some samples would attract customers.
• Use more social media. I'm trying to use my company name more, but using social media would help spike awareness.
• Focus on a few products. I have so many different product varieties, I need to try and advertise the best sellers- then maybe those customers will try the other varieties! 

Marketing & Seeds

Over the past couple weeks I have spent the days out in crop fields and my garden. It occurred to me while I was pulling weeds out of a winter wheat field that marketing and seeds have similarities,

Starting Small: 
Even the smallest marketing ideas ~ a logo for example ~ may have a huge impact on the success of a business. Seeds start out really tiny and blossom under the right conditions. It may take a while for customers to catch on to the logo, name, or product. So start local and then expand.

Photo: Zeus Hop at Bitterwind Ranch , Belgrade MT

Take Time: 
Every seed is different. Some take a longer time to germinate than others. I have some Hop rhizomes that literally grow 3" over night. While the lettuce seeds take a few weeks before they germinate. Each marketing idea may have different effort and technique requirements.

Sunshine: 
 This analogy may be a stretch, but I'll give it a shot. Sunshine is a bit like optimism. Every idea or new product may need a little optimism in order for it to be successful.

The Front Counter

I'm standing at the front counter of my old job. The phones are ringing off the hook, the radio are asking for price checks, and I've got a line of people waiting to be helped. After hours of the same nonsense, my frustration melts into humor- as I start wondering where the heck are my co-workers!! To any customer walking in the store, it must look as though I'm terrible at my job, that I can not handle any difficult situations, when truth be told, I just need another cashier's help. Despite the madness I still look up from the register to welcome each customer, also asking if they need help finding anything. It seems as though their judgment of my incompetency is eliminated and they become more patient. 

This is the face of customer service. Sometimes it only takes a few words "have a great day" or "thanks for your business" to change a customers opinion. 

In any business there is typically a front counter person. The one who becomes the 'face' of a company. They are the first ones to greet a customer (first impression) and the last one to provide service. For several years I was this person........ its not fun! Sometimes the employee is very dedicated to their job and has outstanding product knowledge. Other times, not so much. Making customers happy and feel appreciated is probably the most important aspect to having a profitable business. A happy customer tells one friend about their experience, an unhappy customer tells 5 of their friends.