Digital Marketing for the Rural Economy
The rural economy has changed.
The way rural businesses are found online hasn’t kept up.
Estates aren’t just farms; they are multi-revenue businesses, weaving together glamping, wildlife experiences, café and restaurant, an online shop, seasonal events and direct-to-consumer sales, all from the same land. Estates like Knepp, one of the most ambitious and successful examples of rural diversification in the UK.
But the commercial challenge these businesses face is unlike anything in traditional retail or hospitality. Every revenue stream has its own audience, its own booking or purchase journey, and its own seasonal rhythm. Glamping guests find you differently to online sales customers. Wedding enquiries come from different channels entirely.
Most digital agencies don’t understand this complexity. They apply generic e-commerce thinking to businesses that operate nothing like a typical online retailer.
We do things differently.
We’re specialists in working with diversified rural businesses; estates, farms, and
countryside destinations that run multiple income streams from a single website.
We understand that your busiest booking month might be your quietest retail month. That your SEO strategy for accommodation needs to work alongside your paid ads for produce. That your brand story, i.e. the land, the ethos, the people behind it, this is one of your most powerful commercial assets, and most agencies have no idea how to translate that into revenue online.
For rural businesses like yours, we bring together SEO, Google Ads, Meta advertising, e-commerce consultancy, and direct booking optimisation. Not as separate services bolted together, but as a joined-up digital strategy that reflects how your business actually works.
The rural economy is increasingly digital. Your customers are searching, scrolling, comparing and booking online, and often months in advance. The estates and farm businesses that are winning are those with a strong, coherent digital presence across every revenue stream.
That’s what we build.
How TT.D helped
Working with Knepp using ThursdayThinking.Digitals’ ethos of ‘Getting to know your business as well as you do and integrating as your external internal marketing team’ we helped the lovely people at Knepp achieve some outstanding results and stabilised fragmented seasons and systems across a digital eco-system spanning Hospitality, Events, E-Commerce, Tours, Stays, Glamping and more.
Sectors
Retail | E-Commerce | Online Booking | CRM Management | Web Management | SEO | PPC
Who we helped
Knepp is a globally respected rewilding initiative based in West Sussex, widely recognised for challenging conventional land use through a bold, nature-first model of farming and stewardship. By allowing ecosystems to lead their own recovery, Knepp has influenced how policymakers, landowners and conservationists think about restoring nature in the UK and beyond.
Alongside this work, Knepp operates a range of mission-led commercial ventures, including Knepp Wilding Kitchen & Shop, Knepp Wild Range Meat and Knepp Wildland Safaris. Together, these businesses help fund and sustain the rewilding landscape while inviting people to engage with nature in tangible ways, through food, place and immersive experiences.
Organic Revenue
71% increase in organic traffic.
Total Revenue
Online sales up 386%
Monthly Revenue
All channel revenue up 95%
How we did it
Our team consisting of Strategic Director, SEO Manager, PPC Manager and Technical lead started with interrogating the business objectives, discovering what really mattered to the Estates revenue streams and creating an objective focussed roadmap of Digital Activity designed to implement quick wins whilst we collectively worked on a rolling strategy.
The Estates runs in seasons, and understanding this along with the flow of visitors and ‘intent’ throughout the year formed the backbone of how we approached rolling out campaigns, optimisation and the overall strategy.
SEO
Tackling site optimisation, content targeting or gaps in content, tracking and attribution for solid data and rolling changes to the site enabled the site to go from strength-to-strength in Search Engines.
CRO & UX
Reviewing how Users interacted with the site, how they tried to convert into enquiries or sales and then remediating any issues helped the site increase sales and bookings.
PPC
We run seasonally pertinent Ads throughout the year focussing the ad spend to where it is going to be most-effective and drive awareness and sales. We run campaigns on Google and Meta.
CRM
Accessing a vast engaged database meant navigating GDPR opt-in compliance and systems and sequences that left the User engaged with, rather than being marketed to. Engagement rates and sales picked up massively once straightened out.
Website
Ad-hoc changes, adjustments and improvements were made to the website User Experience and via the Creative Directors designs meaning a quick flow from ideation to realisation online. We also work closely with the developer to ensure the Estates needs are conveyed and realised in a way and language that all understand.
The Results
– 386% Increase in Online Sales
– 71% Increase in Organic traffic
– 85 Increase in visibility in Search Engines
– 95% Increase in Monthly revenue
As well as the topline Statistics our consultancy has enabled the Estate to confidently embark on other digital projects that prior could only be dreamed of creating more opportunities to engage with new audiences, recurring revenue streams and a stabilisation of systems and processes.
The Bottom line and why we can help your diversifying business succeed
You may have a simple marketing function or part-time assistance, you have the dreams but not the resource to employ a varied teams throughout the year or lack the time to fulfil your vision. Or you work with an agency that quite simply doesn’t get it, doesn’t get the way you work or understand the countryside economics.
We can help.
Call Sam for a no-obligation discussion on how we can help your diversified business.
Ready to become our next success story?
Don’t let potential customers slip through the cracks. Elevate your website’s visibility and watch your business grow.
