Honey Marketing with Jay Williams, William's Honey Farm (S4, E31)

On today’s show, we welcome back Jay Williams of William’s Honey Farm and South Hall Farms. Right off, Jay, who was with us in December, talked about preparing and entering the Good Food Awards contest for Honey Has WON this very prestigious award for this year. You heard him here first!

This time, Jay walks us through his beekeeping operation, looking at the products he sells, the marketing and branding operation he has developed, and his work at South Hall Farm, near Nashville.

Jay spends about 30 – 40% of his time actually managing his 100+ colonies, raising queens and harvesting products. Another 20% or so is spent on marketing the products his bees produce, and about 30 – 40% of his time is aimed at giving lessons and teaching, giving tours and otherwise using what he does to make money by sharing and showing.

His philosophy starts with “What is your time worth?”, and follows that with telling stories to get the customer involved, getting his message out, using social media, finding and catering to his niche market of local honey users, knowing your costs, staying ahead of the curve with bees, beekeeping and beekeeping products, being ready to fail but getting up and figuring it out, and making it all work together.

His work at South Hall Farms consists of managing the pollinator gardens that surround the Southern Hospitality Farm and Resort, supporting the many native bees, birds and butterflies that visit these gardens, and taking care of the bees they have on site.

When you are done listening to this fantastic marketing genius, great beekeeper and award-winning honey producer, you will be much better prepared to make it all work for you, too.

Also in this episode, we welcome back Ed Colby as he reads story from his new book, A Beekeeper’s Life: Tales from the Bottom Board. This time we learn a little about quarterback Terry Bradshaw and spring time management.

Listen and subscribe/follow today!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

• Williams Honey Farm - https://williamshoneyfarm.com
• South Hall Farms - https://southallfarms.com
• Good Food Foundation / Awards - https://goodfoodfdn.org/awards/
• Ed Colby - A Beekeeper's Life: Tales From The Bottom Board - https://www.amazon.com/Beekeepers-Life-Tales-Bottom-Board/dp/1912271885/

• Honey Bee Obscura Podcast - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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We welcome Betterbee as sponsor of today's episode. BetterBee’s mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, BetterBee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum.

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected]

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"; Musicalman, "Epilogue". Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC