How to Define Your Customer for Your Farm or Ranch Business

In this article, we’re going to cover:

• Why picking a customer is so important
• Some example customer avatars
• Why you can’t appeal to every one of those avatars
• How to choose a customer
• How to define that customer
• And what marketing should really be about for you as a small business

But first, download the worksheet below that summarizes this article and gives you some questions that will help you define your customer.

Why you have to pick a customer

Don’t jump the gun and start marketing your farm or ranch products right away without a clear idea of who your customer is. If you don’t know your customer, your marketing is going to come out muddled. If you try to appeal to everyone, in the end you’ll appeal to no one because your marketing is too broad.

Let’s look at why trying to appeal to multiple customer types is so hard. Here are a couple example customers who might be interested in buying from a small producer:

Some example customer avatars…

The Special Dieter (Paleo, Keto, Carnivore etc).

This customer probably cares most that they get a product with certain wellness attributes (grass fed, antibiotic free, etc). These people are also predominately younger, or if they’re not young they at least feel young (for a good idea of what I mean by this, just check out the most popular special diet bloggers and their followers).

There is also an important distinction among the special dieters. Some of them are on the diet to lose weight or because they are passionate about fitness and personal health and believe this is the best option for them. Weight loss and/or fitness & health are their #1 concerns. Alternatively, some “special dieters” are on the diet because of autoimmune diseases or other health issues, and WELLNESS (a slightly different thing than health) is their #1 concern. Those two subgroups are going to have different “pain points” (more on that later) that you have to appeal to.

A Mom with Kids

Now, like the special diet people, the mom probably cares most about certain health attributes (grass fed, antibiotic free, whatever), BUT she cares about it for different reasons. She wants the health attributes not to heal a disease or to lose weight, but to feed her kids healthy foods. She’s also read the mommy blogs that warn about GMOs, herbicides, what have you, and she might’ve done enough research to make her uneasy about where she gets her food. She wants to be reassured that she’s getting products from a source she can trust.

A Wealthy Steak Connoisseur

They’re looking for only the best flavor, marbling, and presentation. Maybe they want to have a barbecue with their friends, and they want a steak (and a story behind it) that will wow. They might care about other attributes, but those are all secondary to quality.

The Retiree Who Wants to Eat Well

Some of these folks, like the special dieters, might have some health challenges. Maybe their doctor told them to eat grass fed. They also want quality and flavor. Some of them really care about the environment and want to know that you do too. Some of them are also not computer savvy; they want to be able to call you on the phone or they want to be reassured that ordering is going to be really easy for them.

The Enlightened Millennials

These people care about the environment and sustainability and social justice, and they want to know that you do too. They are also probably outdoorsy and adventurous, or at least see themselves that way. They are sometimes among the special dieters as well (they are on the diet for fitness and “optimum performance” reasons).

Be aware that it is hard to create a market in this group…most of them really care about the environment and quality products, but they don’t have the money to regularly buy more expensive, sustainably-raised products. Additionally, most of them are not settled. They move around, travel, try different things…all this means that they aren’t a consistent buyer who is going to order from you every single month. We have a few millennial customers who order from us sporadically, but they aren’t dedicated customers.

Keep in mind that the above demographic groups are examples. They certainly aren’t the only demographics out there that might be interested in your product. Additionally, those groups I just listed are very broad groups. There are subgroups within each that you can narrow your focus on.

So why not just market to all of these people?

Because different marketing and branding is going to appeal to different demographics.

Think about the mom versus the special dieter above. Sure, they might both care about certain health attributes (eg., grass fed) and there is actually crossover between these groups. But the mom is going to be most drawn to marketing that shows your family working around the farm, shows that you have kids too and identify with her, and offers her additional materials such as recipe cards that make cooking easier and faster for her. To see what this demographic is drawn to, just check out popular bloggers in this niche. The Elliot Home, Wellness Mama, Real Mom Nutrition are good places to start.

The special dieter may not care as much about the “family” aspect. Instead they want to hear more about fitness or health or weight loss, or the fat levels in your beef (many of these dieters actually want MORE fat, not less). Again, just check out the most popular special diet bloggers (Paul Saladino, The Paleo Mom, Stupid Easy Paleo, Shawn Baker, Dave Asprey, Grass Fed Girl), to see what appeals to this demographic. But remember, though, that there is a lot of variation among the “special dieter” demographic because they all have different reasons for being on the diet. Unlike the mom, many of these buyers don’t really care whether or not you’re a “family farm,” (they might think it’s nice in an Andy Griffith sort of way, but they don’t care), whereas to the mom buyer this is one of the most important attributes.

