The 8 P's of Social Marketing: Maple Wind Farms

Marc Zingarini

Social Marketing Campaign

Notes

The 8 P’s of Social Marketing

·      Product – Maple Wind Farm located in Huntington, Vermont. They specialize in meats, poultry, vegetables, and yurt rentals. We will also be conducting a fundraiser to help them replace a farm that burned down recently.

·      Price – The price of their meat varies and considering its is “local” and organic it will typically cost more than conventional products. However, their monthly packages go for $540 for 6 months of meat and $925 for a yearly subscription. That seems a little pricy, but you receive 10lbs per month.

·      Place – The product is located in Huntington and Richmond, VT. Obviously you can buy it direct. They also offer online shipping throughout the US. You can sign up to receive 6 or 12 monthly packages of meat. They also have a section that tells you where you can buy their meat, whether it is from farmers markets or in grocery stores. I think it would be a good idea to expand their product throughout the state first and then try to sell it in a couple other states if we can gather enough profits.

·      Promotion – Maple Wind Farms has a Facebook page, an email newsletter, and a blog. However, The blog is not updated frequently, the don’t post often on their Facebook page, and it is unclear how many times they send out their newsletter. They also have a donation page for their farm fund. First they should regularly update what they already have. Then they should start up and instagram and twitter account. Finally, I think we should use those social media techniques to promote the fundraiser and keep people updated. This will increase donations.

·      Publics – Our internal publics are ourselves as well as the Maple Wind farm team. We will have to work together in order to implement a plan that works well for everyone. As for external publics, we should be targeting Vermonters, people concerned with buying organic, local, sustainable foods, meat connoisseurs, and restaurants. A perfect example would be a restaurant such as the farmhouse. They already participate in the Burlington farmer’s market and have their food featured at many Co-ops including city market.

·      Partnership – I think the three partnerships that could greatly help Maple Wind in raising money and expanding their business would be City Market, The Burlington Farmer’s Market and the FDA. Having FDA approval could get the farm national coverage.

·      Policy – Maple Wind has a good policy and has built a good strong business. However, the could strengthen their media presence. Getting papers and news agencies to share their story could greatly benefit in fundraising. They also need a stronger social media presence and need to post more frequently on the social media platforms they already have.

·      Purse Strings – The biggest factor concerning the new farm is mostly based on donations. We need our partners to possibly contribute monetarily or more importantly through promotion if we want to have a lucrative fundraiser. A successful fundraiser is our main and most important goal.