Marketing for Profit: Tools for Success Webinar Series

Essential FREE Resource for Farmers, Market Managers, and Local Producers
Marketing for Profit: Tools for Success Webinar Series Registration Now Open!

The Farmers Market Federation of NY and the NY Farm Viability Institute have partnered with USDA Northeast SARE to present a series of webinars on marketing, “Marketing for Profits: Tools for Success”. These webinars have been designed with the assistance of regional and national marketing experts to provide critical marketing insights for farmers and farm markets throughout the northeast. The webinars are free, are approximately an hour and a half long, and easy to access with a basic internet connection. This winter, 6 webinars will be held and interested participants are encouraged to register TODAY for the webinars they think they will attend.

The Marketing for Profit: Tools for Success webinar series will give farmers the information and tools they need to excel at direct marketing their farm products. It will also provide curriculum, presentations and handouts to Cooperative Extension Educators and other farm service educators to help their farmers master key marketing concepts that will bring greater success and more profits to their farms than ever before.

As producers, farmers are well-equipped with the knowledge to produce quality farm products. They determine the best methods of farming, and the crop mix that will help them to achieve their production goals and revenue requirements. They understand and follow all statutory regulations impacting their operation, comply with labor law and file mounds of paperwork. But when it comes to marketing, many producers believe the Field of Dreams version of “Build it and they will come.” Marketing is a concept that must be learned to achieve maximum profits from chosen marketing channels, whether it is farmers markets, CSAs, direct to restaurant sales, or another other venue.

Marketing encompasses a broad array of efforts all aimed at identifying your market and customers, satisfying your customers and maintaining your customers long term. It includes all marketing channel selections and business decisions, what to grow or produce and how it will be produced; ie conventional, organic, bio-dynamic or some amalgam of these; how you choose to make products available, how product is presented to the public, how you present your business, advertising and promotions, signage, pricing strategy, and so on. Marketing is complex and is often the most misunderstood and least successful part of many farm businesses.

The series will include coverage of 5 categories of marketing concepts spanning three years: Self-Assessment, Market Assessment, Customer Assessment, Communications Assessment and Business Assessment. Each Assessment will be a series of 3 webinars. The winter season, 2012-13, will focus on Market Assessment and Customer Assessment. Learn how to understand the current marketplace, understand your competition, find the right fit for you and your products and build your marketing plan. In the Customer Assessment series you will learn to identify your ideal customer and how to attract them, understand customer service, gain knowledge of marketing tactics to reach your ideal customers and use a SWOT analysis to understand trends that can impact your business. These are just a sample of the skills and knowledge to be gained through this season’s Marketing for Profit: Tools for Success webinar series. Each webinar will be repeated twice to maximize opportunity to participate.

Learning to Look Around, or Getting Your Head in the Game!

Bob Buccieri, former President of the Farmers Market Federation of NY
December 4, 10 am – 11:30am
December 5, 7pm – 8:30pm

How Smart ARE you, Really?

Warren Abbott, Abbott Farms, Baldwinsville, NY
December 10, 10am – 11:30am
December 11, 6pm – 7:30pm

Building the Marketing Plan

Marty Broccoli, Ag Economic Development Specialist, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Oneida County
January 8, 11am – 12:30pm
January 9, 6pm – 7:30pm

People Sure Are STRANGE! Coming to Understand the Customer

Marty Butts, Small Potatoes Marketing
January 15, 11am – 12:30pm
January 16, 6pm – 7:30pm

BOGOs, Bounce Backs and the cost of freebies! Promoting the Product

Lindsay Ott Wilcox, Creative Director, Clear Channels Radio, Syracuse
January 29, 11am – 12:30pm
January 30, 6pm – 7:30pm

Every Silver Lining has a Cloud! Market Assessment & Analysis

Marty Butts, Small Potatoes Marketing
February 12, 11am – 12:30pm
February 13, 6pm – 7:30pm

These webinars are free to participate. To register for the webinars, go to http://www.nyfarmersmarket.com/work-shop-programs/webinars/registration.html

 For more information, detailed descriptions of the sessions or a full, 3 year curriculum, please contact Diane Eggert at deggert@nyfarmersmarket.com or David Grusenmeyer, dgrusenmeyer@nyfvi.org.