My Digital Farmer Podcast

Imagine asking the first runner in a relay race to carry the baton from the starting line all the way to the finish. No winning team would do that.

Yet many farm businesses unknowingly expect one offer to do exactly that.

In this episode, I introduce a simple framework that completely changed the way I think about marketing: The Offer Portfolio. Instead of relying on one offer to attract new customers, create first-time buyers, build loyalty, increase order value, and generate referrals, you'll discover the 7 essential offers every farm business should consider -- and the unique role each one plays.

Just like a relay team, every offer has one job: run its leg of the race, then pass the baton to the next.

• Why every offer should have one clear job.
• The 7 essential offers every farm business needs.
• How each offer pulls a different business growth lever.
• How to identify the missing "runner" that's holding your business back.

By the end of this episode, you'll stop asking, "What should I sell next?"

…and start asking, "Which runner is missing from my relay team?"

What email provider do I use for my email marketing? I recommend Kit.com -- it is easy to use, powerful, and getting better every year. It also integrates with most e-commerce providers and tools. Use my affiliate link!

Local Line is my farm's preferred e-commerce platform for farmers. Are you looking for a new solution for your farm? I can't recommend it enough. Easy-to-use inventory management, great customer service, continuous improvement, and a culture dedicated to equipping farmers with marketing expertise. Local Line is offering a free premium feature for free for one year on top of your paid subscription. Claim your discount by signing up for a Local Line account today and using the coupon code: MDF2026. Head to my special affiliate link to get started: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/localline

Farm Marketing School is my step-by-step membership program for direct-to-consumer farmers who are ready to treat marketing like a system, not a guessing game. Inside, you'll get plug-and-play projects, templates, monthly coaching, and a repeatable framework to help you grow your email list, run stronger promotions, and increase sales (whether you're a vegetable, meat, CSA, flower, dairy, microgreen, or value-added farm). Your investment is only $69/month. Over 15 marketing projects to choose from. Learn more and enroll at: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/fms

Love the My Digital Farmer Podcast? Help me reach more farmer earbuds!

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. ⭐️ Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts, because it helps other farmers find the show. Share this episode with a fellow farmer or small business owner. Or forward my weekly email about the show to a farmer! (Get on that email list here to get more marketing tips: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/subscribe

Have you ever found yourself putting off the very marketing task that could help your farm grow?

Writing the email. Launching the promotion. Recording the video. Raising your prices. Building the sales page.

You know it needs to get done... but every time you think about it, you feel that heavy sense of dread.

In this episode, I share a personal discovery that is challenging the the way I think about procrastination, marketing, and business growth. After catching myself avoiding two important projects this month, I realized something surprising:

I wasn't avoiding the work. I was avoiding the story I was telling myself about the work.

In this episode, we'll explore why your brain creates dread in the first place, why we often mistake uncertainty for difficulty, and why many farmers wrongly conclude they're "bad at marketing" when they're really just avoiding uncomfortable marketing tasks.

Most importantly, I'll show you how to reinterpret dread -- not as a stop sign, but as a possible indicator that you're standing at the edge of growth.

If you've been procrastinating on marketing, struggling to take action, or feeling stuck in your farm business, this episode will give you a completely new way to think about what's really holding you back.

What email provider do I use? I recommend Kit.com -- it is easy to use, powerful, and getting better every year. It also integrates with most e-commerce providers and tools. Use my affiliate link!

Local Line is my farm's preferred e-commerce platform for farmers. Are you looking for a new solution for your farm? I can't recommend it enough. Easy-to-use inventory management, great customer service, continuous improvement, and a culture dedicated to equipping farmers with marketing expertise. Local Line is offering a free premium feature for free for one year on top of your paid subscription. Claim your discount by signing up for a Local Line account today and using the coupon code: MDF2026. Head to my special affiliate link to get started: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/localline

Farm Marketing School is my step-by-step membership program for direct-to-consumer farmers who are ready to treat marketing like a system, not a guessing game. Inside, you'll get plug-and-play projects, templates, monthly coaching, and a repeatable framework to help you grow your email list, run stronger promotions, and increase sales (whether you're a vegetable, meat, CSA, flower, dairy, microgreen, or value-added farm). Your investment is only $69/month. Over 15 marketing projects to choose from. Learn more and enroll at: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/fms

Love the My Digital Farmer Podcast? Help me reach more farmer earbuds!

