With less than 6 weeks until Open Farm Sunday on the 7th June 2009, and with already over 325 farms registered to open their gates and host a farm open day, the key priority for everyone is promotion. National media activity is really gathering momentum with a great deal of interest from national newspapers, magazines and broadcasters. However, the best way of publicising individual farm events is down to you at a local level. To follow are a few top tips and ideas to help those of you who want to attract lots of visitors . . . 

The starting point

The difficulty with any ‘open’ event is that you do not know how many people are going to turn up! But there are 3 ways to help attract the audience size you would like, click here for more details >>

 

Publicity material

      

To help you publicise your Open Farm Sunday event, when you register, you can order a whole range of materials, including - posters to personalise and put up in local shops; flyers to hand out to schools; postcards to personally invite your neighbours; road side banners to put up outside your farm entrance; and road side arrows to direct your visitors on the day.

Click here to order more resources >>

 

Back to school

        

One of the most effective ways to promote your Open Farm Sunday event is by working with local schools. Speaking at assemblies and giving children the post cards or flyers to go home with is a great way to attract families. Taking a tractor or farm animal along with you will help the children remember you … and your event! Getting children to work on projects about your farm and the food it produces and then asking them to bring them along to your event, is another good way to get them and their Mum’s and Dad’s involved.

 

Standing out from the crowd

 

 
Each event will be listed on the OFS website (unless you have requested otherwise). LEAF is putting a great deal of effort into national and regional publicity by working with the media to encourage the public to visit www.farmsunday.org to find their closest farm. Therefore, think about what might attract your visitors – as the more exciting your event sounds, the more visitors you’re likely to get. You can upload photos and edit your event details by clicking on Edit link at the top of your event page – if you can’t remember your password/username, just fill in your email address and it will be sent to you automatically.

Involving others

          

Involving others at your event is a great way to get help with publicity, spread the workload on the day and, most importantly, demonstrate the breadth of knowledge, skills and expertise involved in farming and the countryside. Team up with your farming neighbours, agronomist, vet, conservation advisor (such as FWAG) and the Open Farm Sunday sponsors. You could also involve other local groups and charities such as the Young Farmers, the Scouts. Groups like Ladies in Pigs http://www.pigsuk.com/lips.htm and the cancer support charity, Marie Curie may be able to help you out with catering .

 

Making the most of the media

          

 

If you want to get lots of people to your Open Farm Sunday event, then working with the local media (radio, paper or TV) is a great way to do this. The contact details of local newspapers will be inside the front cover. Alternatively, the following websites should list all the papers covering your area: www.wrx.zen.co.uk/alltnews.htm or http://www.newspapersoc.org.uk - here are some top tips to get your local media to publicise your event -

• A concise email with an eye catching photo of you and your farm can attract a journalist’s attention.

• Be sure your story stands out. It needs a ‘hook’.

• Try and make your story relevant to ‘readers/listeners’ lives.

• Give examples, refer to feelings, people and places.

• If you do a radio interview, talk ‘in pictures’ that illustrate what you are saying.

• Keep your answers short and simple.

 

 

With best wishes

Roly Puzey

LEAF

Stoneleigh Park

Warwickshire

CV8 2LZ



Tel: 0247 6413 911

Fax: 0247 6413 636

enquiries@leafuk.org

www.leafuk.org

  

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Thank you - Thank you - Thank you -

Finally, as well as the many farmers who are opening their farms on the day, we would also like to thank our sponsors for their financial and in kind support for Open Farm Sunday, principle sponsors include:

           

           

Additional sponsors include – National Farmers Union, Dairy Crest, ASDA, East Midlands Food Farming Education, Growhow, South West of England Regional Development Agency / Duchy College, Wiggly Wigglers, Soil Association, Government Office for the North West, Chilterns Conservation Board, Wych Avon District Council, Produce World, EBLEX and Duke of Cornwall Benevolent Fund
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