Countryside Marketing - Case Studies

Fox-Pitt Eventing - Facility Booking System

In December 2024, we assisted Fox-Pitt Eventing in implementing an online booking system for their all-weather gallops, as well as their indoor and outdoor jumping arenas. This system allows riders to instantly check availability and make bookings, streamlining the process for both riders and the office administrator, who previously managed bookings via phone calls. To support the system's launch, we also provided social media marketing assistance by creating tailored graphics to enhance their promotional efforts.

BBO Training - Booking system

BBO Training offers outstanding short courses for healthcare professionals across Oxon, Bucks, Berks and beyond.

BBO was previously managing their bookings via email and a series of Excel sheets. They were looking to keep costs down, improve their admin and offer a better customer journey that allows students who are booking to see which courses were on offer, who their trainer would be, and book - or join the waiting list - for a course.

Countryside Marketing helped BBO implement the Corsizio solution.

Attington Stud - Booking system

Attington Stud in Tetsworth Oxfordshire is a popular training facility for horse riders.

Attington offers an Indoor school, and outdoor arena ideal for showjumping and a vast outdoor arena with a wide range of cross-country jumps including jumps into and out of water.

Attington had an online booking system until August 2023, but the provider closed its doors, so Attington needed a system isn short order.

Countryside Marketing was able to set up, configure and start taking online bookings within 7 days. The system - based on technology from Acuity - was then incorporated into Attington's existing website.

Countryside Marketing coordinated the initial design and launch of an enquiry system for rural caravan sites.

CL Booking is a platform that connects touring caravan or motorhome owners with small (5-van) sites known as CLs. CL Booking mimics the functionality that tourers have come to expect from sites such as AirBnB.

Countryside Marketing specified the design with a group of twenty 5-van site owners in 2021 and 2022, and oversaw the platform's development and launch to the general public. Pocket Apps (the developer) relaunched the service in 2023 with a new colour scheme and more intuitive search page.

Users' reactions have been extremely positive, and this has resulted in a strong uptake by sites wishing to advertise their availability on the platform.

The service received a Silver award in the British Farming Awards 2022 Digital Innovator of the Year category.

CL Booking is owned and managed by Pocket Apps.

Laceys Family Farm - Cadmore End - Bucks

Website - Marketing - Mentoring

Client: Will & Ed Lacey. Dairy farmers producing award-winning Guernsey milk who started a thriving farm shop 6 years ago.

Projects: Website, Email for the business, photography & in-store signage, ongoing advice & mentoring.

Outcomes: Visual story-telling by way of illustrative photography and in-store signage to emphasize to shoppers that this is a real family farm and that the meat and dairy products they are buying are produced on the farm. The photography was a core part of their new website. Turnover in the farm shop is rising month on month as the hard-working team keeps standards high complemented by a strong presence on local social media (Facebook & Instagram) . The shop has also featured on local radio, local news press and even on BBC Countryfile. The farm is closely aligned with the local community and runs community focused events and participates in Open Farm Sunday.

We have enjoyed working with Ted and found his knowledge and advice of great benefit in developing our business. From running through ideas to developing them he is always been on hand to help out as and when we want.

Will Lacey

Morris of Hoggeston - Aylesbury - Bucks

Website - Email Marketing - Signage - Mentoring

Client: Caroline Morris and her family farm beef, pigs and sheep from their beautiful (Listed) farmhouse near Aylesbury. Caroline sells the meat through farmers markets, at the farm gate, and when restrictions allow at the Farm Breakfasts.

Project: Caroline had been sold a wordpress-based website with the promise that it was easily maintainable. It wasn't. Countryside marketing worked with a specialist partner to re-build the website on a new wordpress platform so that Caroline could update the website herself. We also helped her implement Mailchimp for email marketing and advised on roadside signage.

Outcomes: Caroline can now update the website easily herself, so that new events, recipes or farmers market dates can be added. Mailchimp allows her to regularly update her customer base and the numbers of recipients continues to rise. The roadside signage is driving more farm doorstep sales of beef, pork and lamb.

Ted really understood exactly what we were looking for and what our business needed right from the beginning, and has been a fantastic help with improving our online image and sales from the farm gate.

He helped oversee our new website and ensured that it really is simple to update ourselves, helping us keep costs down.

Ted is very easy to work with and his knowledge and experience was extremely helpful to us, we thoroughly recommend him.

Caroline Morris

Vale Training - Bucks

Online Booking

Client: Kate Mason has run the award-winning Vale Training Services Ltd. since 2009. Most courses are run from their family farm near Aylesbury.

Projects: On-line booking of training courses for integration by the client into their existing website.

Outcomes: Although Kate had a website that described the various courses available, delegates were only able to book by phone or email. When delegates booked a course they often missed courses. Kate asked Countryside Marketing to find a solution that would automate the booking and delegate reminder process.

Having evaluated a number of alternatives, Corsizio was the chosen solution as it met the needs and was cost effective. Countryside marketing tested and implemented the solution. Delegates can now book online and receive automated joining instructions and reminders. Vale Training has integrated Corsizio within their existing website.

Having someone guide us through the process of hunting for a booking services for our business was amazing, and saved us a lot of time. Once Ted had found a solution we could just get on with the getting clients booked on to the courses.

