Farmer-to-consumer direct marketing: Advertising aspects of New Jersey operations

Agriculture is an important economic sector in New Jersey. Farmer-to-consumer direct marketing in New Jersey plays an important role, not only in providing many farmers with greater net returns but also in helping economically to retain agricultural lands in and near urban areas. For some farmers, direct marketing facilitates this objective enabling them to capture a greater share of the consumer's food dollar. The share of the consumer's food dollar can be increased by proper advertising strategies. The amount spent on advertising should be weighed against the effectiveness of advertising in attracting customers. This article provides insights into the sales and advertising operations and characteristics of direct marketing enterprises in New Jersey. The advertising aspects explored are the dollar amount spent on advertising and methods of advertising. The results indicate that about 36% of the respondents did not spend any money on advertising and that the average amount spent on advertising was $2,431. Not counting the marketers who did not spend any money on advertising, the average dollar amount spend on advertising was $3,865. Marketers with less than $10,000 of gross sales spent little or no money on advertising. Two of three marketers with gross retail sales of at least $5 million spent more than $10,000 on advertising. The most common methods of advertisement were word of mouth (WOM) and newspaper advertising.