How to sell your produce
As a beginner you are able to enjoy a local 'monopoply'. This is because when you have a few thousand eggs and a couple of boxes of fruit and veggies a day as total production and no immediate egg -/ vegetable farmers in the area, your competition becomes the retail shops who charge high prices. You can out price them fast, if you do your business right. You sell your goods directly, under the going retail price. You advertise via word of mouth : family, friends, via social media, the local radio station, the local weekly newspaper.
The local bakery should be visited and given a nice price for their daily needs, hotels, guesthouses, the local hospital, restaurants, Cafee's, Spaza shops will all be more then happy to buy from you if it's cheaper and fresher then at the supermarket. Open up a farm shop as well where you can sell at a discount to the community and via street vendors.
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Start your marketing during the set up phase already, tell all these potential clients of your expected first production date, of which veggies you are going to produce and how - and keep them informed of the progress all the time. Make a FB page, Instagram account and a Twitter account.
Put on pictures of the progress during start up. Marketing your eggs, fruit and vegetables involves planning.
Find a market before planning your crop and eggs. In other words, it’s not a case of growing the vegetables and getting your eggs and then finding where to sell them.
Don't underestimate the power of branding. Create your own owesome name, logo and slogan for your farm!
A brand name builds trust through recognition.
Give tours through your vegetable production set ups, but always keep biosecurity measures high. This will ensure trust in the health of your products, builds interest, confidence and brand awareness.
When you got through the first years, you want to grow. Selling further away and engaging with the big retailers is an option. Your price per unit goes down with bigger production so you have more money to spend on marketing, transport and can give bigger rebates. Another strategy is to diversify, find new clients in niche markets.
Animal welfare and health are big issues, consumers are also more quality conscious and some will be prepared to pay a premium for health benefits and peace of mind.
