Onliness, where your business needs to be
We live in interesting times. Consumers have fewer dollars in their pockets and are more selective where they spend them. Plus, farms, like other businesses, are seeing the cost of doing business become more expensive.
What happens now?
As in the past, most businesses in challenging times will reduce their marketing and pull up the hatches to try and weather the storm. These businesses will often fail in economic climates such as now. Other businesses will develop new strategies with the aim of growing their business and will be ready when the crisis finishes.
How you manage your agritourism business depends on where you see yourself in the evolution of your business.
Many of us started with a market stall on the side of the road selling our produce. We were “produce” sellers. Some farms stayed like that, while other farms evolved to the next level and became retailers or agritourism operators. We learned about the importance of signage, customer flow and merchandising, and our average sale and customer count went up.
Having proven the formula to be right, some of these farms evolved into experience retailers who provided a retail or agritourism experience for our consumers. Many businesses plateau at this stage.
The leaders developed again and became “Onliness” operators in their marketplace. They became the place to visit. Examples in our industry include Tully’s Farm in the UK and Willowtree Farm Market in Ontario.
In a challenging world, many agritourism operators will find it difficult because of the competition, while the “Onliness” operators will develop their market niche and often grow their business because they are the venue of choice in their catchment area. They are “Unique” in the consumer's mind and not seen as a “me too” operator.
Consumers want to escape the urban environment and have time in the country.
They want to venture to somewhere that is memorable and get the strategy right; they will help with your marketing.
Now is the time to develop your business by identifying what makes you unique and developing a business and marketing plan to grow the business.
The Agritourism Training Academy is a comprehensive online training program for Agritourism operators. The Academy is operated by John Stanley and his daughter, Lara. To learn more, visit www.agritourismtrainingacademy.com
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