In this course you will learn:

1) Fundamentals of entrepreneurship and digital commerce

2) First steps in creating a company and an online shop

3) Fundamentals of digital commerce

4) How to boost your marketing campaigns and networking on social networks to attract more customers.

The entrepreneurship world is a complex universe, full of research and development. However, if we know how to use and exploit our resources to the maximum, we can lead our business to success.

The Internet allows us to reach every corner of the world in a matter of seconds, which is a great advantage when it comes to accessing information, contacting people in different countries, offering products and services... All these opportunities can work in our favour if we know how to take advantage of them.

The farming sector is not far behind. Innovations in production, distribution and sales have meant that this industry can access to a wider market with greater opportunities, without the need to invest in physical spaces or have a large budget. The online world is, therefore, a wonderful option to boost our business.

In this course, you will learn how to use the advantages offered by the world of online entrepreneurship to boost your agricultural business.

The entrepreneurial attitude may be innate, but it must certainly be exploited to achieve business success.

But what is entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship is defined as the attitudes and qualities of a person that allow him/her to embark on new challenges, projects and paths with the aim of surpassing his/her achievements and reaching new goals.

The entrepreneur profile presents a series of traits and attitudes that allow him/her to empower the business and achieve the established objectives:

• Initiative. Initiative is necessary to start new projects. Curiosity or nonconformism will be very useful in our entrepreneurial path.
• Constant training. The search for new competencies or skills allows us to increase our possible strategies in our company. For example, learning about online commerce can help our agro-livestock company to reach a larger market and get potential customers. Training is always a key aspect in the life of an entrepreneur.
• Leadership. When we start a new project, we will most likely have workers with us. A good leader knows how to guide the team, make timely decisions and encourage communication among all members. We must keep in mind that balance is essential: we must not become tyrants or leave all the work to the rest of the team. Only if each part does its bit will we achieve success.
• Future vision and anticipation. We must be prepared for any scenario that may arise. Anticipation can make the difference, because knowing how to face adversities is a requirement when undertaking a project. To promote anticipation and vision of the future, it is advisable to analyse errors and information (market, business, our customers...) to know how to act and what decisions to make. Chance is never an option in the path of entrepreneurship.
• Accept and learn from mistakes. It is unavoidable that some decisions or projects do not turn out as we have planned. We must understand what went wrong, know how to correct it and learn for our next opportunities.
• Ability to measure risk. Although it is wise to rectify, we must be sensible in our decisions. It is important to know how to measure potential losses and gains when entering into a project. Every entrepreneur must take risks along the way, but we should not take reckless measures.
• Communication skills. You must be able to transmit your ideas to your team as well as to your clients and collaborators. Your ability to influence the recipients is key. To achieve this, you can practice your form of communication, both verbal and nonverbal; this will also help you when negotiating. Be clear and concise, and maintain a formal but approachable language, as your image will be professional and reliable at the same time. Keep in mind that communication involves two or more interlocutors: listen to what the other person has to say and keep it in mind. Be coherent and consistent.
• Creativity. Creativity is always a good tool to create strategies and solve problems. Use techniques such as brainstorming when facing an obstacle or coming up with new options. Look for different approaches and bear in mind all your possibilities.

When starting a digital entrepreneurship project, the first thing to do is to establish the objectives to be achieved. Only then we will be able to establish the steps to follow.

In our farming business, we can set goals such as a certain number of sales or harvest. You must be realistic, and set goals that you can plan and measure. You can break that goal down into smaller ones and set deadlines for each of them. Develop an action plan with what you need to achieve your goal, whether it is budget, knowledge, skills or tools. Be aware of potential obstacles you may encounter along the way, and consider how you might overcome them.

It is important to take care of our corporate image, since it will be our appearance to the public. Some elements to implement are:

- Name: Our name should be easy to remember and pronounce, as this will allow it to reach many more people. Look for a name that is related to your business’ activity. If you are going to propose an international business or one that could become one, make sure that it does not have a different meaning in another language or that it does not include strange characters.

- Logotype. A logotype allows the user to associate an image to a company. Hence the importance of having a good logo. Keep it simple and use colours associated with the spirit of your company (in our case, these can be green, blue, yellow or orange). Respect these colours in everything related to the business (products, website…)

- Slogan: A slogan makes it easier for the customer to remember us. Be brief and clear with the message you want to convey.

