Best Marketing Practices 101:
Ideas for grower trainings and
farmer resources
Kelly Coleman
CISA
CISA’s brand
• CISA owns the
trademark to this brand.
• Market in 3 counties in
western MA
• Tag “western MA Grown”
Success
•82% consumer
recognition of brand
•Consumers 2 x as
likely to buy local
•Over 240 members,
175 are farmers
•Spend average of
$25-30,000 on
advertising a year
Membership
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Farms
Retailers
Restaurants
Specialty Products producers
Institutions
Garden centers/landscapers
Examples of CISA’s efforts
Farm to Consumer Connections
Marketing 101 for farmers
“I am not a marketing person – I didn’t ever
expect to be a business owner.”
“I got into farming because I love to grow– I
didn’t want to be a marketer.”
“With all the farmwork, its hard to find time to
spend marketing it.”
CISA’s plan
• Run a 6 week course on marketing in the
“off” season.
• Invite farmers and community experts to
be speakers.
• Provide additional technical assistance to
farms that attend the whole series, but
also allow farms to pick and choose
classes.
• Write up resource sheets and lessons
learned to share.
Workshop 1: Why?
• Everyone has limited resources and you
HAVE to make decisions about where and
how to market your business.
• It is not easy to determine how to get the
best bang for your buck. Your best
marketing strategy builds on your plan.
• Narrowly defining and committing to a
specific marketing strategy or target
audience can be really scary.
Workshop 1: A marketing plan
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What is your marketing goal?
What is your brand?
Who is your audience?
How are you/can you reach your target
audience?
• How do you make it all work together?
Workshop 2: Paid Advertising
• Advertising is a staple of marketing (but
farm from the ONLY strategy)-- almost
70% of participating farms said they
advertised already.
• Determining where, when, and how often
to advertise is not easy.
Workshop 2: Paid Advertising
Print benefits
• People who read the local paper are interested in what is
going on in their community.
• Your ad has clear directions on how to find your farm and
people can save it.
• You can have the ad placed in the relevant section of the
paper (food, weekend, etc) to find the kind of reader you
want.
Drawbacks
• People toss the paper out every day; short shelf life.
• Studies say that newspaper readership is dropping.
Workshop 2: Paid Advertising
Radio benefits
• Radio is a great venue for storytelling about your farm.
• A good radio ad creates a positive image of your farm.
• Catchy ads are remembered long after they are gone.
• Radio reaches a large mass market.
• On-air appearances may come with ad contracts and
add value to your investment.
Drawbacks
• People tune out radio ads at first. Repetition is the key.
• Your ad needs to be compelling to break through ad
clutter.
Workshop 2: Paid Advertising
Television benefits
• In some rural markets, local TV stations have a captive
audience that is far larger than print and radio combined.
• Good visuals can show viewers how beautiful your farm
is or how fun your festival will be.
Drawbacks
• Self-produced ads can be hokey.
• If you are not comfortable being on camera, this may not
be the venue for you.
• Ads can be produced without showing the farmer, but
studies show that consumers want to connect a real
person to their food.
Workshop 2: Paid Advertising
Internet Banner benefits
• Can target to particular audience.
• Relatively easy to track “hits”/interest.
Drawbacks
• You need a good website to make this
worth the investment.
• Is your audience on-line?
Workshop 2: Paid Advertising
• Cost per thousand impressions or CPM.
“how much am I getting for my money?”
• Use duplicated numbers of individuals (in
your target audience) reached in an average
4-week period.
• The lower the CPM the more cost-efficient
the buy.
Workshop 3: Earned Media
Your money or your life?
• Building a relationship with the media
• Writing press releases
• Creating press-worthy events, activities,
stories, etc.
• Content marketing
Workshop 3: Earned Media
• Create a press list (include at least one
generic address for each outlet:
editor@news-outlet.com)
• Introduce yourself – what are you an
expert in? How can you help journalists?
• Write your press release so it could be
printed word-for-word.
• Send via body of email – no attachments.
Workshop 3: Earned Media
Workshop 4: Merchandising
• Often overlooked – but critical part of
marketing.
• Everything from roadside signs to retail
displays and store flow to customer
service.
• Be visible, be neat/clean, be nice.
Workshop 4: Merchandising
Tips for displays
• Create sense of abundance
• Eye level and off the ground!
• Use good signage
Workshop 5: Internet
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Websites
Email newsletters
Blogs
On-line stores
Workshop 6: Your Marketing Plan
• Participants were the focus– each participant
shared two marketing strategies they would
pursue.
• All presenters were there to ask questions,
provide advice.
• Other attendees are a wealth of knowledge too.
• Attendees who participated in 4 workshops and
presented got 1:1 assistance with an expert.
Keys to success
• Make sure your series is relevant to your
community.
• Vet your speakers and work with them
before they present!
• Consistent attendance creates rapport
among class.
• Leave time for networking.
What they said
• “I was working on my brochure when I
attended the first workshop: it helped me
focus a lot.”
• “The website session was really helpful.”
• “The series was a tremendous opportunity
to hear other people talk – I got energized
just listening.”