Frequently Asked Questions
Want a quick reply to a general question about advertising in The Farmart?
You might find the answers easily here:
We always promote our new advertisers on social media at the start of each month, so they get great exposure as soon as the magazines land in the post. But if you’re a regular advertiser and would like to be featured, then just ask your rep to add you to the list. Or if you’re doing any social posts yourself, just tag @thefarmart and we’ll happily share!
Social media is a great tool for any business to promote themselves. But to get real genuine sales flowing in, it’s good to consider a range of marketing tactics. The great thing about printed media is that they are typically read by highly interested audiences. We know that our readers keep The Farmart magazine on the kitchen or office table throughout the month and regularly refer back to it. How many times have you seen something on social media, been interested in what you’ve seen and then struggled to find it again later on?! With a printed magazine, there’s no such problem.
Have a think about your target audience too. Whilst many farmers embrace social media, very often a slightly older demographic prefer to absorb information off line and they’re more likely to be the ones with the buying power!
Plus, unlike online marketing where users have to show an interest or search for something in order to get results; by being seen in The Farmart, you can reach people who weren’t actively looking for what your company sells and then tempt them into a purchase.
Not everyone makes a purchase the first time they see or hear about your product or service. It’s also regularly quoted that people need on average to have 7 “views or touchpoints” with a company, before becoming a loyal customer. This doesn’t just have to be adverts, but could include seeing your company name on a van, hearing about you from a colleague or just driving past your signboard. The more views, the more confident they are about buying, so by seeing that magazine advert with a phone number could tip them into making that purchase call.
Our long-term customers tell us they get the best results from consistent advertising. Frequency is key to seeing a return on your investment as it builds up trust and familiarity. One advert alone will not grow your brand or increase your sales long term.
There’s no need to spend time designing an advert if that’s not your particular skill. We do that all for free for you. All we’d need however is your logo, any photos and whatever wording you’d like. If you’re not sure what to include then our “Guide to writing a great advert” is a great place to start.
Overall though, we find that photos of people, testimonials, offers and deadlines are particularly effective.
The farming sector can be a very close-knit society, so if you provide a personal service, go out visiting farms, or if you are fairly well known within the community, then a photo of yourself on the advert can work wonders for response levels! Even for regular customers to see you on an advert is an excuse for them to mention your name to friends and colleagues.
Getting a good return for your advertising spend is critical. We want the advert to work well for you and keep The Farmart magazine as part of your marketing plan. It sounds simple, but the first thing to ensure if you’re a small business is to have an answer machine on your phone! As a small business it’s inevitable that you won’t be able to answer all the time, but do give people the option of leaving their details, so you can call back.
If there are a number of people who answer the phone in your business, then make sure they’ve a standard form or procedure to ask where people have got the contact info from.
Sometimes people will visit your website for more details first before calling. So be conscious that some customers will just say they got their number from the website, rather than the advert. Therefore keep an eye on whether your web traffic has increased since the advert landed.
If you’ve a shop or counter, then why not have a batch of our magazines out and just ask people if they’ve seen your advert. It’ll give you great feedback about whether people have skimmed past or genuinely taken an interest in the advert.
To give an extra helping hand with monitoring, many of our advertisers add a QR code to their advert. Ask us about making one for you if you’re not sure how to do this yourself.
Certainly! Whether it’s just 2 or 50, we can supply you with a monthly batch of magazines to put out for your customers. The more people who take them the better, so just ask us to add you to the mailing list.
Have a different question?
If you can’t find the information you need on this page, contact our friendly team who will help with your enquiry.
We have just 1 publication that’s printed and then replicated online. We feel that the best marketing plan includes a mix of print, digital and social media advertising. That’s why we also promote our advertisers on Instagram, Facebook and X.
There’s always someone willing to do it cheaper, every business owner will know that!
But there’s a reason why The Farmart has been around for over 40 years – it works!
We’ve been serving the local agricultural community for decades and have built up a strong, loyal readership. Our readers tell us they look forward to receiving the magazine through their letterbox every month; they sit down with a brew (very often after milking!) and they take their time to read our magazine cover-to-cover. We’ve become an integral part of the local community.
Our readers trust what they see, and our advertisers benefit as a result.
Yes, there are cheaper publications out there, but ask yourself – do they have this same distribution area and customer engagement? We’re in a particularly strong dairy & livestock region, so if selling more in this sector is of interest, then we can certainly help. Plus, with our Community Notice Board page and articles, our magazine is a part of people’s lives. Not only do they reach for the it to find suppliers, but also to find out what’s going on in the locality.
“You get what you pay for” is truly the applicable adage when it comes to marketing and advertising for the growth of your business.
Every month the magazine is delivered to 9,000 addresses around Cheshire, Shropshire, North Wales, Derbyshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside.
It is also sent to 3,000 email addresses and available to pick up at over 50 locations, including local shops, livestock markets, agricultural stores, and rural pubs.
Take a look at our media pack tab for a comprehensive map.
Copy deadlines are to be the Friday or Monday in the middle of the month, then the magazines land on the first week of the next month.
You can view all the dates on our Deadlines here.
In addition to our printed magazine, we also have a YouTube channel called: The Real Country File.
The fortnightly episodes aim to showcase all that’s “real” about farming in the current climate. That’s the good, the bad and the ugly! With over 9,000 subscribers it’s generated a great following and we often receive comments from farmers about how they’d prefer to watch us over the other similarly named TV programme!
We take sponsorship bookings for these episodes, as it’s a great way to have a more national reach, so just ask your usual rep about being featured.
We don’t have a big call centre or automated system, we prefer our customers to get straight through and speak to a real person on the phone. That way we can work out the best way of generating new sales for your business, whether that’s through an advert, leaflets or on YouTube. Just call 01625 529900 and we’ll be glad to help or email email@thefarmart.co.uk and we’ll get back to you.
