From the Field: Using Existing Events to Promote Farm Bureau

There are a lot of events that take place in Virginia and several of them have ties to agriculture. Whether it be a county fair, a strawberry or cantaloupe festival; they can attract a lot of people.

Farm Bureau participated in the Ashland Strawberry Faire last Saturday and had 19 people sign up as new members. Since the event was in Hanover County, several Hanover County Farm Bureau board of directors, women’s committee, agents and office staff were at the Farm Bureau booth. Helping them were Virginia Farm Bureau staff from Membership & Field Services, Insurance, Health Care Consultants, and Agriculture in the Classroom. The good number of Farm Bureau folks was needed to staff the booth as the Faire drew in approximately 30,000 attendees.

Farm Bureau offered people a special “Join Today” promotion of a pint of strawberries, jar of preserves, and a 25% discount on membership to join Farm Bureau right then while they were at the booth. Several people became new members so that Farm Bureau could be their service provider for health insurance. 

Farm Bureau had three tents as part of the booth. One tent was devoted to agriculture education to kids through hands on activities and Agriculture in the Classroom materials. The second tent focused on all of the insurance services that we provide including health insurance. The third tent highlighted the numerous member benefits such as the GM and Polaris discounts. With all three tents being together as one booth, Farm Bureau had a good presence. This Farm Bureau booth didn’t just happen. There were four planning meetings held, an ad was placed in the newspaper insert about the Faire, and an email blast was sent to members.

Farm Bureau has and continues to have a presence at many events throughout the state. The next big event where we will be is at the Agriculture Expo in Orange County in August. However, there are numerous other events going on this summer such as county fairs where county Farm Bureaus will most likely have a booth or be recognized as one of the sponsors.

One of the best and easiest things that you can do to help us get more new members is tell others about Farm Bureau membership. Use your member benefits and tell others about the savings they could get. Plus we provide excellent one on one service to our members. Thank you for being a member and contact your county Farm Bureau or visit our website if you would like additional information on any of our member benefits.

Until next time,

Mark