It Really Can Be Simple

I’ve been talking and writing about a less formal, more organic, more comfortable approach to marketing for a couple of years now. I’ve given examples right here of ways to see marketing so you can approach it naturally, with authenticity and ease. But I don’t think I really “got it” until I saw that vision being lived out. The roasted marshmallows might have helped.

I wrote about my trip to Mainstay Farm in my weekly blog, Twisting Road Travel Log. I was one of the parent volunteers who drove the children and helped supervise the field trip to the farm.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when we were headed there because the information I had was limited. I knew it was a farm, but had only heard a couple of guesses it might be a Christmas tree farm. Turned out it was a tree farm, but also a pumpkin farm and apiary and recreation area. When we arrived I still didn’t know if it would be primarily an educational field trip, an activity field trip, or an entertainment field trip. The answer was “yes.”

Since I didn’t know what to expect, I was looking around and figuring out the place shortly after we arrived. As we headed to a small staging area, one of several groups being introduced to the farm before heading off with tour guides in different directions, I got it. I understood their basic business model. Mainstay Farm raises mostly seasonal items, so they plan different holiday themed activities to bring people out.

That means families don’t just drive out to get a pumpkin. They drive out to let the kids go through mazes and try pumpkin ice cream and have their faces painted. Families don’t just come to pick a Christmas tree. They come to let their kids play on the hay piles and in the tree forts, and then be escorted to the fields where they can choose their tree, cut it down, and bring it to the front to be readied for the drive home.

They offer field trips to focus on educating children and let them experience agricultural life. They offer family outdoor movie nights and places to host group activities like picnics. The welcome sign on the side of the hay barn says, “The Fun Starts When You Get Here.”

Fun is a mission at Mainstay Farm. That’s probably why it was very easy for me to see many ways to tell the story of the farm to people and invite them to come enjoy it. It wouldn’t involve hard selling, or a long sales letter, or a list of compelling reasons. It would just involve telling people about the fun and inviting them to participate. Certainly an integrated plan would be helpful, such as sending home a coupon for a free hot chocolate with each child who came on a field trip, or offering a family package to parents on field trips who would return as tree shoppers. But the main plan would be simple – tell the story.

Ideas were whirling around, and it was easy for me to see ways to turn first-time visitors into return guests, and then into annual guests and even seasonal guests. It would be easy to present the story, because it was both interesting and enjoyable. It would be easy to create opportunities for people to become repeat customers because they offer a balance of consistent predictability as well as seasonal change. A trip to the farm is a getaway from city or suburban life in any season. It offers relaxation and sparks playfulness. Going out to get a pumpkin, or a Christmas tree, or to enjoy a spring picnic with games just makes it better.

The plans for keeping customers coming out were popping like corn in my amazed mind. No part of the message or the delivery was forced or fake. Every bit of it was authentic, straightforward, and very real. Before that, I strongly believed that an overall marketing plan could be easy, natural, and powerful at the same time. I really did. But I had never had such a strong example.

That’s when I finally “got it.” That’s when I realized that if a small business owner focuses on the client’s experience while developing the business model, it’s easy to tell people about the business. And sometimes it can be downright fun.

The key is loving what you do, and loving to share it with other people. If you have those two components, you won’t feel like you’re marketing. You’ll just be inviting people to join you. If you don’t love what you do or don’t love sharing it with other people, your efforts to get people to buy are going to feel forced, artificial, and pushy – in other words, a lot like selling.

This summarizes the “Anything But Marketing!” approach: Love what you do and invite other people to experience it with you.

Find Your Mission – Write Your Story – Tell The World

Steve Coxsey