Marketing your Alpaca Farm – Online Content vs. Traditional Advertising

Using online channels to market your alpaca farm, animals and products like yarn and fabrics may be something very new to you. Many of us grew up in a time where radio, TV, newspapers and magazines were about the only ways to draw in new customers and grow a business.

With today’s growing interest in online channels though, developing a website with rich, informative content can pay longer term dividends.

When considering how to market an alpaca farm, many ranchers immediately think advertising – whether it be through online pay-per-click (PPC) or more traditional places.

So what’s the value of content marketing?

Why is it more fruitful for an alpaca rancher to develop a site’s content and consistently commit the time and resources to developing it?

To answer that question, let’s first establish what content marketing is. In a fundamental sense, it’s the use of your knowledge as an alpaca rancher to draw in prospective clients who are interested in what you offer.

Think of advertising as someone shouting at you – ads you see flipping through a magazine or watching TV are shouting out at you for your attention. Most of the time, you keep flipping.

Online content however is more akin to pulling up a chair and talking. People generally have to seek out your information so they’re automatically interested already. How well you inform them, answer their questions and address their fears through your copy determines how many of those visitors turn into leads.

There are many advantages online content holds over traditional advertising. Some of these include:

• Content created for and distributed on the web has a much longer shelf life at a lower cost than traditional advertising

• Relevant material draws customers in rather than a one-size fits all approach

• Online content is more dynamic and easier to change

• More tools to measure effectiveness (…or metrics) are available

• Involves fewer risks at a lower cost

• Potential audiences are much larger at a much lower cost

To see these benefits in action, find someone who can provide you with data from testing. An alpaca marketing firm can provide you with some examples. Proof like this helps skeptical alpaca ranchers like you see how consistently building web content leads to increased web traffic, conversions and revenues.

Traditional advertising like TV, radio and print have been on a downward slide for awhile now.

It’s not that we’re saying you shouldn’t include those in marketing your alpaca ranch. There are still situations where it works. One of the drawbacks though of course is metrics – the only way to measure success is through sales.

So considering the growth of web content marketing, especially for alpaca ranchers, it’s wise to consider committing a larger share of your marketing budget to developing these important, online resources.