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. ⭐️ Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts, because it helps other farmers find the show. Share this episode with a fellow farmer or small business owner. Or forward my weekly email about the show to a farmer! (Get on that email list here to get more marketing tips: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/subscribe)

This podcast is for all of you who go to farmer's markets!! This episode is a rebroadcast! I first recorded it two years ago, and I decided to share it again, because it needs repeating!

Do you want to walk away from the market feeling like you did everything you could to maximize sales that day?

Here's a fact: You're going to sell more at the farmer's market if you do a little bit of preparation in the sales strategy department.

In this episode, I'm sharing my checklist of "things to make sure you do" before you hop into the truck and head to market. Things like: create a weekly special offer. Print this checklist out and create a workflow each week to check them off. The more of these you can do, the more revenue you will drive.

Promise.

What email provider do I use? I recommend Kit.com -- it is easy to use, powerful, and getting better every year. It also integrates with most e-commerce providers and tools. Use my affiliate link!

Local Line is my farm's preferred e-commerce platform for farmers. Are you looking for a new solution for your farm? I can't recommend it enough. Easy-to-use inventory management, great customer service, continuous improvement, and a culture dedicated to equipping farmers with marketing expertise. Local Line is offering a free premium feature for free for one year on top of your paid subscription. Claim your discount by signing up for a Local Line account today and using the coupon code: MDF2026. Head to my special affiliate link to get started: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/localline

Farm Marketing School is my step-by-step membership program for direct-to-consumer farmers who are ready to treat marketing like a system, not a guessing game. Inside, you'll get plug-and-play projects, templates, monthly coaching, and a repeatable framework to help you grow your email list, run stronger promotions, and increase sales (whether you're a vegetable, meat, CSA, flower, dairy, microgreen, or value-added farm). Your investment is only $69/month. Over 15 marketing projects to choose from. Learn more and enroll at: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/fms

Love the My Digital Farmer Podcast? Help me reach more farmer earbuds!

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. ⭐️ Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts, because it helps other farmers find the show. Share this episode with a fellow farmer or small business owner. Or forward my weekly email about the show to a farmer! (Get on that email list here to get more marketing tips: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/subscribe)

Every farm has friction. The question is… can you see it?

Friction is anything that makes buying from your farm harder than it needs to be. It shows up in every business—often in places we've become blind to because we know our own systems so well. The good news? You don't have to eliminate every point of friction to see results. Sometimes removing just one obstacle can make a meaningful difference.

In this episode, I'll introduce you to the concept of becoming a Friction Detective. Together, we'll explore the most common places friction hides in a farm business, the questions you should be asking as you audit your customer experience, and how to identify one simple improvement you can make this week to help more customers move from interested... to buying.

It's time to put on your detective hat.

What email provider do I use? I recommend Kit.com -- it is easy to use, powerful, and getting better every year. It also integrates with most e-commerce providers and tools. Use my affiliate link!

