Marketing strategies....

[Sabino_Farm]

Being a fairly new WB breeder, I must rely heavily on marketing to sell my foals. I have a website (currently being updated) and FB page (always current) but still use sites such as Equine.com and Warmbloodsforsale.com. I am not sure if Dreamhorse.com is worth it…any opinions? Any other sites that seem to be good ones? I do use FB pages specifically designed for sales too.

Another thing I am wondering is whether magazine ads are worth it? Has anyone done this and did you find it worthwhile?
What magazines would you use? Mostly I am marketing young horses…weanlings to 3 year olds but not started under saddle yet.

Currently I am looking to sell a broodmare in foal and her 2011 and 2012 offspring. Should I have an ad made with all three?

Thanks! Any advise and ideas would be appreciated. We are pretty good about getting good photos and video, mostly I am wondering where buyers look when they are shopping?

[rosebudranch]

Very interested as
To the input given, being a new breeder as well.

[pinto_power]

I have been breeding and selling young horses for a long time and don’t have an answer for you.
Marketing can eat up dollars so fast with few results unfortunately.
And I think the area of the country or continent one lives in impacts the success of any marketing.
To reflect on a current COTH thread, the challenges are about educating the general horse buying public about costs of production. Stud fee costs, veterinary expenses, hay costs and the overhead of running a breeding operation, even a small one That just touches on the costs!
People in my area of Canada tend to want well started 3-5 yr olds for the cost of a foal or less.
OK …Rant over<smile>

I am getting older, and also work off farm so starting youngsters is something I cannot do any more, and getting young horses started well costs! I work at selling my foals as weanlings to 2 year olds however right now nothing seems to be working.
Back to marketing. Word of mouth is best, one’s own web site and carefully selected sales web sites are best. Knowing the market and pricing accordingly is important as well.
If one can afford to run and small ongoing Farm ad in a well read horse publication that is great; however eats the profit up fast!
Not much help am I?
Martha

[alliekat]

Continue to build your FB. We have had great results and all but one of our foals was sold through FB. We don’t pay for ads online or in magazines. We just didn’t see a return the one time we did. We also have built our clientele for our Weanling Kindergarten Program/young horse programs. Once you have a base, then word of mouth will start to kick in, as well as current and past clients referring friends and family to you. Good luck

[HyperionStudLLC]

For a limited budget put your horses on as many appropriate online sites. Some are free and some have annual fees, but all within reason I feel.

If you want to spend some $ on print, Equine Journal and Warmbloods Today can be more affordable than most.

Keep up your Facebook and make sure your website is up to date. Create a network on forums like COTH as well. .

Good luck

[HyperionStudLLC]

For a limited budget put your horses on as many appropriate online sites. Some are free and some have annual fees, but all within reason I feel.

If you want to spend some $ on print, Equine Journal and Warmbloods Today can be more affordable than most.

Keep up your Facebook and make sure your website is up to date. Create a network on forums like COTH as well. .

Good luck

[NJRider]

As a person living in the Midwest currently shopping for a young WB (weanling to age 2) I spent most of the day looking at Facebook, the main sales sites (eWarmbloods, Dreamhorse, Equine.com, warmbloods-for-sale, etc) and googling breeder sites. I can tell you the #1 thing that causes me to click away is NO Prices at all on web site or ad, ads not current (selling 2011 in-utero foals ?), no decent photos or video clips. I know it takes a little effort, but for an unbroken young horse, all you need are two people and a small confined area to move the horse around in. Inquired about a horse today…seller sent a bad 35 second clip of horse running around a field…no photos showing conformation. Seller said horse was priced cheap and they simply could not get video or photos. Their website was a mess, none of the text matched the photos. So they cannot be bothered to do one thing to market this horse…hence, I cannot be bothered with them…and the horse was not that cheap, either. So act like you care…it is not that hard to even get a little video. Don’t get defensive that people are not falling over themselves over a scrubby horse that could have been one in a million horses in any pasture…if your horse is quality, etc…make an effort to provide the means to people can SEE it. Maybe their marketing is some type of reverse psychology? Who knows…

[cllane1]

I like Dreamhorse because it shows the real names of the sellers, not screen names. That makes it easier to find web sites and contact info, if they are not already listed somewhere in the ad.

[Molly_Malone]

I have StatCounter installed on my website - caveat, I do my website myself, so YMMV. It’s a free service and you add a couple of lines of code to your page and it tracks where someone has come from to look at that page. I have ads running on equinenow and warmbloods for sale. I like those two because you can load 5 photos and a video and change them any time you want (unlike Dreamhorse). I also use Dreamhorse for specific horses.

From the counter I can tell that I get equally as many views from Dreamhorse as I do Equinenow and about a third the amount from warmbloods for sale. Actual sales from which site vary I have found, depending entirely on the horse. But views are good because you never know who files the info away and comes back a year later. I also get lots of views from the (free) facility listing on equinenow both from key words and location.

Youtube shows you where people are viewing your video and again, Dreamhorse and Equinenow are about equal. I do get views from facebook, but not as many as I would have expected, but that’s because things get lost down the page. And I find it difficult to hard sell on the Ranch’s FB page. Not sure why - I’m a bit squeamish about it, which is stupid.

[FairhavenSportHorses]

Keep up with your facebook page, make donations to rescues - especially if they’re willing to post something on a form of social media thanking your farm, find a new photographer (or do it yourself) and just keep at it. Being on reputable forms like COTH really helps, as well. I’m far from a professional breeder at this point, but i’m constantly on sales sites, dreaming about what I wished I owned.

[NOMIOMI1]

I know a couple of people I forwarded horses to from “dressage horses for sale” and “Warmbloods for sale” on Facebook.

I think its incredibly user friendly and though there is no way to search when you are looking you can check it daily fairly quick!@