The key to any business venture is marketing and strategies and ideas need to be put in place to get the product out there to potential customers so as to remain afloat. Most kienyeji chicken farmers and other commercial farmers focus on rearing chicken and only start looking for markets for the chicken and eggs once they are overwhelmed with produce, and by then it will be too late to make an impact leading to huge losses or getting stranded with products that people in effect need elsewhere.
As rearing begins, so should marketing strategies begin. There are a number of ideas that can help a budding farmer or an established one benefit from gainful chicken farming. These are simple ways to make yourself known and to attract the customers you need to keep your poultry business going.
- Supplying to nearby hotels and restaurants
The best point to begin your marketing is near you. Only after you have satisfied your locality with consistent and adequate supply can you reach out to other areas. It is cheaper supplying near your farm and you need to carry out a walk in your nearest town or trading centre talking to hotel and restaurant owners and giving them incentives that their current suppliers may not be giving so as to attract the opportunity. Convince them that you will be a reliable supplier for their chicken and eggs, offer a reasonable price and supply healthy birds and eggs. The advantage with local supply is the low cost of transportation, easy feedback and building of a strong bond between buyer and seller so at times the buyer visits the farm
- Rent a store
Farmers can sell wholesale to resellers or can rent their own store and do retail sales. By bypassing the middlemen, the farmer is assured of better returns for the produce. Look for a nearby cheaper store in your local trading centre and stock your eggs and chicken, both dressed and live chicken depending on the tastes and preferences of the locals and sell directly to consumers. In this way you avoid the middleman and make more profits. If you decide to have a store, only make sure you have regular or consistent supply to avoid disappointing those buyers you have won by your service and whom you need to keep as you look out for others.
- Place your poultry venture online
The internet has provided the cheapest easy to reach platform to make your business known to the world. Starting out by your own Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account is a great idea. Through that inform people of the work you do, your products, the services you offer together with photographs. Through this you build a loyal network of faithful friends either sharing your posts to reach more people or just buying from you directly. They also come to know of your products and can ask for them in supermarkets having seem them before. Through social media, the farmer ca also post in popular Facebook groups that allow marketing and advertising. For very established businesses, a website also does magic in driving traffic which can also bring in other revenue streams like Adsense.
- Try door to door selling
Home delivery services can be a very efficient marketing tool particularly for busy clients who may not have the time to go to supermarkets, farms or local stores. And even if they are not busy, people generally like convenience. You can build a network of loyal buyers within a manageable radius around your farm that buys a significant number of eggs and chicken every week and keeps your afloat. Approach households one by one and keep a record of their needs and by what frequency every week, or month.
- Employ your own marketer
If the farm is well established and can support a marketing staff, employ one on commission initially and adjust as you watch progress on sales. An aggressive marketer with specific targets can do wonders to a farm.
- Take good care of your chicken.
Well-fed birds stand out and are a good to the eye. Such birds essentially market themselves. Those who see them have to pick them. Ensuring your flock is healthy and attractive is key to quick and profitable selling.
- Have your own chicken eatery
A prudent farmer can have a small chicken-only eatery as a new revenue stream in her poultry business. All chicken not sold can be slaughtered and sold as food or meals to customers particularly in a busy urban or peri-urban center.
- Packaging Chicken
If you do dressed chicken, package them attractively to attract customers in shelves at first sight such that they have no choice than to pick your chicken among other poultry companies. All humans have a weakness towards attractive packaging.
- Advertising
If it is possible, advertise on radio, print media or any other medium with comfortable and affordable reach. People always buy only what they have had prior knowledge of over others. Let your products be known as much as you can if you finances allow. But this should not be done to the detriment of the business. If you cannot afford it, go for other cheaper marketing options.
- Set up your own small slaughterhouse
Setting up your own abattoir ensures you cut down on costs of dressing and helps you package your chicken to your own standards and your client’s desires. This increases your sales and reach.
- Continually place a premium on market research
Continually receiving information on customer tastes, preferences, feedback, frustrations, negative information among others helps you be better farmer and entrepreneur. Once in a while give effort to this so you do not carry out business in the dark. When you respond to people’s genuine needs as they come, you market your business and products a thousand times.
Find more information on our improved kienyeji chicken farming manual.