Local Line is my farm's preferred e-commerce platform for farmers. Are you looking for a new solution for your farm? I can't recommend it enough. Easy-to-use inventory management, great customer service, continuous improvement, and a culture dedicated to equipping farmers with marketing expertise. Local Line is offering a free premium feature for free for one year on top of your paid subscription. Claim your discount by signing up for a Local Line account today and using the coupon code: MDF2026. Head to my special affiliate link to get started: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/localline

Farm Marketing School is my step-by-step monthly membership program for direct-to-consumer farmers who are ready to treat marketing like a system, not a guessing game. Inside, you'll get plug-and-play projects, templates, monthly coaching, and a repeatable framework to help you grow your email list, run stronger promotions, and increase sales (whether you're a vegetable, meat, CSA, flower, dairy, microgreen, or value-added farm). Your investment is only $69/month. Over 20 marketing projects to choose from. Learn more and enroll at: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/fms

Love the My Digital Farmer Podcast? Help me reach more farmer earbuds!

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. ⭐️ Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts, because it helps other farmers find the show. Share this episode with a fellow farmer or small business owner. Or forward my weekly email about the show to a farmer! (Get on that email list here to get more marketing tips: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/subscribe)

What is a lead actually worth to your farm business?

Most farmers know how many email subscribers they have.

Far fewer know what those subscribers are actually worth.

And that can lead to some very bad marketing decisions.

In this episode, I introduce a simple metric called Earnings Per Lead (EPL) that helps you measure the value of the people entering your world -- i.e. whether they came from a Facebook ad, a farmers market, a farm tour, a referral, or a lead magnet.

You'll learn how to calculate EPL, why it's different from Cost Per Lead, and how it can help you decide which marketing activities deserve more of your time, money, and attention.

In this episode, we'll discuss:

• What Earnings Per Lead (EPL) is and why it matters

• Why Cost Per Lead can be misleading

• How to calculate EPL using a simple formula

• How to track the value of different lead sources

• Why some leads are far more valuable than others

• Real-world examples from CSA farms, meat producers, flower farms, and online stores

• How EPL can help you make smarter marketing decisions

If you've ever wondered whether your lead magnets, email list growth efforts, farm tours, or Facebook ads are actually producing customers, this episode will give you a new way to look at your marketing.

What email provider do I use? I recommend Kit.com -- it is easy to use, powerful, and getting better every year. It also integrates with most e-commerce providers and tools. Use my affiliate link!

Local Line is my farm's preferred e-commerce platform for farmers. Are you looking for a new solution for your farm? I can't recommend it enough. Easy-to-use inventory management, great customer service, continuous improvement, and a culture dedicated to equipping farmers with marketing expertise. Local Line is offering a free premium feature for free for one year on top of your paid subscription. Claim your discount by signing up for a Local Line account today and using the coupon code: MDF2026. Head to my special affiliate link to get started: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/localline

Farm Marketing School is my step-by-step monthly membership program for direct-to-consumer farmers who are ready to treat marketing like a system, not a guessing game. Inside, you'll get plug-and-play projects, templates, monthly coaching, and a repeatable framework to help you grow your email list, run stronger promotions, and increase sales (whether you're a vegetable, meat, CSA, flower, dairy, microgreen, or value-added farm). Your investment is only $69/month. Over 20 marketing projects to choose from. Learn more and enroll at: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/fms

Love the My Digital Farmer Podcast? Help me reach more farmer earbuds!

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. ⭐️ Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts, because it helps other farmers find the show. Share this episode with a fellow farmer or small business owner. Or forward my weekly email about the show to a farmer! (Get on that email list here to get more marketing tips: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/subscribe)

One of the questions I hear all the time from farmers is:

"What marketing channel should I focus on?"

Or:

"If I only have a few hours a week, what's the minimum marketing I need to do?"

But I think that's the wrong question.

The real question is:

Where should I invest my limited marketing time so it creates the biggest impact?

In this episode, I share a simple framework to help you decide where your marketing time should go based on the three metrics that actually drive farm revenue: customer count, average order value, and order frequency.

We'll talk about the four places marketing time can go, why some marketing activities create far more leverage than others, and how to know whether your next hour should be spent communicating, planning, optimizing, or measuring.

If you've ever felt overwhelmed by all the marketing advice out there (or wondered if you're spending your time on the right things), this episode will help you focus on what matters most.

