By Katie Spring, Outreach & Content Specialist at NE-DBIC
The Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center (NE-DBIC), hosted at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets, provides support to dairy businesses through projects that promote the development, production, marketing, and distribution of dairy products.
For most of the year, it’s easy to work in your business.
Between day-to-day tasks to unexpected challenges that pop up, though, it can be hard to find time to work on your business. Luckily, winter comes along and offers a time to reflect, envision, and plan.
Now’s a great time to consider your marketing strategy. Where to start, though?
Here at the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center, we have resources and toolkits to help you create a marketing foundation that reflects your business and connects with your customers.
Before we dive into those, it’s worth asking: what does marketing mean to you?
For many farmers, it’s a necessary evil. Something that involves a lot of convincing that you’d rather not do.
Let’s reframe that.
Like dairy farming and processing, marketing is about relationships. You have relationships with your cows, your land, and the people you work with. More and more, customers crave a relationship with their food. Marketing is a chance to build that – and it comes not from convincing a person to buy something they don’t want, but from telling the story of your farm and product so customers can find you and make an informed decision that supports their desire for local food.
Like any relationship, marketing is a series of connections, from an initial introduction of your farm to snippets of stories about your farm and product.
Whether you’re reviewing your current marketing strategy or starting from scratch, you’ll find guidance in the free resources below.
Marketing & Agritourism Blog: Follow these posts to set up a strong marketing foundation. Ideal for farmers and processors who direct-sell, engage in agritourism, and/or attend trade shows.
Dairy Processor Brand Strategy & Marketing Toolkit: Access case studies, marketing toolkit, and a webinar on marketing & branding.
Specialty Cheese Market Research Report: gain insight into market conditions, trends in consumer demand, and current distribution channels and to outline the most advantageous strategies for cheesemakers to be competitive in a global market.
Want more resources and information about grant funding? Subscribe to our monthly NE-DBIC newsletter.
Follow us on social media: Facebook @ne.dairyinnovation and Instagram @ne.dairyinnovation