Episode 11 – 8 Ways to Boost CSA Member Engagement with Your Weekly Newsletter

June 26, 2019 by Corinna

CSA newsletters — do you like writing them?

I have a lot-hate relationship with them. I know how valuable they are to some of my customers. But I’m not convinced that a majority of them actually read the thing. And that makes it hard to justify spending 5 hours a week to put it together.

Which I do.

But CSA newsletters can do a lot to drive CSA member engagement, and as we find out in this week’s episode, when done right, they can help your customer experience achieve the maximum benefit of your product.

So how do you write a killer newsletter that your members actually want to read every week (without killing yourself?)

That’s what this episode is all about.

I’ve brought on a special guest and expert in crafting quality CSA newsletters — Lauren Rudersdorf from Raleigh’s Hillside Farm to share her 8 best practices for writing CSA newsletters that boost engagement for  your CSA members.

Here’s Lauren chowing down on a watermelon! Lauren is one of the best farmers I know at telling the story of her farm to her members.

Lauren and her husband Kyle run a 7-acre certified organic CSA operation in southern Wisconsin. Lauren and her husband began their farm together in 2012 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. They began their first year with 8 CSA members and a small stand at the Janesville Farmer’s Market, but quickly realized CSA was the best model for their skill set. In a crowded CSA marketplace outside of Madison, Wisconsin they have been able to grow their CSA from 8 to 300 members in the past seven years. Lauren provides all the communication, administration, education and business management of their growing CSA business. Off-farm, Lauren works part-time as the Administrative Director of an environmental non-profit law firm. And in her spare time, she’s cranking out a pretty awesome food blog www.TheLeekAndTheCarrot.com, as well as business development and coaching for fellow CSA farmers.

Lauren is a visionary. She’s also a great writer and content creator.  I consider her to be an expert in the “CSA newsletter” space, and so when it comes to learning how to “get better” at creating this critical marketing document each week, I could think of no better person to ask.

In this podcast Lauren gives us a LOT of practical advice for how to write better newsletters. We cover:

• What Lauren does differently with her newsletter that is driving brand loyalty.
• Why a PDF may not be the best way to do a newsletter. (Gulp. Guilty).
• The 7 categories Lauren uses in her newsletter template each week.
• Time-saving tactics she uses to make the process of writing faster each week.
• Why you might want to place a dollar value for your newsletter content.
• 8 ways to make your newsletter kick some ass!
• How to access her newsletter format

Hit play and let’s get started!

• Listen to this episode on Stitcher.
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• Listen to this episode on GooglePlay.

Some of the resources mentioned in this episode:

• CSA Marketing Discussion Group — my private Facebook group for farmers on the topic of marketing
• Raleigh’s Hillside Farm Newsletter Template example — Click on this link to see an example of Lauren’s newsletter/blog format and use it as a template for your own.
• Lauren’s 8 Ways to Boost CSA Member Engagement Freebie — download the 8 tips we shared in this episode as a PDF. NO LONGER AVAILABLE.

Want to contact Lauren to learn how you can use her services to help with creating a newsletter template? You can reach her on Instagram @raleighshillsidefarm or just click on the link.

Got a great newsletter template of your own? Share it with me. Email me at mydigitalfarmers@gmail.com. I’d love to see an example and share it with other farmers here!

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My hope is to feature guests periodically on the show. If you know someone who is innovating in the area of marketing as a farmer, please send me an email at mydigitalfarmers@gmail.com.

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