What email provider do I use? I recommend Kit.com -- it is easy to use, powerful, and getting better every year. It also integrates with most e-commerce providers and tools. Use my affiliate link!

Local Line is my farm's preferred e-commerce platform for farmers. Are you looking for a new solution for your farm? I can't recommend it enough. Easy-to-use inventory management, great customer service, continuous improvement, and a culture dedicated to equipping farmers with marketing expertise. Local Line is offering a free premium feature for free for one year on top of your paid subscription. Claim your discount by signing up for a Local Line account today and using the coupon code: MDF2026. Head to my special affiliate link to get started: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/localline

Farm Marketing School is my step-by-step monthly membership program for direct-to-consumer farmers who are ready to treat marketing like a system, not a guessing game. Inside, you'll get plug-and-play projects, templates, monthly coaching, and a repeatable framework to help you grow your email list, run stronger promotions, and increase sales (whether you're a vegetable, meat, CSA, flower, dairy, microgreen, or value-added farm). Your investment is only $69/month. Over 20 marketing projects to choose from. Learn more and enroll at: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/fms

Love the My Digital Farmer Podcast? Help me reach more farmer earbuds!

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. ⭐️ Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts, because it helps other farmers find the show. Share this episode with a fellow farmer or small business owner. Or forward my weekly email about the show to a farmer! (Get on that email list here to get more marketing tips: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/subscribe)

What happens when you launch an offer that seems like a no-brainer... and nobody buys it?

In this episode, you'll listen in on a real Farm Marketing School coaching call with Lexi from Pigasus Meats. Lexi came to the call frustrated because their Simple Supper Box subscription had only attracted one customer after months of promotion.

As we dug into the problem, we uncovered a lesson that applies to every farm business:

Not every offer is the right first offer.

Many farmers assume that if an offer isn't selling, the offer itself must be flawed. But sometimes the real issue is where that offer sits in the customer journey.

A meat subscription might be a fantastic offer.

A membership, bundle, or annual commitment might be a fantastic offer.

But if you're asking brand-new customers to make a big commitment before they've built trust in your farm, even a great offer can struggle.

In this coaching call, you'll hear us explore:

• How customers move from stranger to superfan
• Why some offers belong later in the customer journey
• The mistake farmers make when they lead with a high-commitment offer
• How to identify the products that should come before your premium offer
• Why sequencing matters just as much as pricing and positioning

If you've ever launched something that didn't get the response you hoped for, this episode will challenge you to look beyond the offer itself and ask a different question:

Is this the right offer... for this stage of the relationship?

Make a list of every offer in your business. Then put them in order based on what a brand-new customer should buy first.

• What's the easiest, lowest-risk way to get started with you?
• What's the next step after that?
• And what comes after that?

When you're done, look at your most profitable offer and ask yourself:

Have I earned the right to present this offer yet?

Because not every offer is a first offer.

What email provider do I use? I recommend Kit.com -- it is easy to use, powerful, and getting better every year. It also integrates with most e-commerce providers and tools. Use my affiliate link!

Local Line is my farm's preferred e-commerce platform for farmers. Are you looking for a new solution for your farm? I can't recommend it enough. Easy-to-use inventory management, great customer service, continuous improvement, and a culture dedicated to equipping farmers with marketing expertise. Local Line is offering a free premium feature for free for one year on top of your paid subscription. Claim your discount by signing up for a Local Line account today and using the coupon code: MDF2026. Head to my special affiliate link to get started: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/localline

Farm Marketing School is my step-by-step monthly membership program for direct-to-consumer farmers who are ready to treat marketing like a system, not a guessing game. Inside, you'll get plug-and-play projects, templates, monthly coaching, and a repeatable framework to help you grow your email list, run stronger promotions, and increase sales (whether you're a vegetable, meat, CSA, flower, dairy, microgreen, or value-added farm). Your investment is only $69/month. Over 20 marketing projects to choose from. Learn more and enroll at: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/fms

Love the My Digital Farmer Podcast? Help me reach more farmer earbuds!

