Need help marketing!

[Fordfunnyfarm]

I am raising both meat chickens and turkeys for thanksgiving. I have the proper permits and place to butcher them myself but I’m wondering how I can best market this and get my name out there any suggestions would be helpful also when and how should I market Thanksgiving turkeys is it too early just trying to decide as I have to buy my chicks now and don’t wanna buy too many.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I would do an add-on Craigslist and Facebook (not sure if that ad isallowed on FB though) and a flyer at the feedstore. They usually have bulletin boards you can post things too

 

[Fordfunnyfarm]

I would do an add-on Craigslist and Facebook (not sure if that ad isallowed on FB though) and a flyer at the feedstore. They usually have bulletin boards you can post things too

Do you think it’s too soon to start marketing them?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Do you think it’s too soon to start marketing them?

I would personally wait until maybe september? Can't imagine many people buy their thanksgiving meal that far ahead of time. Plus then your ad is more recent and not totally buried under 9 months of other ads

 

[iwltfum]

Agreed, wait until no sooner than 8 weeks before thanksgiving or people will forget about it. Also, consider asking for a deposit for thanksgiving turkeys ($10-20 per bird) so you have committed buyers that have some skin in the game and will actually come and pick their bird up rather than letting a family member or friend convince them that a store bought turkey for .69c a pound is no different than buying locally raised.

So we raise broilers all summer and have weekly pick up days on our farm to pick them up (and now we also have weekly delivery days thanks to dang corvid). We do "advertise" the fact that we raise turkeys for thanksgiving pretty much all year, but we will not take commitments for them or spend any time officially advertising specifically for thanksgiving turkeys until mid-late September. I don't ask for a deposit personally because we have never had a problem with no-shows. But I also know where every single person lives that buys turkeys from me because I live in a very small town and only market to people that live near me. I have heard of farms in more dense locations or near cities that have had lots of problems with people not showing up on the pick up day.

Are you also raising the meat birds to sell for thanksgiving or for the whole season?

 

[Fordfunnyfarm]

Agreed, wait until no sooner than 8 weeks before thanksgiving or people will forget about it. Also, consider asking for a deposit for thanksgiving turkeys ($10-20 per bird) so you have committed buyers that have some skin in the game and will actually come and pick their bird up rather than letting a family member or friend convince them that a store bought turkey for .69c a pound is no different than buying locally raised.

So we raise broilers all summer and have weekly pick up days on our farm to pick them up (and now we also have weekly delivery days thanks to dang corvid). We do "advertise" the fact that we raise turkeys for thanksgiving pretty much all year, but we will not take commitments for them until mid-late September. I don't ask for a deposit personally because we have never had a problem with no-shows. But I also know where every single person lives that buys turkeys from me because I live in a very small town and only market to people that live near me. I have heard of farms in more dense locations or near cities that have had lots of problems with people not showing up on the pick up day.

Are you also raising the meat birds to sell for thanksgiving or for the whole season?

 

[Fordfunnyfarm]

I’m just not sure how many birds I could actually sell. Do I start with 50?? I’m just not sure about my local market. I have three big towns near me where I could deliver. I’d have to make my decision by June on how many I plan to sell as this year I’m having to buy poults. And yes chicken year round. What type of broilers are you selling?

 

[B-Goock]

Any local farmers markets?
Maybe spend a couple times there with a small display of what you do. Pics of your facilities. And/or become a member of a "buy local " program.

 

[iwltfum]

Here's a hidden gem of advice that I wish someone had told me....

Ground turkey sells WAY better than whole thanksgiving turkeys. We are thinking about doing a summer run of 40 turkeys just for ground because we can sell the meat for 10+ dollars per pound and people buy it all year.

It's completely backwards, but many customers will not hesitate to spend $40 every month on ground turkey, but will scoff at a 15 pound turkey that costs $60-70 and will feed 15 people - for a meal that is meant to be a celebration feast!

Fact is that the customer buying ground meat every week is a $2000+/year customer and they hand you that money every week with a smile and thank you for growing their food for them. On the other hand, the thanksgiving turkey customer is a hard sell. Why?
1)They have been imprinted with loss-leader style pricing that bottoms out turkey prices across the country every November.
2) They are already thinking about how much thanksgiving and christmas is going to cost and mentally preparing to start budgeting their spending.
They are generally, at most, a $100 dollar/year customer. People can never get that "incredibly expensive" turkey out of their mind for some reason. And, as a result of that single purchase, they will forever see your products as high priced luxury items that they can only afford occasionally even if they are priced at a comparable market price.

So that's my 2 cents on raising turkeys for profit. A couple of thanksgiving birds will get you a few consistent customers, but I wouldn't try to make thanksgiving marketing a major part of your poultry business.

 

[iwltfum]

I’m just not sure how many birds I could actually sell. Do I start with 50?? I’m just not sure about my local market. I have three big towns near me where I could deliver. I’d have to make my decision by June on how many I plan to sell as this year I’m having to buy poults. And yes chicken year round. What type of broilers are you selling?

I'm doing freedom rangers. We try to sell out of our inventory every year asap so we don't have to have lots of freezers plugged in and so we don't have to go to a farmers market every week in the winter. Some say it's better to have weekly customers year round, but we like our winters peaceful and we run a small dairy goat heard which keeps us very busy in the winter and spring. And we've found that customers have figured out our seasonal schedule and know when and where to find us when we start up again in the spring. Just some thing to think about. Slangin chickens every week year round can be grueling.

Hard to say where to start. Small - obviously - but small is relative to how big you plan on scaling. I would say start with a number that you are comfortable with and go from there. Your customer base will grow slowly at first.