Rural Action and the Kentucky Center for Agriculture and Rural Development are partnering to offer this 4-part webinar series exploring core marketing topics for farm and food businesses selling direct-to-consumer. This series is funded via an FMPP grant through the Agricultural Marketing Service of the USDA.
May 13: Understand Your Market Channels & Target Customers
Overview: What wholesale and retail market channels are available to you? And who is your target customer base? This webinar will explore various marketing channels for farms and food businesses, including wholesale channels such as restaurants, aggregators, and retail stores, as well as direct channels such as farmers markets, online stores, farm stands, and CSAs. Additionally, we’ll discuss how to determine, understand, and market to your target customer base.
Panelists:
Heather Jobson of Mucky Boots Farm
Eric & Kayla Gibson of Sugar Butte Farm
Andy Hupp of Three Creeks Produce
Webinar Host: This webinar will be led by Hans Kneuss, Rural Action’s Eastern Ohio Sustainable Ag Manager. In this role, Hans provides technical assistance to farm and food businesses across the state regarding production, marketing, and applying for funding opportunities. Hans is a lifetime farmer, working alongside his family to raise sustainable meat, eggs, and produce on their farmsteads outside of New Philadelphia, Ohio (Kneuss Family Farms). He has also worked as a sales representative in the agricultural and construction industries.
May 20: Establish Your Brand
Overview: What is your brand? How does a style guide improve your business’s brand recognition among customers? How can you most effectively share your story? What role do photographs play in your marketing plan? This webinar will walk you through creating and maintaining a consistent brand, telling your story, and using photography to inform your customers. Participants will walk away with clear next steps for creating a logo and style guide, writing their farm’s story, and creating effective marketing content regularly.
Panelists: TBD
May 27: Harness the Power of Digital Marketing
Overview: How do you create a clear and concise website? What is the most effective way to write an email newsletter? Do social media posts translate into sales? This webinar will dive into three primary digital marketing assets: websites, emails, and social media. We will discuss accessible ways to create and keep up with these assets, so that customers find you, easily understand how to buy from you, and become advocates for your business.
Panelists:
Gina Orr of FreshORR Family Farms
Lyndsay of Wildroot Flower Co
Adam Blaney of Blaney Family Farm
Webinar Host: This webinar will be led by Molly Sowash, Rural Action’s Sustainable Agriculture Director. In this role, Molly oversees core programming including food access initiatives, beginning farmer support, farm to institution projects, and staple foods development. Prior to her work at Rural Action, she taught food education in Minnesota public schools and worked for a youth development urban farming non-profit.Molly also co-owns and operates MoSo Farm, raising grass-fed beef and pastured pork with her husband in Athens, Ohio.
June 3: Track Your Orders, Sales, & Inventory
Overview: How do you accept orders? What point of sales systems exist? How do you keep up with your ever-changing inventory of products? This webinar will discuss best practices and options for tracking orders, point of sales systems, and inventory management. We’ll review subscription-based softwares that integrate everything into one system, as well as lower cost but more manual systems such as spreadsheets.
Panelists: TBD