Hello! I have a background in food and nutrition strategic consulting, communications and research. I’ve worked in this field my entire career and it seems like - putting on my rider hat - there are so many communications and organizational needs at barns in the mid-Atlantic (where I live, I’m sure the challenges are similar elsewhere!). I’m thinking about trying to bridge my skill set with the equestrian world and am wondering if anyone has advice on what the needs are for barns and/or riders; I’d also love any connections in the equestrian comms world that I could talk to for further advice. Thank you in advance!!
Hold my beer while I think about this would be the normal response
There is a broadening disparity in the equine community, are you targeting Wellington level or mom & pop venues ?
I’m right there with you. Not as much Wellington necessarily- probably the barns that have boarders but skew a bit more local in their approach. And the lesson barns - from what I can tell there are so many gaps. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
if you are thinking about an on-line web based solution, it needs to be easy easy easy and very intuitive. The farm managers/trainers/riders I know have neither time nor patience for figuring out how to post or view or respond to something.
Even something as adding email addresses to a data base can be confusing.
(I am responsible for reaching out to about 25 people (who vary with some regularity)… for the life of me, I cannot get the email addresses from a spreadsheet to my earthlink address book in a group… so I have given up and enter them one by one…)
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So the question is, what problem are you helping solve, will it increase revenue, and will the cost in time and cash make that revenue worth it?
Many lesson and boarding barns are full up except for normal turnover and many have waiting lists. Local show barns make their reputation locally within a community. Most trainers communicate with current or potential clients via FB or text or email.
The problem with boarding and lessons is that it’s not infinitely expandable. Once your stalls are full and your lesson or training slots taken up there is no advantage to more advertising. The most efficient online presence right now is a barebones website directing folks to FB to see the latest farm photos.
Too much strategy from a local barn can sound really off putting and wierd.
Some horse people do get lots of views on YT or Tiktok channels which can be a good source of revenue but those fly when the individual has a distinct point of view and a story. I don’t think a comms person can create a viral video sensation.
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Agreed with all of this, and even many big name riders just use working students to do social media. Smaller and medium-sized barns are on a tight budget and prioritize their funds toward the facility/horses/upkeep.
It’s not that barns couldn’t use communications and social media support–as many FB posts, barn websites from 2005, and people who don’t answer texts, phone calls, or emails from prospective clients suggest–but IMHO most don’t think it’s so necessary they can’t do it themselves (regardless if they’re good at it or not, some are and some aren’t). For example, could many sales videos from show barns be more professionally shot? Sure. But if buyers still like the horse call, visit, try the horse, and someone buys it even if the video is just “good enough,” the pro isn’t going feel the need for a communications person.
Even speaking as a prospective client, the barn’s social media presence and the quality of online videos and such on a FB page wouldn’t influence whether I went with a trainer. The only thing online that would dissuade me against is if I saw the trainer was actively aggressive and nasty, and usually that’s unfixable by any PR person.
