11) Know your customers. The annals of business failures are filled with businesses that attempted to market what they thought would sell, instead of finding out first what will sell! Get to know your customers or buyers, why they purchase what they do, and what else they might like to purchase. Make it a habit to informally survey your customers. At a farmers market or roadside farm market, for example, ask: "If I offered yellow bell peppers in addition to my green bell peppers, would you be interested?"

12) Test market. Offer your product or service on a limited basis in order to evaluate potential sales. Ask your family and friends to give you both positive and negative feedback on any new product or idea you try. Send retail or wholesale buyers new product samples and ask for their feedback. Use small focus groups to gain insights on your new product. Finally, use advertisements as a type of low-cost test promotion. If you are considering offering blueberry gift-packs, for example, run an ad inviting customers to "Send blueberries to someone you love." Although the ad may not pay for itself in cash returns, losing a few hundred dollars on an ad is cheaper than investing heavily in gift packs.

13) Don't compete with everyone else. The name of the game is niche marketing. Look for ways to differentiate your product not only by what you grow, but how you grow it (i.e., organic); what you do with it (i.e., "added value," or processed products); or how you package or market the product. Ordinary spinach, for example, which is triple-rinsed, cut and placed in plastic bags as a ready-to-eat salad becomes a specialty item! Some other ways to differentiate your product might include a service such as washing your lettuce or home delivery of products; giving information such as recipes or workshops; creating an image such as "country," "healthy" or "natural"; or providing recreation, such as a weekend outing in the country.

14) Look for high-return marketing outlets. Many smaller growers choose direct marketing through farmers markets, roadside stands, etc., in order to increase revenue by cutting out the middlemen. If you like merchandising and dealing with people, or if you have family labor available to help, you may prefer selling direct to customers. Direct marketing is most likely to be successful for seasonal items or relatively high-value products including "value-added" or processed products, and for small and part-time farmers within 20 miles of urban population centers or on access roads to major tourist areas. Taking over the job of the middlemen, however, takes a lot of time. If you only like to grow, a broker or specialty distributor who sells to high-end markets can enable you to spend all your time growing and still net a high return.

15) Your farmers market stall should be "theater." Display, layout, containers, signage, composition, color, contrast, structures and lighting, as well as the products and service you offer customers and how you talk to them, all come together to tell your story. What makes you unique? Well-stocked displays, for example, convey abundance and attract attention, as do creative display ideas such as a "waterfall" of potatoes made by an inclined board covered with spuds of all shapes and colors. Simple themes work well, too, such as interspersing product displays with leaves, herbs or flowers, or stringing balloons or chili peppers around the canopy or entryway.

16) A roadside market is not a convenience store or a supermarket. Roadside markets need something special: a rural recreational or entertainment experience such as simple picnic tables, a pick-your-own opportunity or farm tours and festivals, unique customer education opportunities such as food preservation workshops, specialty recipes, lower prices, specialty products not ordinarily found in supermarkets, or fresher, higher quality produce. Offering customers a "real fresh berry topping" sundae (if you are a berry grower) is the kind of treat that can entice customers away from the supermarkets!

17) Advertising. In promoting a pick-your-own operation through newspaper ads, use a large, attractive display ad with coupons for a season opener. Then run classified ads each week of the season to give customers continual reminders about when and where they can get fresh strawberries or vegetables. Keep using classified ads to alert people about items approaching maturity, give directions to the farm, and state prices and hours of operation. Classified ads reach people who are specifically looking for pick-your-own produce. Display ads in the weekly food section of the paper are more effective in reaching people looking for family entertainment.

18) Agritourism. As convenience stores and supermarkets spring up like dandelions, many roadside market owners have turned to "agritourism"--rural recreational activities--to survive and thrive. Busy urbanites are seeking places to go for a weekend family outing, where the kids can feed the goats or find out how bean plants grow. Popular themes and activities at rural attractions include farm tours, nature trails, train and hay rides, hay bales or corn stalks, pumpkin patches, antique and craft shows, food booths, apple butter cooking, country bands, "pumpkin lands," scarecrow making, displays of antique farm equipment and contests. In addition to an ongoing selection of farm attractions and fresh farm produce, set up weekend themes or festivals to attract customers. People are willing to drive one, two or three hours--if there are enough attractions to make a worthwhile family outing.

19) CSAs. Get paid upfront (before the season starts!) with "Community Supported Agriculture" (CSA) farming. Customer/members sign up in advance to buy "shares" of the farm's harvest, accepting less if a crop is damaged or fails. This is different than with conventional farming where the farmer bears all the risk! Share holders often come out to the farm to help plant and pick the crop; have it delivered to a central pickup point; or, for a higher price, have it delivered to their doorstep. Advance payment guarantees the farmer a market for everything he or she grows, creates working capital at planting time so the farmer can purchase equipment and supplies as needed, and allows the farmer to devote more time and energy to growing. CSA's also offer an urban-rural link that many feel is the soul of community supported agriculture.

20) Selling to retail outlets. Whether it's a fancy restaurant or a grocery store known for its top-of-the-line produce department, go after the top markets in your area. Convince them that you can get them the best product they've seen--and then deliver what you've promised. Do this even if you are able to sell them only a few products--as they find that you are dependable, you can increase the order size. Once you've established yourself as a supplier to "the best," use them as a reference. This gives you a real "in" when selling to other markets. If the retail buyer is reluctant to try out your product, offer a guarantee by offering to take back without cost products that don't sell.

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