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Why Your Marketing Needs Both Hunting and Farming

If you've ever opened a business and thought, “I need customers now,” you already understand the pressure that makes marketing difficult.

When revenue is uncertain, it's tempting to chase leads, run another ad, send another promotion, or attend another networking event.

But here's the problem: you need customers today, while many of your best customers tomorrow need time to know you, trust you, and understand what makes your business different.

That's why I believe effective marketing requires both hunting and farming.

Hunting creates opportunities for customers who are ready now. Farming builds awareness, relationships, trust, and familiarity so future customers know where to turn when they're ready.

Neither replaces the other.

What Does “Hunting and Farming” Mean in Marketing?

When I talk about hunting and farming, I'm describing two different jobs your marketing needs to do.

Hunting is about creating opportunities for business now. Farming is about planting and nurturing relationships that may become business later.

If you've just opened your doors and need customers this week, you may need to actively go where people are. Network. Show up at the chamber. Attend business groups. Introduce yourself to people in your community.

Those activities can help you become known and connected quickly.

But you also need to plant seeds for the future.

That might mean investing in marketing that communicates who you are, what you do, what problem you solve, and what makes you different.

The mistake is expecting yesterday's seed to produce fruit today.

Marketing works much like farming. It needs consistency, nurturing, and time.

Why Isn't “Spray and Pray” a Marketing Strategy?

One of the lessons I've learned through years in marketing and media is simple:

Hope is not a marketing strategy.

Especially for a new business with a limited budget, you can't simply put your message everywhere and hope the right people notice.

Before spending money, ask:

• Who are we trying to reach?

• What do we want them to understand?

• What problem are we solving?

• Why should they remember us?

• Where are the people we want to serve actually paying attention?

• Is this activity designed for awareness, relationships, or immediate opportunities?

Not every marketing activity has the same job.

Something designed to generate an immediate conversation shouldn't necessarily be judged the same way as something designed to build familiarity with your brand.

Why Do People Need to Know You Before They Buy?

Visibility doesn't automatically create a transaction.

Someone may see your business today, remember your name tomorrow, follow you later, hear about you from a friend, or eventually encounter you again when they actually need what you offer.

Those interactions give the relationship time to develop.

The goal isn't to turn every first impression into a sale. The goal is to make the first impression valuable enough that the relationship can continue.

That's where farming becomes important.

What Happens When Marketing Becomes Too Transactional?

When the only thing you're thinking about is the lead, it's easy to forget the person behind the lead.

You start thinking about lead volume, conversion rates, cost per lead, and getting someone to buy.

Those measurements have their place.

But if they become the entire mindset, people can start feeling like transactions rather than relationships.

A transactional mindset asks:

How quickly can I turn this person into a customer?

A relational mindset asks:

How can I understand this person and serve them well?

That second question changes the way you show up.

How Can Networking Become More Valuable?

At a networking event, you don't have to walk into the room thinking about how many people you can pitch.

Listen.

What problems are people experiencing? What challenges are their customers facing? What are they trying to figure out? Who could you connect them with?

Sometimes the most valuable thing you can do for someone isn't selling your own service. It might simply be making the right introduction.

That's a very different approach to networking.

It's not:

“What can I get from this person?”

It's:

“How can I serve this person?”

And sometimes that service is as simple as listening or connecting two people who could help each other.

Why Do You Need Both Hunting and Farming?

If you've just opened your business and need customers today, then yes—you need to hunt.

Go meet people. Network. Have conversations. Show up. Be visible.

But don't stop there.

At the same time, you need to farm.

Create visibility that reaches people you can't personally meet. Communicate your story, your value, the problems you solve, and what makes your business different.

Hunting addresses today's need. Farming builds tomorrow's opportunity.

You need both because you can't personally meet everyone who might someday become your customer.

What Should You Do With This?

If your marketing feels like an endless chase for leads, separate your activities into two categories.

1. Identify your hunting activities.
What are you doing to create opportunities with people who are ready now?

2. Identify your farming activities.
What are you doing to build awareness and trust with people who may not be ready today?

3. Give every marketing dollar a job.
Know whether you're investing for awareness, visibility, relationships, or immediate leads.

4. Listen more than you pitch.
At your next networking event, focus on understanding people and looking for ways to help.

5. Give future customers time to develop.
Don't plant a seed today and dig it up tomorrow because you haven't seen fruit yet.

The Bigger Lesson

Good marketing isn't about choosing between immediate results and long-term relationships.

It's about understanding that your business needs both.

Hunting helps you find opportunities today. Farming helps you become the business people remember tomorrow.

And the businesses people remember aren't always the ones that shouted the loudest.

They're often the ones that showed up, contributed, listened, helped, built relationships, and became part of the community.

That's the kind of marketing I want to keep learning about—and sharing with you.

Because sometimes the customer you need today requires you to hunt.

But the customer you'll want tomorrow?

You may need to start farming for them today.