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. ⭐️ Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts, because it helps other farmers find the show. Share this episode with a fellow farmer or small business owner. Or forward my weekly email about the show to a farmer! (Get on that email list here to get more marketing tips: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/subscribe)

I got this podcast episode idea in the middle of Aldi.

Seriously.

I was walking down the grocery aisle when a sign stopped me in my tracks. It said:

"Shop Aldi First."

And I remember thinking: "Dang. That's good."

Buried inside that simple phrase was a powerful marketing lesson that applies to almost every direct-to-consumer farm business.

Aldi isn't trying to convince customers to buy everything from them.

They're trying to become the first stop.

In this episode, I unpack the marketing strategy behind Aldi's campaign and show how farmers can apply the same thinking to become the first place customers think of when they need your __________________.

This is going to make you THINK!!

What email provider do I use? I recommend Kit.com -- it is easy to use, powerful, and getting better every year. It also integrates with most e-commerce providers and tools. Use my affiliate link!

Ep 333 Finding Your Farm's Gateway Product - I reference this in the podcast. It's a great primer on how to find your farm's official "first offer."

Local Line is my farm's preferred e-commerce platform for farmers. Are you looking for a new solution for your farm? I can't recommend it enough. Easy-to-use inventory management, great customer service, continuous improvement, and a culture dedicated to equipping farmers with marketing expertise. Local Line is offering a free premium feature for free for one year on top of your paid subscription. Claim your discount by signing up for a Local Line account today and using the coupon code: MDF2026. Head to my special affiliate link to get started: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/localline

Farm Marketing School is my step-by-step monthly membership program for direct-to-consumer farmers who are ready to treat marketing like a system, not a guessing game. Inside, you'll get plug-and-play projects, templates, monthly coaching, and a repeatable framework to help you grow your email list, run stronger promotions, and increase sales (whether you're a vegetable, meat, CSA, flower, dairy, microgreen, or value-added farm). Your investment is only $69/month. Over 20 marketing projects to choose from. Learn more and enroll at: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/fms

Love the My Digital Farmer Podcast? Help me reach more farmer earbuds!

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. ⭐️ Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts, because it helps other farmers find the show. Share this episode with a fellow farmer or small business owner. Or forward my weekly email about the show to a farmer! (Get on that email list here to get more marketing tips: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/subscribe)

What if the fastest way to grow your farm business wasn't finding more customers… but finding the people who already HAVE your customers' attention?

In this episode, I'm introducing the concept of the "Dream 25 List" -- a simplified version of the famous Dream 100 marketing strategy -- and showing farmers how to identify partnership opportunities hiding all around them.

We're talking about:

• what's a Dream 25 list?
• why partnerships can accelerate trust faster than social media
• how to identify 25 businesses and influencers that already serve your ideal customer
• examples of creative partnerships for flower farms, CSA farms, meat producers, and wedding flower growers

I also share real examples from Shared Legacy Farms, Anderson Farms, Weber Ranch, and a coaching call inside Farm Marketing School that sparked this conversation.

Create your own Dream 25 List:

• Who already has the trust and attention of your ideal customer?
• Then choose THREE relationships to begin building this month.

What email provider do I use? I recommend Kit.com -- it is easy to use, powerful, and getting better every year. It also integrates with most e-commerce providers and tools. Use my affiliate link!