All these elements will generate an identity that will be able to transmit the essence of our work.

The Business Plan is a document in which we offer a structured vision of our company. Here, we must cover information such as:

• Executive summary and description of the project.
• Presentation of our product or service.
• Market and Competence study.
• SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats).
• Business model and financial plan.
• Development strategy.
• Description of the human team.
• Environmental impact.
• Contingency plan.

Keep this plan in mind in all decisions involving the business, since it reflects the whole identity of the company.

One of the most important aspects in the field of online entrepreneurship is our website. A website is our showcase in the online world. That is why it is important to keep our image and products well cared; otherwise, we will not reach our objectives. To do this, we must take into account the following aspects:

- Web design: A visually appealing and navigable page can make the difference between visit and sale.

Respect your image, include your corporate colours and logo. Keep in mind that the user’s experience is very important; therefore, choose an adequate font type, size and colour that makes reading easy. Be as concise and clear as possible, use short paragraphs and coherent redaction. A responsive design will allow you to adapt the display to different devices, ensuring greater accessibility.

- Images: Include images of your products, as customers like to see what they are buying. Use high quality photographs, visually clean and professional. Use an adequate number of them; if we use too many images, we can look unprofessional, and if we use too few, we can make the customer distrustful.  

- Contents: The contents must be coherently organized, so that the user can find in a few clicks the information he wants to access. You can organize your website in sections according to different categories. This will prevent our client from having to navigate through countless pages to find what he is looking for. Keep in mind that the user may abandon the site if it takes too much effort or time to access what he wants.

Check the grammar and avoid including very long texts. A tip that can help us to structure our website is to put ourselves in the customer's shoes and try to find specific information in an intuitive way.

- Contact information: It makes it easier for the user to contact you. Only then they will be able to solve their doubts, buy products or link with your company. Include your phone number, address, and email so they can contact you if necessary.

- Positioning: Once we have a well-structured website, we must ensure that our customers can reach it. Search engines offer a list of websites related to the words entered in the search bar (keywords), so that the most appropriate results are offered. Users will access the highest positioned websites in this list of results. For example, if we enter the keywords "organic tomatoes", the results will show pages ordered according to their level of usefulness for that search, so that the websites that the search engine considers "less relevant" will be relegated to the last results and it will be very difficult for users to access. Hence the importance of a good positioning.

SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization". It consists of a series of criteria that are used to rank websites in the list of results. These criteria are diverse, but are mainly related to the content quality, the user experience and the care of the page. It is necessary to keep these criteria in mind to optimize our positioning.

Another way to get the user to contact you and find your company is to register your website in business directories. A directory is a website that hosts a list of companies usually categorized by activity sectors.

- Feedback: You must always keep in mind the customer's opinion of your company. Offering a section where they can write their opinions and reviews will allow you to understand what is failing and what is working, so you can constantly improve.

Our website can contain our online store, or link to our external ecommerce platform, where our products are offered. Later in this course, we will learn how to use these platforms.  

Online stores are a very good opportunity for sales. They do not require a physical store and we can reach a larger number of people.

The European community is increasingly aware of the need for environmentally friendly products. This is a great opportunity for businesses like ours.

Product sales websites are varied and important. Many of them have catalogue options, payment methods, contacts, information and feedback. As we have mentioned in previous sections, take care of your online store, as it will be your showcase on the Internet.

An Internet store allows both sales and loyalty. The user does not have to go to a physical store to consult the products, and more services can be displayed in a virtual website. Depending on where the products are shipped to, customers will be willing to wait longer delivery times.

You can offer a type of monthly subscription that allows you to contract a once-a-month product delivery service for the customer, so that once a month the user receives a basket of our products without having to renew the order every month.

We have two options when creating an online store: to create our own website (as we have explained in previous sections) or to sell products on ecommerce platforms. The second one consists of an online site where the user can place orders, pay for them and receive them without physically interacting with the store, which allows small stores to grow geographically without having to open operations in all the places where they sell. Some of these platforms offer their own transport systems, so there is nothing to worry about when it comes to shipping. Some of the platforms that offer this type of services are Amazon, eBay, Etsy or Agoboca (specific for agricultural products). These types of online stores are called Market Place.

