7 Ways To Make Visitors Fall In Love With Your Farm (Agritourism Marketing Made Simple)

I run a durian farm in my hometown called Bentong. It is in a state called Pahang in a small country called Malaysia.

I have had many different visitors from all over the world come to my small durian farm. People from New York, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, Macau, China, Japan, Russia and many more have visited my farm.

I never thought that my small farm will be able to attract different visitors from all over the world.

Along the way, I have learned a few tips, techniques and secrets to make people fall in love with my farm. Today as you read this article that I am writing, you will also learn the subtle ways that I use and learned to make people love my farm.

1. Make Your Farm Clean And Tidy And Ready For Agritourism

A clean and tidy farm is what attracts visitors.

Some farms are very dirty. The animals are not well taken cared. The animal waste makes the smell terrible. Some farms have long tall grass that makes it feel like a small jungle.

Remember that your visitors are tourists. Tourists like clean and tidy places.

It is true that your farm is a natural attraction. That is a build in advantage for you. But what if your visitors come in and see a lot of chicken poop everywhere with maggots in the poop?

This is a picture of my farm. I always tell my workers to cut the grass. Make sure that the grass is not tall. Not only does it look clean it also keeps lots of unwanted animals and snakes away.

If you have visitors into your farm, it is always a good idea to keep the grass low.

You can see how even at the roots of the durian trees there are not a lot of tall grass. Yes you should leave some grass so that the farm looks green. But keep the grass short.

My visitors walk around the durian trees to have a look at the trees. Imagine if they have to go through a big, tall grass. You don't even know what is hiding in the grass.

If you have a farmhouse, make sure everything is tidy. Make sure all the tables, chairs, equipment are nicely in place. Make sure the toilets are always clean not smelling of ammonia.

Make sure that there are no rubbish everywhere. Visitors will create rubbish when they are in your farm. So make sure your workers clean out all the rubbish before the next group of visitors arrive.

2. Have An Interactive Activity For Your Visitors

When your visitors come to the farm you need to provide them with activities that will leave a lasting good memory in their mind.

Think of ways where you can engage your visitors.

I do this in a few ways:

• I ask my visitors to cut open the durian fruit themselves as an experience

• I take my visitors on a walking tour of my farm

• I take my visitors to see animals in the farm and interact with the animals such as holding young ducks

Normally my workers will help visitors to open the durian. But from the picture above you can see I asked my visitors to open the durian themselves. This not only give them the opportunity to try cutting open the fruit for themselves...It is an education in its own.

As opening up a durian is not easy, the visitors will struggle a bit. Their family members will take pictures and videos and this produces some laughs for the visitors.

The pictures and videos are truly memorable for my visitors.

Don't be afraid to ask your visitors to do some work. Maybe ask them to try trim some trees, cut some grass (a few minutes) and even to put fertilizer on plants.

Doing these activities for a few minutes are educational and interesting for many people who have not tried it before. Trust me, your visitors family and friends will be taking lots of videos and pictures and this will add to their good memories of your farm.

3. Create Beautiful And Photogenic Places In Your Farm

Your visitors will love the beautiful scenery in your farm. You can actually create a few places where your visitors may deem it beautiful.

Places such as:

• Swings

• Flower beds

• Rows of sunflowers

• A flower arch at the entrance to your farm

• A giant replica of the fruit that you grow

• Beautiful ponds

• Trees that have a lot of fruits on it

You can designate places like the above with signs for photography.

Think like your visitors.

Where is a good place in your farm that people would like to take a selfie?

When people take a lot of pictures on your farm it means that they love it. They will also posts the pictures on social media and this will generate leads to your farm.

You can also set up a place where people can take pictures with animals:

• People can ride and take pictures with horses

• People can take pictures with llamas, monkeys, cows, donkeys, etc

Not only do people love to take pictures with animals it creates an educational experience and long lasting memories for them.

You can charge your visitors for each picture taken. You can even laminate the pictures and put it in a frame and sell for $15-$25 per piece.

The ways to make money from agritourism is just limited by your imagination.

Here we create a sign that says Bloopy Durians. Visitors can take the sign and take pictures with it with the farm as a backdrop.

Props like these can encourage visitors to take plenty of pictures and then tag your farm on social media.

One thing I have often notice is my farm visitors like to take pictures of themselves on top of my four wheel drive.

