Eckert AgriMarketing Newsletter- July 2007

(click here for directory of past newsletters)

Rural Bounty.com
is North America's First Directory of All Agritourism!

Special Offer expires July 31-You get 18 months for the price of 12.
Just $45.00!

It's not too late to take advantage of the special introductory pricing to enroll your farm into Rural Bounty.

Listings include farms, ranches, wineries, farmer's markets, CSA's, pick your own, lodging, event facilities, outdoor recreation and more. Members will have a full web page of information.

I invite you to visit the home page, www.ruralbounty.com, and get a sense of how easy it will be for the public to find your farm, products, events and unique experiences.

Our success will depend on how quickly farms sign up. I know it's a busy season but you always need to take time to review new marketing opportunities-and once you do, I hope that you will choose Rural Bounty.

Act now! Introductory offer ends July 31, 2008.

July 2008

The latest word to gain tourism acceptance is called a "staycation" which means "a vacation spent close to home." I know many of you are worried about how the gas prices will effect your business, but let's stay positive.

Jane Eckert, CEO Eckert AgriMarketing and Rural Bounty, LLC If people are taking time off from work to stay closer to home, they are going to want to enjoy the local area. With a little extra effort, maybe we can increase the odds that they will take the time to come to the farm--I just read that a major attraction in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend had a 61% local attendance versus 37% the prior year.

"Staycations" are getting a lot of news coverage and I've seen where tourism bureaus are getting in on the act by promoting the concept. Both regions and states are now spending their advertising dollars a little closer to home to seek the local travelers. I've even seen promotions specific to local attractions, discount coupons and packaging.

If you are part of a Visitor & Convention Bureau, give them a call to see how they are promoting "staycations." It can even be a word that you can use on your answering machine for your farm, website and your paid advertising.

Let's look at rising gas prices not as a negative but as a positive to bring more customers to our farms.

Some of you may not have seen this lawsuit in the news, but I thought it was an important reminder regarding guest safety. A woman was injured while shooting a pumpkin out of a giant slingshot, and now she is suing the owners of an ag-tourism farm.

Caitlyn McCartney claims she suffered a "wrenching, tearing, twisting and/or breaking" of her right hand when the pumpkin failed to release from the slingshot and flew back at her, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court. (Click here to read the rest of the story.)

Let's all be careful out there!