Another option are online stores, which are websites where you can create your own store. Thus, buyers buy from the supplier, without intermediaries. However, some of them do not have their own shipping management.  Some of these platforms are Shopify, Pretashop, Magento and WooCommerce.

A tip when promoting our online store is to link it from our corporate website, or to register it in specific directories.

There is a type of external website that can help us manage products with a near expiration date. They collaborate with companies like ours, and sell these products at a slightly lower price. They are a great option to avoid food waste. Examples of such platforms are TooGoodToGo, Phenix, Olio or Geev.

Marketing allows us to enhance our business through a series of strategies that are carried out to attract potential customers to our company. It is important to have a good strategy both offline and online.

Let's begin with offline strategies. When we start a business, we start as an SME, so our reach and strategies are still limited. If we have a physical store, we can advertise it (either through flyers, advertising sites or signage). Local commerce is a very good source of clientele, as it allows a high level of loyalty, as well as a first-person experience with our buyer. To boost it even more, we can create discount cards or offers for regular customers.

In our case, fairs and social events can be a great opportunity to sell our agricultural products. We can also collaborate and supply other companies that need our services.  

Offline marketing is important to generate an impact on our environment. However, it has certain disadvantages. This type of marketing has a limited range, especially in emerging companies. It requires investment of money and its impact is difficult to measure. Offline campaigns tend to focus on a generic audience, so their effectiveness depends on the receptor.

Online marketing comprises a series of Internet strategies to attract customers to our company.

There are countless platforms and techniques that allow a good implementation. We can distinguish between several types of online marketing.

- SEO and SEM: As we have seen before, SEO allows positioning a website, so that more people can access it (this is why SEO is considered a type of Marketing). A complementary option to SEO is SEM (Search Engine Marketing), which consists of a bidding system for the positioning of the web; therefore, we need to invest money in it. Remember, SEM is complementary to SEO, not alternative.

- Social Networks: Social networks connect millions of people in a few clicks. This allows companies to reach their potential customers in a dynamic and enjoyable way. You must choose which networks you want to register in, since not all of them have the same functionality and users. This way, we can focus on the public that concerns us.

It is important to keep them well maintained and updated frequently. We can use series of tools that help us to manage them, so that the impact of your strategy is greater.

- Email Marketing: Email marketing consists of sending messages via mail in order to attract new customers. These can range from order confirmations to newsletters.

All these strategies can help us to improve our business and reach new audiences. If you want to learn more about these tools, we recommend the Young Farmers course "ICT tools for farmers to enter foreign markets".

E-commerce management is not always easy. We must take into account many aspects if we want everything to go well and our customer to be happy with our services. Next, we offer you a series of tips to guarantee the correct operation of our e-commerce service:

- Shipping logistics: Most companies charge rates based on the volume of sales. They usually offer a full-service option, which includes product traceability, incident management, customer service and returns management. Rates vary depending on the type of shipment required.

One factor to take into account is the receptor. For example, if our receiver is another company, shipments are usually cheaper. If the recipient is an individual person, we must be faster in delivery. The place of delivery (national or international territory) or the urgency of the order, which in the case of agricultural and livestock products is greater (due to their ephemeral nature), also has an influence. The shipment of perishable products is more expensive than normal shipments.

Companies offer a time frame organised delivery service, so the more immediate the delivery, the higher the cost. Many of them offer delivery within a few hours to nearby locations, or deliveries during weekends or specific time slots.  Examinate carefully your customers' needs and choose the ones that best suit them.

When it comes to financing shipping, we have several options. We can avoid charging the customer for shipping if we slightly increase the price of the product, or charge a fixed price per shipment. Another very effective option is to guarantee free shipping above a certain cost (for example, free shipping on orders over €50). It is also possible to have a subscription system that guarantees free shipping if the customer requires it (this will be ideal for customers who order our products frequently). 

Some of the most suitable shipping companies for SMEs are FedEx, Seur, UPS or TNT.

- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): This regulation manages the information that can be collected from our customers, and SMEs are not exempt from this. Some of the aspects of this regulation are, for example, the user's consent to manage their data, transparency in such management (what you use it for, for how long, who has access to these...) or the user's rights of access, rectification, deletion and opposition. Depending on the type and size of your business, you will need a Data Protection Officer. In the following link you can consult all the official EU information about GDPR: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection_es

- Third-party service commissions: Keep in mind that many platforms and services (whether transport, websites, ecommerce and others) have different rates and services. Consult those that you require and have well defined what budget you will allocate to each of these. If a modification is necessary, keep in mind the other services and how they will alter the overall budget to maintain management control and avoid risks.

