Sell the Sizzle, Not the Steak!

By Jane Eckert

Its winter, and time to take a long hard look at your marketing materials, including your brochures, flyers and, most definitely, your website.  Look at this copy through the eyes of a visitor or new prospect considering coming to your farm. Do your materials really excite and attract someone to your property? Do you not only give a word picture of the fun at your property but do you show it as well? Recently, I have been looking at many farm websites and brochures, and I’m finding too many of them written more like a textbook than good marketing copy.

Whether you sell beef, Christmas trees, or pumpkins, remember this slogan, and your marketing will be more effective:  "Sell the sizzle, not the steak."  What this phrase means is that to effectively sell the product, you have to give the customer what they want. 

In the case of beef, you don't show them that beautiful, brown-eyed cow that's about to be butchered, nor do you show them the perfectly ribboned, raw cut of beef.  Instead, you show them a beautiful steak sizzling on the grill, nicely stripped with sear marks and about to be lifted onto the perfect platter—all done with the total admiration of family and friends watching the master chef move the meat from the grill.  Now, you are appealing to their senses in a most positive manner--selling the taste, the sight, the aroma, and the sizzle of the steak, not to mention the personal pride of your expertise in the meal preparation.  That's "selling the sizzle.”

If it can be that easy to sell the sizzle of beef, let’s talk more about selling the sizzle of fresh fruits and vegetables and having fun on the farm.  The most important thing you need to remember when writing the copy is to tell your customers “what’s in it for them.”
Use descriptive words, like “juicy, fresh picked, sun-ripened oranges” or “enjoy a family day of fun and laughter.”  Remember, we are asking people to drive to the country, use more gas and take more time to come to our businesses to buy our products—when they can purchase these same products in their neighborhood supermarket.  The difference is the experience of the farm and the freshness and quality of the product, and you’ve got to sell that sizzle!

Fortunately, people have become more aware about the food they put into their bodies.  There is also a clear concern for the rising obesity rate, and the buy local food movement, both of which are influencing consumers to buy healthier products from sources they know. Thankfully over the last few years, the media and informed consumers have been helping spread the word about the reasons to be purchasing fresh fruits, meats, and vegetables from local farmers. Now, it’s your turn to take these benefits and incorporate them into your headlines and copy.

So, “what is in it for them?” Let’s look at a few sample headlines and you rank them from the buyer’s perspective:

Now Selling: Homegrown Sweet Corn
Fresh Sweet Corn – Picked Daily
Try Our Fresh Sweet Corn
Mouth Watering Super Sweet Corn – Picked Fresh Today

Hopefully, you’ve selected the last headline and next to it you have a picture of a grinning child holding an ear of sweet corn and eating it.

“As you hand select the perfect ears of golden sweet corn in the market, you may notice a slight dampness of dew still in the silks from when they were fresh picked this morning.  Press your nail to a kernel, and see the juice burst forth with a fresh-picked aroma.  Not only does this assure you of the freshest, sweetest corn your ever tasted, you also know that your family will enjoy the full nutritional value of every ear.  Don’t be surprised when the kids pass up dessert, and ask for “more corn, please, mom?!”

Now is the time to look at your marketing materials to see if your copy is really selling the sizzle of your farm.

Jane Eckert, a national speaker, author and agritourism expert, is principal of Eckert Agrimarketing (www.eckertagrimarketing.com), a firm that helps farmers sell products directly to consumers and develop their operations into tourist destinations, and CEO of Rural Bounty.com, a consumer based directory of agritourism farms in North America.  Jane can be reached by phone 314-862-6288 or at jane@eckertagrimarketing.com