Again, there is crossover between these groups (there are moms who are also part of the special dieter group and vice versa). But in general, those groups are attracted to different marketing and branding. It’s very hard to speak to both of them at once, and if you tried to appeal to both of these groups, you won’t really end up appealing to either.

So how do you choose your customer?

Well, that’s pretty easy. Pick the customer you understand the best, then offer them the product they most want.

You don’t have to pick from the groups I listed above (in fact, you shouldn’t…you should create a unique customer avatar that you understand). But pick a person you know how to speak to, whose pain points you understand, and represents a fairly large potential customer base.

So let’s talk about pain points.

Pain points are the underlying fears and worries or the concerns that your customer might have.

For example, the mom. She’s busy. She’s stressed out. She probably sees all the other perfect moms on social media, and maybe has an underlying fear that she is a bad mom in comparison and isn’t doing right by her kids. Maybe she feels bad when she forgets about dinner and ends up slapping together some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, because now her kids aren’t getting the nutrients they need. (Seriously moms, cut yourselves some slack, you’re doing a great job).

Marketing comes down to showing a customer how you’re going to relieve their pain.

So let’s look at how you can do that for the busy mom…and in an authentic way (if you can’t actually deliver on your promise to relieve their pain, then don’t tell them you can).

Pain Point	How You Fix It
Wants to feed her kids the best food, but doesn’t have time to research a farmer in-depth.	Tell her your practices up front and make it easy for her to find more information. Reassure her concerns about health.
Wants to feel good about her buying decisions, that she’s making a difference in the world.	Show her who she’s supporting and how voting with her dollars directly benefits the world (Do you improve the environment? Do you use humane animal practices? Do you support ____ with your farm?) Show her how her purchase makes a difference.
Busy and stressed out. No time to cook complicated recipes. Maybe doesn’t know what to do with certain cuts of meat, and definitely doesn’t want to think about it.	Provide her with recipes or other cooking resources. We, for example, have a beef recipe blog and also put “meat cooking” guides in our boxes.
Wants to buy from a family/small producer that she can identify with	That one’s easy. Show her who you are and be personal.
Wants the buying process to be easy and fast.	Provide a “family box” that she can just grab and go, or even a subscription. Streamline your checkout process. Make it easy to navigate your store.

How to define your customer

Now get out a notebook and pen and spend some time brainstorming. Here are the questions you need to answer before you can start marketing your farm or ranch:

• Who is your ideal customer?
  • Would they want your product?
  • Can they afford your product?
• What are their pain points?
• What attributes that you offer would they care about the most? (Is it that they want to buy from a family? Is it that they want certain health qualities like grass fed or hormone free? Is it regenerative or sustainable practices? Whatever it is, those most important things should be front and center on your website).
• How can you solve their problems?

Once you know the answers to those questions, you can start branding and marketing your product. Always keep this customer and their needs in mind as you’re building your website, creating your social media, or designing product offerings.

In the next article in this series, we’ll go into branding, the next step in building your marketing strategy. Once you have established your customer and brand as a foundation, then you can finally move into actively marketing your products.

What your purpose in marketing should be…

I feel like marketing has a bad reputation. People feel that marketing is manipulative and dishonest, and it often is. That’s why people are actually looking to buy from you as a small producer. They’re fed up with being marketed at by big food and just want something real. So don’t become part of the problem by lying to your customer.

The goal here is to know your customer so you can better help them, not so you can manipulate them. If you know your customer, you can communicate with them genuinely in a way that makes sense to them. So just, please, don’t try and mimic big brands and put something impersonal out there, and don’t make things up just because it’s what your customer wants to hear. Be as authentic and open with your customers as you can. The feeling that you’re honest with them is ultimately what is going to convince them to trust you and to buy from you. And, as we’ve experienced with some of the customers who have been buying from Alderspring for over 10 years, they’ll remain loyal to you because they appreciate your integrity.

Here’s one review from one of those long-term customers. This isn’t here as a shameless self-promotional plug for Alderspring or something like that, but rather to represent the power of transparency and authenticity with your customers:

“I have been buying from Alderspring for about 10 years now. It started due to health concerns and the hormones in most beef in grocery stores. But it is more than that, as I appreciate beef that is raised ethically, and where they can roam free and eat the grasses that they were born to eat…I have not met them personally, but I feel you can tell volumes about somebody by the way the way they run their business, so I have no doubts about what they represent. Oh, and the added bonus? Once you eat their beef, others will taste strange. It is truly “clean” and terrific tasting. Thank you, Glenn, Caryl, and family- we consider you like our own extended family.”

Google review from a long-term customer

Long story short, if you show your customer who you are and that you stand for something that matters to them, they will want to stand with you.