- Stock management: Stock management in online commerce is complicated, especially in businesses that sell perishable products.

If we have suppliers, make sure they are reliable and fast. In addition, it is highly recommended to make a forecast of product sales (if we have a history of sales from other years, it can help us). This way, you will know the expected sales volume of each product according to the time of the year. The minimum viable quantity is the minimum amount of products that you must have to provide a service.

 Take into account the replenishment time to know when you should get more stock. If we have sold out of a product, be sure to notify it on your website so that the customer does not order stock that we do not provide.

- After-sales service: A mistake that many companies make is forgetting to take care of the customer once the product reaches them. We must develop a plan so that the user's satisfaction leads him to buy again. To can achieve this, we can implement a system of reviews, rating or opinions. Try to keep in touch (through Newsletters, for example). You can also include a system of coupons, offers or discounts for a certain number of purchases, for bringing friends or acquaintances to your business or for joining or subscribing to your business. Social Networks, as we will see below, are a very effective form of loyalty. Any strategy that keeps you close to the customer is useful for an effective after-sales plan.

Networking allows you to get in touch with new people and potential clients. It consists of a series of strategies and procedures in order to put the client or company in contact.

We have to know that the objective of the networking is to take the user to our web or online store, since it is here where the information about our products or business is gathered. That is to say, the landing page must be our website.

There are different types of networking, the two main types being online and offline networking. The second one consists of strategies implemented outside the network, such as attending events to establish business collaborations. However, in this course we will focus on online strategies.

Good communication makes the difference between success and failure of our networking campaign. For this we must take into account many factors to design a strategy that knows how to reach the customer:

- Customer profile: We must know the profile of the user to whom the campaign is addressed. This includes their needs, networks they use, schedules (since the publications must be planned to achieve a greater impact), devices they use, and most importantly, geographic location (since the products sold by an agro-livestock company are perishable and require specific logistics and transportation). Be as specific as possible with this profile and adapt the entire advertising campaign to it, as this will give you a greater chance of success.

- Objectives: It is very important to know what objective we pursue when designing a campaign. In our case, we can focus the campaign on the sale of products or on the promotion of our business to achieve visibility.

- Ad design: Taking into account the previous section, we must generate quality ads that generate a measurable and effective impact. Take into account the media you are going to use (banners, videos, images...) and the platforms where to implement them.

Keep in mind that for an ad to fulfil its function, it must attract attention. To do so, you can use eye-catching titles, with colours that convey the essence of the message. The text should use an easily readable font and should not take up too much space or you will not be able to attract users. Make sure that every user who sees the ad can easily access your website or online store. 

- Evaluation: Once the campaign has been implemented, we must evaluate its impact in order to know if we should correct it or enhance it. In our course "ICT tools for farmers to enter foreign markets" you can find platforms and apps to evaluate these impacts.

Social Networks are a golden opportunity to contact potential customers and collaborators. You should carefully choose the ones you use, as many of them have different target audiences and characteristics. For example, the following networks can help you to start your online communication:

- Facebook: the most widely used social network. Facebook Ads allows advertisers to have a wide advertising interface, which helps SMEs to gain visibility. It is currently the social network where most people make product purchases.

- YouTube: Video is an excellent means of interaction, and has proven to be the most effective on different platforms. YouTube is the audio-visual platform par excellence. On this platform you can promote your product and offer a real and close image of your agricultural company. In addition, its average user has a very wide age range, so it is easy to reach our average customer. YouTube is, so to speak, the new television.

- Instagram: Today's world is image-driven, and Instagram knows this. We process and remember images much better than text, so we must know how to use images to our advantage. Although its average user is quite young, we can improve our reputation, generate impact and "sell our image". In addition, the ads are integrated naturally, so the interaction is not artificial or annoying for the user.

-Twitter: The main function of its ad system is to gain visibility, and to publicize products or services. Its number of users reaches more than 353 million. Plus, its well-known hashtags allow virality.

- LinkedIn: The social networking site par excellence. It allows you to get in touch with workers and companies to create professional links. In addition, you will be able to meet and colaborate with other companies.