The things people usually ask

We work out what an agricultural business should be known for, then build the marketing that makes it known. In practice that means positioning and brand strategy, working out the message, finding the stories already inside the business, and then producing the marketing itself: photography and video, website content, social media, email, Google and search, print and campaigns. The difference between an agricultural marketing agency and a general one is that we already understand the industry, the seasons, the buyers and the way decisions actually get made in agriculture, so you are not paying us to learn it.

No. Agriculture is our specialty, not our limit. We work across the regional economy: agritourism, rural and regional services, professional firms, regional destinations, councils and industry organisations. What our clients have in common is that they know something specific and valuable, and they need it understood by people outside their own world. If that describes your business, the fact that you do not run stock is not a problem.

We work across regional NSW. Our team is based in Bathurst in the Central West, and we work regularly through the Central West and the Central Tablelands and south towards Cowra, Young, Gundagai, Holbrook and Albury. Distance is rarely the deciding factor. Most of the work happens remotely, with planned on-site days for photography, video, workshops and strategy sessions. If you are further afield, ask us. We will tell you honestly whether we can service you properly.

Hamlet & Fields is a small team, not one person. Fiona May is founder and creative director, and leads strategy, education and speaking. Content production, coordination and day to day marketing are handled by the team, with Fiona across the direction and the final call. When a job needs a specialist we do not have in house, such as a website build, we bring in a trusted partner rather than pretending we do everything.

Learn is education: free resources, Field Guides, workshops and speaking, for people who want to do more of it themselves. Plan is direction: audits, strategy and consulting, for businesses that need to know what to do before they spend money doing it. Partner is delivery: ongoing marketing work with us alongside you. They are three ways in, not three stages. Plenty of businesses only ever use one.

That is one of the most common places people start from, and it is not a problem. It is usually a sign that the foundations have not been set rather than that anything has gone wrong. We would normally begin with an audit or a strategy session, which tells you where you actually stand, what is missing and what to do first. You will finish with a direction and a plan, whether you go on to work with us or take it away and do it yourself.

Yes. That is our Partner pathway, and it is the majority of our work. We become the marketing capability inside your business: strategy, campaigns, content, photography and video, social media, email and search, working month to month alongside your team. We do not describe it as handing your marketing over, because the businesses that get the most out of it stay involved. You know the business. We know the marketing. It works best when both are in the room.

We will reply, usually within a couple of business days, and set up a conversation. That first call is about your business rather than our services: what you do, who you are trying to reach, and what is not working at the moment. From there we will tell you honestly which of Learn, Plan or Partner suits you. If we are not the right fit, we will say so and point you somewhere better suited.

We do not publish prices, because the honest answer depends on what you need. A workshop, an audit and an ongoing marketing partnership are very different pieces of work. What we do instead is show you everything we offer with individual costs, ask what you actually want, and then send a tailored quote for just those pieces. Nothing gets bundled in that you did not ask for. The first conversation costs nothing.

Yes, and it is worth saying plainly that social media is one channel inside a marketing system, not the system itself. We offer Social Media Partnerships for businesses whose main need is consistent, well made content and community management. But we will always ask what the social media is meant to achieve first. Posting without a strategy is the most common and most expensive marketing mistake we see.

Yes. Brand strategy is where most of our client work begins, because it decides everything downstream. It covers positioning, audience, message, story, tone and voice, and visual direction. Put simply, it is the work of deciding what you stand for and what you want to be known for, so that every piece of marketing after it is pulling in the same direction instead of starting from scratch each time.

Yes, in house, and it is a core part of how we work rather than an add on. Agricultural and regional businesses are visual by nature, and generic stock imagery undermines a business that is genuinely distinctive. We shoot on location, including aerial work, with the content planned against your marketing strategy before the camera comes out, so every image has a job to do.

Yes, through a partnership. We handle the strategy, the message and the content, and the build itself is done with MISO Studio, a website and brand designer we work with regularly. That way you get a site built on a real marketing strategy rather than a nice looking template, and you are not managing two suppliers who have never spoken to each other.

An audit is a clear eyed assessment of where your marketing actually stands and what is holding it back. We look at your online presence the way a customer would find it, then tell you what is missing, what is already working and what we recommend you do. You finish with a direction you can act on, whether you do the work yourself, or hand parts of it to us. It is the usual starting point for a business that is interested in seeing how their business is working online.

The Regional Edit is our consulting engagement for businesses that want strategic direction and help putting it into practice, rather than a report that sits in a drawer. It runs as a season of work: we look closely at where the business stands, decide what it should be known for, then work through the priorities alongside you. It suits businesses that are ready to make decisions and want someone with them while they do.

Yes. Fiona May speaks regularly to agricultural and regional audiences on marketing, brand, online presence and turning business knowledge into marketing people actually use. Sessions are built for the audience in the room, so a shed full of producers gets something different to a room of agribusiness managers. Get in touch with the event, the audience and the date and we will tell you what would work.

Yes. Workshops are practical and hands on, built for people who are excellent at their own work and have never been given a reason to care about marketing. No jargon, no assumed knowledge. People leave with something they can use that week, not a folder of theory.

Yes, and it is a growing part of what we do. Councils, industry organisations, government programs and agricultural companies engage us to deliver marketing education to their producers, members, clients or networks. That can be a single workshop, a series, a field day session, or a program built for a specific cohort. We can work to an existing brief or help shape one.

No, and most of the people we work with do not. You are not expected to know what a carousel is, or what a content pillar means, or why anyone would care about a reel. That is our job. We explain things in plain language, and if we ever use a term that does not make sense, tell us and we will say it a different way. Knowing your own business is the part we cannot do for you.

We agree what success looks like before the work starts, and it is almost never followers. Depending on the business it might be enquiries, catalogue requests, registered bidders, quote requests, bookings, applications, search visibility or attendance at an event. We report against those, monthly for partnership clients. Some things move quickly and some take a season or more to show up, and we will tell you which is which rather than claiming everything works immediately.

It depends what you are measuring. Some things move within weeks, such as enquiries from a campaign, or people finding you on Google when they could not before. Recognition, trust and reputation are slower, and they are usually the ones that matter most. We would rather tell you that up front than promise a quick result and lose your confidence in month three. Marketing is built, not switched on.