Local Line is my farm's preferred e-commerce platform for farmers. Are you looking for a new solution for your farm? I can't recommend it enough. Easy-to-use inventory management, great customer service, continuous improvement, and a culture dedicated to equipping farmers with marketing expertise. Local Line is offering a free premium feature for free for one year on top of your paid subscription. Claim your discount by signing up for a Local Line account today and using the coupon code: MDF2026. Head to my special affiliate link to get started: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/localline

Farm Marketing School is my step-by-step monthly membership program for direct-to-consumer farmers who are ready to treat marketing like a system, not a guessing game. Inside, you'll get plug-and-play projects, templates, monthly coaching, and a repeatable framework to help you grow your email list, run stronger promotions, and increase sales (whether you're a vegetable, meat, CSA, flower, dairy, microgreen, or value-added farm). Your investment is only $69/month. Over 20 marketing projects to choose from. Learn more and enroll at: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/fms

Love the My Digital Farmer Podcast? Help me reach more farmer earbuds!

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. ⭐️ Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts, because it helps other farmers find the show. Share this episode with a fellow farmer or small business owner. Or forward my weekly email about the show to a farmer! (Get on that email list here to get more marketing tips: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/subscribe)

In this episode, I sit down with Krista Barzen-Hansen of Thirsty Fruit Farm (one of my students from Farm Marketing School!) to break down how her farm marketing has evolved and strengthened over the past year.

In this farm marketing case study, we unpack:

• how customers discover her farm,
• how she nurtures leads,
• how she's constantly optimizing her "gateway" product
• what content she creates,
• how she thinks about onboarding,
• the systems she's building,
• and how she's learning to approach marketing with confidence and experimentation instead of overwhelm.

Krista's primary sales model happens to be a CSA "buy down" structure, so much of the conversation naturally flows through that lens. But the real lesson here is seeing how marketing principles come together inside an actual farm business.

If you've ever wondered what it looks like to move from "random acts of marketing" into a more intentional marketing ecosystem… this episode will give you a practical example.

Meet Our Podcast Guest:

Krista Barzen-Hanson from ThirstyFruitFarm.com

Krista is an environmental chemist turned farmer. She and her husband, Brad, started Thirsty Fruit Farm in upstate NY during the pandemic. They farm about 10 acres of certified organic fruit and vegetables and sell direct-to-consumer through their buy-down CSA farm share, online store, and farm stand. Krista oversees the vegetable operation and marketing.

Krista's Tip Jar Ideas: You can find these at our show notes page: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/364

Proof Sentence Live Workshop: Want help finding your farm's proof sentence? This June inside Farm Marketing School, I'm hosting a bonus live workshop where we'll write your farm's proof sentence together. You'll get time to draft it, share it for feedback, and get coached on revisions so you can use it in your emails, product descriptions, website, and social media.

Join here: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/fms

What email provider do I use to connect with my farm customers? Choosing a good marketing email provider is SO important. It's one of the most important tools for making money! I recommend Kit.com -- it is easy to use, powerful, and getting better every year. It also integrates with most e-commerce providers and tools. Use my affiliate link!

Local Line is my farm's preferred e-commerce platform for farmers. Are you looking for a new solution for your farm? I can't recommend it enough. Easy-to-use inventory management, great customer service, continuous improvement, and a culture dedicated to equipping farmers with marketing expertise. Local Line is offering a free premium feature for free for one year on top of your paid subscription. Claim your discount by signing up for a Local Line account today and using the coupon code: MDF2026. Head to my special affiliate link to get started: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/localline

Farm Marketing School is my step-by-step membership program for direct-to-consumer farmers who are ready to treat marketing like a system, not a guessing game. Inside, you'll get plug-and-play projects, templates, monthly coaching, and a repeatable framework to help you grow your email list, run stronger promotions, and increase sales (whether you're a vegetable, meat, CSA, flower, dairy, microgreen, or value-added farm). Your investment is only $69/month. Over 15 marketing projects to choose from. Learn more and enroll at: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/fms

Love the My Digital Farmer Podcast? Help me reach more farmer earbuds!

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. ⭐️ Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts, because it helps other farmers find the show. Share this episode with a fellow farmer or small business owner. Or forward my weekly email about the show to a farmer! (Get on that email list here to get more marketing tips: www.mydigitalfarmer.com/subscribe)