If you don’t know what a “fleaster” is, we’re so very glad you’re here. Farmgirl Flea is a small business that organizes three separate flea markets in West Michigan throughout the year, and they’re pretty major. These markets include everything from vintage items and antiques to food trucks and live entertainment. Did we mention Santa even stops by their holiday market? What’s not to love?
When Farmgirl Flea came to us, they had their events down, but their website, media presence, and graphics needed some love.
The Ask
When it comes to the media, our goals were pretty simple: Let the public know about each market and all the fun that awaits. Not only did we want to communicate it, but we wanted to show it, too. And through influencer marketing, we hoped to accomplish this on a more tailored scale.
Farmgirl Flea had a logo and some designs but no solid branding. They knew what they wanted to look like but needed help to illustrate it, so obviously, we stepped in.
Last but not least was their website. After all, they needed a central hub to communicate with guests and vendors alike. Plus, Farmgirl Flea sells their tickets online before events (in addition to selling at the door), so their solution had to look great, communicate well, and perform.
Our major goals were:
- Obtain 3 pieces of earned media
- Implement an influencer campaign geared towards awareness & sales
- Defined branding & design
- Overhaul the website without sacrificing usability
- Get the word out about Farmgirl Flea!
The Work
Did someone say earned media and BBQ? Farmgirl Flea offers much more than shopping, and the Holy Smokers BBQ food truck is a prime example. As one of their market vendors, we invited the Holy Smokers crew to join them on FOX17’s Morning Mix. Remember how we said we wanted to show versus tell? How about taste versus tell, too?
Of course, it’s important to mention WZZM paid the fleasters a visit during their Fall Market. Getting media onsite isn’t easy, but it sure is worth it. In addition to these show stopping segments, the Fall Market was highlighted on West Michigan Woman, MLive, and WoodTV8.
On the other side of PR, we had the chance to work with some amazing local influencers: Boxwood Farms, Hello Aly May, and Grand Rapids Girl. These three creators perfectly fit the market, focusing on decor, community, fun, and West Michigan happenings. Between sponsored posts and an exclusive influencer meet-up, Farmgirl Flea’s event was exposed to nearly 93,500 potential users. Each individual we worked with was unique in their approach to showing their followers all Farmgirl Flea has to offer.
For creative, we helped them figure out their branding and narrowed down their color palette. Cohesiveness is the word as we matched up website, social, and all other design elements. Farmgirl Flea is about a clean look but with a rustic feel. That means pastels, white overlays, and lots of close-up photos of vendor goods & antiques to give it that rustic look.
When it came to the website, we went back and forth about which platform to build on. We kept them on their existing CRM since they’d used it for ticket sales for years. With that in mind, we reconfigured the site to match the new branding without sacrificing mobile usability.
One of the things their old site lacked was the option for vendors to apply online. Previously, vendors had to download a PDF, fill it out, and physically mail it into Farmgirl Flea. In the digital age, that just didn’t fly with us. We built out customizable applications for Farmgirl Flea that even include spaces for vendors to upload photos of their booths, products, and more.
The Results
Overall, we wound up producing and organizing:
- 15 pieces of earned media
- 1 successful influencer campaign
- 7 social media templates and 3 email templates
- 4 structured months of content for their content calendar
- 35% increase in users YoY since the site launched
- 38% increase in sessions YoY
Of course, it wouldn’t be a blog about flea markets without a great before and after. Check it out below.
Before
After
We’ll leave you with this: Visit Farmgirl Flea’s Holiday Market (November 24th & 25th) and see the magic for yourself. Oh, and if you’re looking for the magic that 8THIRTYFOUR offers, you can contact us too.
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