You can take advantage of four wheel drives, tractors, wagons etc. They can be a great place for your guests to take picture and have wonderful memories.

4. Have A Great Customer Service (Smile And Be Helpful All The Time)

I would like you to read one of the Google reviews that my customer wrote.

What he wrote was beautiful...

He considered the farm experience to be heart touching and they had an amazing time at our farm.

From the very start to the finish I was giving them a 5 star customer experience.

How do you give your customers a 5 star experience? Here are some tips:

• Always be friendly and helpful

• Be genuine and sincere

• Smile when your customer arrives

• Learn their names and ask them where they are from

• Talk to them like you are talking to a close friend

• Be enthusiastic and show them around your farm

• Don't be rude or brush them off even if you are tired

• Train your staff to do the same and give a great customer service

My workers know that I value good customer service. I do it by example and they follow. There are many times I have guests tell me that my staff are friendly and good.

When you are friendly and give the best service that you can, your customers will feel it. Very often they will reflect that with a 5 star review of your business.

The 5 star review will draw in many other tourists in the future.

5. Great Story Telling

People love stories.

That is why movies and books sell very well. If you want your farm to be memorable you need to learn how to tell stories.

Tell stories about your farming life, about how your farm was started. Tell your visitors about the history of your farm. If your grandfather started the farm, tell your visitors about the memories, challenges and the joys of farming in the past few generations.

When my guests arrive I often tell them about my dad planting all those durian trees, mangosteen trees and other fruit trees. It makes them feel the love and passion of a man who just loves farming and nature.

Make your guests feel that they are part of the farm. Give them many wonderful tales about your farm.

For example, you may tell something like this

"This giant tree was planted by my grandfather and have been there for 50 years. Our family have lots of picnics there. When my dad was young, he and his siblings would play games under the big tree. Today our visitors love to eat their lunch and sandwiches under the canopy of the giant tree that my grandfather planted. If my grandfather was alive, he would be so happy to see hundreds of visitors visit his farm every week!"

6. Give Your Visitors Something To Take Home

Sometimes it is a good idea to give your visitors something to take home.

People love souvenirs especially memorable ones.

There are countless ways to give souvenirs that don't cost a lot of money:

• Take a picture of the group or family and laminate them and give it to them for free

• Shoot pictures and videos of your guests and make it into a short video which you can send to them online after they go back home. You can use tools such as CANVA to do it easily.

You can also sell souvenirs to your guests:

• Fruit jam

• Soaps made from herbs

• A printed photo of your visitors with a frame

• Fridge magnet with pictures of your farm

Some visitors might not be willing to pay for things. So you might want to think of incorporating small gifts into the pricing for your farm entrance or services.

7. Let Your Visitors Have A Lasting Memory In The Farm (Plant A Tree / Love Locks / Signature On A Brick)

Since I am a durian farmer I have to plant durian trees.

You may also be planting trees in your farm.

I never thought of it but lately I have been giving my visitors the opportunity to plant a durian tree in my farm. I would put a tag on the tree with the visitors name and date of planting.

Turns out that planting a durian tree is one of the big highlights of my farm. When customers plant a tree, they get to experience the life of a tree from small.

The act of putting a tree in the ground and covering it with soil is like birthing a child. My visitors truly enjoy the experience. They will take pictures and videos and in the future they are also curious of how their tree has grown.

Depending on your type of farm you may not be able give visitors an opportunity to plant a tree. Think of ways where your visitors can leave their mark in your farm. It could be:

• Buying a love lock and locking it in your fence

• You could ask them to sign their names on a brick in the wall

• You could ask them to sign their names in a small stone and place it in the visitor's stone mountain

• Carve their name on a wooden board wall

• Ask visitors to write a message in a bottle which they can open again years from now on if they visit your farm again

• Have a visitor board where they can write something or where they are from

• Decorate a stone or a tile for $1

• You could try to ask visitors to adopt a farm animal. Where you will share the growth progress in the future

  
  

Conclusion

Always remember that people don't fall in love with a farm because of what they can see. People fall in love with the farm because of how you and your farm make them feel.

All the above tips are part of your marketing strategy in agritourism.

It all builds up to make your visitors rave about the experience in your farm. If a group of people enjoy their time in your farm, they are more likely to share your farm with other people.

The quality of your farm speaks for itself.

Don't underestimate the power of the above tips. Practice them and you will see a big difference in your agritourism business.