Product

Every December I enjoy reading food trend predictions for the coming year from a variety of sources such as the Specialty Foods Association, the American Restaurant Association, Packer magazine, and a host of foodie blogs. There’s no doubt that customers’ appetites, buying preferences, and cooking preferences will drive what we should produce and market. While predictions of interest in charred foods, algae grown proteins, and insects as a food source trending as “micro livestock” are interesting, there is solid support for the following food preferences in our region.

August usually sees a plethora of produce, fruits, and value-added products showcasing at the farmers markets and through on-farm retail farm stands. Summer and fall holidays stoke the grilling season for mart producers and the beginning of the school year fuels more demand in market ready wholesale opportunities. Diversifying your market outlets can be good for business, but not if you don’t offer a range of prices that reflect achieve profitability. One price point does not fit all market outlets.

The phenomenal growth in the number of farmers’ markets nationwide can be attributed in part to the increased diversity of products many markets now offer. While fresh fruits and vegetables are still the keystone products, many markets now offer shoppers dairy products, meats, baked goods, and a wide array of specialty food products.

Christmas has not been canceled for 2020! The September 2020, issue of the Mastering Marketing newsletter featured tools for holiday planning.This article builds on those tools and features making specific marketing strategies for the 2020 Christmas season.

For two beautiful days in mid-September, I had the opportunity to join Penn State Extension’s Annual “Are You Crazy?” Retail Farm Market Bus Tour. This year, guided by Penn State Extension Educators, Brian Moyer and Carla Synder, the tour provided participants with an opportunity to visit premier retail farm marketing/agritourism enterprises to see new things, get ideas to use at home, learn from each other, and build a network of contacts.

Target Marketing involves breaking a market into segments and then concentrating your marketing efforts on one or a few key segments. Having a good grasp on your target market makes the promotion, pricing and distribution of your products and/or services easier and more cost-effective. It provides a focus to all of your marketing activities.

Farmers are repeatedly advised to diversify into new enterprises in order to generate additional income. It’s not unusual for me to visit a farm that grows vegetables, fruit, has some livestock for direct marketing meats, chickens for eggs, offers agritourism events and farm tours, and is considering how to enter the craft beverage market. If diversification is really the business model for success, what does that mean for farmers?

How, when, and where should you start your marketing efforts? The process can be overwhelming- should I market my brands, what about social media posts, and who will buy my products? To help you organize your marketing steps, it is vital you have a marketing statement. You may have heard this statement called, “Your Elevator Speech”.

While the holiday season may seem a ways off, the line between when customers shop and when they take offense to holiday décor in stores is becoming a blurry one. The National Retail Federation reports that every year, about 40 percent of customers begin their holiday shopping before Halloween.

Meal kits and delivery services seem to be the current “hot button” trends in direct farm marketing. Food tech is big these days. Blue Apron and the Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods are just two examples of current of companies with pretty web design and polished communication strategies. But there are still questions about profit margins with the current delivery systems due to the perishability of fresh foods. Also, imagine possible food safety concerns over meal kits sitting on a hot front porch.