Go-To-Market Best Practices From a Freight Farmer
Vertical farming is on the rise as businesses like Freight Farms empower individuals to start farming – from anywhere! Earlier this year, Barn2Door partnered with Freight Farms to provide educational business best practices to those beginning their Farm businesses.
In late 2021, Blake Bennett received his Freight Farm in North Carolina and took his community by storm – using hydroponic systems to grow a mixture of microgreens, garnishes, and edible flowers for customers and local restaurants. We recently sat down with Blake Bennett, the owner, and operator of B3 Roots, on the Direct Farm Podcast to learn more about his go-to-market practices with starting his freight farming business.
Listen to the full episode: From Shipping Container to Kitchen with B3 Roots.
From the episode, we’re highlighting three go-to-market practices Blake used to start his Farm business from the ground up:
#1: Streamline Operations Based on Your Harvest Schedule
Blake knew the best way to align his fulfillment schedule was to sell his bounty based on growing times and harvest schedule. As microgreens have short maturing rates and a highly perishable nature, it was simple for Blake to set fulfillment schedules around when he would harvest products. He does this with a Delivery program.
Delivery is an expected convenience for many buyers. While 70% of Americans prefer ordering online because of the ease of delivery, it’s essential that Farmers offer the same convenience to their buyers. With this in mind, Blake decided it was crucial to offer a home delivery service:
“Delivery lets me manage my schedule. I've worked in garden centers before, and if you have people stopping by to pick up things, it can interrupt your schedule. Doing deliveries makes it easy to arrange fulfillments because I harvest everything on delivery day. It takes less than six hours from the time I harvest to orders appearing on doorsteps.”
With predictable growth rates and planning in advance, Blake’s Delivery system makes it easy to streamline the order management and fulfillment process. He improves the efficiency of the picking and packing process, reduces assembly costs, and simplifies delivery day – knowing exactly which products are ready to go out the door. As a result, Blake’s customers are delighted with direct home delivery, and Blake has a simple and manageable process to harvest products and get them into customers’ hands.
#2: Build Demand on Social Media before Opening Day
Social media is a great platform to spread awareness about your Farm, especially when your business is just getting started. With this in mind, Blake knew social media was a cost-effective tool to create brand awareness and build a customer base, even before he had products to sell!
“Before I got the freight, I wanted to create buzz, get our name out there, and tell people to keep an eye out for what’s coming. I wanted everyone to know about B3 Farms before we had products for sale. That way, it’d be easier to hit the ground running once our Farm had something to sell. Today, I showcase my products on social media, then once someone tastes the product, it comes full circle. Seeing is believing, but tasting is more than a picture. When your Farm products look great, it helps to encourage customers to purchase because they want to know what it tastes like.”
By leveraging social media to create buzz about upcoming products, customers jumped on the opportunity to buy from B3 Roots. Blake has proven that a simple and effective social media strategy has the power to generate sales and build a loyal network of customers.
Read: 3 Time-Saving Social Media Tactics To Boost Farm Sales
Watch: How Farmers Can Build a Winning Social Media Strategy
#3: Diversify Your Buyer Types to Reach a Wider Audience
Building multiple sides of a business is important to diversify your income as a Farmer. Since B3 Roots grows microgreens, Blake seized the opportunity to build the restaurant side of his business as chefs typically source greens, garnishes, and edible flowers from Farmers:
“To get into the market, you must start marketing your business early. Getting into restaurants has been difficult, but that’s a hurdle I’ll overcome. Our growth with restaurants has been fantastic this year, and I’m sure my products will stick.”
Identifying where there’s demand for your products is the beginning of expanding your business to serve different buyers. As Blake continues to serve his loyal customers, he also continues to search for new opportunities to build his wholesale side, recognizing the sales and volume opportunity it holds.
Read: 3 Ways to Streamline your Microgreen Business (And Scale Operations)
Listen: Balancing Retail & Wholesale Markets with Joe from Dirty Girl Produce
With these go-to-market strategies, B3 Roots has rapidly expanded its business and still is looking to solidify its stake in the market. By honing their processes, experimenting with their product mix, and expanding into restaurants, B3 Roots is hitting the market on the right foot.
Barn2Door provides an all-in-one solution to grow and manage your Farm business. If you’re curious to learn why successful Farms run on Barn2Door, watch this 5-minute video.