Kate Mason

Goodleigh Hill Caravan Site - Pershore - Worcs

Marketing Advice - Website - Online Booking

Client: Father and daughter team, Matthew and Emily Horton gained planning consent and LEADER funding for their Certificated Location (CL) site in 2018. They approached Countryside Marketing for advice on the layout and subsequent marketing of the site which was launched in 2019.

Project: Countryside Marketing advised Matthew and Emily through their start-up months and subsequently built a website and implemented the InnStyle Booking system for Goodleigh Hill.

Outcomes: This adult-only CL has quickly become a sought-after site by members of the Caravan and Motorhome Club. Members can book easily, are provided with excellent information about the site, on approach the roadside signage is very clear and the site itself, being within walking distance of the small town of Pershore, is very handy for motorhomes. Goodleigh Hill has many 5-star reviews and has high occupancy.

Ted brought a wealth of expertise and experience from operating his own site, Cholsey Grange CL, to help us establish Goodleigh Hill comprising site specifications and facilities, to our website, booking system and social media pages.

Not being caravanners or motorhomers ourselves, we benefited from Ted's advice in how to best equip our CL for guests.

This attention to detail has been key to our success since we opened in May 2019

Emily Horton

Customer Relationship Management - CRM

Clients: The Septic Tank Store is based near Banbury and Oak Garden Machinery are based near Thame. Both businesses work in the rural economy to provide products and services.

Project: In both cases the companies needed assistance to implement or 'fine-tune' a Customer Relationship Management System; OnePage CRM and integrate it with Mailchimp for outbound email marketing.

Outcomes: Both companies now have a more efficient way of tracking their sales processes with prospects and customers. They can quickly email special offers to their customer lists.

Old Manor Farm - Haylage Supplier - Bedfordshire

Transactional Website Production

Client: Mark Cooper is a farmer in Bedfordshire who specialises in providing exceptional quality hay, haylage and bedding to the equestrian market. Old Manor Farm has established itself as a trusted brand, particularly for the supply of hay suitable for laminitic horses and ponies.

Project: Mark was not happy with his old website which did not allow customers to place orders online for UK-wide delivery. He was seeking an up-to-date website that allowed customers to place orders online and calculate delivery charges.

Outcome: Countryside Marketing worked with Mark to define the brief and source a specialist supplier of transactional websites to the agricultural market. Mark now has a website that meets all his requirements at a reasonable cost.

Our website was getting rather tired and we struggled to keep it updated. Ted helped us build our new one which is so easy to update that even a fat fingered farmer like me finds it manageable! I would even go as far as saying that it was fun to do and now we add new content regularly. Thanks Ted!!

Ben Cannon, Partner at Hyde Hall Partnership

Simple websites, that don't involve transactions (the ability to buy good or services directly online) are easy to set up and edit using Google Sites. This platform is very secure, adapts to mobile users well and the editing can be shared. It's very easy to learn, but has some sophisticated features for those that need them.

Langley Farm Cottages - Saffron Walden

Website - Social Media - Marketing advice

Client : The Clark Family, award-winning arable farmers near Saffron Walden.

Project: Assist with a Marketing Plan, Online Booking Website, Social Media and Mentoring of three new holiday cottages built in the farmyard from a redundant farm building.

Outcome: Countryside Marketing visited the cottages whilst they were being rebuilt and advised on potential routes to market, marketing, branding, online booking options, photography and social media. We chose the Scrumpy website platform as is well-suited to this market. The beautifully presented and full furnished cottages with lovely countryside views have been fully booked since launch.

Ted has been a great pleasure to work with. He had a great in-depth knowledge of the countryside and leisure market and really gave us the confidence to kick start and structure the business.

Anyone with a family farm or country business looking at diversification projects, Ted is a must! We would highly recommend him and will certainly be looking to use him for future projects.

Matt Clark

Interactive booking website

Blackbirds Farm - Hertfordshire

Website

Clients: Alistair & Justine Pinkerton run a diversified farm in Hertfordshire.

Project: Alistair had one primary goal in mind, it wasn't to sell services, or contracting, but to help him find staff. He realized that prospective staff would want to see some information about the farm, his kit and the first place they'd look would be on the web.

Outcome: Ted worked with Justine to introduce her to the Google Sites and she both built and manages the website.

Thank you so much, we're both really pleased to finally have a smart looking website

Attracting the right staff to fill key roles was the primary reason for having a website.

The Land App - Rural mapping solution

Sales - CRM Implementation - Events

Client: Tim Hopkin, the founder of The Land App, a digital mapping solution that is now being used by thousands of land managers and rural professionals across the UK

Project: Ted brought his sales skills to bear on this project, helping The Land App team to introduce the software to Land Agents across the UK. A telesales campaign complemented by frequent Webinars, attendance at trade shows, events and on-site meetings with some of the leading firms established The Land App as a credible alternative mapping system. Behind the scenes Ted implemented OnePage CRM to ensure all conversations were logged and sales performance was monitored.

Outcome: The Land App is now trusted by over 3,500 rural teams and professionals across the UK, including: national agents such as Savills and Strutt & Parker; landowners such as Goodwood and the Cowdray Estate; and government agencies like National Parks.

A national Self-Help Group for site owners

Marketing - Website - Social Media - Video

This is a growing group of 5-van caravan sites operating under the auspices of the Caravan & Motorhome Club.

The aim of the group is to provide support and share best-practice to fellow owners.

Countryside Marketing built the website, membership database and coordinates regular Zoom Meetings where ideas and best practice are shared alongside a very active Facebook Group.

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